10 Google Ads Mistakes That Waste Your Budget

# 10 Google Ads Mistakes That Waste Your Budget

Google Ads can be incredibly effective, but it's also easy to waste money if you're not careful. In this article, we'll explore 10 common mistakes that are costing advertisers thousands of dollars every month.

1. Poor Keyword Selection

Choosing the wrong keywords is one of the most expensive mistakes you can make. Many advertisers target broad keywords with high competition and low relevance.

**Solution**: Focus on long-tail keywords with high commercial intent and lower competition.

2. Ignoring Negative Keywords

Without negative keywords, your ads will show for irrelevant searches, wasting your budget on clicks that won't convert.

**Solution**: Regularly review search terms and add irrelevant ones as negative keywords.

3. Weak Landing Pages

Even if your ads are great, a poor landing page will kill your conversion rate.

**Solution**: Ensure your landing page matches your ad's messaging and has a clear call-to-action.

4. Not Using Ad Extensions

Ad extensions increase your ad's visibility and click-through rate without increasing your cost per click.

**Solution**: Use all relevant ad extensions including site links, callouts, and structured snippets.

5. Ignoring Mobile Users

More than half of searches now happen on mobile devices, yet many advertisers neglect mobile optimization.

**Solution**: Ensure your ads and landing pages are mobile-friendly and test mobile-specific messaging.

6. Poor Bid Management

Setting your bids too high wastes money, while setting them too low means you won't get impressions.

**Solution**: Use smart bidding strategies and regularly monitor your performance.

7. Not Testing Ad Variations

Running the same ad copy for months means you're missing opportunities to improve performance.

**Solution**: Continuously test different headlines, descriptions, and calls-to-action.

8. Broad Match Keyword Matching

Broad match keywords can trigger your ads for irrelevant searches.

**Solution**: Use phrase match and exact match keywords for better control.

9. Ignoring Quality Score

Quality Score affects your cost per click and ad position. A low Quality Score means you'll pay more for worse placement.

**Solution**: Improve your Quality Score by improving ad relevance, landing page experience, and click-through rate.

10. Not Tracking Conversions

If you're not tracking conversions, you have no idea what your ads are actually worth.

**Solution**: Set up conversion tracking for all important actions on your website.

Conclusion

By avoiding these common mistakes, you can significantly improve your Google Ads performance and reduce wasted spending. Start by auditing your current campaigns and implementing these solutions.