How to plan your first Google Ads campaign on a ₹5,000 budget
A step-by-step plan for picking keywords, structuring the account, setting bids and reading results when every rupee counts.
Most first campaigns fail for the same reason: the budget gets spread across too many keywords, too many locations and too many ad groups. With ₹5,000 you can still learn a lot, as long as you narrow the scope and decide in advance what you want to find out.
This guide walks through the plan we use with students in their first week of live campaigns.
1. Decide what one result you want
Pick a single conversion: a form fill, a call or a purchase. Set it up in Google Ads before you spend anything. If you can’t measure it, you can’t judge the campaign.
2. Choose 10 to 15 high-intent keywords
Use Keyword Planner to find terms people search when they are ready to act. Skip broad, research-style queries for now.
- Include a location or a buying word: “near me”, “price”, “book”, “best”.
- Use phrase and exact match only.
- Add at least 20 negative keywords on day one (“free”, “jobs”, “course”, “salary”).
Check the search terms report after 48 hours. On small budgets, a single irrelevant query can use a third of your spend.
3. Keep the account structure simple
One campaign, two or three ad groups, each built around a tight theme. Every ad group gets two responsive search ads with different angles so you can compare them.
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Get our ₹5,000 Google Ads campaign template
The keyword sheet, negative keyword list and 14-day tracker we use with students. Sent to your inbox.
4. Set budget and bids
Run for 14 days at roughly ₹350 a day. Start with Maximise Clicks and a max CPC cap, then switch to Maximise Conversions once you have 15 or more conversions.
| Daily budget | ₹350 |
| Duration | 14 days |
| Bid strategy (start) | Maximise Clicks, ₹25 max CPC |
| Switch to Maximise Conversions | After 15 conversions |
5. Read the results
At the end of two weeks, look at three numbers: cost per conversion, conversion rate and search impression share. Pause keywords with spend and no conversions, move budget to the best ad group and write two new ads against the winner.
“A small budget forces good habits. You learn to cut fast and only scale what you can measure.”
What to do next
Once the campaign is profitable at this size, increase budget by 20 to 30 percent per week. Bigger jumps reset the learning phase and usually raise costs.
