When used correctly, Google Ads can be a powerful tool for generating leads and promoting business growth. Running strong search ads within the right search campaigns helps businesses maximize return on their ad spend.
Businesses often waste a lot of money each month because they (or their advertisers) make simple mistakes. This is bound to happen when their advertising campaigns aren’t set up well from the start.
To get the most out of your budget, avoid these Google Ads mistakes Cannonball sees far too often. These mistakes often show up as branded campaigns, ignoring negative keywords, using broad match terms, and more.
We’ve even highlighted the most common Google Ads mistakes to avoid so you can make smarter use of your budget.
| # | Top Google Ad Mistakes | At a Glance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Paying for clicks on your own name |
| 2 |
|
Ad spend wasted on irrelevant searches |
| 3 |
|
Ads show for unrelated search terms |
| 4 |
|
Clicks drop off without conversions |
| 5 |
|
No reliable data to guide decisions |
1. Running a Name Brand Campaign
Running a name brand campaign may seem like a tried and true way to capture the audience most likely to convert. It makes sense, the people searching for your business are the most likely to interact with your business.
We hear the phrase “I can’t miss out on people searching for my business” all the time. Even more, the fear of competitors showing up when people are looking for your business is very real.
So, you decide to run a name brand campaign, and you see your organic traffic drop off. You might even see your competitors show up more. What is going on?
You’ve fallen into the trap of paying for your own name. Your competitors start to outrank you organically, and you’ve allocated your budget to protecting your name rather than generating new leads.
The better approach is to invest in SEO to build a strong foundation that is less likely to be toppled by competitors and invest those dollars into what Google Ads does best—generate leads.
2. Ignoring Negative Keywords
Negative keywords block your ads from showing up on those pesky irrelevant searches. By not using negative keywords, you are destined to throw money away.
Without those negative keywords, a bank running a campaign for “personal checking accounts” could be getting traffic from “high yield savings account rates” searches. You’ll always want to include negative keywords in your campaigns and keep that list updated periodically.
3. Using Only Broad Match Keywords
Another one of the keyword mistakes we see too often is the use of only broad match keywords. There are three types of keywords; broad, phrase, and exact. Exact match keywords require an exact keyword search, word for word.
An exact match keyword for “colleges in Iowa” will only serve your ad when someone searches “colleges in Iowa.” That same keyword, now as phrase match, needs to include that phrase somewhere in the search.
Your ad could show for “best colleges in Iowa” or “top colleges in Iowa for business degrees.” Now broad; that same “colleges in Iowa” keyword could show your ad on any search containing “college” or “Iowa” or any loosely related term.
You could show up for “what college classes at the university of minnesota are hard.” Talk about irrelevant. Pair this with common Google Ads mistake #2, and your Google Ads account is in rough shape.
4. Sending Ad Traffic to an Irrelevant Landing Page
Your ad could be perfect. You’ve got the keywords, the best headlines, compelling descriptions, you’ve even added sitelinks, callouts, & the whole kitchen sink.
But then you sent those people to an irrelevant, slow, outdated landing page. All of that hard work, and people bounce. If your page takes too long to load, people leave.
If your page doesn’t have a clear call to action, people aren’t likely to take any action. The journey that consumers go through from ad impression, to landing page engagement, to purchase or conversion needs to be clear.
Keep your landing pages clean of clutter, deliver what you need, and more importantly deliver what the consumer needs. Keep the CTA clear and visible while maintaining a consistent message from ad to website.
5. Improper Conversion Tracking
Too many times, we’ve seen businesses become too focused on vanity metrics. Clicks, impressions, even the click-through rate. What really moves the needle is results, measurable results.
How do you know if your ads are truly working if you can’t measure them against your business goals? This is where proper conversion tracking is the most essential.
When we say proper conversion tracking, we don’t just mean the default Google Ads Conversion Tracking, such as calls directly from ads or built-in sign ups. We mean your website, your business, and your customer’s journey.
Implementing advanced web tracking through Google Tag Manager can help guide campaigns during every stage, and provides true insight to what is working and what is not. Having clean conversion data ensures better reporting and smarter decisions for your digital advertising campaigns.
Ready to Make a Splash?
Do any of the above sound familiar? Maybe have you wondering how effectively your marketing dollars have been spent? We get it! You aren’t alone either.
Want to get the most out of your Google Ads but don’t know how or who to go to? Contact Cannonball Digital today to learn more about our services and get additional information on how we can optimize your campaigns.