Google Ads for SaaS, in the order to build it

• Who you sell to. The job, the company size, the industry and the problem you solve, precise enough to write an ad for.
• Conversion tracking. A demo booked, a trial started, a paying account, each its own action, with the step closest to revenue as the primary.

  The free audit checks this: C-12 Does the account count sales at all?

• Your CRM. The Google click ID stored with each lead, so the sales that close later can be imported.
• Landing pages. One for each kind of buyer, easy on a phone and fast.
• A customer list. Your existing customers uploaded, to keep them out of the campaigns that look for new ones, and to build lookalike segments for Demand Gen campaigns.

Get the second line wrong and every phase below works toward a number that is not your revenue.

• Your brand. Your name and its variations: people who know you already.
• Competitors. "Alternative to" a rival. Test with care: these people chose someone else first.
• The category. "Best CRM for startups": people comparing tools, ready to choose.
• Use cases. "Software to track a sales pipeline": they know the job, not the tool yet.
• Problems. "How to manage leads better": early, and the longest way to a sale.

Start with your brand and the category. Add competitors and use cases once those pay. Problem searches come last.

• Brand Search. Keeps your own name yours.
• Category Search. Your main source of new buyers.
• Competitor Search. Opportunistic, and watched closely.
• Use case Search. Further from the purchase.
• Remarketing. Brings back the visitors who did not convert.

Keep Performance Max for later, once these campaigns run well and the tracking counts paying accounts.

• Brand. Manual bids, or a low target CPA: do not pay a lot for people who would find you anyway.
• Category and competitors. Maximize conversions until the campaign has a history of conversions, then a target CPA.
• Use cases. A target of its own, set from what these searches turn into: the way to a sale is longer.
• Remarketing. Maximize conversion value if you track revenue, otherwise Maximize conversions.

• Data-driven attribution, in Google Ads and in Google Analytics.

  The free audit checks this: C-18 Last-click-only credit.

• The sales imported when the deal closes, not when the trial starts.
• The payback tracked: the months it takes to earn back what a customer cost.
• A counting window that covers how long trials take to pay. Left alone, it is 30 days; you can set up to 90, depending on the conversion source.

  The free audit checks this: C-14 Sales arriving after the counting window closes.

• All visitors. A general message.
• Pricing page visitors. How you compare.
• Sign-ups left half done. A reason to finish.
• Trials that did not pay. Proof from customers like them.
• Demos booked and missed. A reminder to book again.

Keep people on each list for as long as your buyers take to decide.