Google Ads is one way to get your business in front of people who are looking for exactly what your business has to offer. It does take know-how, though, to run a profitable campaign. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of the top mistakes businesses commonly make with Google Ads, plus some tips and strategies to improve your ROAS. 

Rule of thumb: when you advertise on Google, you should be frugal. That doesn’t mean running a $5/day campaign; it means picking the low hanging fruit for your campaign and spending your ad dollars on only the cream of the crop. Each impression and click can lead to a new customer on your site. Start saving your ad dollars and start gaining revenue!

Mistake #1: Leaving Keywords Broad 

Broad match-type keywords can pull in a range of search queries and cast a wide net..  There are pros and cons for broad match keywords. Below are some examples:

The Pros: Having a couple broad match-type keywords when you just launch a new campaign can be beneficial. This can be a great way to discover the way users search, outside of performing keyword research, because it can provide you with searches pulled from the search engine result pages (SERPs) that are related to your keyword that you may have not thought of before. If you are using exact-match keywords with little to no success, test out broad-match. Another reason to leave a keyword broad match is if the keyword has a killer CPA.

The Cons: Broad-match keywords are not very targeted, so they can bring in clicks that are irrelevant to your site and waste ad dollars. If these keywords are bringing in searches that aren’t related to your business, your bounce rate can increase as the user experience decreases. 

Something to keep in mind is that PPC campaigns are meant to be very targeted. The less targeted you leave your campaign, the lower your conversion rate will be. 

Mistake #2: Not Looking Over Search Queries 

One of the best practices on Google ads is to make a habit of looking over the search query reports for your campaigns at least once a week. The cool thing about the search query report is that you get to see all the search queries your ad pulls into your site! It’s like seeing the good, the bad, and the weird searches of Google. 

The search query report is a great place to analyze why a keyword is not working for your campaign or dig into the exact reason a keyword is producing revenue for your campaign. 

It’s also a good place to find keywords you want to make negative, like a search query that does not relate to what your site offers or one that costs a fair amount of your ad dollars. You can also find keyword gems in this report. You will be able to see exactly what search queries that lead directly to conversions and revenue. These are the search queries that are gold and that you want to have in your keyword list. 

The more often you do this, the less irrelevant search queries you will find and the more optimized your campaign will be.  

Mistake #3: Having Ads Go Directly To The Home Page 

Sending your ads to your homepage can be a big “No No.” This can cause confusion, create a longer route to the sales funnel, or make the user drop off. Instead, create landing pages for the product or service you are advertising on your PPC ads to provide a more direct route to the user’s purchase.  

Mistake #4: Not Utilizing Promotion Extensions

Promotion Extensions are Google’s gift to us advertisers! Located in the ads extensions tab, the promotion extension lets you easily pop in any sale your store is offering to give your campaign an extra little boost. 

Use the extension to give users more information about your sale:

  • There is an option to have an occasion for the sale.This lets you choose from all the major holidays. 
  • You are able to choose the language & currency your sale is in.
  • You can list the type of promotion type you are offering, such as monetary discounts, a percent discount, and an “Up to” type of discount.
  • You get to add the exact item you want to promote and a final URL link to that specific item.
  • Add promotional details where you can add your promo code.
  • The best part of this is you can schedule the sale’s beginning and ending.

Another perk of this tool is it will give your ad more real estate on Google.

Mistake #5: You Quit The PPC Campaign Right Away

Lastly, don’t give up right away on your campaign! Creating a marketing strategy is an investment for your business. Like any investment, you will not see the results you want right away because it takes time. Once you optimize your campaigns and let the data drive your decisions, the campaigns will start performing. 

From our team’s experience, it can take up to 3 months before your campaign starts to see results, depending on your niche. This is an ongoing process, but the outcome can be great if you have patience. When your campaigns are not giving you the result you want, reevaluate your marketing strategy. If people are searching for your products, there will be a way to win them over.

Happy PPC-ing!