Are Google Ads eating up your budget? Every dollar you invest in ads should bring in results, but it’s easy to make mistakes that can cost you. Don’t worry, you’re not alone—many businesses face the same hurdles. As an eCommerce agency, we audit the strategies of various eCommerce brands every day and have noticed some recurring issues. Our Google Ads expert, Tamas, has shared five common mistakes that businesses often make. These tips will help you avoid those pitfalls and maximize your ad spend.
5 Google Ads Mistakes That Can Quickly Drain Your Ad Spend (And How To Fix Them)
1. Inaccurate Conversion Tracking: Every Google Ad should have a clear goal. Are you aiming for more email sign-ups, increased purchases, boosted website visits, or more app downloads? To understand how successful your ad spend has been, you need to have the correct conversion tracking metrics in place. Without proper tracking, you won't know if you're hitting your targets.
There are two major pitfalls here: tracking non-conversion events as conversions and tracking duplicate conversions. Tracking non-conversion events, like page views, as conversions can give you a false sense of success. Similarly, if a user completes the same conversion multiple times, it can skew your data and lead to misguided decisions.
How to Fix It: Double-check that your conversion tracking is correctly set up in Google Ads. Use tools like Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics to ensure all conversions are being recorded accurately. Make sure to differentiate between true conversions and non-conversion events. Regularly audit your setup to catch and correct any instances of duplicate tracking.
2. Not Removing Negative Keywords: A crucial part of getting your ads to the right audience is by filtering out the wrong ones. Negative keywords help you save your budget by preventing your ads from showing up in irrelevant searches.
Google has recently broadened what they consider an exact match keyword. Previously, your ads would appear for people who made spelling mistakes or typed something closely related to your exact match keyword. Now, Google will display your ads for searches with the same meaning as your exact match keywords.
For example: If your exact match keyword is "wedding dresses," Google might show your ad for searches like "wedding outfits." This broader term might attract visitors looking for bridesmaid dresses or suits, not just wedding dresses. This can lead to wasted ad spend on clicks from people who aren’t your target audience.
To avoid this, regularly review your search terms report to identify irrelevant searches and add those terms as negative keywords. This helps refine your audience and ensures your budget is spent on clicks that are more likely to convert. Using negative keywords is essential to filter out these broader matches and maintain a focused, high-intent audience for your ads.
3. Not Choosing the Right Landing Page
People have short attention spans. If you want someone to buy a product, send them to a targeted landing page instead of your homepage to stop them from bouncing off. This reduces the effort required for your visitors to take the action you want them to, and brings you closer to your goal. If your goal is sign-ups, direct traffic to a page designed for that purpose. If you’re promoting a product, link directly to the product page. Ensure these pages are optimized for conversions with clear calls to action.
4. Their Daily Budget is Very Low: Setting a very low daily budget can hinder your Google Ads campaigns. Google needs sufficient data to optimize your ads effectively, and a low budget might limit your ability to gather this data.
Start with a budget that allows for enough daily impressions and clicks to gather meaningful data. As you see what works, you can adjust your budget accordingly to maximize performance.
5. Not AB Testing Your Ads Enough: The importance of testing cannot be overstated. By running various tests, you can identify what works best for your audience and refine your strategy accordingly.
Create multiple versions of your ad headlines and descriptions. Use Google’s responsive search ads feature to test multiple combinations automatically. If you're looking for ideas on how to A/B test your campaigns, check out our blog on A/B testing ideas for Google Ads.
Wrapping Up
We hope this information was useful for you and helps you avoid these common Google Ads mistakes. If you're interested in growing your business with Google Ads and need some expert assistance, we’re here to help.
If your brand generates over $50,000 in monthly revenue, you can book a free strategy call with us. During this call, we’ll audit your retention marketing and paid marketing setup for free, providing valuable insights and recommendations.
Interested? Book Your Free Strategy Call and unlock your business’s full potential.
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