How to Prevent Costly Google Ads Mistakes and Maximize PPC Results

Common Mistakes that Bleed Budgets Dry and How to Avoid Them

Our specialists hear it almost daily during consultation calls. When Google Ads is recommended as a strategy to quickly boost their revenue, we’re told, “Google Ads don’t work”, or, “I’ve wasted a lot of money on PPC.”

Google Ads can be a powerful tool for driving business growth, but it’s easy to trip up in ways that not only waste money but can also jeopardize your entire campaign. Here are some key pitfalls to avoid, informed by the certified Google Ads experts at 99 Calls as they have helped local contractors generate leads effectively.

Background

99 Calls began as a lead generation business in 2010 and has emerged as the value leader. Over the past decade, strategies for generating leads have been developed to keep ahead of changing markets, while giving contractors the biggest bang for their buck has remained the primary mission. In early 2017 our team began transitioning from focusing on SEO as the primary lead source as the search market became flooded and into more productive means of lead generation such as Google PPC and LSA. We are now also successfully helping contractors convert more of the leads they receive via email nurturing, running database reactivation campaigns, and managing inbound calls with missed call text back services.

As Premier Partners, our certified Google Ads specialists have amassed a huge amount of data regarding best practices for getting great value from PPC campaigns. Here, we’ll share the most common mistakes that people make when running campaigns and tips for finding success.

3 Critical and Costly Mistakes That Destroy Google Ads Campaigns

1. Failing to Make Payments – A failed payment can lead to account suspension, requiring not only payment to resolve but also triggering an intensive verification. This process can be rigorous, involving the submission of business documents, your driver’s license, and bank statements. Account suspensions require submitting appeals and can go on for many weeks.

2. Disputing Charges – Disputing charges without proper consideration can damage your relationship with Google, potentially affecting your future advertising capabilities, including being banned from using their platform.

3. Settling for Low Conversion Rates – If you are struggling to get your conversion rate above 5-7%, you aren’t saving money by running the ads yourself, you’re losing business and wasting your resources.

Finding a quality company to manage your Google Ads account so that you can close your sales and multiply your revenue will give you a far better return on investment than trying to save a few bucks per month on the service fees. The national average conversion rate for Google Ads campaigns is typically around 7%. 99 Calls average is 20%. A higher conversion rate means more leads for the same budget, leading to lower lead costs and a higher return on investment (ROI). This efficiency is crucial for local contractors looking to maximize the effectiveness of every marketing dollar.

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1. Improper Account and Payment Setup – Often, businesses do not set up their payment process correctly, which can lead to interruptions in their ad campaigns. Google does not accept prepaid for campaigns and certain financial institutions.

2. Unintentional Creation of Multiple Accounts – This can confuse tracking and analysis and may violate Google’s policies, leading to penalties or account suspensions.

3. Poor Keyword Strategy – Many businesses are not familiar with the different types of keyword matches (phrase, broad, or exact) and may not use negative keywords sufficiently to filter out irrelevant traffic. This results in lots of irrelevant clicks and budgets being wasted.

4. Inadequate Understanding of Bidding Strategies – Choosing the wrong bidding strategy can lead to overspending or insufficient ad visibility.

5. Irrelevant Landing Pages – Your landing pages should closely align with the promise made in your ads. Mismatched content can lead to poor conversion rates and wasted clicks.

6. Poor Quality Landing Pages – Getting someone to click on your ad is not enough. If what they see on the landing page does not entice them to call or fill out a form, you’ve just lost your customer and wasted money. Landing pages should be simple, attractive, and compelling.

7. Restricting Ad Schedule – Limiting the time your ads are displayed can cause you to miss potential customers who search for your services outside of these hours. It’s crucial to align your ad schedule with your audience’s search habits. However, if you do not have staff available, calls may be wasted. If you want to run ads during times when your office is closed, consider implementing missed call text back.

3 Frequent Errors in Managing Google Ads Campaigns

Although not as critical as disputing charges or leaving a lingering balance with Google, the items below will cause your campaign to be lackluster at best, and a complete waste of time and money at worst.

1. Overly Specific Geographic Targeting – Targeting a very specific area, especially one with a low population or focusing only on “rich” areas, can severely limit your Ad’s reach and potential leads.

2. Making Too Many Changes Too Quickly – Rapid changes to your campaign can prevent you from accurately assessing what works and what doesn’t, as it doesn’t give enough time for data to accumulate.

3. Frequent Pausing and Unpausing of Campaigns – This can disrupt your ad performance metrics and negatively impact the algorithm’s optimization of your campaign.

By avoiding these common mistakes and focusing on optimizing campaign strategies, businesses can significantly improve their Google Ads performance, leading to more leads, better conversion rates, and ultimately, a higher ROI.