PPC Assistant Skills UK: 90-Day Roadmap to Your First Role

Your 90‑day ppc assistant skills uk roadmap

Weeks 1–2: Set up, tools, and UK context

• Create a Google Ads practice account and set currency to GBP and time zone to UK.
• Install or review GA4 on your practice site; confirm page view and at least one conversion (e.g., form submit or call click).
• Collect baseline assets: one product or service, unique value points, and two landing pages to test.
• Draft a naming convention for campaigns, ad groups, and assets so you stay tidy.

Weeks 3–4: Keyword research and account structure

• Map intent buckets: high‑intent (buy/book), mid‑intent (compare), low‑intent (learn).
• Build a seed list using Google suggestions and a competitor scan; expand with close UK variants and British spellings.
• Group tightly by intent and theme; choose match types deliberately (avoid unfocused Broad without signals).
• Start a “never bid” negative list (jobs, free, DIY, wholesale) plus location mismatches.

Weeks 5–6: Ad copy, assets, and policy basics

• Write two ad variants per ad group with a single, testable difference (e.g., benefit vs. urgency).
• Add assets: sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, and call extension if relevant.
• Check UK compliance and sensitive claims; avoid unverifiable superlatives.
• Document your test hypothesis and success metric (CTR or CVR depending on volume).

Weeks 7–8: Tracking and GA4 conversions

• Confirm GA4 events for forms, calls, or sign‑ups; validate with real tests and debug tools.
• Align conversion names in Google Ads with GA4 to avoid confusion in reports.
• Add UTMs to landing URLs; define a simple convention and use it consistently.
• Create a mini validation doc: where events fire, evidence screenshots, and known caveats.

Weeks 9–10: Build, pause, and run the first optimisation loop

• Build search campaigns in a paused state; review settings (locations, language, devices, ad rotation).
• Run a final QA using your checklist before any spend: bids, budgets, negatives, assets, and policies.
• Unpause for a short controlled window or simulate with historical planners; log early signals.
• Mine search terms, add negatives, and document changes with reasons.

Weeks 11–12: Reporting, landing pages, and stakeholder comms

• Create a one‑page report: objective, traffic quality indicators, top queries, actions taken, and next steps.
• Link insights to the page experience: speed, clarity, offer, and form friction.
• Draft two landing page improvement hypotheses and measure with GA4 events.
• Prepare a two‑minute spoken update explaining what you changed and why.

If your ads get clicks but few enquiries, walk through these practical landing page checks before touching bids again.

Days 85–90: Portfolio and interview prep