There are over five billion searches happening each day on Google, and the number of total annual searches on Google continues to increase year-over-year. The amount of people using Google to find solutions, answers, and products is not decreasing at all, which is why Google Ads continues to be one of the most effective ways to get found online, generate new leads, and acquire customers online. But if you aren't careful, it's easy to spend thousands of dollars on Google Ads without getting anything in return. Many companies using Google Ads are unknowingly spending more money than is necessary. This article and checklist below will help you avoid these commonly overlooked mistakes. Here are four of the most common, costly, and overlooked Google Ads mistakes that secretly sabotage revenue. Fix them today, and get a better return on investment from your Google Ads marketing.
Just as you can control what specific words and phrases your ads show for (keywords), you can also control what words and phrases your ads do not show for (negative keywords). For example, if you are a property management company, you will want your ads to show for ‘property management companies’, but not for ‘property management software’. By adding ‘software’ as a negative keyword, you can tell Google Ads, “Hey, DO NOT show my ad for this word/phrase!” This allows you to control your budget even more. For keywords you are targeting, it’s a good idea to use phrase and exact keyword match types. Doing so can help you control your costs, whereas broad and broad modifier match types can easily increase your ad costs. Action step: While you’re doing your keyword research, be aware of words and phrases you do not want your ads to show for. This is your negative keyword list, and it will help you get an even better ROI from your pay-per-click advertising. Also, use phrase and exact keyword match types to target the keywords you do want to target. This will help you control your ad budget even more.
If you’re a chiropractor targeting people 30 miles around your clinic, your ads should only be targeting prospects within that geographical area - you should not be targeting the entire state or country. By targeting your target market’s precise location(s), you can avoid irrelevant clicks from unqualified prospects and get the best ROI from your Google Ads campaigns.If you don’t know what location(s) you’re targeting, go to your campaign settings and check. You can control what specific cities and radius areas your ads will show in, and you can exclude specific cities and geographical areas as well. Action step: Sign in to your Google Ads dashboard, and go to Campaigns > Select your campaign(s) on left hand side > Settings > All Settings > Locations. From here, you can decide what locations and geographical areas you want to target or exclude.
Are you sending visitors to a targeted landing page and tracking conversions by using the Google Ads conversion tracking pixel? All you need to do is add some JavaScript code to a thank you page, thank you pop-up, and/or an order confirmation page to begin tracking conversions. Please note: you MUST be tracking conversions in order to know what’s working and what’s not. If you’re not using the Google Ads conversion tracking pixel, you won’t know which keywords are profitable and which ones aren’t. You can also use call tracking services - such as CallFire or CallRail - to track phone calls from your landing pages and/or ads. We highly recommend doing this, as well. Action step: Go to your Google Ads dashboard and create a conversion. This is found under Tools > Conversions > + Conversion. Put this conversion tracking pixel on your “Thank You” confirmation page. We highly recommend using CallRail to track phone calls from your landing page.
Many people search for their own ads on Google to see their ad placement on the search results page. This is a bad idea and can harm your ad position. If you Google search for your own ads - and then don't click them - this lowers your click-through rate, which then lowers your overall ad position. Instead, you should use your Google Ads dashboard and Google's Ad Preview & Diagnosis tool to find your placement on the search results page.
If you want to see how your ad appears in search results, it's better to use [the Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool] than to do a search on Google. You'll see the exact same results as a Google search but it won't affect your performance stats by accumulating ad impressions every time you search for your ad." - Google
Action step: Use Google's Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool to see how your ads and extensions look in Google search results. (Make sure you have the right location selected before searching.) You can also see your average ad position in your Google Ads dashboard, by breaking out the "Avg. Position" column.
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