How to Set Up a Google Search Ads Campaign

From B2B tech to affiliate marketing, I’ve helped a wide range of businesses hit the ground running with Google Ads. In this post, I will explain how to set up a new Google search ads campaign, covering best practices across all of the necessary steps including campaign structure, assets, and conversion tracking. 

Review Historical Data (if available)

If your brand has never run any Google Ad campaigns before, skip to the next session. Otherwise, I recommend checking the historical data in GA4 before relaunching, because you may uncover valuable insights for optimizing campaign performance

Google Ads traffic will automatically show up in GA4 as medium = cpc. In the Acquisition overview report, the card that shows sessions by session campaign is dedicated to Google Ads campaigns. Apart from the standard reports, you can also build custom exploration reports. For example, you could build a report that combines the keywords that you bid on, with the search term that a user entered on Google before clicking on the ad.

Conversion Tracking in GA4

Conversion tracking using GA4 is easy, but it requires several steps. First, link the Google Ads and GA4 accounts. To check whether the accounts are linked properly, in GA4, the Google Ads account should be listed under “Google Ads Links.” In Google Ads, the GA4 property should appear under Linked accounts. 

Next, import Key Events from GA4 to use as conversion actions in Google Ads. Here’s a helpful tutorial video on how to do this.

When creating your ads in GA4, make sure that the final URL has UTM parameters. 

For example:

https://datachai.com/utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term={keyword}&utm_campaign=datachai&utm_content=none&utm_campaign_id={campaignid}

The above UTM template includes two dynamic values. {keyword} automatically inserts the actual search query that triggered the ad, and {campaignid} automatically inserts the Google Ads campaign ID. Google Ads replaces these placeholders with real-time values when someone clicks your ad.

Note that GA4 takes 24-48 hours to get attributed, so your conversions on Google Ads will be delayed by that much.

Campaign Structure

A well-structured Google Search Ads account typically includes separate campaigns for brand terms, competitor keywords, and themed campaigns organized by products, services, or target industries. To maintain efficiency, stick with exact or phrase match keywords for the brand campaign, exclude competitor names as negative keywords across all campaigns except the dedicated competitor campaign. 

Google’s algorithm needs options to optimize performance, so aim for at least 2 ads per ad group to enable testing. If you’re unsure of what to test, minimum variation is fine. For example, use straightforward copy in the one version (ex. “Marketing Automation Solutions”), versus urgent or price-sensitive copy in another (ex. “15% Off, Limited Time Offer”). To save time, draft ad copy in a spreadsheet for bulk uploads.

Bidding Strategy

Start manual cpc to control the budget, and then switch to smart bidding after you get some conversion data in your account. If necessary, you can set a manual maximum cpc higher than the campaign or ad group default, to boost bids for one expensive keyword while keeping all others low. 

Once you've set up and launched the ad campaigns, monitor them especially closely over the first 1-2 weeks. Avoid over-optimizing too soon because Google's algorithm needs conversion data. I'd wait for a minimum of 50 clicks before acting on any early trends such as underperforming ads or converting keywords.

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Launching a new Google Search Ads campaign requires careful planning —from ad copywriting to technical implementation. Whether you’re setting up a new account or relaunching an existing one, these best practices will help you to hit the ground running and maximize ROAS. Remember to start with manual CPC to control spend, give the algorithm enough data before making major adjustments, and leverage GA4 for reporting.

If you found this post helpful, share it with a colleague, or bookmark it for your next Google Ads campaign setup. Ready to take the next step? If you're looking to launch a new Google Ads campaign and require a digital marketing specialist, feel free to reach out to me —I offer full-service including campaign setup, conversion tracking, and ongoing optimization and reporting.

Best Practices for Japanese SEO

Posted: May 14, 2021

Updated: Jul 21, 2025

Japan is the second largest Asian region regarding ad spending in the digital market, second only to China, according to a Statista report published in March 2025. According to Statista, within the advertising market in Japan, 64% of total ad spending will come from digital sources in 2030. The Japanese advertising is increasingly using digital platforms to target tech-savvy consumers, driving a shift towards online spending. Although it's not too late for new businesses to gain a share of the Japanese market, it's important to first learn about its unique background and culture.

Digital Marketing and Advertising in Japan

You may already know that Dentsu is the most powerful advertising agency, especially in traditional media. In recent years, they have further expanded globally through a series of acquisitions. Hakuhodo is the second largest ad agency in Japan, and they have traditionally had a stronger presence in print advertising. In the web media space, CyberAgent has also risen to prominence - originally from Ameba, a popular blogging platform. Global agencies such as Ogilvy and GroupM are present in Japan, and there are also many of boutique marketing agencies that may support your entry into the Japan market.

Seasoned SEO experts may choose to work in-house to launch and optimize a Japanese site. Of course the general rules of international SEO apply - hreflang annotations, locale-specific URLs, etc., but there are also some specific best practices for Japanese SEO.

Japanese Search Engine

If you're coming from English SEO, the good news is that you probably don't need to learn a new search engine. The main search engines used in Japan are Google and Yahoo. These days Google is more popular, and generally young and tech-savvy people are using it. From a Japanese SEO perspective, you can just focus on optimizing for Google, because Yahoo is also powered by Google's algorithm.

Title and Meta Description

Google counts pixel length, not number of characters. Regardless of the language, the maximum title length is 560px, and meta description is 990px. You may know that for English, that's approximately 60 characters for the title and 160 characters for the meta description.

All Japanese characters are 20 pixels, so the maximum title length is 28 characters, and meta description is 49.5 characters, assuming you are only using full-width Japanese characters.

When checking title and meta description lengths in Excel, I prefer to use the LENB function instead of LEN. LENB counts the byte length of text in cells. Alphanumeric characters are single byte, and full width Japanese characters are double bytes. The maximum LENB for Japanese SEO titles is 60, and meta description is 135.

Top-Level Domain

The best top-level domains for Japanese sites are .co.jp and .jp.

.co.jp is available for companies registered in Japan, so it indicates that the business is legitimate and trustworthy. But if you're an existing global company with an online presence, you may keep the same corporate site and add a Japanese version, so for example www.example.com/ja/

If you use a generic top-level domain (.com, .net, .info, etc.) you can use the country targeting tool in Google Search Console to tell Google that you are targeting Japan.

URL Structure

From an SEO perspective it's fine to use either Japanese characters or Roman alphabets. I would recommend using Roman alphabets though, because it's easier to share the link via email or social media. URLs that contain Japanese characters could have encoding issues when they are copied and shared.

You can include Japanese keywords in the URL with Romaji (Roman alphabets to spell Japanese words). For more information about non-English URLs, Google Search Central's John Mueller gives his answer in the video below.

SEO Tools

ahrefs, SEMrush, and keyword planner in Google ads are all useful for Japanese keyword research. The SEO data is not quite as accurate as for English, but I've found it to be good enough. In my experience, SEMrush tends to be better for technical and competitive metrics of Japanese sites, while ahrefs is more reliable for search volume.

As far as I know, there isn't a Japanese equivalent to the well-loved platforms like ahrefs and SEMrush in English. There is one called mieru-ca but even the cheapest plan is around $1,000 monthly. Some Japanese marketers prefer mieru-ca because the UI is more intuitive for them. However, that is simply an issue of the website design, not related to the accuracy of SEO data provided.

Keyword Research

Written Japanese uses a mix of 3 different alphabets (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) so there's multiple ways of writing the same search query. Usually there's one that looks and sounds the most natural to a native, and that one will have the highest search volume, while the other variations will have little to no search volume.

Link Building

If you have extensive resources or connections in digital PR, you may try link building through feature articles or interviews in online media. Cold outreach for backlink exchanges isn't a common practice, so your efforts may not pay off as much as they did for English-speaking markets. Otherwise, you can try blogging platforms. At the time of writing, links from note, Qiita, and Wantedly count as dofollow.

Hosting Server

Should you use a Japanese hosting server? There isn't a definitive answer to this question among SEO professionals, but one thing to keep in mind is that the server location can affect page speed, which of course can affect SEO.

According to Google Search Central way back in 2007, the web server's IP address is a factor for search results. If you are targeting Japanese SEO, you might have some advantage if you use a rental hosting server located in Japan.

Later in 2015, John Mueller gave a slightly different statement in the webmasters forum.

For search, specifically for geotargeting, the server's location plays a very small role, in many cases it's irrelevant. If you use a ccTLD or a gTLD together with Webmaster Tools, then we'll mainly use the geotargeting from there, regardless of where your server is located. You definitely don't need to host your website in any specific geographic location -- use what works best for you, and give us that information via a ccTLD or Webmaster Tools.

Web Design

You'll immediately notice that the Japanese (left) and American (right) websites of Starbucks have a totally different look and feel. Traditionally, local Japanese websites have displayed as much information as possible on the homepage. However, more and more web developers nowadays are favoring simplistic and minimalist designs. This trend is especially growing among younger generations.

Japanese SEO Services

Japanese business culture has traditionally valued in-person and phone interactions, and in some industries, it's still uncommon for companies to have sophisticated digital marketing teams. So there's a chance for foreign companies to swoop in and even get an advantage over the local competition for Japanese SEO.

Although English and Japanese SEO share some similarities, Japanese SEO requires knowing the local nuances to implement it correctly. Finding the right keywords can be especially tricky, due to the Japanese language having 3 different alphabets.

As a native born and raised in Japan, I have supported numerous businesses in their Japanese SEO strategies -- from website launch to keyword research, content writing, lead generation, and more. If you are looking to execute an SEO strategy in Japan and require a local expert, feel free to reach out to me.

How to Use Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) Query Studio

Query studio is probably my most-used AppExchange App in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. It’s a free app that allows you to quickly query from data from SFMC data extensions and data views.

The version of SQL used in SFMC is based on, but doesn’t precisely correspond to, SQL Server 2016 capabilities. The main difference from standard SQL is that SFMC supports only SELECT statements. INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE are not officially supported, because the queries are executed as a part of the backend query and are limited to provide non-breakable functionality. 

Unsupported SQL Functions in SFMC Query Studio

Keep in mind that the following SQL functions are either not supported or require adjustments in SFMC Query Studio. 

WITH Clause

SFMC Query Studio only accepts SELECT statements, meaning that WITH clauses, which are one level above, are not supported.

Instead, use subqueries such as the below.

SELECT TOP 10 a.[Subscriber Key],
(
    SELECT TOP 1 COUNT(b.[Subscriber Key]) as ct 
    FROM [testDE] 
    WHERE b.[Subscriber Key] = a.[Subscriber Key]
) as Cnt
FROM [testDE] a

This query should validate and run with no issues, returning the expected results. Even if an error persists in SFMC Query Studio ("Unable to create temporary data extension: Field name cannot be blank."), it will definitely work in Automation Studio.

ORDER BY

Anyone who has tried to use ORDER BY in SFMC Query Studio has probably encountered this error before.

An error occurred while checking the query syntax. Errors: The ORDER BY clause is invalid in views, inline functions, derived tables, subqueries, and common table expressions, unless TOP or FOR XML is also specified.

To get around this, simply add TOP 100 PERCENT or use a subquery to rank fields by subscriber.

LIMIT

Similarly, queries using the LIMIT expression will need to be written using TOP, as SFMC query studio uses T-SQL syntax.

The query below will return an error:

SELECT SubscriberKey, EmailAddress 
    FROM MASTER_IMPORT
        WHERE EmailAddress LIKE "%gmail.com" LIMIT 300

Rewrite it using the TOP expression:

SELECT TOP 300 SubscriberKey, EmailAddress 
FROM MASTER_IMPORT
WHERE EmailAddress LIKE "%gmail.com"

SELECT *

Unfortunately, SFMC Query Studio does not support SELECT *. Instead, you'll need to write out all of the column names that you need. If a column name contains a space, hyphen or is a SQL's reserved keyword, you need to capture it with squared brackets.

SELECT
	ContactKey
	, EmailAddress
	, [External Contact Id]

Single Line Comments

SFMC Query Studio generally does not support the single-line SQL comment using two dashes (–). I've gotten away with very short (one or two words) single line SQL comments, but anything longer and I'm usually met with a prompt to use multi-line comments start instead (even if the comment is single-line).

Date Functions

SFMC Query Studio does not support user-defined functions, but there are multiple date functions that are useful on a day-to-day basis for marketing automation purposes. In many cases, GETDATE and DATEADD are all I need.

SELECT subscriberkey
FROM testDE
WHERE createdate < DATEADD(year, -1, GETDATE())

You can also simply hard-code a date in yyyy-mm-dd format.

SELECT subscriberkey
FROM testDE
WHERE createdate < '2024-01-01'

GETDATE gets server time, which for SFMC is Central Standard Time (UTC -6), without changes between standard and daylight savings time. This remains the case even if you update your timezone settings in Setup. To get date data in your desired timezone, use the SYSDATETIMEOFFSET() function.

SFMC Query Studio Results

SFMC query studio allows us to skip the tedious process of setting up a SQL Activity in Automation Studio and manually defining a target Data Extension. Instead, the query results are automatically saved as temporary Data Extensions for quick access.

Navigate to Data Extensions > QueryStudioResults. This is where all of the query outputs are stored for 24 hours. Each result is saved as a separate Data Extension with a timestamped name (e.g., *"QueryStudioResults at 2025-07-21 T0016300000"*), making it easy to identify recent queries.

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Although SFMC query studio can be a bit buggy at times, it has still been a huge time saver for me. Overall, I’m satisfied with this app, especially since it’s completely free. If you haven’t already, download SFMC query studio and give it a try.

Below is a tutorial and introduction to SFMC query studio, from Salesforce Labs Day.