Qualify
Confirm the service, customers, area, job value, and capacity before spending starts.
Information · Google Ads and paid search
Make paid search earn the right to launch.
Before paying for clicks, make sure the work is profitable, the landing page matches the ad, calls and forms reach someone who answers, and your business owns the account. Then run a small test and judge it by booked jobs. Start with the Google Ads readiness checklist.
Business case · check
Landing path · test
Measurement · verify
Follow-up · assign
Budget + pause · approve
Start before campaign setup
Build the acquisition system before buying traffic.
Start with readiness, account ownership, and a first 90-day test. Then cover costs, campaign setup, search terms, landing pages, tracking, lead quality, follow-up, waste, cost per booked job, and reporting—plus Local Services Ads and Google's automated campaign types.01
Google Ads readiness
Check whether your business is ready for Google Ads: profitable work to promote, a matching landing page, tested calls and forms, someone to follow up, account ownership, a budget, and stop rules.
↗02Account ownership
Keep your business in control of Google Ads admin access, billing, account history, agency access, security, and the ability to change providers.
↗03Ad spend vs. fees
Separate the money paid to Google from management fees, setup, landing pages, call tracking, software, and taxes, with clear approval and a monthly check.
↗04Campaign structure
Organize campaigns, ad groups, ads, landing pages, budgets, locations, and conversion goals around real business decisions without adding needless complexity.
↗05Keywords and search terms
Understand the difference between your keywords and what people actually searched, choose match types on purpose, review search terms, and add negative keywords without blocking good customers.
↗06Paid-search landing pages
Build landing pages that match the search and the ad, state only verified facts, work on phones, make the next step clear, and deliver calls and forms to your business.
↗07Conversion tracking
Set up Google Ads conversions for calls, forms, and bookings: choose primary actions, use call and enhanced conversions, pick an attribution model, and handle consent.
↗08Lead quality
Label every paid-search inquiry the same way, separate good leads from spam and wrong-fit requests, and send qualified outcomes back to Google Ads with offline imports or enhanced conversions for leads.
↗09Lead follow-up
Give every paid-search inquiry an owner, a backup, and a record of contact attempts; respect contact and call-recording rules; and review what happened each month.
↗10Waste prevention
Prevent avoidable Google Ads waste with spending limits you understand, honest locations and services, search-term reviews, working landing pages, automation checks, and a change history review.
↗11Acquisition economics
Work out what a booked job really costs from Google Ads, using plain definitions of CPA, ROAS, and contribution margin and a worked example.
↗12Qualified reporting
Add the Google Ads pieces to a monthly report: conversion actions by name, spend matched to billing, qualified leads and booked jobs, late conversions, and a decision.
↗13Local Services Ads
How Google Local Services Ads work: the Google Verified badge, pay-per-lead pricing, screening and licensing checks, lead credits, where they appear, and how they differ from Search campaigns.
↗14Performance Max and AI Max
What Google's automated campaign types decide for you, what you can still see and control, how they overlap with brand searches, and when a small business should or shouldn't use them.
↗15First 90 days
A step-by-step first Google Ads test for a local business: readiness, tracking test, small launch, search-terms reviews, a hypothetical starting budget, stop conditions, and a first decision.
↗The paid-search standard
Qualify, control, and measure without turning forecasts into promises.
Control
Keep the Google Ads account, billing, tracking, access, and the pause button with your business.
Measure
Judge ads by qualified leads and booked jobs, not clicks or Google's conversion count alone.
Collection scope
Follow money and customer intent through the whole system.
Campaign settings only matter when they connect to real customers your business can serve:
- Accounts, billing, and access your business owns
- Ad spend kept separate from management fees and other costs
- Search campaigns, Local Services Ads, Performance Max, and AI Max
- Tested conversions and lead-quality feedback
- Follow-up, waste checks, cost per booked job, and reporting
Questions business owners ask
Approve the operating boundaries before approving spend.
01What should happen before Google Ads launches?+
Confirm the work is profitable, the landing page matches the ad, calls and forms reach someone who answers, tracking counts real leads, and your business owns the account. Agree on a budget and what would make you stop. Then run it as a small test.
02Is ad spend included in an agency management fee?+
It should be stated in writing. Vassal Marketing treats Google ad spend as separate from management fees and paid directly by your business. Call tracking, landing pages, software, and other costs should also be listed.
03Can a provider guarantee leads or a target cost per lead?+
No. Search demand, competition, landing pages, lead quality, and follow-up all affect results. A provider can set up controls, run the agreed campaigns, and report honestly on what happened.
Buy traffic only after the path is ready