Google Ads can be one of the most profitable channels in your marketing, or one of the most wasteful. The difference usually comes down to a handful of avoidable mistakes. Here are five we see most often.
1. Ignoring negative keywords. Without a solid negative keyword list, your ads show for irrelevant searches and burn budget on clicks that will never convert. Review your search terms report regularly and add negatives.
2. Sending all traffic to your homepage. Your homepage is rarely the best place to convert ad traffic. Dedicated landing pages that match the ad promise convert far better.
3. Trusting broad match without oversight. Broad match can find new customers, but left unchecked it can also spend heavily on loosely related searches. Pair it with strong negatives and close monitoring.
4. Not tracking real conversions. If you optimize toward clicks instead of leads or sales, you are optimizing for the wrong thing. Accurate conversion tracking is the foundation of everything.
5. Setting and forgetting. Ad accounts decay. Competitors change bids, new search terms appear, and creative fatigues. Accounts need ongoing attention to stay profitable.
Most of these mistakes are easy to fix once you know to look for them. If you would like a free audit that flags exactly where your budget is leaking, the Gadsacc team is happy to help.