15 typical Google Ads campaign mistakes that will drain your budget without delivering results
Many companies contact the WebMa team with the problem that they are running Google Ads campaigns, but they are not getting the expected results. There can be several reasons behind this, so we always look at the ad account from two perspectives, an operational and strategic point of view. In both areas there may be gaps that can cause poor campaign performance.
Below we show the typical causes that we most often encounter in the Google Ads ad campaigns we audit.
1. You don’t measure business results
If we have an ecommerce website, we need to measure the number of purchases, orders, contacts, and requests for quotes. If this is missing, we will not know which of our ads, campaigns, keywords, ad groups are bringing in customers and at what conversion cost (CPA) or return on investment (ROAS). Without this data, it is difficult to properly optimize our Google Ads campaigns.
2.You are not allocating the budget properly between different networks
In the vast majority of cases, most of the clicks and conversions come from search campaigns, but clicks are more expensive here. Therefore, it is crucial to use the right budget split to reflect the results. For example, performance optimisation across networks can be helped by using the so-called pmax (performance max) campaign type.
3. The campaign structure is not optimal for smart bidding strategy
Campaign optimisation based on manual cpc has now been replaced by campaigns using the smart bidding strategy. For these to work optimally, a completely different campaign setup is required to ensure that sufficient data and signals are available for proper machine learning and proper operation.
4. The geographical targeting of your campaigns is inadequate
We need to target our ads to the geographic area that is most important to us (residents). In many cases, campaigns are left on the default setting and target not only users in the targeted location but also users interested in the targeted location, which is not optimal, if we only ship from our webshop to Hungary.
5. You don’t use negative keywords
The use of negative keywords is very important to exclude irrelevant searches from our campaigns, especially when using smart bidding and general match keywords!
6. You don’t advertise to your own brand name in search
By skipping this, we allow competitors to target users who are specifically looking for our company name or brand with their ads and drive them away from us. Remember that paid ads appear above organic results and anyone else can advertise on our brand name!
7. You only use broad matching keywords
This can result in a lot of clicks that are not actually looking for the exact product or service that your company offers, but something completely different. Generic matching keywords tend to pull in completely irrelevant searches. This leads to you paying for a lot of clicks that are not actually relevant to you and therefore don’t bring conversions, i.e. purchases. Let’s use the other keyword merging types to control which searches our ads appear for!
8. You use bids that are too high or too low.
When using smart bidding strategies, it is particularly important to set realistic goals for your campaigns. If we set a target ROAS (expected return on investment) or target CPA (target cost per outcome) too high, we limit our campaign, and if we are too permissive, we can pay far more for an event than is strictly necessary.
9. You only use one type of targeting for Display campaigns
It’s always a good idea to try at least 2-3 types of ad targeting for Google Display ads to see which type of targeting gives the best results.
10. You don’t use 1st party data in your campaigns
An important part of the preparation for the 3rd party cookie rollout (already announced by Google) is collecting and implementing 1st party data to boost your Google Ads campaigns. Examples include the use of enhanced conversions, offline conversion measurement or the use of a customer list of your existing customers to support learning from your intelligent bidding strategy.
11. Your campaign landing page is inadequate
Your campaign landing page must meet several basic requirements to ensure that your campaigns deliver the results you want, such as fast loading (max 3 seconds), responsive on all devices and usability (also on mobile!), conversion optimization (easy to follow conversion path, easy to find conversion points).
12. You aren’t running the campaign types that best fit your business and marketing objectives.
Our main business and marketing objectives, as well as our current position in the market, will largely determine which campaign types we should use in Google Ads. A professional or agency with many years of experience can help you find the best ad and campaign formats for your business.
13. Lack of campaign monitoring and optimisation
For campaigns to work properly, the performance of search terms, placements, targeting and ad copy must be monitored. Campaigns should be monitored and managed at least weekly, and daily for larger campaign structures. Campaign performance should be analysed and optimised in line with your core business objectives.
14. You don’t use retargeting
We all know the saying that it’s much cheaper to keep the customers/clients you’ve already acquired than to acquire new ones. In the online world, we can use remarketing lists to do this (gathering website visitors, customers). It is worth targeting users who have already visited your website with your message again. This is what remarketing ads are for.
15. You don’t use ad extensions.
The use of ad extensions is essential to increase the effectiveness of search campaigns. Add all the extensions that are relevant and feasible in your case (location, call-in, internal link, highlight, detail, image and opinion extensions).
Summary
The Google Ads advertising system can deliver excellent results for any advertiser, but there are a number of prerequisites for good performance, such as a quality campaign landing page, a campaign structure that allows smart bidding to work properly, ongoing campaign monitoring and optimisation, and many other conditions.
In 2022, it is strongly recommended to use your own collected data in your Google Ads campaigns, as well as to set up Google Consent Mode.