Google Ads can be one of the strongest marketing tools available; however, only if done correctly. Many businesses will spend thousands, or maybe even tens of thousands, on Google Ads campaigns, all the while not realizing they are making serious mistakes that ultimately lead to budget waste, low conversion rates, and lost opportunities. The bright side? These mistakes are very simple to spot and fix with a bit of strategy and detail.
In this post, I’m going to go through common Google Ads mistakes, how you might be getting held back by them, and some tips on how to fix Google Ads campaigns to improve performance.
One of the most frequent Google Ads mistakes is launching campaigns with no tracking set up correctly. If you have no tracking, you are truly blind – you will not know what ads have generated leads or sales.
Setting up Google conversion tracking is crucial to understand ROI, optimise your bids and see what your customers are doing. The first step is linking your Google Ads account to GA4 and Google Tag Manager, then begin tracking conversions, like form fills, purchases, or phone calls.
When you know exactly where your conversions are coming from, you will find it much easier to make informed decisions and adjust budgets accordingly.
Some of the common mistakes in Google Ads are that if you are advertising to the wrong audience, you are just wasting money. Bad audience segmentation is one of the easiest ways to waste ad spend.
Instead of broad demographic targeting, you should refine your targeting to focus on:
Good targeting means your ads can reach the right people, at the right time, producing improved click-through rates (CTR) and less wasted ad spend.
There are many mistakes in Google Ads, one of which is keyword optimization. Many advertisers will do the work of adding keywords, but they will not apply negative keywords to exclude ads from appearing on irrelevant searches. Regularly check your search term reports, and be diligent about adding negative keywords to exclude traffic that does not convert. For example, if you are running a premium product campaign, you would add “free” as a negative keyword to exclude any irrelevant clicks. This easy practice will help ensure ad relevance, reduce CPC, and get more bang for your buck for your budget.
Even the most accurate targeting won’t save your campaign if your ad copy is weak. A poorly written ad that is boring and/or ambiguous and stuffed with keywords will not drive clicks and that is one of the biggest Google Ads mistakes.
That’s why responsive search ads (RSAs) should be your friend. RSAs allow you to test multiple headlines and descriptions, with Google serving the best-performing combinations of ad copy. You can not only get successful ad copy by adopting RSAs, but also strong CTAs and/or links directing your audience to what speaks to their pain points.
One of the costliest Google Ads blunders is sending users to irrelevant or poorly optimised landing pages. Your landing page is the conversion point, so it needs to closely match what your message states in the ad.
To fix these landing pages, make sure they are:
When we understand more about how to fix Google Ads, investing in page optimisation is one of the easiest ways to improve Quality Scores and reduce CPC.
Ad extensions often get overlooked by advertisers, but they’re one of the simplest things to do to improve ad visibility and ultimately effectiveness. Most ad extensions can improve your click-through rate (CTR) and provide helpful information about your business before a potential user even clicks on your ad. Examples of ad extensions are sitelinks, callouts, location extensions, and structured snippets.
To get the most out of your ads, you can use a combination of the different ad extensions that apply to your business. For example, a local business may want to use call and location extensions, while an e-commerce store may want to use structured snippets to show promotions.
Automation can be a useful tool; however, trusting it blindly can have undesired consequences. Google’s Smart Campaigns and automated bidding strategies will make managing your campaigns easier, but they may not always be consistent with your intended goals. That said, it is best to limit your use of both, automating what you can, but still being in a position to control and impact your marketing effectiveness. Automate as much as possible, review automated recommendations regularly, test changes on a limited basis, and analyze based on reality.
Another expensive one I have seen is not remarketing to warm leads.
Remarketing is a way to bring users back who have engaged with your site but have not converted yet.
By segmenting audiences (i.e., cart abandoners, blog readers, past purchasers) and remarketing them with specific ads, you can get ad conversions at a high rate without spending much money on a cold audience.
The most common mistake you will make in Google Ads is the “set and forget” mentality.
Your campaigns will need consistent checks to be effective.
Set time aside for these audits at least weekly and bi-weekly! Assess all relevant metrics, including CTR, CPC, Quality Score, conversion rate and so on.
Setting yourself up with a sustainable optimisation approach will allow you to identify performance decreases ahead of time and to sustain profitability.
The “set it and forget it” approach is the biggest mistake you will make with Google Ads.
Your campaigns will require maintenance and regular checks to be effective.
Schedule time for at least weekly & bi-weekly audits! Evaluate all important metrics like CTR, CPC, Quality Score, conversion rate etc.
Establishing a sustainable optimisation plan will help you identify performance declines in advance and remain profitable.
There are additional factors unrelated to the biggest concerns that can hinder campaigns, including inconsistent branding, overly complicated account structures, and simply not testing creative assets. To see a full look at best practices in the industry, there is a great guide on common PPC mistakes to avoid.
If your campaigns aren’t working, it’s probably one or more of these mistakes in Google Ads. The good thing is they are all fixable. By improving tracking, narrowing your targeting, utilizing negative keywords and providing a good experience for users, when you gain insight on how to fix Google Ads and Google Ads optimization, you’ll start to see results without breaking the bank.
Managing campaigns can seem daunting. That’s why so many companies opt to partner with a PPC agency in Dubai, or any other local specialist. That way, you can lean on their expertise. No matter whether you manage your campaigns in-house or through an agency, success with Google Ads ultimately comes down to continual testing, tweaking and optimising.
With these strategies, you should be able to turn wasted ad spend into quantifiable growth.
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