Most businesses who try Google Ads give up after burning budget with nothing to show. The problem is almost never the platform. Here is exactly what to fix.
Mistake 1: Broad Match Keywords
Using broad match keywords like "marketing agency" or "website design" means Google shows your ad to anyone searching anything remotely related — including people looking for marketing jobs, DIY website builders, or courses. You pay for every irrelevant click.
The fix is exact match and phrase match keywords combined with a negative keyword list of 100 to 200 terms you never want to show for. This alone can cut wasted spend by 40 to 60 percent.
Mistake 2: Sending Traffic to Your Homepage
Your homepage is built to introduce your entire business to everyone. A Google Ads landing page needs to do one thing only: convert that specific search into a lead. Homepages convert at 2 to 4 percent. Dedicated landing pages built for one service convert at 15 to 25 percent. That difference is the difference between a profitable campaign and money burning.
Mistake 3: No Call Tracking
Most jobs are booked over the phone. If your campaign is not tracking phone calls as conversions, you have no idea which keywords and ads are actually generating business. You are optimising blind. Install Google Tag Manager, set up call conversion tracking, and now every call from your ads gets recorded.
The Campaign Structure That Works
Start with two to three tightly themed ad groups, one per service type. Each ad group has its own keywords, its own ads, and its own landing page. This relevance drives quality scores down, cost per click down, and conversion rates up.
Budget: start at $1,000 to $1,500 per month in ad spend. Give it 60 days. The first 30 days collect data. The second 30 days optimise based on what you learned.
Ready to implement this for your business?
Book a free 30-minute strategy call with Hazeem and get a plan built around your specific situation.