8 Costly Google Ads Mistakes
Businesses are always on the look out to get the most out of their advertising budget. Google Ads is a popular (and very effective) platform to drive targeted clicks to a landing page and transforming the clicks into conversions. But there are a number of Google Ads features that can really hinder the performance of a campaign and waste the ad spend.
Are your Google Ads campaign getting the results you wanted? Or are you falling victim to rookie Google Ads mistakes? Even with experience, mistakes can be made.
Take a look as we detail the top Google Ads mistakes (in no particular order) that could be massively impacting the success of your campaigns.
1. Unsatisfactory Keyword Research
Without conducting in-depth research and analysis to find quality keywords, you run the risk of your paid campaigns being completely misguided.
Poor keyword research is a rookie Google Ads mistake.
You can’t select keywords based on assumptions of what you think your target audience will be using, neither can you base them on what you would search. Thorough keyword research is crucial to discover the right terms and to drive the right traffic to your landing page.
To learn more about conducting in-depth keyword planning, head over to our previous guide for more information: The Ultimate Guide to PPC Keyword Research
2. Incorrectly Using Keyword Matches
The mistake advertisers often make is using the incorrect keyword match type. Google allows you to run ads through one of the below keyword matches:
Exact Match: Businesses can show their ads to customers who are searching for your exact keyword, or close variants of your exact keyword.
Broad Match: Your ad is eligible to appear whenever a user enters any word in your key phrase, which means your audience is rather broad. Your ad will automatically run on ‘relevant’ variations of your keywords, even if these terms are not featured in your list.
Modified Broad Match: Broad match modifiers will only run your ads in searches that include the words you have marked with a plus sign.
Phrase Match: Selecting phrase match type will ensure your ad can only appear when people search for your exact phrase. So, your ad will only run when a user enters your exact key phrase in the order you used them – but there could be words at either end of the phrase.
The type of match you use will have a big impact on your ads. A broad match typically achieves more impressions, but the unrefined nature of them means it will show up for terms that aren’t necessarily relevant to your ad or products. On the other hand, phrase and exact match often deliver a higher conversion rate due to the targeted nature of the phrases.
3. Neglecting Your Negative Keyword List
Not all publicity is good publicity – and the last thing you want is to waste a click (which costs you money).
One of the biggest issue’s businesses find with PPC advertising is wasting their money on irrelevant traffic. Even if you pick out the best set of targeted keywords, there is still a chance of your ads appearing in irrelevant search results. Negative keywords allow you to filter who sees your ad based on what they type in the search engine.
You can use them to ensure that your ad does not appear for a specific keyword. By preventing your ad from appearing in irrelevant searches, you’ll be saving money, pointless clicks and time.
4. Forgetting to Include Ad Extensions
You could master your targeted keywords and build a negative keyword list and still see no results. One of the reasons could be because you’re ignoring the power of Google’s ad extensions.
Advertisers have the opportunity to simply include extra pieces of information or links to their ad to encourage conversions and attract attention. Extensions make it much easier for consumers to convert, for example, it’s much easier for a consumer to click the call button displayed on your ad than it is to click the link, wait for the page to load and then find the call button on your web page.
There are plenty of ad extensions available, including:
- Location extensions
- Affiliate location extensions
- Call extensions
- Message extensions
- Price extensions
To see Google’s full list of available ad extensions and what goals they can help achieve, visit our previous blog: 8 Ad Extensions That Could Improve Your PPC Conversions.
5. Sending the Ad Traffic to The Home Page
Why send your ad traffic to a specific page when you can send them to your home page where they can see everything your business has to offer? Won’t that work better?
Of course, this kind of thinking forgets that searchers who click on your ad are looking for information directly related to your ad – and if they don’t find immediate solutions, they will likely exit the page and go back to the search results.
Your ads need a relevant, dedicated landing page. If your landing page isn’t up to scratch like the rest of your paid advertising campaign, then all the time you spent optimising your campaign, selecting targeted keywords and creating strong calls-to-action is wasted.
To learn more about sticking the landing, visit: How to Improve Your PPC Landing Page for More Conversions.
6. Writing Unengaging Ad Copy
With the importance of making an excellent first impression, creating engaging PPC ad copy is not only about introducing your brand and what you offer as a business, but also about enticing customers to click on your ad, visit your website and complete a conversion.
Grabbing your audience’s attention, persuading them to visit your website and giving them the fundamental steps to convert all starts with your PPC ad copy.
To learn more about writing compelling copy, you can read out expert advice: The Importance of Writing Engaging Ad Copy
7. Using A Single Ad Variation
Another typical Google Ads mistake is creating only one ad per ad group or just using one ad variation. Even if you use the same headline or the same brief description, it’s still recommendable to use variations in your ads to see what performs the best and converts more searchers.
To optimise your campaigns testing is paramount, fine-tuning your Google Ads campaigns ensures you’re maximising your click-through-rate, conversion rate and return on investment (ROI).
8. Not Targeting Specific Locations
Unless you want to target every area of the world (which is highly unlikely) you should be implementing location targeting to ensure you’re generating the traffic you want.
It’s likely that you want your ads to reach specific countries, cities or even just people within a close proximity of your brick-and-motor business.
With location targeting, you won’t waste your ad budget on irrelevant clicks from people who are outside your target area.
Looking for Some Help?
Are you making Google Ads mistakes? Running a successful Google Ads campaign takes expertise, time and optimisation.
Seeking the help of experienced, savvy PPC Agency will help you to boost your traffic and achieve you a high return on investment?
Different Gravy Digital have an excellent track record of delivering incredible results to clients from a range of different industries.
For more information, you can contact us for a chat:
Book a meeting: michaelgoldman.co.uk/
Telephone: 0161 706 0004