Most common marketer mistakes with Google Ads

Is your company using Google Ads as part of their marketing mix? If you run your Google Ad campaign well, it can give you a lot of new leads and business. 

Run it improperly and it can be a big waste of money. If you are interested in running Google Ads for your company, remember not to make the mistakes mentioned here. 

Using Default Network Settings

When you establish your new account, you can select if you need to create a display or search campaign. But when you put up your campaign on the Google Search Network, your ads are put on the Display Network automatically. 

This could sound fine to the layperson. But note that the typical conversation rate for advertisements on the Google Display Network is much lower than on the Search Network. 

If you run with default options, you may throw money away on ads that don’t help you. So, you should review the network you choose with great care. Skilled Google Ad management professionals match the network and campaign type for best results. 

Not Understanding Profit Margins

Advertising on Google is about getting sales and leads, for the most part. Getting more traffic to increase brand awareness also is important. But you will need to see a return on your advertising investment over time. 

Companies need to know their profit margins so they can measure performance and optimize their marketing campaigns. The best advertisers make the effort to understand what the lifetime value is of a new client. 

Then, they figure out how much they can budget to spend on ads to find new clients and customers. 

Not Setting Up Negative Keywords

Everyone knows, in theory, they need to have excellent keywords to get the results they want. But even if you do your homework, your ads may show up on unproductive searches. If those searches generate a lot of clicks, you could waste your ad budget. 

But many users don’t know you can eliminate those searches by putting in negative keywords. Note that Google allows for phrase, broad, and exact match negative keywords. So, it’s vital to grasp what each means and select them with care. 

If you add the incorrect negative keyword, your ads may not show up on the searches you want, and that can negatively affect the results, too. 

Not Monitoring Search Queries

In your ads, you will see the word combinations that caused users to click. But you need to review the search terms you set up to refine and improve your campaign. 

Some ways you can do this include using the Search Terms Report to pinpoint negative keywords that you can put in your campaign. 

Reviewing this report often will find other keywords you can put into the campaign. And you will probably find parts of the campaign where you’re throwing money away. 

Doing Poor Keyword Research 

One of the biggest errors with Google Ads is getting lazy and not researching keywords. It’s always a mistake to select keywords on what you assume people are searching for. It’s vital that you use the Google Keyword Planner to pinpoint the best keywords for your ads. 

Also, remember to choose the correct match type for the keywords you select. In most cases, you don’t want to use broad match because it will bring in traffic that is irrelevant to your company goals. 

Doing Google Ads well can be challenging at first. But the good news is there are many free resources online that can get you on track fast.