Top 5 Worst Google Ads Mistakes to Avoid [How to Fix Them]

We’re currently living in an internet world, and that means businesses need to cater to it. Today, Google Ads has become one of the most powerful tools for driving growth. With over 9.5 million searches happening on Google every minute, your business has more opportunities to get in front of the target market at the right moment.

Whether you want to boost sales, generate leads, or increase brand visibility, Google Ads can deliver measurable results faster, but you need to avoid certain Google Ads mistakes.

That’s why you need to understand what not to do. Here are the most common Google Ads mistakes to watch out for to drive a higher return on investment (ROI).

Google Ads Mistakes

Here are the top 5 Google Ads mistakes you need to avoid in your next marketing campaign.

• Not using negative keywords
• Not using the right match types
• Using an irrelevant landing page
• Using the wrong bid strategy
• Not using an ad extension

#1 Google Ads Mistake: Not Using Negative Keywords

When marketers think about optimizing Google Ads, they directly jump into “which keywords should I bid on?” However, they don’t realize that removing certain keywords can make a significant difference.

Google processes over 13.6 billion searches per day, even though it shows customer-related content, but not all is relevant to your offer. Negative keywords indicate what your product or service is not, so your ads stop showing up for irrelevant searches.

This protects your budget, eliminates low-intent clicks, improves quality score, and focuses your budget on customers who want your brand.

Let’s look at the example to understand it. Consider you’re marketing a “dog clinic”, make sure your ads don’t appear for keywords like:

cat clinic near me

pet hospital for cats

cat vaccination

By this example, you sell only for dogs, not for other animals. In this case, you need to exclude other terms that your ad doesn’t need to show up.

#2 Google Ads Mistake: Not Using the Right Match Types

You may spend hours choosing the right keywords for your campaign. But don’t forget about keyword match types. Google Ads gives you three match types to work with:

• Broad Match – This is the widest match type that displays your ads for phrases related to your keywords. It maximizes your reach but attracts irrelevant traffic.
• Phrase Match – This helps your ad appear only when customers search for your keyword in the same order, and also shows up for many variations.
• Exact Match – This match only displays your ads for the exact keyword you choose. It can bring lower volume but deliver a higher conversion rate, and doesn’t waste your ad budget.

Before selecting the match type, understand that spending your budget to reach as many visitors as possible isn’t an efficient way. So, pinpoint your defined target market that will yield clicks, leads, or sales.

So, which match type should you use? If you’re not sure about selecting your match type. You can combine all three match types with the same keyword using a method called the cascading method.

In this method, you bid high on Exact Match because those clicks tend by high-intent customers, set a moderate bid for Phrase Match, and place a low bid on Broad Match.

#3 Google Ads Mistake: Using an Irrelevant Landing Page

One of the main Google Ads mistakes is using an irrelevant landing page. Google makes this very clear that landing page relevance plays a major role in how Google Ads calculates your Quality Score. When your landing page matches the intent of your keywords, you get a higher Quality Score. But when the landing page doesn’t align with what the customer is looking for, you pay more for every click and reduce the conversion rate.

You need to think from your customer’s perspective – if someone clicks an ad due to a specific solution, product, or offer, yet the landing page doesn’t reflect that promise, the trust will be broken. Nearly 88% of customers won’t return after a poor website experience.

So, fix your issues right now. Check out the 8 proven landing page best practices to create a killer landing page for your next Google Ads campaign.

#4 Google Ads Mistake: Using the Wrong Bid Strategy

Choosing the wrong bid strategy is one of the main reasons for your Google Ads campaign’s performance. When we audit Google Ads accounts, one of the most common issues we find is that marketers are relying on the wrong bidding method for their objectives.

Google Ads offers three main types of bid strategies:

• Click-based
• Conversion-based
• Conversion value-based

While they all serve different purposes and needs. Click-based strategies like Manual CPC, Enhanced CPC, and Maximize Clicks see every click as valuable. Not every click is equal; some bring conversions, others can be spam, accidental taps, or irrelevant visitors. That’s why experts say 99% of campaigns should not rely on click-based bidding.

However, you can use conversion-based strategies like Maximize Conversions and Target CPA, which learn your conversions and adjust bids to help you capture more customers. Not only this, but you can also use value-based strategies like Maximize Conversion Value and Target ROAS that prioritize higher-value customers.

#5 Google Ads Mistake: Not Using Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are the smart way to boost your Google Ads performance. Most marketers still run basic ads with only a headline and description. But top-marketing advertisers use assets to add information like links, prices, phone numbers, or locations. This extra information can be useful to lead to high engagement and better conversion rates. Google even reports that ads with relevant assets can improve CTR by up to 20%.

Below are the most impactful assets to include:

Call extensions

Adding your phone number directly to your ad makes it incredibly easy for customers to contact especially mobile users who can tap and call instantly. This reduces friction and increases the likelihood of conversions.

Location extensions

Location extensions display your address within the ad and navigation link to Google Maps, making it effortless for customers to find you.

Sitelink extensions

Sitelinks highlight additional pages on your website such as categories, services, or offers. They help customers find what they want faster and often increase CTR.

Price extensions

Price extensions display your offerings with product pricing. Through this, customers can compare your price with other similar products. This can attract high-intent buyers.

When you combine the right assets with strong ad copy, your Google Ads become more relevant, more clickable, and more profitable without any increase in spend.

Stop These Google Ads Mistakes to Improve Your Performance

By avoiding all these Google Ads mistakes, Google Ads delivers the best results to reach the target audience. If you focus only on short-term profit like traffic or clicks, you limit your potential. If you want to rely on long-term profit, rely on conversion value.

When you choose the right keywords, manage your acquisition costs, and send customers to your landing page that can convert prospects. So, align your targeting, bidding, and funnel, and you’ll see more meaningful leads, stronger sales, and better profitability over time.

Have no idea about what works best for your business? Contact NB Marketing Solutions for expert campaign management and optimization.