Why Google Ads is eating your budget and how to stop it
Money leaves the ads account every day, there are clicks, but few orders. Most of the time it's not that "Google doesn't work", it's a handful of default settings. Here are 7 places to check first.
1. Ads show for the wrong searches
A broad match keyword like "phone repair" can show your ad to someone searching "how to replace a screen myself" or "phone repair jobs". You pay for every one of those clicks.
What to do: open the Search terms report for the last 30 days and see what people actually searched before clicking. Add everything that doesn't lead to a sale as negative keywords. Do it weekly, especially in the first month.
2. Search partners and the Display Network are on
When you create a Search campaign, Google ticks "Search partners" and "Display Network" by default. Part of the budget then goes to other sites and apps where nobody was searching for your product.
What to do: in the campaign's Networks settings keep only Google Search for the start. You can add partners back later once you have data.
3. Wrong people, wrong country
The default location option is "Presence or interest". That means people who were only interested in your city or country can see the ads, not just people who are actually there.
What to do: if you only ship to one country or serve one city, choose "Presence: people in or regularly in your included locations".
4. Conversions are counted wrong
If any page view counts as a conversion, a tap on the phone number counts without a call, or one order is counted three times, automated bidding learns from bad data and buys the wrong people.
What to do: compare conversions in Google Ads with real orders for the same period. If they differ a lot, fix tracking first and only then change bids.
5. Recommendations are auto-applied
The Recommendations page has an auto-apply feature. When it's on, Google can add keywords, broaden match types or change budgets on its own.
What to do: check which recommendation types are auto-applied and keep only the ones you really want. Recommendations are worth reading, but accept them manually.
6. Performance Max buys your own brand
Performance Max often shows to people who were already searching for your store by name. In reports it looks like cheap sales, but those buyers would have come anyway.
What to do: add your brand to brand exclusions in the campaign settings and see how many sales it brings from other searches.
7. The page the ad leads to
Even a perfect ad won't sell if the page loads slowly on a phone, the price differs from the ad, or it's unclear how to order.
What to do: click your own ad on your phone and go through the whole purchase path. Check page speed in PageSpeed Insights.
In short
- Review search terms weekly and add negative keywords.
- Start with Google Search only, no partners or Display.
- Location: "Presence".
- Conversions in Google Ads should match real orders.
- Read recommendations, apply them manually.
I set up Google Shopping, Google Ads and SEO for online stores and small businesses. I write in plain language, no fluff. If something from this article doesn't work for you, message me and I'll help.
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