Avoid These 10 Google Ads Mistakes to Save Time and Money

Google Ads can feel like a magic wand for your business. Imagine your products or services showing up right when someone is searching for them! It’s a powerful tool, no doubt. But here’s the thing: if you’re not careful, that magic wand can quickly turn into a money drain. Many businesses, especially small ones, jump into Google Ads with good intentions but end up losing a lot of cash due to some pretty common mistakes.

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. The good news is, these mistakes are often simple to fix once you know what to look for. In this post, we’re going to walk through 10 of the most common Google Ads blunders that can waste your time and money, and more importantly, how to avoid them.

Let’s dive in!

1. No Clear Goals? You’re Already Lost.

Think about it: before you start any journey, you need to know where you’re going, right? The same applies to Google Ads. One of the biggest mistakes people make is launching campaigns without a clear idea of what they want to achieve. Are you aiming for more sales? More leads? Just want people to know your brand exists?

The Mistake: Running ads just for the sake of running ads, without defining specific outcomes. This makes it impossible to measure success or know if your money is well spent.

How to Fix It: Before you even touch Google Ads, sit down and decide your main objective. “I want to get 20 new leads this month”, or “I want to sell 50 units of Product X.” This clarity will guide all your other decisions, from keywords to ad copy.

2. Poor Keyword Research: Throwing Darts in the Dark

Keywords are the backbone of your Google Ads campaigns. They’re the words and phrases people type into Google. If you pick the wrong ones, your ads will show up for irrelevant searches, and you’ll pay for clicks that never turn into anything.

The Mistake: Using vague, too-broad, or irrelevant keywords. For example, if you sell handmade custom furniture, just using “furniture” is a huge waste of money.

How to Fix It: Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What would they type? Use Google’s Keyword Planner (it’s free!) to find specific, relevant keywords. Focus on long-tail keywords (phrases of three or more words) like “custom oak dining table Leighton Buzzard” instead of just “table.” The more specific, the better your chances of reaching the right people.

3. Ignoring Negative Keywords: Paying for What You DON’T Want

This one is a real money-saver! Negative keywords tell Google what searches you don’t want your ads to appear for.

The Mistake: Not adding negative keywords means your ads might show up for searches that have nothing to do with your business. If you sell new cars, you don’t want to pay for clicks from people searching for “used cars” or “free cars.”

How to Fix It: As you review your search terms report (we’ll get to that!), you’ll see what people typed to see your ads. If you see irrelevant terms, add them to your negative keyword list. Common negatives include “free,” “cheap,” “jobs,” “reviews” (if you’re selling, not looking for reviews), or anything that indicates a non-buying intent. This stops wasted clicks in their tracks.

4. Bad Ad Copy: The Invisible Advertisement

Your ad copy is what convinces someone to click. If it’s boring, generic, or doesn’t clearly state what you offer and why it matters, people will scroll right past it.

The Mistake: Writing bland, uninspiring ads that don’t highlight your unique selling points or include a clear call to action. “We sell stuff. Click here.” – That’s not going to cut it.

How to Fix It: Think benefits, not just features. What problem do you solve for the customer? Use strong, action-oriented words. Include a clear call to action (e.g., “Shop Now,” “Get a Free Quote,” “Learn More”). And importantly, test different versions of your ad copy to see what resonates best with your audience. Google allows you to create multiple ad variations, and it will automatically show the best-performing ones more often.

5. Sending Traffic to the Wrong Place (Bad Landing Pages): The Dead End Street

Imagine you click on an ad for “red running shoes” and you land on a page selling blue dresses. Frustrating, right? That’s what happens with a bad landing page.

The Mistake: Directing ad clicks to your generic homepage or a page that isn’t relevant to the ad’s message. This confuses visitors, and they’ll quickly leave, wasting your ad spend.

How to Fix It: Your landing page should be a direct continuation of your ad’s promise. If your ad is about a specific product, the landing page should be for that product. It should be fast-loading, easy to navigate, and tell the visitor what to do next (buy, fill out a form, call). Make it a smooth, logical journey from click to conversion.

6. Not Using Ad Extensions: Missing Out on Prime Real Estate

Ad extensions are extra bits of information that can appear with your ad, making it bigger and more informative. Think of them as bonus features that make your ad stand out.

The Mistake: Ignoring ad extensions altogether. This means your ad takes up less space, provides less information, and generally looks less appealing than competitors’ using them.

How to Fix It: Use as many relevant ad extensions as possible! These include:

Sitelink extensions: Links to specific pages on your website (e.g., “About Us,” “Contact,” “Services”).
Callout extensions: Short, non-clickable phrases highlighting unique selling points (e.g., “Free Shipping,” “24/7 Support”).
Structured Snippet extensions: Predefined categories of information (e.g., “Types: Sedan, SUV, Truck”).
Call extensions: Your phone number allows mobile users to call directly.
Location extensions: Your business address, showing on maps.
They cost nothing extra per click and can significantly improve your click-through rates.

7. Ignoring Location Targeting: Advertising to the Wrong City

If your business only serves a specific area, why would you show your ads to people across the entire country or even the world?

The Mistake: Setting your location targeting too broadly. This leads to wasted clicks from people who can never become your customers because they’re too far away.

How to Fix It: Be precise with your targeting. If you’re a local bakery, target your city and maybe surrounding towns. If you’re an e-commerce store that ships nationwide, then broader targeting is fine. You can even exclude specific areas where you know you don’t do business.

8. Not Monitoring Performance (Set and Forget): The Sleeping Campaign

Google Ads isn’t a “set it and forget it” system. It needs regular attention, like a garden. If you plant seeds and never water them, they won’t grow.

The Mistake: Launching campaigns and then ignoring them for weeks or months. Markets change, competitors change, and your performance will naturally shift.

How to Fix It: Set aside time regularly (daily for busy campaigns, weekly for others) to check your performance. Look at:

Keywords: Are some costing too much and not converting? Pause them.
Ads: Which ad copies are performing best? Pause the poor ones.
Search terms: Are new negative keywords emerging? Add them.
Bids: Are you spending too much or too little? Adjust your bids to get the right balance of clicks and conversions.
This active management is crucial for saving money and improving results.

9. Not Understanding Match Types: The Keyword Puzzle

This might sound a bit technical, but it’s super important for controlling where your ads show up. Keywords have different “match types”: Broad, Phrase, and Exact.

The Mistake: Using only broad match keywords, which tells Google to show your ad for a very wide range of related searches, often leading to irrelevant clicks.

How to Fix It:

Broad Match: (e.g., blue shoes) – Shows for anything remotely related, like “shoes,” “red footwear,” “buy sneakers.” Use very cautiously, if at all, especially when starting.
Phrase Match: (e.g., “blue shoes”) – Shows for searches that include your phrase in that order, plus other words before or after. Like “comfortable blue shoes” or “blue shoes for sale.” Good control.
Exact Match: (e.g., [blue shoes]) – Shows only for that exact phrase or very close variations like plurals. “Blue shoe” would trigger it, but “shoes blue” wouldn’t. Tightest control, highest relevance.
Start with the phrase and an exact match to keep your spending targeted. You can experiment with broad match later, but always with a strong negative keyword list in place.

10. Not Tracking Conversions: The Ultimate Blind Spot

This is perhaps the biggest mistake of all. If you don’t know what’s working, you can’t optimise anything. Conversion tracking tells you when someone does something valuable on your website, like making a purchase, filling out a form, or calling you.

The Mistake: Running Google Ads without setting up conversion tracking. You’ll see clicks, but you won’t know if those clicks are leading to sales or leads. It’s like throwing money into a black hole.

How to Fix It: Set up conversion tracking immediately. Google Ads provides clear instructions on how to do this, whether it’s for website sales, phone calls, or form submissions. Once conversion tracking is in place, you can see exactly which keywords, ads, and campaigns are generating actual results. This data is priceless because it tells you where to put more of your money and what to cut.

Conclusion

Running Google Ads effectively isn’t about being a super-techy marketing genius. It’s about being smart, setting clear goals, paying attention to the details, and being willing to learn and adjust. By avoiding these 10 common mistakes, you’ll not only save precious time and money but also significantly improve the performance of your Google Ads campaigns.

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Original Source: https://www.sfdigital.co.uk/blog/google-ads-mistakes-to-avoid/

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