After auditing hundreds of Google Ads accounts, these are the mistakes that appear time and again — and the fixes that immediately improve performance.
After auditing hundreds of Google Ads accounts for businesses across Cheshire and the wider North West, the same mistakes appear with remarkable consistency. These are not exotic edge cases — they are fundamental errors that silently drain budgets and suppress performance, often for months or years before anyone notices. Here are the seven we see most frequently, and what to do about each one.
Broad match keywords give Google significant latitude to show your ads for queries that are thematically related to your keyword — which sounds useful in theory, but frequently results in your ads appearing for entirely irrelevant searches. A broad match keyword like "web design" might trigger your ad for searches like "web design university courses" or "free website builder" — neither of which is going to convert.
The fix: If you use broad match, pair it with a comprehensive negative keyword list built from regular Search Terms report analysis. Add irrelevant queries as negative keywords at least weekly, particularly in the first months of a campaign. Consider starting with phrase match or exact match keywords until you have sufficient conversion data to use broad match effectively.
This is one of the most common and most costly mistakes we see. If someone searches "emergency plumber Knutsford" and clicks your ad, sending them to your homepage — where they then have to navigate to find emergency plumbing information — creates unnecessary friction and reduces conversion dramatically. Message match between your ad and your landing page is one of the most powerful levers in PPC.
The fix: Create dedicated landing pages for each ad group or campaign that mirror the specific message and intent of the ads. The headline on the landing page should echo the headline in the ad. The CTA should be prominent, specific, and above the fold.
The Search Terms report shows you the actual queries that triggered your ads. It is the most important diagnostic tool in your Google Ads account, and the majority of businesses we audit have either never looked at it or check it only occasionally. This means they are almost certainly paying for irrelevant clicks — sometimes for months — without realising it.
The fix: Review your Search Terms report at least weekly. Add irrelevant queries as negative keywords immediately. Look for high-performing queries that are not covered by your existing keywords and add them as exact or phrase match terms.
If you are not tracking conversions accurately, you are flying blind. Google's Smart Bidding strategies — Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximise Conversions — all rely on conversion data to function. If your conversion tracking is broken, misconfigured, or tracking the wrong actions (page views instead of form submissions, for example), Google's algorithms will optimise toward the wrong goal and your performance will suffer accordingly.
The fix: Audit your conversion tracking setup. Verify that conversions are being recorded accurately using Google Tag Manager and Google Ads' conversion confirmation. Ensure you are tracking the actions that genuinely represent business value — phone calls, form submissions, purchases — not vanity metrics like time on site.
Smart Bidding strategies require a certain volume of data to learn and optimise effectively. If your daily budget is so low that your campaign can only generate a handful of clicks per day, the algorithm never accumulates enough signal to make meaningful optimisation decisions. The result is erratic performance and slow learning.
The fix: As a general rule, set your daily budget at a minimum of 10-20 times your target CPA. If you are targeting a £50 cost per lead, your daily budget should be at least £500-£1,000. If this is not feasible, consider starting with manual CPC bidding until you have sufficient conversion volume to switch to Smart Bidding.
Ad extensions — renamed "assets" by Google in 2022 — allow you to add additional information to your ads: phone numbers, site links, callouts, structured snippets, lead forms, and more. They increase the physical size of your ad in the search results, improve your Ad Rank, and provide additional routes to conversion. Yet many accounts we audit have minimal or no assets configured.
The fix: Add all relevant asset types to your campaigns. At minimum, configure: sitelink assets (linking to key pages on your site), callout assets (short phrases highlighting key benefits), call assets (your phone number), and location assets (if you have a physical premises). Review and refresh your assets quarterly.
Lumping all your keywords into a single campaign or ad group — regardless of how different their intent signals are — makes it impossible to tailor your messaging, landing pages, and bids appropriately. A user searching "digital marketing agency Cheshire" has very different intent from one searching "what is SEO" — they should not be served the same ad or directed to the same page.
The fix: Structure your campaigns around distinct themes and intent signals. Separate branded keywords from non-branded. Separate high-intent commercial terms from informational terms. Each ad group should contain tightly themed keywords with dedicated ads and landing pages that reflect the specific intent of those keywords.
If you recognise any of the above in your current Google Ads account, CMC offers free PPC audits for businesses across Cheshire. We will review your account structure, bidding strategy, conversion tracking, and creative assets, and provide a prioritised action plan. Get in touch today.