How to Set Up Google Ads as Early-Stage B2B SAAS
Hands-on step-by-step guide. This is how I set up new Google Ads accounts for B2B software startups.
Overview:
Launching Google Ads for a new B2B SaaS requires a structured approach.
Below I outline best practices for the account setup, conversion tracking strategy, and bidding strategy, given a modest budget (~€1,500/month) and target regions. I assume you have done keyword research and plan to use SKAGs/STAGs (Single Keyword or Single Theme Ad Groups) with dedicated landing pages for each.
The ultimate goal is driving sign-ups or demo requests (your macro-conversion).
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1. First Steps: Your Account Setup – Structure and Targeting
Setting up the account properly from the start is the key to run google ads successfully.
My key recommendations:
A) Segment Campaigns by Region and Language:
Create separate campaigns for each geo-target (e.g. one for DACH, one for US) so you can tailor language, ad copy, and budgets per region. Ensure your location and language settings match the target audience in each region.
B) Use SKAG/STAG for Relevance:
Organize ad groups by very tightly themed keywords (down to single keyword if feasible). This approach aligns ads and landing pages exactly to the query, boosting Quality Score and relevance.
For each SKAG/STAG, use highly specific ad copy containing the keyword and send clicks to the dedicated landing page for that term.
This “laser-focused” relevance can yield higher ad relevance and lower CPCs. (Be mindful that SKAGs can be harder to manage at scale, but with a small budget and keyword set, it’s manageable and often beneficial.)
Note: Even with a SKAG structure, avoid creating too many separate campaigns with tiny budgets. Google’s machine learning needs a certain amount of data (“signal liquidity”) to optimize effectively. It’s okay to have many ad groups, but try to consolidate them within a few campaigns so that each campaign can accumulate at least ~30 conversions per month in total. This ensures any automated bidding or optimization has enough data to learn from.
C) Focus on High-Intent Keywords:
With a limited budget, prioritize bottom-of-funnel keywords that indicate strong intent to buy or request a demo (e.g. “<product> software pricing”, “<industry> tool demo” “<use case> tool”).
Avoid broad informational terms that may drive traffic with low conversion intent. Mapping keywords to their intent and funnel stage is crucial, make sure each keyword’s ad and landing page address the searcher’s intent (informational vs. commercial). This maximizes the chance that clicks turn into sign-ups.
I usually start with two campaigns, each with multiple Ad Groups:
In-Market → In-Market, high-intent keywords, grouped into themes (ad groups)
Competitors → Most relevant, close competitors, grouped into use cases (e.g. “campaign attribution”, “campaign analytics”, etc.)
D) Dedicated Landing Pages Per Ad Group:
I usually advice to plan in one landing page per SKAG/STAG.
Ensure each landing page delivers on the ad’s promise and mirrors the keyword’s theme. This consistency (headline, offer, messaging) from keyword → ad → landing page improves conversion rates and sends quality signals back to Google.
⚠️ Avoid sending ad traffic to a generic home or pricing page that isn’t tailored to the query.
Instead, use focused pages with a clear CTA (sign-up or demo form) and relevant content. Include essential elements on each page (headline, value prop, brief benefits, social proof, and a form/CTA) to encourage conversions.
This is how I structure my landing pages:
Hero Section
Trust Elements (customer logos)
USPs / objections
Customer Statement
Problem
Solution
Implementation
E) Conversion Tracking Setup:
Implement Google Ads conversion tracking (with Google Tag Manager - short GTM) for your primary goal – the sign-up or demo request form submission. Verify that each conversion (e.g. form fill or “Thank You” page view) is tracked correctly. This data is vital for optimization and smart bidding.
💡 If you want to track signup conversion, you need to install the GTM in your app as well. Make sure you are using the same GTM container for your website & app.
Also, enable data-driven attribution in GA4/Google Ads since B2B SaaS often has a longer sales cycle with multiple touchpoints. A data-driven attribution model will better credit your ads for influencing conversions throughout the journey, rather than last-click only, giving you a clearer picture of what’s working.
F) Utilize Negative Keywords:
As you use SKAGs (especially if using phrase match variants), add negatives to prevent irrelevant searches from triggering your ads. This conserves budget for qualified clicks.
G) Remarketing:
It can make sense to plan in a remarketing campaign to re-engage visitors who clicked the ads but didn’t convert. For example, search remarketing ads offering an incentive or reminding them to finish signing up. Given that SaaS leads might research and compare before converting, remarketing is key to nurture those initial clicks into demos/sign-ups.
⚠️ If you haven’t run any Google Ads before, I recommend to not set up remarking from the beginning on, but first get a better feeling on what’s happening and if you can convert people after all.
2. Starting like a Pro: Conversion Tracking Strategy - Page Views vs. Sign-Up Conversions
Your main conversion (macro-conversion) is a sign-up or demo request.
However, especially with small budgets, it can take a long time until someone signs up or requests a demo for the first time.
Which in general is totally fine - as long as the cost per conversion is okay - but this usually causes some troubles, because:
🦖 The algorithms need to feed.
In other words, Google needs data in order to optimize.
No conversions, not optimisation. Therefore higher costs, bad results.
Back then, when I set up my first campaigns I asked myself:
Should I start by optimizing for a lighter “page view” conversion first and switch to sign-ups later?
This question touches on using micro-conversions vs. macro-conversions:
A) Micro vs. Macro Conversions:
A macro-conversion is your primary goal (sign-ups/demos).
Micro-conversions are smaller steps that indicate user interest (e.g. a page view, button click, time on site).
In Google Ads/Analytics, you can set these up as conversion actions too. For a new campaign with very few expected sign-ups, micro-conversions can feed the algorithm more data early on.
B) Starting with a Page View (Micro-Conversion):
If you expect sign-ups to trickle in slowly (say only a few per month initially), consider tracking a high-intent micro-conversion as a primary conversion temporarily.
For example, you might use a specific landing page view or button click as a conversion signal in the early phase. This can help Smart Bidding gather faster, more frequent signals to optimize your campaigns, which is useful for low-volume accounts.
In B2B with long sales cycles, relying solely on sparse final conversions can stall the algorithm’s learning, so micro-conversions act as proxy indicators of progress.
C) Ensure Micro-Conversions Reflect Intent:
Be selective – only count micro-actions that strongly correlate with lead intent. For example, a generic page view of the landing page (which every ad click will trigger) is usually too low-intent to use as a conversion for bidding – it doesn’t distinguish quality of traffic (it’s almost equivalent to clicks).
💡 Instead, use a step like “started sign-up form” or “scrolled 50% down the page” as the micro-conversion signal.
These show the visitor engaged and moved closer to converting.
As a rule, include high-intent micro conversions in the “Conversions” column only if you lack sufficient volume of real conversions.
Low-value actions (e.g. 10-second page view or video play) should remain Secondary (not used for bidding) unless you absolutely need them to meet conversion volume thresholds.
D) When (and How) to Switch to Macro Conversions: Plan to shift focus to actual sign-ups/demos as soon as data allows.
Once your campaign is getting a stable number of sign-up conversions – a commonly cited ballpark is ~15–30 conversions per month or more – you should remove or down-weight the micro-conversions and let the algorithm optimize for the true goal. At that point, the account has “sufficient macro conversion volume” for Smart Bidding to learn from real outcomes. For example, you might start Month 1 counting both “Demo Form Started” and “Demo Form Submitted” as conversions, then by Month 2 or 3, once you’ve logged ~20+ actual submissions, switch to counting only “Submitted” as the conversion. This ensures Google now optimizes strictly for sign-ups.
⚠️ Caution:
Avoid keeping an easy micro-conversion as a primary goal for too long. If both a page view and a sign-up are counted equally, the algorithm might favor the easier action (lots of page views) and not push for the harder sign-ups – essentially “learning” from potentially unqualified leads. To prevent this, either assign lower value to micro conversions or turn them to secondary once you have enough real conversion data. Always communicate with stakeholders about what constitutes a “conversion” in reports to avoid confusion, since mixing micro and macro can inflate conversion counts misleadingly.
3. Bidding Strategy – Manual CPC vs. Target CPA to Start
For a new account with no past data and a limited budget, choosing the right bidding strategy is crucial:
A) Start with Maximize Conversions Bidding:
It is generally recommended not to begin with Target cost per action (CPA) in a brand-new campaign that has zero conversion history. Google’s own guidance and PPC best practices suggest that automated bidding (like Target CPA) works best once the campaign has accumulated at least ~15 conversions in the past 30 days.
Without that data, Target CPA might struggle to find the right audience and could either limit your impressions (if the target seems hard to achieve) or spend erratically.
Instead, start with Maximize Conversions.
This gives the algorithms enough options to ensure you get enough clicks and some conversions initially.
Change to Target CPA after your campaign has accumulated at least ~15 conversions in the past 30 days, as mentioned before.
B) Monitor and Gather Conversion Data:
In the first few weeks, optimize manually: pause poor-performing keywords, ensure your €1,500/month is spent efficiently. Aim to get at least 15-20 conversions under your belt across a few weeks of data.
C) Transition to Target CPA:
Once you have sufficient conversion volume and some baseline CPA data, you can switch the campaign’s bidding to Target CPA.
You tell Google the desired cost per action (conversion) and it will auto-adjust bids to achieve that CPA. When switching to Target CPA, use your observed average CPA as a guide.
Google Ads might even recommend a Target CPA value based on past data; setting a target near that recommendation (maybe slightly higher initially) can help the algorithm succeed.
Expect a learning period of 1-2 weeks where performance may fluctuate as the system optimizes. Keep an eye on it but avoid making frequent changes during this phase. Over 30 days you can judge if Target CPA is outperforming your previous manual approach.
D) Don’t Forget Ongoing Optimizations:
Even with smart bidding, continue the usual optimizations – reviewing search terms, adding negatives, refining ad copy, and improving landing pages. Automated bidding handles bids, but feed it “good ingredients” like relevant keywords and ads. Particularly with SKAGs, maintain that tight relevance and quality scores; the combination of high relevance and smart bidding can yield excellent results.
Conclusion and Recommended Plan
In summary: Begin with a well-structured account, segmented by region and tightly themed ad groups, to ensure every click is as relevant as possible.
Implement robust conversion tracking from day one – track your true goal (signups/demos) and if needed a meaningful micro-conversion to help Google's algorithm learn faster in the early stage.
Run the campaign on Maximize Conversions bidding initially to gather at least 2–4 weeks of data and a baseline conversion volume. As conversions accumulate (on the order of 15+ per month), transition to a bidding strategy like Target CPA to let Google optimize bids toward your cost-per-conversion goals.
Throughout this process, continue refining keywords, ads, and landing pages, and leverage remarketing to improve your overall funnel performance. Ramp up once the campaign has learned what a good conversion looks like. With a €1,500/month budget, every click counts – the above strategy will help maximize the chance that each click turns into a valuable sign-up or demo. Good luck!
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