Google Ads Mistakes Are Expensive
It’s hard to find a better paid advertising option than Google Ads. Google has captured over 80% of the search engine market share, offering endless lead generation possibilities. Unfortunately, small mistakes can lead to a lot of wasted money. Every single time someone clicks on your Google advertisement, you pay—even if the person who clicked was never part of the audience you’re trying to reach.
Most Common Errors
Though many businesses find remarkable success with Google’s advertising service, it’s common for companies to suffer the consequences of serious Google Ads errors. Let’s look at five of the most common ones:
- Bad targeting: Sometimes, bad targeting is the result of false beliefs about who wants what you’re selling. More often, it’s caused by targeting an excessively broad audience. Broad match keywords can contribute to that issue—they cast a wide net, catching the attention of people looking for things that are only tangentially related to your offerings.
- Neglecting ongoing campaigns: Without constant attention, your campaign can’t respond appropriately to market changes and new data. Trends shift constantly. No ad campaign can remain static forever.
- Untested ads: A lot of businesses never test different ads. If a company’s marketers make that mistake and then compound it by failing to track conversions, they might never discover what they did wrong.
- Unhelpful landing pages: Ads should lead to relevant pages, not just your homepage or a blog. People want to get exactly what they’re expecting when they click on an ad, and they won’t meticulously search through your site to find it. For example, if someone clicks on an ad for jeans, they better arrive at a page that sells jeans—not a homepage listing every type of clothing a company offers.
- Automatic acceptance of Google’s recommendations: Though Google’s in-platform recommendations can be helpful for some campaigns, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be good for yours.
Improving Your Google Ads Performance
With smart Google Ads tips and some effort, you can avoid common errors. Proper targeting becomes infinitely easier if you use specialized software to help you narrow down the demographic groups most likely to use your product or service—and if you’re willing to get specific with your ads. Avoiding campaign neglect is as simple as prioritizing correctly. Creating a campaign calendar and clarifying who should handle advertising are critical steps. Testing ads and using software to help determine which ones are most effective is important. It’s also fairly simple to make sure ads lead to pages that match user intent, though “simple” doesn’t mean “effortless.” A web marketing company can help you create the many different pages that various ads should lead to. As for Google’s recommendations, make sure to research each one before accepting it.
Let Trustworthy Professionals Handle Ads
You can avoid the most common pitfalls of advertising through Google all by yourself, but consider whether it’s a wise use of your time. Though some errors are easy to avoid, you’ll face steep learning curves before you can effectively handle others. It’s unlikely that perfecting your ad software skills or elevating your understanding of keyword intricacies will be the most valuable use of your time. If you rely on a reliable web marketing agency, you can dedicate your energy to the vital tasks only you know how to handle.
