Google Ads Course
The hands-on Google Ads course for 2026: Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen, setting by setting, plus the tracking that tells Google's AI what a good result is worth.
- 7 Modules
- 34 Lessons
- 7 hrs
- Certificate of completion
- 100% online
Industry recognised certifications with
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Google Ads Training, Setting By Setting
Learn Google Ads Online, At Your Own Pace
This is the hands-on workshop in our PPC courses, covering every Google campaign type that matters in 2026: Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen. You'll structure an account, choose keywords and match types for the AI era, write responsive search ads, build a product feed that earns its place and run Performance Max with the lights on. As with all our digital marketing courses, you learn 100% online, at your own pace.
Google's AI will set your bids, pick your searches and write your headlines, but it can't decide what a good result is worth. This PPC training puts you back in charge of that: conversion tracking, enhanced conversions, offline lead outcomes, taming recommendations and auto-apply, and a ten-minute health check. You'll even bring your campaigns to Microsoft Advertising in an afternoon. Get the basics in Paid Advertising Foundations, then sharpen results with Testing, Optimisation & Scaling.
Who This Paid Advertising Course Is For
- Business owners whose customers search Google for what they sell
- Advertisers who inherited a Google Ads account full of defaults nobody chose
- Online shops ready to run Shopping and Performance Max from a proper product feed
- Marketers who want to steer Google's AI rather than simply trust it
The problem it solves
Google's AI chases whatever you tell it counts. Feed it messy goals and defaults, and it spends confidently on the wrong things.
What you'll be able to do
Build and run Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns where every default is a decision you made.
Best for
Businesses whose buyers search, from online shops to local lead generators.
What You'll Learn On This Paid Advertising Course
- 1Google Ads FoundationsHow Google's ad machine fits together, and the set-up choices you can't take back once you've made them
- 2Search Campaigns: Keywords & StructureDeciding which typed-in wishes are worth paying for, and shutting the door on the ones that never were
- 3Search Campaigns: Ads, Assets & AIWhat people see when you show up — ads Google can shuffle, and assets that turn three lines into a shopfront
- 4Shopping & E-commerceWhere your product data does the job keywords do in Search, from the first upload to the first proper test
- 5Performance MaxOne campaign across almost all of Google's inventory: how to feed it, steer it, read it and decide if you need it
- 6Demand Gen & DisplayReaching people before they ever search, and giving Demand Gen a job that Search and Performance Max can't do
- 7Measurement, Optimisation & BeyondTeaching Google what a good result really looks like, then reading the numbers, taming the recommendations and going beyond Google
Inside The Google Ads Course — Every Module
All 7 modules and 34 lessons, with a taste of what each one hides. Click any module to open it up.
1Module 1 — Google Ads Foundations
How Google's ad machine fits together, and the set-up choices you can't take back once you've made them.
Lesson 1.1 — How Google Ads works and where ads appear
- The box that's already ticked in every new Search campaign, and when it deserves to stay ticked.
- What Google actually allows inside AI Overviews in the UK, as opposed to what you'll read online.
- Why Google's free foundations belong in place before you pay for a single click.
Lesson 1.2 — The account structure: campaigns, ad groups, asset groups, keywords and ads
- Why the old habit of splitting everything now works against Google's own bidder.
- The one-line test that decides whether something needs its own campaign or just an ad group.
- Whose login a client's account should live in, and what walks out of the door if you get it wrong.
Lesson 1.3 — The campaign types in 2026 (an overview)
- Which campaign types three very different businesses should start with, and which can wait.
- What changed in 2026, from AI Max growing up to Display moving house.
- The do-it-for-me campaign that trades away almost everything you'd need to diagnose a dip.
Lesson 1.4 — Smart Bidding and how Google's AI sets your bids
- What the bidder can see in each auction that you could never weigh up by hand.
- How one broken quote form could teach Smart Bidding the wrong lesson, and the fix to apply fast.
- Why the August 2026 change means your old targets may not mean what you think any more.
Lesson 1.5 — Setting up your account the right way
- The two sign-up choices that become permanent the moment you make them.
- Why Google's friendly sign-up flow is a trap for anyone who wants to manage the account properly.
- Who gets which of the five access levels, and the risk of an account with only one admin.
2Module 2 — Search Campaigns: Keywords & Structure
Deciding which typed-in wishes are worth paying for, and shutting the door on the ones that never were.
Lesson 2.1 — How Search ads capture high-intent demand
- Why Search can only catch demand that already exists, and what that means for your plan.
- The six kinds of search intent, and the ones that are rarely worth a penny of budget.
- What one boiler installer's £600 test revealed about cheap clicks versus dear ones.
Lesson 2.2 — Keyword research with Keyword Planner
- Why the words a business uses are rarely the words its customers type.
- What Keyword Planner's volumes and bid ranges can tell you, and the limits Google admits to.
- How a forecast exposed the ceiling on a boiler installer's plan before a penny was spent.
Lesson 2.3 — Keywords and match types in the AI era
- Why an exact match keyword no longer means “these words, in this order”.
- The checklist to clear before you let broad match carry a campaign.
- How a 60-keyword ad group was rebuilt with a fraction of the keywords, and why that was enough.
Lesson 2.4 — Building a Search campaign step by step
- Why the most expensive Google Ads mistakes tend to happen in the first ten minutes of a build.
- The location setting that decides whether you pay for people in Leeds or merely curious about it.
- How Google's monthly charging cap works, and what it means for a budget split across two campaigns.
Lesson 2.5 — Negative keywords and search-term hygiene
- The quirk that makes negative keywords behave nothing like the keywords you target.
- How one innocent-looking negative can make an entire ad group go dark.
- Why one software brand refused to block “free” outright, and the test that would change its mind.
3Module 3 — Search Campaigns: Ads, Assets & AI
What people see when you show up — ads Google can shuffle, and assets that turn three lines into a shopfront.
Lesson 3.1 — Writing responsive search ads
- Why fifteen versions of the same headline give Google just one message to work with.
- What Ad Strength actually checks, and why “Excellent” isn't the same thing as effective.
- When pinning a headline is worth the combinations it costs you.
Lesson 3.2 — Assets: sitelinks, callouts, images, calls, lead forms and more
- Why a three-line ad looks threadbare next to a rival's shopfront, and what fills the gap.
- How assets feed into Ad Rank, and what a click on a sitelink really costs you.
- The assets Google quietly creates on your behalf, and why every one deserves a check.
Lesson 3.3 — Quality Score in practice
- The myths about Quality Score that Google's own help pages quietly put to bed.
- How to tell which of three components is dragging a keyword down, and where to start fixing.
- Why a low-scoring keyword can still be one you'd be mad to pause.
Lesson 3.4 — AI Max for Search and keywordless targeting
- What AI Max switches on in every new Search campaign, and how to keep your hands on the wheel.
- Why Dynamic Search Ads are on their way out, and what to do if your account still runs them.
- The tidy-up one software brand did before letting AI Max loose on its account.
Lesson 3.5 — Brand, competitor and local search
- Why paying for clicks on your own name can make sense, and how to check it's earning its keep.
- What you can and can't do with a rival's trademark, under Google's policy and UK law.
- How Local Services Ads charge differently from everything else in Google's line-up.
4Module 4 — Shopping & E-commerce
Where your product data does the job keywords do in Search, from the first upload to the first proper test.
Lesson 4.1 — How Shopping ads work and the Merchant Center
- Why a gift set called “Amber Evening” is almost invisible to Google Shopping.
- The VAT slip that can get UK products disapproved before a shopper ever sees them.
- Three easy ways to fail a first Merchant Center review, found in twenty minutes of tidying.
Lesson 4.2 — Product feeds and why they make or break Shopping
- Why a weak feed doesn't just waste money in Shopping — it switches products off.
- What makers should do about barcodes when their products simply don't have one.
- The one feed change that makes Google treat a best-seller like a brand-new product.
Lesson 4.3 — Feed optimisation: titles, images, attributes and promotions
- How to write product titles the way shoppers type, not the way your stockroom labels them.
- Why one Target ROAS for every product quietly loses money on some and starves others.
- The five spare labels shoppers never see that let you bid on profit instead of revenue.
Lesson 4.4 — Standard Shopping vs Performance Max for retail
- Who wins when Standard Shopping and Performance Max both want the same product.
- When the older, simpler campaign type still earns its place in 2026.
- Why a margin-banded feed settled one shop's choice more than either campaign's reputation.
5Module 5 — Performance Max
One campaign across almost all of Google's inventory: how to feed it, steer it, read it and decide if you need it.
Lesson 5.1 — What Performance Max is and how it works
- Why “brilliant”, “a black box” and “it ate my brand traffic” can all be true at once.
- What Performance Max decides for you, and the short list of things you still control.
- How a search for your own brand name can slip past exact match and into PMax.
Lesson 5.2 — Assets, asset groups and audience signals
- Why grouping assets by channel misses the point of Performance Max entirely.
- What Google does if you don't give it a video, and why you probably won't like the result.
- The difference between an audience signal and real targeting, and why it changes how you use them.
Lesson 5.3 — Getting the most from PMax (and keeping control)
- Which of PMax's long list of controls are worth using, and which buy control with a lot of reach.
- The cost of every exclusion that no report will ever show you.
- How switching on New customer value forced one shop to rethink its whole ROAS target.
Lesson 5.4 — Reading Performance Max reports
- Why a PMax campaign showing a 5.0 ROAS could be your best campaign or your best-disguised one.
- Where the money went channel by channel, and what a channel with no spend is telling you.
- What each PMax report can tell you, and the numbers Google itself says to treat as directional.
Lesson 5.5 — When to use PMax — and when not to
- The kinds of business Performance Max serves badly, and what they should run instead.
- What a boiler installer's PMax was really buying with its cheap leads, and how the rebuild changed it.
- Which of Google's three PMax experiments answers your question, and why the first week doesn't count.
6Module 6 — Demand Gen & Display
Reaching people before they ever search, and giving Demand Gen a job that Search and Performance Max can't do.
Lesson 6.1 — Demand Gen: visual demand creation across Google
- Where Demand Gen ads turn up, and why Google says to start broad on channels.
- How Demand Gen differs from Performance Max, and when the extra control matters.
- Why a small shop's first Demand Gen campaign had to start without a target at all.
Lesson 6.2 — Creative and audiences for Demand Gen
- Why an image-only or video-only campaign shuts itself out of whole parts of Demand Gen.
- What changed about lookalike segments in 2026, and how to get the old behaviour back.
- How a cheap Demand Gen trial can end up costing more than a dearer one from Search.
Lesson 6.3 — The shift from Display to Demand Gen
- What Google's May 2026 announcement means for every Display campaign still running.
- The blockers to clear before you migrate, and why there's no undo button afterwards.
- Why a hand-built copy of an old Display campaign can struggle against the original.
Lesson 6.4 — The “Power Pack”: Search, PMax and Demand Gen together
- What Google really means by its “Power Pack”, in its own words and with its own interests.
- How to give Search, PMax and Demand Gen one job each so they stop chasing the same customer.
- Why three campaigns can claim more sales than you actually made, and how to count each one once.
7Module 7 — Measurement, Optimisation & Beyond
Teaching Google what a good result really looks like, then reading the numbers, taming the recommendations and going beyond Google.
Lesson 7.1 — Conversion tracking and Enhanced Conversions
- Why the Goals menu in most small accounts looks like a museum, and what to clear out first.
- How enhanced conversions keep measuring when cookies don't, and what changed in 2026.
- What Tag Assistant should show you before you trust a single number in the account.
Lesson 7.2 — Lead quality: offline conversions and enhanced conversions for leads
- Why a student asking about free grants and a homeowner with a dying combi look identical to Google.
- Two ways to send a lead's outcome back to Google Ads, and why you don't have to choose.
- Which stage of the lead journey to bid on, and why the truest signal is often too slow to use.
Lesson 7.3 — Reading the data and optimising campaigns
- The two lost impression share columns that point to completely different fixes.
- Why the last few days in Google Ads always look worse than they'll turn out.
- How a top-down diagnosis traced a rising cost per trial to its real cause before anything changed.
Lesson 7.4 — Recommendations, Optimisation Score and auto-apply
- What Optimisation Score really measures, in Google's own words.
- How to push the score past 90% while applying almost none of Google's suggestions.
- The auto-apply settings that let Google change your account without asking first.
Lesson 7.5 — Beyond Google: Microsoft Advertising in an afternoon
- Why a smaller search network can still reach people your Google campaigns never see.
- The ad placement inside Copilot you can't opt out of, and what decides whether you appear.
- How to import your Google campaigns in an afternoon without importing your assumptions.
Lesson 7.6 — Common Google Ads mistakes (and how to avoid them)
- The ten mistakes that waste the most money in Google Ads, and the pattern behind nearly all of them.
- How a ten-minute health check finds where any account is leaking money.
- Why Google Ads rewards the advertiser who checks the boring things every single week.
Flexible Online Learning & Friendly Dedicated Tutors
Choose between self-paced syllabus study, live weekly group coaching sessions, or intensive coaching with built-in career opportunities.
Online Self-Paced
Learn on your own schedule
Develop industry-leading skills entirely on your own schedule. Enjoy permanent access to pristine video guides and professional tutor review workflows.
- Your chosen course package(s)
- Professional, fun and easy-to-use learning platform
- Student support 7 days a week
- Tutor-marked assessments
- Official certification pathways
Blended Learning
Self-paced + live group coaching
Get the best of both worlds. Learn at your own pace while joining live sessions and workshops to stay on track.
- Lifetime access to help with real work after you qualify
- A free monthly live workshop on broad marketing strategy
- Private community access for peer support
- Voice channel for networking & work sessions
Coaching Intensive
Maximum support, tailored to you
The ultimate accelerated path. Partner directly with dedicated marketing experts to map bespoke campaigns and secure direct agency placements.
- 2× live weekly intensive coaching sessions with our founder & expert coaches
- Exclusive access to a premium space for Coaching Intensive members
- Priority access to support, our founder and coaches
- Real-life job opportunities
- Real-life networking opportunities
Choose Your Paid Advertising Course Package
Bundle up and save versus buying courses individually. Pick the learning style that suits you — switch below to see each price.
Essentials
The core skills to plan, launch and run profitable campaigns on Meta.
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
5 courses included
- 01. Foundations
- 02. Strategy & Funnel
- 03. Ad Creative
- 04. Google Ads
- 05. Meta Ads
- 06. LinkedIn Ads
- 07. Landing Pages
- 08. AOV & ROAS
- 09. Testing & Scaling
Elite
Everything in Essentials, plus Google Ads and the testing that scales what works.
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
7 courses included
- 01. Foundations
- 02. Strategy & Funnel
- 03. Ad Creative
- 04. Google Ads
- 05. Meta Ads
- 06. LinkedIn Ads
- 07. Landing Pages
- 08. AOV & ROAS
- 09. Testing & Scaling
Ultimate
Every paid advertising course we make — the complete, no-gaps arsenal.
Self-Paced (one-off)
Platform access · tutor support · community · tutor-marked assessments
All 9 courses
- 01. Foundations
- 02. Strategy & Funnel
- 03. Ad Creative
- 04. Google Ads
- 05. Meta Ads
- 06. LinkedIn Ads
- 07. Landing Pages
- 08. AOV & ROAS
- 09. Testing & Scaling
Struck-through prices show the equivalent value bought separately — courses at £149 each, plus the live coaching on Blended and Intensive — so every package saves you the same amount on all three tiers. Prices are one-off, per package.
Official Certificate Pathways
Get official certifications and bonus resources from the likes of Google, HubSpot, Anthropic and more to boost your CV and accelerate your career.
How We Build Our Paid Advertising Courses
Each academy program is structured to pack pure actionable utility, combining theoretical curriculum, verified demos, and certified tutor feedback.
Spec Content
Professionally written lessons that are easy to understand, fun to learn, and jam-packed with valuable information.
Knowledge Checks
Test your skills after every lesson with exciting & challenging multiple-choice questionnaires.
Official Certifications
Expand your knowledge further with structured pathways to official certifications from industry-recognised leaders like Google, HubSpot, and more.
On-Demand Support
Messaging, community, group Q&As or Coaching Intensive — we look after everyone.
Marked Assessments
Do what we teach, get marked with feedback, and earn a real certificate at the end of it all.
We're Making Education Fun Again
Our Google Ads Course is built like a game. You open one quick lesson and an hour later you're still going: protecting your streak, unlocking achievements and levelling up through match types, negative keywords, product feed fixes and Performance Max reports that finally make sense. With 34 lessons to clear, there's plenty of XP to earn. We built it to hook you on purpose, because the more you want to come back, the faster you finish and the sooner your account runs on decisions rather than defaults.
Google Ads Course — Frequently Asked Questions
The questions people ask most before they start learning Google Ads with us.
More About Our Online Paid Advertising Courses
Is Performance Max a black box?
Do I need to know paid ads before learning Google Ads?
Can I study Google Ads online in my own time?
How long will it take me to finish?
Which package do I need to get the Google Ads lessons?
Is there a certificate at the end?
How much is the course without a package?
Does it cover Shopping feeds and Microsoft Advertising too?
Download The Full Paid Advertising Curriculum
Get the complete 250-lesson breakdown across all 9 paid advertising courses — every module, every lesson — sent straight to your inbox. Or enquire and we'll help you choose the right paid advertising course or package.
