Search Keyword Campaign Build

This drill takes you from zero to a live search ad campaign on Google Ads and optionally Microsoft Advertising (Bing). It focuses exclusively on search campaigns targeting high-intent keywords -- people actively looking for your solution category.

Prerequisites

• Google Ads account with billing configured
• Microsoft Advertising account (optional but recommended -- lower CPCs for the same keywords)
• Landing page built and live (run landing-page-pipeline drill if needed)
• PostHog tracking installed on landing page
• Clear understanding of your ICP and what problem your product solves

Input

• Product description and value proposition
• Target audience (job titles, company sizes, industries)
• Landing page URL
• Daily budget ($20-50/day recommended for initial test)
• Target CPA (what you can afford to pay per lead or meeting)

Steps

1. Research high-intent keywords

Run the google-ads-keyword-research fundamental. Focus exclusively on bottom-of-funnel, high-intent terms:

Priority 1 -- Solution-seeking queries:

• "[category] software" (e.g., "CRM software for startups")
• "best [category]" (e.g., "best cold email tool")
• "[category] pricing" (e.g., "sales automation pricing")
• "[your product name]" (branded defense)

Priority 2 -- Competitor comparison queries:

• "[competitor] alternative" (e.g., "HubSpot alternative")
• "[competitor] vs" (e.g., "Salesforce vs")
• "[competitor] pricing" (captures price-sensitive evaluators)

Priority 3 -- Pain-point queries:

• "how to [problem your product solves]" (e.g., "how to automate cold outreach")

Start with 10-20 exact-match keywords across 2-3 ad groups. Do NOT use broad match at this stage.

Build a negative keyword list from day one: "free", "jobs", "salary", "tutorial", "what is", "definition", "course", "certification", "internship", "open source" (unless your product is open source).

2. Set up conversion tracking

Run google-ads-conversion-tracking to create conversion actions for:

• Form submission (demo request, trial signup)
• Thank-you page view (backup conversion signal)
• Optionally: meeting booked (if you can fire a server-side event from Cal.com)

Assign conversion values based on your unit economics: if your ACV is $10K and close rate from demo is 20%, a demo request is worth $2,000.

If also running on Microsoft Ads, run microsoft-ads-conversion-tracking to install the UET tag and create matching conversion goals.

3. Build the Google Ads campaign

Run google-ads-campaign-setup to create:

• Campaign: One Search campaign, daily budget $20-50, bidding set to "Maximize Conversions" (or "Maximize Clicks" if you have zero conversion history)
• Ad groups: 2-3 groups organized by keyword theme (e.g., "Product Category", "Competitor Alternatives", "Pain Points")
• Keywords: 5-8 exact-match keywords per ad group

Run google-ads-search-campaigns to create Responsive Search Ads:

• Write 10-15 headlines per ad group. Include: the keyword in at least 2 headlines, a specific benefit/metric, your brand name, and a clear CTA
• Write 4 descriptions: one benefit-focused, one social-proof-focused, one urgency/CTA-focused, one feature-focused
• Pin your strongest headline to position 1 and your CTA headline to position 2

Add sitelink extensions (pricing page, case studies, about page) and callout extensions ("Free Trial", "No Credit Card", "500+ Customers").

4. Mirror to Microsoft Advertising (recommended)

Run microsoft-ads-campaign-setup. The fastest path: use Microsoft's Google Import feature to copy your entire Google Ads campaign structure to Microsoft Advertising in one API call. Then:

• Reduce bids by 20-30% (Bing CPCs are lower)
• Review and adjust any keyword match types that imported incorrectly
• Ensure conversion tracking (UET tag) is installed and goals are configured

Microsoft Ads reaches ~10% of search volume that Google does not, at a lower CPC. This is free incremental reach.

5. Configure PostHog tracking

Using posthog-custom-events, set up events on your landing page:

• search_ad_click -- fired on page load when UTM source is google or bing (captures the click)
• search_ad_form_view -- fired when the form scrolls into view
• search_ad_form_submit -- fired on form submission
• search_ad_conversion -- fired on thank-you page load

Tag every event with properties: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term (keyword), utm_content (ad variation).

6. Launch and monitor

Set campaign status to ENABLED. For the first 3-5 days:

• Do NOT make changes. Let the platform gather data.
• Monitor daily: are ads showing? Are clicks landing on the right page? Are conversion tracking pixels firing?
• Check the search terms report after 3 days for obvious junk queries to add as negatives

After 7 days, make first optimizations:

• Pause keywords with 50+ clicks and zero conversions
• Add negative keywords from the search terms report
• Increase bids on keywords with conversions below target CPA

Output

• Live Google Ads search campaign with 2-3 ad groups, 10-20 exact-match keywords, and RSAs
• Optional: mirrored Microsoft Ads campaign
• PostHog tracking configured for full-funnel measurement
• Negative keyword list seeded and maintained
• Conversion tracking verified end-to-end

Triggers

Run this drill once to launch the initial campaign. After launch, switch to search-ads-performance-monitor for ongoing optimization, or google-ads-search-query-mining for weekly keyword refinement.