By Tina Kelly

We’ve audited hundreds of accounts over the years and have noticed that the most common Google Ads mistakes tend to fall into a few categories, ranging from keyword issues to ad network missteps. Here’s how to fix some of the biggest problems with Google Ads that we come across.

The Issue: Poor Keyword Research

While it can be tempting to use keywords that you think people are searching for, it’s far more effective to use a tool like Google’s Keyword Planner to find the most relevant search terms for your account. A working knowledge of keyword match types is vital, too. Start with 10-15 basic keywords and use them in all three variants — broad, phrase and exact match. This ensures that you will have your keywords in three similar variations, all of which are closely related to the meaning of the term.

The Issue: Not Using Negative Keywords

One key to a highly targeted Google Ads campaign is choosing what not to target. Negative keywords let you exclude search terms from your campaigns and help you focus on only the keywords that matter to your audience. This approach ensures your ads get in front of interested users and increases your return on investment (ROI).

The Issue: Ignoring Regional Trends

Regional organizations aren’t the only ones that should take regional trends into consideration — national brands should too. Taking a closer look at regional conversions could uncover that the cost per conversion for one city is lower than another, which could be a reason to turn down the budgeting for the more expensive city and turn it up for the other. For DMOs and other travel companies, regional targeting is especially important because it allows you to target people in your top drive and flight markets. From there, you can glean additional data around where the ads are converting and where a new approach might be worthwhile.

The Issue: A Lack of A/B Testing

The most successful Google Ads accounts are the ones that are constantly testing and fine-tuning their copy. Even if you use the same headline or the same description, it’s vital to create several ad variations and test them out to see which one converts better. Once you identify a winner, you can pause the rest and create a slightly different version of the winner. Then you can continue split testing.

The Issue: Running Outdated Conversions

As brands continue to use conversion tags on any number of pages, import conversions from CRMs like Salesforce, use call tracking and import conversion events from Google Analytics, it can be increasingly difficult to know when conversions are double-counted or if old ones are still populating. If all those old conversions are part of cost-per-action calculations or bidding algorithms, it can alter the bidding decision-making.

The Issue: Neglecting Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are clickable elements that you can tack on to any Google ad. They can display information like your organization’s phone number, location or the services your company offers. Extensions are technically optional, but according to Google, they lead to a higher click-through rate (up to 15%), so we recommend using them whenever possible.

The Issue: Not Excluding the Display Network

When you set up a Google Ads campaign, Google automatically places your ads on the display network in addition to the search network. While this may sound like a good thing, the average conversion rate for ads on the display network is significantly lower, so this default setting could end up wasting your budget.