Google Ads is the most powerful lead generation tool available to businesses — but it is also one of the easiest to get wrong. We audit hundreds of ad accounts every year, and the same mistakes appear again and again. Here are the 8 most common, and how to fix them.
Mistake 1: Broad Match Keywords Without Negative Keywords
Using broad match keywords without an extensive negative keyword list is the single fastest way to burn your budget. A plumber running “plumbing” on broad match will show for “plumbing school”, “plumbing tools”, and “plumbing jobs”. Add at least 50 negative keywords before your campaign goes live.
Mistake 2: Sending Traffic to Your Homepage
Your homepage is designed for everyone. Your ad landing page should be designed for one specific person with one specific intent. Dedicated landing pages with a single CTA and content matching the ad consistently deliver 3-5x better conversion rates than homepages.
Mistake 3: Ignoring Quality Score
Quality Score determines both your ad position and your cost per click. A Quality Score of 8 vs 4 on the same keyword can mean paying 50% less per click for better positions. Improving ad relevance, CTR, and landing page experience raises Quality Score.
Mistake 4: Not Tracking Conversions Properly
If you are not tracking which clicks become leads or sales, you are flying blind. Proper conversion tracking — phone call tracking, form submission tracking, and WhatsApp click tracking — is non-negotiable for optimising Google Ads performance.
Mistake 5: Running Campaigns 24/7
Most B2B and service businesses get the majority of their conversions during business hours. Running ads 24/7 wastes budget on low-intent off-hours traffic. Analyse your conversion data by hour and adjust your ad schedule accordingly.
Mistake 6: No Remarketing Campaign
97% of first-time visitors do not convert. Remarketing campaigns targeting people who have already visited your website convert at 5-10x the rate of cold traffic, at a fraction of the cost. Always have a remarketing campaign running alongside your prospecting campaigns.
Mistake 7: Letting Google Auto-Apply Recommendations
Google’s automated recommendations are designed to increase spend, not necessarily to improve your results. Budget recommendations, broad match expansions, and automated bidding changes should always be reviewed manually before applying.
Mistake 8: Not Testing Ad Variations
Running a single ad creative in each ad group means missing the opportunity to find what actually resonates with your audience. Always run 3-4 ad variations per ad group and let data determine the winner before consolidating.
Getting any of these wrong in your account right now? Request a free Google Ads audit and our team will identify exactly what is costing you leads and money.
