What Google Ads Is and Why It’s Still Your Fastest Growth Lever
Think of Google Ads as a microphone that puts your message in front of customers while they’re actively searching. It’s not just another ad channel; it’s intent advertising. Someone types best office chairs near me, and your ad can appear exactly when they’re deciding to buy. That immediacy is why businesses keep pouring money into Google Ads.
How it works, simply: advertisers bid on keywords, Google runs an auction, and ads show to users based on relevance, bid and Quality Score. When set up right, Google Ads drives targeted traffic, leads and sales almost immediately. When set up poorly, it becomes an expensive blur of clicks that never convert.
So yes, Google Ads is powerful. And yes, it will eat your budget if you make avoidable mistakes. Below are the five mistakes I see most often, why each one is leaking your cash, and exactly what to do about it.
Mistake #1 – Ignoring Conversion Tracking (You are Flying Blind)
Why it’s killing your budget: If you don’t track conversions, you don’t know what a click is worth. You are paying for traffic without knowing whether that traffic turns into leads, calls or purchases. That means you are optimising for clicks rather than value, and Google’s automated tools have zero signal to improve performance.
Fix now:
● Set up conversion actions for real outcomes (purchases, form fills, calls).
● Use Google Tag Manager + GA4 for reliable deployment.
● Validate conversions with Tag Assistant and test manually.
● Turn on enhanced conversions if available.
Once you measure conversions, you can calculate CPA and switch to value-focused bidding.
Mistake #2 – Targeting Irrelevant or Overly Broad Keywords
Why it’s killing your budget: Broad, untargeted keywords attract low-intent clicks. You’ll get traffic, yes, but the people clicking won’t be ready to buy. Broad match without negatives is the single biggest waste I see: your ad shows for queries you’d never want.
Fix now:
● Move high-intent terms to phrases and exact matches. Use broad matches cautiously and only with strong negatives.
● Use long-tail keywords that indicate buyer intent (e.g., “enterprise payroll software demo”).
● Review the Search Terms report weekly and add irrelevant queries to negative lists.
● Organise tight ad groups so ads match intent and raise Quality Score.
Mistake #3 – Sending Traffic to Poor Landing Pages
Why it’s killing your budget: Great ads can die on landing pages. If your page is slow, confusing, or doesn’t match the ad promise, people bounce, and your conversion rate collapses. Lower conversion rates mean higher CPA and more wasted spend.
Fix now:
● Ensure message match: headline → ad → landing page must tell the same story.
● Speed up the page (compress images, use lazy loading, fix render-blocking scripts).
● Prioritise mobile: over half of paid traffic is mobile; the experience must be flawless.
● Keep one clear CTA above the fold and simplify forms.
● A/B test variants, small UX wins often double conversions.
Mistake #4 – Not Using Negative Keywords (Or Not Maintaining Them)
Why it’s killing your budget: Without negative keywords, your ads show for junk queries like “free,” “jobs,” “DIY,” and other irrelevant searches. You pay for every click, even when the searcher isn’t a buyer.
Fix now:
● Pull the Search Terms report and add junk queries as negatives weekly.
● Maintain shared negative lists for campaigns that target similar intent.
● Use phrase/exact negative matches for precision.
● Set up automated rules or scripts to flag high-spend, low-conversion terms
Negative keywords are the easiest ROI, low effort, huge impact.
Mistake #5 – Wrong Bidding Strategy & “Set-and-Forget” Automation
Why it’s killing your budget: Automation is tempting. But smart bidding needs good data. Switching to Target CPA/ROAS with no conversion history, or setting it and walking away, often causes overbidding or underperformance as algorithms learn. And once you stop checking, small problems compound into a big drain.
Fix now:
● Start with manual CPC or conservative automated modes while collecting conversions.
● Only shift to aggressive smart bidding after you have stable conversion volume (rule of thumb: 15–50 conversions/month per campaign).
● Use bid caps during learning, and monitor device, location and hour performance.
● Check in weekly during the learning window, don’t change bids daily or you’ll reset learning.
