# Google Ads Setup

> Set up a Google Ads account, connect it to graph8, launch a Google campaign, and verify your ads inside Google Ads.

Source: https://docs.graph8.com/studio/ads-google/

This guide walks through everything you need to run Google ads from graph8: preparing your Google Ads account, connecting it, launching a campaign, and checking the results inside Google Ads.

## Before You Start: Google Ads Requirements

To launch Google campaigns from graph8 you need:

1. **A Google account** (Gmail or Google Workspace)
2. **A Google Ads account** with billing set up
3. **Access to the Google Ads account** for the Google user who connects graph8. Users are managed under **Admin → Access and security** inside Google Ads; only users with **Admin** access can invite others

### Create a Google Ads Account

If you do not have an account yet:

1. Go to [ads.google.com](https://ads.google.com) and click **Start now**, signing in with your Google account
2. Enter your business name and website URL
3. Google pushes you toward creating your first campaign, but you can **skip all campaign recommendations and create an account without a campaign**. Look for the skip option; this gives you a standard account without forcing a Smart campaign
4. Select your **Billing country** and **time zone**

> **Caution:**
> The billing country determines the available payment options and currency, and the time zone affects all your reports, statistics, and billing. Both are hard to change later, so choose carefully.

5. Enter payment details (card, PayPal, or bank, depending on country) and click **Submit**

### Find Your Customer ID

Your customer ID identifies the Google Ads account. Sign in to Google Ads and click your profile picture in the top right corner; the customer ID is displayed there. Keep it handy when working across multiple accounts.

## Connect Google Ads to graph8

1. Go to **Studio → Content → Ads → Campaigns**
2. Click **Create Campaign**
3. On the **Platform** step, select the **Google Ads** card
4. If the account is not connected yet, click **Connect**. A Google authorization window opens: pick the Google account that has access to your Google Ads account and approve the consent screen
5. Once authorized, the card shows a green **Connected** badge

![Campaign wizard platform step](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/wizard-platform.png)

> **Note:**
> The connection uses OAuth: graph8 never sees your Google password. You can review or revoke the connection anytime at [myaccount.google.com/connections](https://myaccount.google.com/connections), and also manage ad platform connections from the profile icon menu in the top right → **Settings → Integrations**.

## Design Your Google Ad

Create the ad creative first in **Studio → Content → Ads → Create** (see the [Ads guide](https://docs.graph8.com/studio/ads/)). Google supports three formats:

| Format | Aspect ratio | Recommended size |
|--------|--------------|------------------|
| **Landscape (Responsive)** | 1.91:1 | 1200 × 628 |
| **Square (Responsive)** | 1:1 | 1200 × 1200 |
| **Portrait (Demand Gen)** | 4:5 | 960 × 1200 |

![Google format options](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/google-formats.png)

graph8 keeps the copy within Google's limits (30-character headlines and 90-character descriptions for responsive display ads) and restricts the call to action to Google's preset options; Google does not allow free-text buttons on responsive ads.

When the creative is done, click **Finalize → Gallery** so the campaign wizard can pick it up.

## Launch a Google Campaign

Go to **Studio → Content → Ads → Campaigns** and click **Create Campaign**. The wizard has six steps.

### 1. Platform

Enter a **Campaign name** (shown in your graph8 dashboard and inside Google Ads) and select **Google Ads**.

### 2. Audience

Define who sees your ads with the Audience Builder:

- **Keywords**: add targeting keywords that define interest criteria
- **By List / By Segment / By Individual**: include contacts from your graph8 lists, segments, or hand-picked people
- **Suppression Lists** (optional): exclude contacts; suppressed contacts are never synced to the ad platform

Add at least one keyword, list, segment, or contact to continue. graph8 syncs matched contacts to Google as a **Customer Match** audience using securely hashed identifiers.

![Campaign wizard audience step](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/wizard-audience.png)

### 3. Creative

Design the ad content:

- Toggle **Use an existing creative** to auto-fill the headline, copy, call to action, and image from a finished Google creative in your gallery
- Or fill the fields manually: **Ad Image** (upload or pick a creative), **Headline**, **Ad Copy**, call to action, and destination URL

The live **Ad Preview** on the right shows how the ad renders.

![Campaign wizard creative step](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/wizard-creative.png)

### 4. Budget

Set your spend:

- **Daily Budget** and currency (USD, EUR, or GBP)
- **Start Date** and optional **End Date**
- **Customer Match mode** (Google only): choose how the synced audience is applied
  - **Observation**: the campaign serves broadly while Google reports how your matched audience performs
  - **Targeting**: ads serve only to the matched audience
  - **Exclusion**: the matched audience is excluded from the campaign

Without an end date, the campaign runs continuously at your daily budget until paused.

![Campaign wizard budget step](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/wizard-budget.png)

### 5. Review

Confirm the summary of campaign, audience, creative, and budget. From here you can:

- **Save Draft**: store everything without launching (needs Create permission); resume later from the Campaigns tab's Drafts list
- **Publish Campaign**: sync the audience and launch the ads on Google (needs Launch permission)

![Campaign wizard review step](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/wizard-review.png)

### 6. Publish

graph8 creates the campaign in your Google Ads account and reports the result. The new campaign appears in the **Active Campaigns** table with its status, budget, spend, and performance metrics.

## Check Your Ads in Google Ads

After publishing, verify the campaign inside Google Ads:

1. Sign in at [ads.google.com](https://ads.google.com)
2. Google organizes ads as **Account → Campaign → Ad group → Ad**
3. Open the **Campaigns** menu to find your campaign by the name you set in graph8, then open **Ads** to see each ad's review status in the **Status** column

Key Google ad statuses:

| Status | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| **Under review** | Google is evaluating the ad; editing an ad restarts its review |
| **Eligible** | Passed review and can run (the campaign must be active) |
| **Disapproved** | The ad violates a Google Ads policy and cannot show |
| **Not eligible** | The campaign is paused or ended, or the ad group is incomplete |

> **Tip:**
> Most Google ads are reviewed within one business day. If an ad is still under review after two full business days, check its status in Google Ads. To see full policy details, open the Ads page, click the **Columns** icon → **Modify columns → Attributes → Policy details → Apply**.

## Manage the Campaign from graph8

The **Active Campaigns** table in **Studio → Content → Ads → Campaigns** shows each campaign's platform status (Active, Paused, Pending, Under review, Rejected, Completed, or Failed) alongside budget, spend, impressions, clicks, and CTR. Row actions let you **Edit**, **Pause**, **Resume**, or **Delete** a campaign (Launch permission required).

Use the **Refresh** button to pull the latest status and metrics from Google.