Google Ads is an auction where Ad Rank — your bid combined with Quality Score — determines position. Quality beats budget. Know your numbers before starting: Lifetime Value, conversion rate, and max affordable CPA. Start with Search campaigns targeting high-intent keywords. Build extensive negative keyword lists from day one. Send paid traffic to purpose-built landing pages, never your homepage. Set up conversion tracking before spending a dollar. Review search term reports weekly and add irrelevant terms as negatives. For most local markets, $1,000–3,000/month is a reasonable starting point. Review and optimize weekly — never set and forget.