Google Ads is an auction where Ad Rank — bid combined with Quality Score — determines position. Quality beats budget. Know your LTV, conversion rate, and max affordable CPA before starting. 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. For most local markets, $1,000–3,000/month is a reasonable starting point. Optimize weekly — never set and forget.