Google Ads: my $50/day playbook
Small-budget Google Ads is a different sport than big-budget. Here's the exact structure I use to spend $50/day and generate 12–20 leads a week for a local service business.
Campaign type: Search only. Skip Performance Max and Display at this budget — they burn cash on low-intent placements.
One campaign, two ad groups: 'buyer intent' (keywords with pricing, near me, best) and 'brand + competitor'. Exact match only for the first 60 days.
Bid strategy: manual CPC for the first 2 weeks (you'll learn what a click actually costs), then switch to Maximize Conversions once you have 15+ conversions logged.
Landing page: one page per ad group with a matching headline. Don't send Google Ads to your homepage — it always underperforms.
Reporting cadence: check search terms every 3 days and negative-match anything irrelevant. This alone saves ~20% of budget in month 1.
4 replies
Do you use call tracking or just form conversions? Our form CVR was awful until we added call tracking.
Both — CallRail on the landing page. Calls convert 2-3x forms for us.
Would add: turn OFF search partners. It hides awful placements you can't see in reports.
Exactly the structure we use for our Google Ads retainer clients under $2k/mo budgets. Nice write-up.