A Google ad burns through budget for three reasons, almost always in this order: the keyword is set to too broad a match type, negative keywords are missing, and the landing page doesn’t deliver what the ad promised. Fixing all three costs time, not money.
Keyword match type decides who sees it
When you set up a keyword, you choose how closely the search needs to match it.
With broad match, Google shows the ad for searches it considers related, and its interpretation is generous. If you set up “financial consulting,” you might show up for “finance course.”
With phrase match, the search needs to contain the meaning of your expression. With exact match, it needs to be that term or very close to it.
Starting everything in broad match is the fastest way to spend money. Start with phrase and exact match, collect data, and only then open it up.
Negative keywords aren’t optional
New searches show up every week. Without review, the account ends up spending on courses, job postings, and competitors again.
The routine is simple and almost nobody does it. Open the search terms report, sort by cost, and look at the top twenty. Any one that isn’t a potential customer becomes a negative keyword.
The ad needs to match the page
If the ad says “installation within 48 hours” and the page talks about a catalog, the visitor leaves. You paid for the click and never had a chance.
The alignment is literal. The word the person searched for should appear in the ad headline and in the page title. This improves conversion and also the quality score, which lowers your cost per click.
A slow page has the same effect. Someone who clicks on their phone and waits more than three seconds usually leaves before seeing anything.
What to test, and in what order
Testing everything at once teaches you nothing. Here’s the order that gives you clear results.
Start with the headline, since it has the biggest impact on clicks. Then the offer, since it has the biggest impact on conversions. Then the page, since it’s the most expensive to change.
Let each test run until you have enough volume. Swapping ads every two days just turns the account into noise.
- A headline with the exact word the person searched for
- A verifiable differentiator, like turnaround time or location
- A call to action that matches the button on the page
- Filled-out extensions, which take up more space in the result
The mistake that doesn’t show up in the dashboard
A lot of accounts look bad when the problem is actually outside the account. A lead that comes in and gets no response within two hours ends up becoming a competitor’s customer.
Before blaming the campaign, measure how long it takes for someone to respond to a new lead. That number usually explains more than the quality score does.
If you’re already running ads and want to know how much of your budget is going to waste right now, the free Google Ads audit shows the wasted spend added up in reais.
What to prepare before writing your first ad
An ad written in a hurry is almost always an ad rewritten two weeks later. Four things need to be in place before you write the first line of copy, and none of them live inside Google Ads.
The right landing page. Not the homepage. The page that answers exactly what the ad promises, using the same wording. If the ad mentions same-day repair, the page needs to say so in the first paragraph.
Conversion tracking in place. Without knowing which clicks turned into contacts, you’re optimizing for clicks, and clicks don’t pay the bills. This gets set up before you publish, not after.
The list of what you DON’T do. It becomes negative keywords, and it’s what stops the account from spending on similar, useless searches. If you repair air conditioners but don’t install them, you need to negate “installation” on day one.
Who answers. Ads generate calls whenever the customer feels like calling. A phone nobody picks up turns ad spend into bad reviews.
With all four in place, writing the ad takes twenty minutes and the copy comes out better, because you already know where you’re sending people and what you’re going to measure.