Google Ads puts your business in front of people the moment they search, which SEO can’t do. It’s also the fastest way to spend money on clicks that never turn into customers. I manage and clean up Google Ads accounts for small businesses, and plan them together with SEO so the two channels stop getting in each other’s way.
Paid search is the only channel that can test an idea before you commit to building for it.
What Google Ads services cover
Google Ads services cover setting up and running campaigns, auditing and cleaning up existing accounts, and planning paid and organic search together. The work includes campaign structure, keywords and match types, negative keywords, bidding, budgets, ad copy, landing pages and, most importantly, conversion tracking, because every decision depends on it recording the right things.
Who it’s for
These services suit businesses that:
- run Google Ads but aren’t sure what they’re getting for the money
- suspect budget is going on the wrong searches
- inherited an account from an agency or a previous marketer
- want ads to fill gaps while SEO builds, then shift spend as organic grows
- need someone to look after the account without a large agency retainer
Warning signs in an account
| What you might see | What it can mean |
|---|---|
| Conversions look high but sales haven’t changed | Conversion tracking may be counting minor actions as conversions |
| Ads showing for searches that have nothing to do with you | Broad match without enough negative keywords |
| Spend on competitors’ brand names with little return | Competitor campaigns that rarely convert |
| Paying for your own brand name with no competitors bidding | Possibly buying clicks you’d get organically |
| No one has looked at the search terms report for months | Wasted spend building quietly |
Google Ads services
| Service | What it does |
|---|---|
| Google Ads management | Ongoing campaign management with regular search term reviews, testing and plain-English reporting |
| Google Ads audit and clean-up | A full review of an existing account, with wasted spend, tracking and structure problems fixed |
| Paid and organic search planning | Google Ads and Search Console data joined, so budget and SEO effort go where each works best |
Results
- Kwiat: a paid and organic analysis moved budget away from competitor name searches and duplicated brand spend, towards commercial searches stuck on page two. In the account, new negative keyword lists were built and applied, and the competitor campaign was paused.
- condoms.uk: joining a year of paid and organic data showed most ad spend was covering searches organic pages hadn’t reached yet, which pointed SEO at the next opportunities rather than cutting a channel that was working
How changes are made
Every change to a live account is proposed and approved first, one at a time. Negative keyword lists are built from evidence in the search terms report, with anything that has converted held back for a decision rather than blocked. Brand terms, sub-brands and products the business owns are protected from negative lists so they’re never switched off by mistake.
Talk to the person doing the work
There is no account manager here and no team to be handed to. If you get in touch, it is me who reads it, me who looks at your site, and me who does the work if we go ahead.
Get in touch, or start with a free assessment.
How the work gets done
Search Intelligence, a tool I built, joins Google Ads search term data with Search Console data to show where paid and organic overlap. Every recommendation is reviewed by me before it reaches you. Google Ads works best alongside SEO and monthly reporting.
For more, Google Ads or SEO: which should a small business start with? and should you bid on your own brand name? cover the most common questions.
Where to start
If you already run ads, start with a Google Ads audit. If you’re not sure whether ads or SEO should come first, a free assessment or a quick conversation will help. Get in touch with a rough idea of your monthly spend.
FAQ
Is Google Ads worth it for a small business?
It can be, when campaigns target searches with clear buying intent, conversion tracking records the right actions, and wasted spend is cut regularly. Google Ads brings visibility straight away, which SEO can’t. Without tracking and regular search term reviews, budget easily goes on clicks that never turn into customers.
What are negative keywords?
Negative keywords stop your ads showing for searches you don’t want to pay for, such as job hunters, competitors’ names or products you don’t sell. Adding them, based on regular reviews of the actual searches triggering your ads, is one of the most reliable ways to cut wasted spend.
Should I run Google Ads and SEO at the same time?
Often, yes. Google Ads brings visibility while SEO builds, and its search term data shows which searches convert and are worth winning organically. As organic pages climb, ad spend can move away from searches SEO now covers, towards the ones it doesn’t reach yet.