Cheat Sheet Google Ads - paid search - ad formats - core concepts - campaign setup

Oct 14, 2026

Upload by Aditya

Cheat Sheet Google Ads provides a practical overview of paid search fundamentals, key ad types, and core metrics used to evaluate performance. It explains terminology such as impressions, clicks, PPC, PPI, CPA, and ROAS, then outlines strategy options including keyword bidding, interest-based display/YouTube targeting, and remarketing via website pixels or email uploads. The guide also covers the essentials for successful campaigns—customer understanding, targeting, clear objectives with calls to action, landing pages, creative, and budget—followed by step-by-step campaign setup.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

What is paid search?

Ad formats

Core concepts

Basic terminology

Understanding ads strategy options

Every successful campaign needs

Setting up a campaign

Choose your keywords

Objective

Choose the campaign type

Name your campaign

Add website URL and conversions

Cheat Sheet Google Ads What is paid search? • Also referred to as SEM (Search Engine Marketing) or PPC (Pay Per Click) • Refers to the short text ads which generally appear at the top or down the RHS of search engine results, but there are far more options. • These ads are generally purchased from Google Adwords or Bing. Ad formats • Video ads that appear on YouTube or on the display network • Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) that are text-based ads appearing in the search engine results page • Dynamic text ads – where the ads are created by Google drawing on content from your website to match the search terms • Image ads that are images or videos and appear in blogs and other display network locations. • App promotion ads to drive downloads of your app. • Shopping ads that show products on your website on Google Shop and other places. Core concepts Basic terminology • Ads: the actual advertisement that will show up on Google • Ad group: the ads will sit within an ad group which will have a set of keywords/ Call to Action attached • Campaign: The ad groups will sit within the campaign which dictates the objective, bidding objective, budget Google Defaults new accounts into the Smart Campaign mode which does not provide any control or detailed reporting on your campaign Impressions: An impression is counted each time an ad is displayed on Google Click: A click occurs when a user sees your ad, clicks on title or link of your ad. • Link to website • Phone call • Reveal more PPC: Pay Per Click PPI: Pay Per Impression CPA: Cost Per Acquisition ROAS: Return on Ad Spend Understanding ads strategy options From an advertising perspective, the key options within the Google AdWords universe is to bid on keywords that people are searching for which makes it very important to understand intent is important ie. Researching – Comparing – Ready to buy You can also do interest based targeting, which will be display ads appearing in places like blogs as well as YouTube. Video advertising is about putting your ads – video formats – into the YouTube environment. Remarketing is another option, where you are targeting people based on either a pixel that captures activity on your website or via an email upload and Google matches their email address to their own database. Every successful campaign needs … 1. Understanding of the customer 2. Keywords or targeting for your audience 3. Clear objective with call to action 4. A converting landing page 5. Creative (your copy or images/ videos) that hits the mark 6. Sufficient Budget Setting up a campaign 1. Choose your keywords Selecting your keywords (for targeting) Keywords are the words and phrases your target is typing into Google Search. You might decide to have a few different groups of keywords (separated as Ad groups) in a campaign for example Ad Group 1 – Cupcake recipes Ad Group 1 – Cupcake ordering • Do use keyword research tools like the Keyword Planner in your Google Ads account to understand monthly volumes and average cost per click before setting up your account. • Check that the keywords have clear commercial intent. • Keep the number of keywords to under 20 or less. Match types Match types help Google understand which of these keyword variations you want your ads to show for. You will need to make a choice on the ‘match type’with your keywords – and the default is broad. Here are the three match types from least to most restrictive: • Broad match: allows your ad to show for any query related to your keyword. • Phrase match: picks up queries with the same meaning as your keyword. • Exact match: only allows your ad to show when a query has an identical meaning to your query. A note on negative keywords Negative keywords are terms you select that you don’t want your ads to show for. Example • Cupcake delivery YES • Cupcake recipe NO • Negative keywords help you to make the most of

FAQs

What does paid search mean in Google Ads?

Paid search, also called SEM or PPC, refers to short text ads that appear on search engine results pages. These ads can be bought through platforms such as Google Ads or Bing.

What are the main Google Ads ad format options mentioned?

The cheat sheet lists video ads (YouTube/display), responsive search ads, dynamic text ads, image ads, app promotion ads, and shopping ads that show products via Google Merchant and related placements.

How do you start setting up a Google Ads campaign?

Start by choosing keywords (including match types and negative keywords), then select an objective, pick a campaign type (e.g., Search or Display), name the campaign, and add the website URL along with a conversion point and tracking if needed.

Oct 14, 2026

Upload by Aditya