7 Google Ads Mistakes That Are Burning Your Budget

After auditing more than 100 Google Ads accounts for London businesses, the same expensive mistakes show up over and over. If your ROAS is disappointing, one of these seven is almost certainly the cause.

1. Running Broad Match Without Watching It

Google's broad match has improved with AI, but it still routinely matches your ads to wildly irrelevant searches. Without daily search-term review and aggressive negative keywords, you're paying for clicks that will never convert.

2. No Conversion Tracking (or Wrong Tracking)

Around 40% of accounts we audit have either no conversion tracking or it's broken. You can't optimise what you can't measure. Smart Bidding becomes random spending without solid conversion data.

3. Sending Traffic to a Generic Homepage

Your ad promised "Emergency Boiler Repair London" — your homepage talks about your company history. Conversion rate craters. Every campaign needs a dedicated landing page that mirrors the ad's promise.

4. Ignoring Search Terms Reports

The search-terms report is the gold mine of Google Ads. Reviewed weekly, it tells you exactly what to add as keywords and what to add as negatives. Most accounts never look at it.

5. Single Ad Group, Single Ad

Google's algorithm needs variation to optimise. Each ad group should have at least 2 responsive search ads with distinct angles. Single-ad accounts leave 20–30% performance on the table.

6. No Audience Layering

Layer audiences (in-market, custom, remarketing) onto search campaigns in observation mode. The bid adjustments alone often improve ROAS by 15%.

7. Setting and Forgetting

Google Ads is not a "set up and let it run" channel. Auctions change daily, competitors change weekly, your own conversion rates change monthly. Accounts without active management drift toward poor performance within 60-90 days.