Most Google Ads beginners do not fail because the platform is impossible. They fail because a few common mistakes quietly waste budget, week after week. Here are ten of them, with a fix for each.
1 to 5: setup mistakes
- 1. No conversion tracking: fix it first, using the conversion tracking guide, or you cannot tell what works.
- 2. Broad keywords only: add phrase and exact match, and check the search terms report every few days.
- 3. No negative keywords: add “free”, “jobs”, and other terms that do not match a paying customer.
- 4. One ad group for everything: split by topic, so ads and landing pages match each group.
- 5. Sending all traffic to the home page: send each ad to the page that delivers its promise.
6 to 10: management mistakes
- 6. Judging by clicks, not cost per conversion: a 6% click rate with no leads is worse than a 3% click rate with leads.
- 7. Changing settings every day: give changes at least a week, unless spend is out of control.
- 8. Setting an unrealistic Target CPA: start near your real CPA, then move it gradually.
- 9. Ignoring location and schedule: if you serve one city, or only work weekdays, set that in the campaign.
- 10. Raising the budget before fixing the funnel: fix the landing page and offer first, then scale with the Budget Calculator.
A simple weekly routine prevents most of these: check search terms, pause keywords with many clicks and no conversions, review cost per conversion by ad group, and test one ad change at a time. For deeper help, start with keyword research, Quality Score, and the full guides index.