Google Ads can be a powerful tool to grow your business, but like any tool, it needs to be used correctly to enjoy the full benefits. Here’s a list of common Google Ads mistakes that marketers often make, along with tips on how to avoid them.
Google Ads Mistakes to Avoid Video
1. No Conversion Tracking
Conversion tracking is one of the most important aspects of Google Ads, as it helps manage your ad spend efficiently. Google Ads can use your conversion data to help drive more sales and leads for your business. If your conversion is a phone call, Google Ads will optimize your campaign to drive more phone calls based on historical campaign data.
- Action Step: Set up conversion tracking to measure your ROI and optimize your campaigns toward achieving specific goals.
2. Not Using Smart Bidding Strategies
Smart bidding strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS help in automating the optimization of your Google Ads campaigns, saving you time and potentially improving your ROI.
- Action Step: Enable smart bidding strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS to automate your Google Ads campaigns’ optimization process.
3. Unorganized Ad Groups
Having unorganized ad groups in your Google Ads accounts can lead to irrelevant traffic and lower conversion rates. It’s essential to structure your ad groups around tightly themed topics or products.
- Action Step: Structure your ad groups meticulously around tightly themed topics or products to attract more relevant traffic.
4. No Cost Controls
Without cost controls, you might end up overspending on your campaigns. Setting daily budgets and using bid strategies can help keep your spending in check. You can also use shared budgets and set max CPC bids if you are using the Target CPA or Target ROAS bid strategies.
- Action Step: Set daily budgets and utilize bid strategies with max CPC bids to control your advertising spending efficiently.
5. Not Testing Keyword Match Types
Testing different keyword match types like broad, phrase, and exact match keywords can help you discover which keywords are most effective for your campaigns. You should only use 1 keyword match type per ad group.
- Action Step: Choose 1 keyword match type per ad group and review performance bi-weekly. Test other keyword match types to see if you can improve performance. For large budget advertisers, broad match keywords can lower cost per conversion over time.
6. Not Adding Negative Keywords
Neglecting to add negative keywords can result in your ads showing up for irrelevant search queries, wasting your advertising budget.
- Action Step: Regularly check the search terms report and add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant terms from triggering your ads.
7. 1 Ad Per Ad Group
Having only one ad per ad group limits the amount of data you can collect and hinders the optimization of your ad copy when running Google Ads.
- Action Step: Create multiple closely relevant ads per ad group, rotate them to gather more data for optimizing your ad copy.
8. No Landing Page Variations
Not testing different landing pages can result in lower conversion rates. It’s crucial to A/B test different designs and messaging to find what resonates with your audience.
- Action Step: A/B test various landing page designs and messaging to discover what converts best.
9. Limited or No Ad Assets
Ad extensions like callouts, sitelinks, and phone numbers can significantly enhance your ads by providing additional information and a call to action.
- Action Step: Add relevant extensions like callouts, sitelinks, and phone numbers to provide more information and improve your ad’s click-through rate.
10. Not Using Remarketing
Remarketing campaigns allow you to re-engage with visitors who interacted with your site but didn’t convert.
- Action Step: Create remarketing campaigns to re-engage with past visitors and encourage them to complete the desired action.
11. Opting into the Search Network and Display Network in the Same Campaign
When you run Google search campaigns, they will perform best when you only run your ads when people search your targeted keywords. You want to separate those campaigns since the Search Network, Search Partners, and Google Display Network perform much differently. Personally, I try to avoid the search partners and display networks as much as possible.
- Action Step: You should target your display advertising campaigns to the Google Display Network and your search advertising campaigns to the Google Search Network. Search Partners can be tested in case it does drive quality leads.
12. Not Using Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are very important for your campaign. Regardless of your campaign goals, you should use negative keywords because you want to show your ads for relevant searches. In addition, certain words and phrases can completely waste your budget.
- Action Step: Use the Search Terms Report in Google Ads to find negative keyword ideas. Add negative keywords to your campaign and create negative lists to focus on your top-performing keywords.
13. Poor Keyword Research and Not Testing Keyword Match Types
You should never target keywords blindly because you can use keyword research tools to find search volume for your top keywords. In addition, broad match keywords will open up your campaign to irrelevant searches. If you are targeting broad match keywords, you need to be diligent when optimizing your campaign.
- Action Step: Target phrase match keywords to get started and do extensive keyword research for your campaigns. Use the Google Keyword Planner to find the top keywords for your business.
Google Ads Keywords Video
14. Not Understanding the Goals of Google AdWords
Do This Instead: Understand what successful Google Ads campaigns do in Google Ads. Generally, they test different targeting, optimize their campaigns, focus on conversions, and use bidding strategies that help them accomplish their goals.
You must keep testing and optimizing over time until you can effectively use the Target CPA or ROAS bid strategy. If you can find the best keywords for your business, you can also drive results for your business. Improving your results and getting the most out of your Google Ads account will take time.
Video: 10 Common Google Ads Mistakes to Avoid
The video below and the article above will give you some mistakes to watch out for when running Google Ads campaigns. Do you have any additional common errors that I missed in the article? Leave them in the comments below!
Conclusion
Understanding the mistakes that other advertisers have made in the past can teach you a lot. These are just 14 common mistakes that I have made and that I have seen in other accounts. Hopefully, you found this article and video helpful as you try to optimize your campaigns.
