How to set up Google Ads for my website

Google Ads lets you run paid search campaigns to drive traffic to your website.

Step 1: Create a Google Ads account

Go to ads.google.com and sign in with your Google account. Follow the setup wizard to create your first campaign. When it asks for your website URL, enter your Solo site address (e.g. soloist.ai/yourhandle or your custom domain if you have one connected).

Step 2: Verify your website

Google Ads may ask you to verify that you own the website. When given a choice of verification method, use the DNS verification option, not the file upload option.

Here's why: Solo does not give you direct access to your site's file system, so uploading a verification file is not possible. DNS verification works through your domain registrar and does not require any changes to your Solo website.

To verify via DNS:

1. In Google Ads, choose the Domain Name Server (DNS) verification method.
2. Google will give you a TXT record to add to your domain (it looks like google-site-verification=XXXX).
3. Log in to your domain registrar (e.g. GoDaddy, Namecheap, or wherever you bought your domain).
4. Go to your domain's DNS settings and add a new TXT record with the value Google provided.
5. Save the record. DNS changes can take a few minutes to a few hours to propagate.
6. Go back to Google Ads and click Verify.

If you bought your domain through Solo, you can manage your DNS records by going to the designer, opening Settings, and navigating to your domain settings.

Note: You need a custom domain connected to your Solo site to use DNS verification. If you are still on a Solo subpath (e.g. soloist.ai/yourhandle), you won't have access to DNS settings.