Create a Google Ads Account in 5 Steps

1. Setting up a Google Account
2. Creating a Google Ads Account 
3. Can I create a Google Ads account without a campaign?
4. How do I choose the right Google Ads campaign type?
5. Granting other users* access to the Google Ads account
6. What different Google Ads accounts are there?
7. Avoid these mistakes when setting up the Google Ads account
8. Conclusion

Everyone starts small. When we first start in a new area, we all too often stumble over small hurdles and mistakes that we would have liked to avoid.

In this guest article, Google Ads expert Lena Schlegel explains step by step how to create a new Google Ads account, so that nothing stands in the way of starting successful advertising campaigns. You can expect detailed instructions, important background information and graphics to better understand the implementations.

If you have already decided to create a Google Ads account, you are in the right place. If you first want to find out more about Google Ads, it is best to look at the article on Basics of Google Ads. In it, you will learn the advantages and disadvantages of advertising with Google, the types of campaigns, and how SEA basically works.

Setting up a Google Account

In order to be able to advertise on Google Ads, the first step is to create a Google account. If you already have one, you can skip this step. If not, you will need to visit the Google Ads Sign Up Page and click on the “Get Started” button. You will find this centered on the page or at the top right of the screen.

Source: Google

In the second step, Google will prompt you to sign in. If you do not have a Google account yet, click on “Create Account” at the bottom right.

A Google account can be created for an individual or a business. Since Google Ads are usually run for businesses, we assume that you want to create your Google account "For a business".

Source: Google

After you have clicked on “Continue”, you can enter your information. This includes your name, an email address and a password. In the future, you will log in to the Google Ads account with the login data of the Google account.

Note: In the field “Your email address”, an existing email address is stored, which must be confirmed in the next step. So, make sure you can access it first. If you want to separate email notifications about news from Google Ads or information about your Google Ads account from an existing email mailbox, it is advisable to create a new email address.

Source: Google

To get to the next step, press the “Continue” button again and you will be asked to provide personal information. The data is only required in part at this step. Giving a phone number and an email address for account security is optional, but the latter is highly recommended. In particular, in case of a password loss, this option has saved nerves and time.

Moreover, information about your date of birth and gender is required. The data you provide here is confidential, and you can learn more about the reasons why we need this information by clicking on the link “Why we are asking for this information”.

Note: With the option “Custom” for gender, you recently have the option to determine both the designation and the pronoun yourself.

Source: Google

The next step you take before the Google account is created is the personalization setting. Here you have two options: Express Personalization or Manual Personalization. So, you can make a better decision about which path you want to take, here is the background information: 

Since May 2019, there is a new GDPR decision. As part of the decision, the use of a Consent Manager (also known as Cookie Banner) for websites and -shops became mandatory. Since then, data protection has been a top priority and is being discussed everywhere. The personalization settings are another implementation by Google to give users even more control over which commercials should be displayed and which should not. 

You choose “Express Personalization” because it saves time and you can make all changes later. After confirming this decision again, click on “Confirm”.

Source: Google

In the next step, you will be made aware of data protection and the associated conditions. If you scroll all the way down, you will see a blue button with the words “I agree” on the right.

Source: Google

This completes the setup of the Google account. In other words: you are now ready to create a new Google Ads account. To do this, click on “Continue”.

Source: Google

Google first directs you to a page where you can confirm your business name and create additional information for the Google My Business listing. Since this does not contribute to creating a Google ads account, you ignore this call to action and go directly to the Google Ads Sign Up Page.

Source: Google

Creating a Google Ads Account 

The first two steps are done and you have successfully created a Google account. In the next section, you will create a Google Ads account.

Instead of clicking on “Get Started” as at the beginning, you can directly select the “Sign Up” button. Having successfully created a Google account, you should still be logged in and will be prompted to start immediately. If not, you can log in with the data you just assigned.

Source: Google

You have two options: Create a new Google Ads account or switch the existing Google account. You choose the first option.

Shortly afterwards, you will be asked to start & publish your business name. If you take a look at the tab, you can see that you are currently trying to create a new smart campaign. This is because there are different types of Google Ads accounts. A simplified version with significantly fewer settings and an extended version for targeted Google Ads. In this article, you will learn how to create the advanced version, which is why you click on the small print blue link “Advanced settings” at the bottom.

Source: Google

Many advertisers have no knowledge of Google Ads and are quickly overwhelmed if there are too many settings. To keep it simple, there are different types of Google Ads accounts. Those who know something about the industry usually smirk about the few settings of the beginner account. In fact, this also has disadvantages: It is not possible to granularly design the ad serving because many optimization and setting options are missing. If you use the advanced settings, you can create a “normal” Google Ads account.

Source: Google

You should now see an overview of the different campaign goals. Depending on the goals you are aiming for for your first campaign, Google offers you different types of campaigns that you can choose from. In most cases, it is about selling products, which would make the “Sales” option the right goal.

There are agency-internal A/B tests in which it was determined that the last option “Creating campaigns without a goal” can lead to better results. This is simply because each setting you taking confines a campaign and thus the algorithm cannot move freely on the network. If you choose this option, however, it is necessary to granularly steer the campaign in the right direction using other, later settings within the Google Ads account.

Since the main goal of the classic advertiser is purchase, you select “Sales” as the goal at this step and then “Search”. This type of campaign is the paid search on Google.

Can I create a Google Ads account without a campaign?

If you have followed the instructions carefully, you will have noticed on the screenshot that it is also possible to create a Google Ads account without campaigns.

This option is particularly advisable when you are still not sure which campaign strategy to pursue or want to start a comprehensive keyword analysis first.

If this is the case, you can select the blue link “Create account without campaigns” under the different campaign goals.

How do I choose the right Google Ads campaign type?

There are many different types of campaigns that can be divided into two networks. On the one side there is the Google Search Network, which can be equated with Paid Search, and also includes Shopping Campaigns. On the other side there is the Google Display Network. This includes, among other things, Display Ads and Remarketing Campaigns.

In the next three steps, you should provide basic information for the campaign.

Source: Google

After you have selected the campaign settings, set up the ad group and created the ad, you will get to the billing. The uppermost area “Confirm payment information” is the most important because this settings cannot be changed later.

Source: Google

The other two areas “Customer Information” and “Payment Options” can be edited later. You have three payment options: Credit card, PayPal (which is new), and a SEPA Direct Debit Mandate. However, the latter requires 1 to 3 days for verification since a 1 cent amount is transferred to your account first to verify it.

Source: Google

Before you accept the terms of use and press “Submit”, please read the following two paragraphs carefully so that no costs arise in the next step.

After setting up the account, you will be taken to a button directly “To the Campaign Overview”. 

Source: Google

Since you have already set up a campaign at a brisk pace, you should pause it until you revise it to avoid costs.

To do this, click on the search campaign on the left-hand side of the screen and then switch from “Active” to “Paused” at the top.

Source: Google

Congratulations! You have successfully created a Google Ads account with advanced settings.

Now it's about creating new campaigns and continuously optimizing Google Ads. There are numerous options within the Ads account to further improve the quality of this work. Additionally, there are also many useful tools for SEA.

Get an overview of the best SEA tools, based on the experience of our community and the resulting OMR score, here.

Granting other users* access to the Google Ads account

If you want to give additional users* access to the Google Ads account, you can do this at the top right via the “Tools and Settings” option. It is marked with a wrench.

Source: Google

Under “Setup”, you click on “Access and Security” and can then add a new *user* using the plus sign. You can also determine which permissions should be granted. The prerequisite for successful access granting is that the other person also has a Google account.

Source: Google


Sometimes it happens that an email address is not accepted despite an existing Google account.

To solve the problem, you can click on the “Security” tab above the input field. At the very bottom you see the “approved domains” option. Enter the domain of the email address you want to enter and click “Save”. It is important to note that you only enter the extension (i.e., everything after the @ symbol) of the email address.

Source: Google

What different Google Ads accounts are there?

How to create a classic Google Ads account to advertise your website, you have already learned. If you want to create a second Google Ads account, that is of course also possible. To view the performance of both Google Ads accounts at a glance, it makes sense to create an MCC. The MCC (Multi Client Center) is a pure management account for individual Google Ads accounts. Campaigns or ads cannot be created in the MCC, but individual Google Ads accounts can.

There is a separate Sign-up Page to create a Google Ads management account. After you clicked on “Create management account” you can enter your company’s information and get started immediately.

Source: Google

You can create new Google Ads accounts or link an existing account by requesting it with the plus sign.

Avoid these mistakes when setting up the Google Ads account

Finally, we give you a checklist. This checklist includes all mistakes that you should absolutely avoid when further building a Google Ads account.

1. Always create campaigns when you follow a clean strategy

A clean structure is the basis of a profitable Ads account. Before constructing campaigns by feeling, you should think about the pursued goal and align the strategy with it. One help within the Ads account is the Keyword Planner. You can find this under “Tools and Settings”. You have two options to insert the website URL directly to receive new keyword ideas or to examine existing keyword ideas about the search volume.

2. Correctly deposit billing country and currency

As already described in the set-up instructions, information about your company is requested at the beginning. Among other things, you should also specify the billing country and the currency. Make sure that these are correctly deposited. Changing this information is very complicated and only possible with the help of Google Support.

3. Integrate precise success measurement

Before you consider putting the first campaign live and spending even 1 cent on your advertisements: always check the tracking. Measuring the success of your campaigns is essential in performance marketing. After all, you are investing part of your advertising budget in every click. To ensure that the sales flow into the Google Ads account correctly, it is worth doing a tracking test right from the start.

4. Keep networks separate

Many recommendations that come directly from Google benefit the company itself - not the advertisers. This also applies to the integration of the display network into classic search campaigns. However, this integration turned out to be an unnecessary waste of budget, which is why you should always ensure the separation of the networks when setting up. This setting is made at the campaign level.

5. Do not use too many generic keywords

The broader your keyword set is structured, the further potential users* are from the desired purchase on your website. Imagine, you sell vintage sneakers. If you book the keyword “Buy sneaker” for the ad serving, the chance to reach the right target group is significantly lower than if you enter the keyword “Buy vintage sneakers”. Of course, you can expand your reach with this, but first make sure that you build a profitable foundation and reach your target ROAS (Return-on-Ad-Spend) or CUR (Cost-Revenue Ratio).

6. Use enough ad extensions

The more present your ad is and the more space it takes up, the more you can push down other advertisers on the first page of Google. Ad extensions help you with this and also offer many ways to transport important information. Therefore, please make sure that the ad is enriched with only relevant extensions: it is not sensible, for example, to hinter the imprint as a site link as it leads potential users* to a subpage on which no profitable action (purchase) is possible.

7. Too little optimization and time investment

Not for nothing are there agencies that take on the job of a Google Ads strategist full time. The optimization and structure of a sustainably growing and profitable Ads account requires time and above all patience. Therefore, plan plenty of time for the further development of your campaigns.

Conclusion

How extensive the creation of a Google Ads account can be is surely evident from the article - and that was just the tip of the iceberg. The real work is just beginning. So that you do not lose too much time and money in annoying trial-and-error processes, a deep dive into the topic is recommended.

The OMR Report on Google Ads is the perfect introductory reading and contains lots of valuable tips. You can also get a lot of free and valuable tips on LinkedIn so you can grow into real Google Ads champs.