The essentials
- An SEA strategy fits into one sentence: obtain contacts or sales at a target cost set from your margin, on chosen queries and areas, with reliable measurement.
- Seven steps: objective and target cost, framing the queries, account structure, conversion measurement, bidding and budget, ads and pages, optimisation cycle.
- 2026 practices: automated bidding fed by quality conversions, Performance Max kept in check, Consent Mode v2, enhanced conversions, shared negative keywords.
- Benchmarks: a minimum budget of €300 to €600 a month per area and service; 30 conversions a month per campaign for automated bidding to learn.
A badly run SEA campaign without a strategy spends a budget and produces clicks; an SEA strategy turns a budget into contacts or sales at a known cost. The difference lies in seven decisions taken in order, before the first ad. This article describes them with the practices in force in 2026 and the benchmark figures for a small business. Creating a campaign in practice is detailed in creating an effective Google Ads campaign.
Step 1: the objective and the target cost
Set an action (quote request, call, purchase, sign-up) and its target cost: what you can pay to obtain it and still be profitable. The calculation: margin per customer × contact-to-customer conversion rate = maximum cost per contact. Example: €600 of margin per customer, one contact in four becomes a customer, so €150 per contact at most; aim for €100 to keep some margin. Without that figure, no bidding or budget decision has any basis. The detailed calculation is in the Google Ads objectives.
Step 2: framing the queries and the areas
| Question | Tool | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| What are customers searching for? | Keyword Planner, Search Console, existing search terms | A list of queries by intent (transactional first) |
| How much does it cost? | Estimated CPCs from Keyword Planner | Feasibility: CPC × clicks needed per conversion against the target cost |
| Where? | Real catchment area, customer data | Targeting by radius or by town, exclusions |
| When? | Opening hours, capacity to respond | Ad schedule |
| What should be excluded? | Off-target terms, jobs, free, competitors if not wanted | Initial negative keyword list |
Step 3: the account structure
One campaign per objective, budget or area; ad groups by tight theme (5 to 15 closely related keywords); ads that pick up the terms of the group; one landing page per theme. Separate the brand from generic queries, Search from Shopping and Performance Max, and keep separate campaigns for areas or products with a different target cost. The structure determines how readable the results are and the Quality Score; see structuring a Google Ads account.
Step 4: measuring conversions
- One main conversion per objective (form submitted, call longer than 30 seconds, purchase with a value), through GA4 imported or the Google Ads tag, never both as the main one.
- Enhanced conversions (hashed email) and Consent Mode v2 to recover the conversions lost to cookies and to refusals; see Consent Mode v2.
- Conversion values, even estimated ones, to steer on value.
- A test of every conversion before launch; measurement is what feeds automated bidding.
Step 5: bidding and budget
| Phase | Bidding strategy | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Launch (0 to 30 conversions) | Maximise clicks with a max CPC, or maximise conversions with no target | Enough for 10 to 20 clicks a day per campaign |
| Learning (30 conversions or more a month) | Target cost per action or target ROAS, set 20% above the observed cost then tightened | Stable, no variation of more than 20% a week |
| Steady state | Target adjusted monthly towards the target cost from step 1 | Increased on the campaigns that hold the target cost and are limited by budget |
Benchmarks: €300 to €600 a month minimum per area and service to learn; Performance Max needs at least 30 conversions a month to be stable. Bidding strategies are detailed in automated Smart Bidding.
Step 6: ads and pages
- Two or three responsive ads per group, with headlines that pick up the queries, a promise, a proof (review, figure, guarantee) and a call to action; pinned assets tested.
- Every relevant extension: sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call, location, price, promotions.
- One landing page per theme: a headline consistent with the ad, a single call to action, a short form, a load time under 3 seconds on mobile, visible social proof.
- Visual creative for Display, Performance Max and YouTube, renewed every 4 to 6 weeks; see high-performing visuals and videos for ads.
Step 7: the optimisation cycle
| Rhythm | Actions |
|---|---|
| Daily (5 min) | Alerts: budget, disapprovals, cost drift; scripts or platform |
| Weekly (1 hr) | Search terms and negatives, weak ads paused, budgets between campaigns, pages returning errors |
| Monthly (2 hrs) | Cost per conversion against target by campaign, adjusting the bidding targets, ad and page tests, review of areas and schedules, reporting |
| Quarterly (half a day) | Structure, new queries, trade-offs with SEO and social, the seasonality ahead |
The metrics to follow are in the Google Ads KPIs ; the most frequent mistakes in the ten Google Ads mistakes. An annual audit of the account, internal or external, checks that the strategy holds; see running an effective SEA audit.
The 2026 practices to build in
- Performance Max kept in check: audience signals, brand exclusions, listing groups by margin, tracking the share of new customers; do not pour the whole budget into it without Search running in parallel.
- Broad match + automated bidding: the pairing Google recommends works with quality conversions and solid negatives; without them, it wastes money.
- Clean data: customer lists, enhanced conversions, offline conversion imports (CRM), to make up for the loss of cookies.
- Creative at volume: automated formats call for more visuals and more text; plan the production.
- Multichannel management: the Google Ads cost per contact is read alongside that of SEO, social and the Google Business Profile listing; see SEA vs SEO.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's Google Ads module brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What monthly budget for the SEA strategy of a small business?
Allow €300 to €600 a month per area and per service for a Search campaign, more in competitive sectors (emergency call-outs, legal, health, B2B software), and €1,500 to €3,000 for an e-commerce site on Performance Max. The budget must allow 10 to 20 clicks a day at launch, then 30 conversions a month per campaign for automated bidding to learn.
Should you use automated bidding from launch?
Not the target-based strategies (target cost per action or target ROAS): they need at least 30 conversions a month to be stable. Launch on “maximise clicks” or “maximise conversions” with no target, then move to a target set 20% above the observed cost, and tighten it each month.
Can Performance Max replace every campaign?
No. Performance Max is effective for e-commerce with a feed and for high-volume accounts, but it offers little control and little visibility. Keep separate Search campaigns for the brand and the strategic queries, keep Performance Max in check (audience signals, exclusions, groups by margin) and track its share of new customers.
How often should you optimise a Google Ads campaign?
Automated daily alerts, an hour a week for search terms, ads and budgets, two hours a month for bidding targets, tests and reporting, and a quarterly review of the structure and of the trade-offs with the other channels. Avoid daily bid changes, which stop the algorithms learning.