Here's something a lot of folks do not understand about PPC.

I think most people get that PPC is more expensive now than ever. But as always, there are ways to optimize around that and still get a strong return.

But WHY is it so expensive?

Is it because more people are using Google?

Sure, maybe.

If we look at the way PPC used to look:

You had 10+ PPC placements at any given time to click on.

These days, the PPC itself is often narrowed down to as little as 1-3 placements.

Google has CAREFULLY re-engineered the results over many, many years of testing, to maximize their profits.

And part of that was releasing LSA (local service ads), starting in 2015.

As of 2015, certain markets you now had Google pinning Google Ads placements in direct competition with their own LSA product. So now, there is less real estate for businesses such as law firms, HVAC companies, and others, compared to pre-2015.

Fewer PPC placements, yet Google's revenue kept increasing by a huge clip every year.

Next, enter "SMART BIDDING".

Since there were fewer placements available, Google had to figure out a way to supplement the "legit" PPC placements, with lower quality/junk placements that would then be wrapped into smart bidding, and later, AI driven products (Pmax, AI Max).

When you look at the timeline of product releases, this is all by design.

I'm not saying that Google is BAD, all the time, or ALL of their traffic is JUNK. By they are a multi billion dollar, for profit corporation, and anyone who believes these "upgrades" are in the interest of advertisers are probably smoking something good.

Where this becomes completely obvious that Google loves to money grab through "product upgrades":

1/ Performance Max - Now years later, only now does Google start rolling back some of the junk because they all but completely destroyed their credibility with this product.

2/ Account "Warnings" that you aren't bidding on enough broad match keywords

3/ Similar "Warnings" that you don't have search partners turned on

4/ More "Warnings" about not using enhanced conversions, which in turn would give google all of your customer's personal information. This recommendation was supposed to be because 3rd party cookies were going away, and when that decision was over turned, Google still persisted that they needed enhanced conversions turned on across the board. Why? Because they do not have the depth of 1st party data that Facebook has and this is the only way to get it.

5/ Extremely aggressive, outsourced "reps" that are really sales robots that read off scripts and are judged on how many features they get you to opt into

6/ Let's not forget the recent August 17th Bid "Upgrades" that effectively brought minimum CPA's up across the board for an infinite number of advertisers, further lining Google's pockets.

Now, there are some GREAT Google reps that work stateside and will actually provide real recommendations, and support. I have to admit this because it's true and I'm literally working with 2 of the best Google reps right now that I've ever worked with in 18+ years. Google MIGHT be finally listening to the backlash from agencies.

What do you think? Is Google on the side of small business? Or do they hide low quality traffic under various disguises in order to keep growing year over year?

Hi all,

I run Google Ads for a recruitment agency that now only wants employer enquiries, but nearly every lead is a job seeker.

We built an employer only landing page with all candidate messaging removed, and the one lead it produced in two weeks was still a candidate.

For anyone managing recruitment accounts, what's actually worked for you?

Keywords and negatives, ad copy, form qualifiers, offline conversion imports, anything.

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I'm having an issue with offline conversion imports using GCLIDs in Google Ads.

Here's my situation:

• I uploaded 12 qualified leads using GCLIDs through Google Ads Data Manager (Google Sheets).
• Data Manager shows 12 rows imported successfully with 0 errors.
• However, only 4 conversions are showing in my Google Ads reports.
• The conversion action was created on October 20, and the first successful import was on October 21.
• It's now October 23, over 48 hours later, and the number is still 4.
• The conversion window is set to 90 days, and the counting method is set to Every.
• All 12 GCLIDs came from actual Google Ads clicks between September and October.
• The 4 conversions showing seem to correspond to the oldest clicks, while the other 8 are missing.

I'm using Maximize Conversions and want to optimize for qualified leads instead of WhatsApp button clicks, but I'm concerned about switching with only 4 recorded conversions.

Has anyone experienced this? Can Data Manager report successful imports while some GCLIDs fail attribution? Is there a way to identify exactly which GCLIDs were counted and why the others weren't?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi, I'm working with a dropshopping client with more than 10k products on their site. Feed is passed through Simprosys and in Merchant Center i see all the sku(different colour, size etc) variants which is a little difficult to handle.

Is there a way to only be able to work with those 10k products instead of the skus? I'd like to work with just 1 product instead of its 5 different skus.

Spend is streched too thin sometimes and it also becomes difficult to understand the product level performance instead of sku level.

So I have an ecommerce site and the google ads account was 'suspended' over a decade ago. I'd originally hired some noob 'marketer' who didn't know what they were doing, and got my account suspended. This was around 2014.

I never bothered much to fix it, because my business was so successful; one person I talked to years later said it was because my site makes "health" claims, and I figured there was no way to fix that.

ANYHOW, I recently wanted to lift the ban, I filed the appeal, included the above info... but nothing ever came of it, except extension-emails during the never-ending review. (We need more time, still reviewing, etc)

Today I replied to one of those review emails, and within a few minutes got back this response:

Hi,

Thanks for waiting while your account suspension appeal was reviewed .

The details of your case were reviewed and after taking your feedback into consideration, unfortunately your account (195-989-2616) is still in violation of Google Ads’ policies.

Your account is still suspended. When a Google Ads account is suspended, that suspension applies to the account owner and any current or future linked accounts. If you create additional Google Ads accounts while you’re suspended, the new accounts will get suspended immediately.

The bold-face part is my big concern! I have an entirely different, new product coming out early next year.

So that new (but linked) google ads account will apparently already be suspended automatically? WTF?

WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?

EDIT: I see in Google Ads > Account Summary > Issues , it says, "Your account has violated Google Ads’ Deprecated Abuse Tag policy. You may appeal this suspension."

I have no idea what that means, but I know whatever it was, it was done by someone working though my account, and it was over a decade ago.

Hi, I run ads for a local tree removal business in the Holiday, FL area. Been running since the beginning of October, have 40 clicks, 278 impressions, a $4.47 Avg. CTR and I've had a single customer fill out my website's form for a tree removal job when the main goal is phone calls or texts .. this is despite the phone number being prominently displayed all over the website (header, main page, footer)

I currently have no conversion tracking set up as I'm not sure how to track actions a customer takes .. but even if I did have conversion tracking it's not like I have enough customers taking action to base it off of. Does anyone here have experience setting up campaigns that do really well with phone calls?

Edit 10/22:

Currently have one call asset running/eligible, search campaign is set to drive phone call leads, bid strategy is maximize clicks and budget is $20/day if that helps.

Edit 10/22:

Conversion tracking for the job form has been added! Will monitor results and work on call tracking next

Hey everyone,

We run a small business specializing in real estate photography and media services, including interior/exterior photography, drone photography, property videos, 3D tours, floor plans, and social media content for real estate agents.

We've been running a Google Ads Search campaign for about a month now. While we've gotten clicks and some pretty solid CTRs, we haven't generated a single booking directly attributable to Google Ads.

Our goal is pretty straightforward: get in front of real estate agents who are actively searching for photography or media services and turn those searches into paying clients.

Here's how our campaign has evolved:

• Initially: $16/day budget using Maximize Clicks without a maximum CPC limit.
• First adjustment: $16/day with an $8 maximum CPC.
• Second adjustment: $16/day with a $10 maximum CPC.
• Current setup: $25/day using Maximize Clicks without a maximum CPC limit, but with exact-match keywords only.

Our campaign targets a defined geographic service area, and our website has portfolio examples, transparent pricing/packages, customer reviews, and online booking. We've also extensively tested our conversion tracking and are confident it's working correctly.

The biggest problem we've encountered is irrelevant traffic.

Initially, we were using a mix of broader keyword match types to generate traffic. Unfortunately, a significant portion of our clicks came from completely irrelevant searches. People were searching for photography equipment, drones, and other things that had nothing to do with hiring a real estate photographer.

We spent quite a bit of time reviewing search terms and building out pages of negative keywords, but it felt like we were constantly playing catch-up and paying for clicks that had virtually no chance of converting.

Because of that, we recently switched to exact-match keywords only, focusing on high-intent searches like "real estate photographer near me," "real estate photography services," and relevant variations.

We understand that this will likely reduce our overall impression and click volume, but we'd rather have fewer qualified visitors than a larger number of irrelevant clicks.

However, now we're running into another problem: Google Ads is indicating limited delivery due to low search volume. We're concerned that we've restricted our targeting so much that the campaign may struggle to generate enough traffic to produce meaningful results.

Another issue we're noticing is relatively low Ad Rank.

We're trying to understand what's contributing to our low Ad Rank and how to improve it without simply throwing more money at higher CPC bids.

We've read about the importance of Quality Score, ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience, but we're not entirely sure which areas deserve the most attention or how much of an impact improvements would realistically have.

Our concern is that even when someone searches for exactly the services we offer, our ads may not be appearing in competitive positions.

A few questions we'd really appreciate advice on:

1. Exact match vs. phrase match: Is switching exclusively to exact-match keywords a reasonable strategy for a niche service business, or are we restricting our reach too much? Would a combination of exact and phrase match be more appropriate?
2. Low search volume: How do you approach campaigns targeting a relatively small B2B audience when Google Ads starts flagging keywords for low search volume? Is this something we should be concerned about, or should we accept lower traffic in exchange for better intent?
3. Improving Ad Rank: What are the most effective ways to improve Ad Rank without relying entirely on increasing bids? Should we prioritize ad copy, landing page relevance, keyword organization, or something else?
4. CPC strategy: Given our budget history and current setup, would you recommend reintroducing a maximum CPC limit? Could removing the limit help us compete for better placements, or are we risking paying significantly more per click without improving conversions?
5. Bidding strategy: With a relatively small budget and zero conversion history, is Maximize Clicks still the best approach? Would Manual CPC make more sense for controlling costs and prioritizing specific keywords?
6. Conversion expectations: For those who have managed Google Ads for niche local service businesses, particularly businesses targeting other businesses, how many qualified clicks would you typically want to see before concluding that something needs to change?
7. Overall strategy: If you were managing an account like ours, what would you prioritize first? Increasing traffic volume, improving Ad Rank, adjusting keyword match types, or optimizing the landing page?

We're not expecting overnight results, and we understand that Google Ads takes time and experimentation. We're willing to invest in getting the campaign working, but we want to make sure we're spending our budget intelligently rather than continuously paying for traffic that goes nowhere.

Our biggest challenge right now is finding the balance between getting enough visibility to generate leads and keeping our traffic relevant enough to actually convert.

Would really appreciate any advice, especially from people who've worked with smaller-budget campaigns in niche B2B or local service industries.

Thanks in advance!

Has anyone else seen their Google Shopping traffic completely flatline over the last couple of days?

My three-month-old account went from 50-60 clicks daily to just one yesterday and zero today. I've double-checked Merchant Center, and there are no product disapprovals or warnings that might explain the sudden drop.

I know there was a recent Google Cloud outage, but my other ad accounts are totally unaffected. Is anyone else experiencing this exact same issue or have any idea what might be going on?

If your conversions look too good, check these before you scale anything.

1. Count setting. Under each conversion action, "Every" counts every conversion from a click, "One" counts one per click. For lead gen, "One" is almost always right. A single person submitting a form twice shouldn't be two leads. "Every" is mainly for ecommerce purchases.

2. Duplicate conversion actions. A GA4 import and the native Google Ads tag both set as Primary for the same event will double count. Check Goals > Conversions > Summary and make sure each real-world action is only Primary once.

3. Micro conversions set as Primary. Page views, button clicks and scroll depth set as Primary tell Smart Bidding to optimize for them. If the goal is leads or sales, set those as Primary and the rest as Secondary so they're tracked but don't drive bidding.

4. Conversion window and attribution model. A 90 day click window will credit a campaign for a sale that started months ago. Match the window to your real sales cycle, and check the "Conversions by time" column vs the "Conversions" column when comparing recent days, since the second one lags.

Then compare the total in Google Ads to your CRM or backend for the same period. A gap of a few percent is normal. If Google shows 40% more, one of the four above is usually why.

Which of these have you found messed up most often when you inherit an account?

Yesterday's CPA and last month's CPA may not be equally complete.

Someone can click an ad today and buy several days later. In the standard Google Ads conversion columns, that conversion is normally attributed to the date of the ad interaction. Recent dates can therefore gain conversions after you first inspect them. There can also be a separate processing delay before a conversion appears.

Before reacting to a sudden CPA increase:

1. Check the account's usual time to conversion. Compare periods with similar time to mature, rather than treating yesterday's numbers as final.
2. Add Conversions (by conv. time) alongside Conversions. The first shows when the conversion happened; the standard column follows the ad interaction date. They answer different questions.
3. When reconciling against store orders or CRM records, align dates, time zones and the conversion action. A form submission and a closed sale are different events, even if both are called leads in a dashboard.
4. Check whether clicks and spend changed too, then test the actual purchase or lead path. A broken checkout or tag needs investigation now; conversion lag is not a reason to ignore it.

Use the lag report to decide how much of the recent period is still incomplete. It is a reporting check, not proof that a campaign is healthy or that bidding changes are unnecessary.

Google's references: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9347141?hl=en https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6270625?hl=en

You can set a priority on various networks like Search Partners and Google Display Network. You can do it at both the campaign and account level.

I would recommend setting Search Partners and Display Network to 0%.

Generally speaking, these two networks are bad so we exclude them for most of our clients.

If you changed a conversion action to Secondary to keep it out of bidding, check the campaign's goals too. The action label alone doesn't tell the whole story.

With a standard goal, a primary action is used for bidding when the campaign uses that goal. Secondary actions are normally for observation in All conversions.

Custom goals are the exception: an included secondary action can still be used for bidding. Setting it to Secondary is not enough if the campaign uses a custom goal containing it.

A practical check before adjusting bids:

1. Open the affected campaign's conversion goal settings. Check whether it uses account-default goals or campaign-specific goals, including a custom goal.
2. Write down the actual actions included in the selected goals. Compare them with the business outcome the campaign is meant to optimize, rather than judging by action names.
3. If an observation-only action sits inside a custom goal, review that goal's membership. Don't assume changing the action to Secondary removed it from optimization.
4. Segment the campaign report by conversion action and compare Conversions with All conversions to inspect the reporting.

This is a check, not a reason to rebuild every goal. If the selected goals already match the intended outcome, leave them alone. If you do change the conversion setup, give bidding time to adapt instead of stacking more changes immediately.

Google's references: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11461796?hl=en https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9143218?hl=en

I’m running YouTube advertising for a specialist product whose audience watches long-form videos on 19 specific channels. Broadening beyond those channels is not an equivalent substitute for this campaign’s objective.

Current situation:

Efficient Reach campaigns using Target CPM bid strategy

All devices—not desktop-only.

Targeting 35 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, and EU countries. No other restrictions beyond those 35 nations and 19 channels. The secondary campaign also targets a few keywords.

The monetized channels on the list have received thousands of recent views.

I’ve raised target CPM to improve delivery; I’m seeing some CPMs around $75, but most closer to $40 after yesterday saw one of the monetized channels in the group post a new video that got 3k views and I got only a 6 impressions on that channel, I raised my target CPM above the day’s average CPM, in the hopes of getting my full budget spent. (These are high value placements, so I’m okay with high CPM. I am not okay with not spending for lack of access to inventory.)

The reported impression share is 100%, with zero lost to rank and zero lost to budget.

Neither campaign has spent more than half its daily budget since launch.

Daily budgets are $5 and $2.50 as an initial test. Today, shortly before noon, spending was $0.77 and $0.38.

A separate keyword-targeted campaign has previously delivered impressions on two of the selected channels.

I understand that channel views do not equal available ad impressions and that impression-share metrics use an estimated eligible denominator. What I’m trying to understand is what is keeping that denominator so small.

Has anyone diagnosed this specific behavior with YouTube channel placements? In particular:

Have individual-video placements delivered where the parent channel placement did not, under otherwise equivalent settings?

Is there documented behavior that explains that difference?

Is there a diagnostic or support escalation that identifies opportunities excluded before they enter the reported eligible-impression set?

New uploads are especially important: I want to reach viewers in the first 10–60 minutes after publication. Maintaining a manual list of individual videos would defeat the purpose of channel targeting.

I’m looking for verified settings, documentation, or firsthand tests—not simply a recommendation to broaden targeting or increase budget.

Haven't run google ads in a while (since March or so). Made a new Pmax ad a few days ago. Noticed this morning that it says""Your website is missing a Google tag". If I click "fix it", up comes the dialog for adding a tag to my website. However, the tag ID (G-NL4Z8KHP27) is already one which is ON the website! I've checked tag manager and it's definitely there, and I've checked tag assistant and events seem to be firing (I haven't used tag assistant much so not 100% confident what I'm doing with it). Note - any tags that are on the website were added automatically by Shopify's Google shopping channel app thing, I haven't added any manually.

If I check the conversion action under "Goals", it says Awaiting Conversions with the last recorded conversion on the 15th June. I don't understand this, since there haven been loads of orders since then (just NOT through Google Ads). Does this only refer to conversions that have come through a google ad?

Is this just some temporary glitch since I haven't been running ads in ages, or is there something actually up? Would be very grateful for any ideas!

Hi,

Running Google Ads for our niche property finance business.

Budget is $130 per day, which is not a lot, but is our allocated budget for now.

Yesterday, Google recommended switching to tCPA of $300, and a slight increase to $160 per day.

They updated the recommendation today, $300 per day, tCPA of​ $300.

My understanding was that, typically, the daily budget should be 3x tCPA. Otherwise the campaign gets starved.

Has anyone successfully switched from maximise conversions to tCPA without a large increase to daily budget? We could go to $160 per day, but $300 per day is too far outside of our budget.

Last 14 days stats: 4.8% CTR, 3% Conv. Rate, CPC $14

Hello :)

I’ve been running google ads search campaign for my mural art / signwriting business for the last year with overall strong success, particularly the last 2 months when I upped my budget to £15 a day from £10 and worked on various things.

I’ve been having calls with google who have helped me with various set up / issues - they have been genuinely helpful, but they of course do try to sell me on more budget / AI max / p max.

About 2 weeks ago, I bumped my budget to £18 a day, as search IS LOST on my target radius has been at about 25%. I believe bumping it did bring it down to 20% , however the last two weeks the performance of campaign has dropped about 50%, so I put it back to £15 daily. This may be due to other factors though? Seasonality - I’m not sure.

I’m basically wondering what would be the best next steps to take.

Current issues im facing:

• landing page score below average, I run 3 sep ad groups to 3 landing pages (mural art, graffiti art and signwriting) - I don’t know why my page score is low and I don’t know how to fix it. Speed is ok, maybe 70-80. Is it the keyword relevance? Do I need 1 LP per keyword reflected directly in the H1? Google were not so helpful here so far.

• attributing value to each conversion to improve who my ads are shown to. The value of clients varies significantly, from people who assume because it’s “art” they can pay for materials and provide “exposure”, to 10-20k+ murals. I’ve been trying to get offline conversions working, I have a google sheet connected and managed yesterday to import 28 out of 34 lines (6 errors) BUT I don’t know if these were just important or actually matched??

I also could on ads or form put projects start at £1000 (what I usually say in email) but £600 is absolute minimum if local. Havnt don’t yet though as didn’t want to discourage, but maybe it is the right call.

• I currently run about 150 keywords, a lot don’t probably get conversions. I think overall my search report is very clean now, could be too clean? I don’t do a lot of work here, generally turning off keywords once they hit 2/3x target CPA?

Google have suggested adding more broads, try AI MAX or try a separate p max campaign. I am open to things but I don’t want to damage what is generally working.

Happy to hear advice from those who have been running ads longer than me 🥲

Share your experience with YouTube (on its own or in PMax). What has worked for you? What hasn’t?

Channel prioritisation and budget allocation started rolling out on 15 October. Set a cap on Search Partners or Display before you switch them back on.

Pls share the experience if anyone tried this new setting

I work with a nonprofit diabetes organization (volunteer) and I’ve been tasked with revamping our Google ads campaigns to help reach more applicants to our website. I am looking for someone with Google ads experience to give some advice on how to increase impressions and ad clicks on our newest campaign. For context, I work with this organization on the medical side, and therefore am not well experienced (besides this summer) with marketing/advertising. Any help would be much appreciated!

Hey everyone!

We're running a Google Search Ads campaign for a divorce law firm in Brazil, and I'm trying to understand whether our problem is with the campaign itself, our conversion tracking, or the quality of the leads we're attracting.

We've been optimizing the campaign over the past few weeks, making adjustments to keywords, ad copy, and our landing page.

Here's our performance from October 1–20:

• Impressions: 2,960
• Clicks: 357
• CTR: 12.06%
• Total spend: R$965 (~$180 USD)
• Average CPC: R$2.70 (~$0.50 USD)
• Conversions: 43
• Conversion rate: 12.04%
• Cost per conversion: R$22.44 (~$4 USD)
• Actual clients acquired: 0

Our setup is straightforward: Search Ads → Divorce Landing Page → WhatsApp.

We're using Maximize Conversions, and our primary conversion action is triggered when someone clicks a WhatsApp button on the landing page.

We've managed to increase the number of conversions after making several optimizations, but we still haven't signed a single client.

This makes me wonder whether Google is simply finding people who are likely to click a WhatsApp button rather than people who actually intend to hire a lawyer.

I have a few questions:

1. Are these metrics actually decent for a legal services campaign, or could they indicate low-quality traffic?
2. Could optimizing for WhatsApp button clicks be teaching Google's algorithm to prioritize the wrong users?
3. Would you recommend switching our primary conversion action to qualified leads or actual consultations instead?
4. How would you diagnose whether the problem is with our targeting, landing page, or sales process?

I realize that a WhatsApp button click doesn't necessarily mean someone started a conversation or became a qualified lead.

But seeing 43 recorded conversions and zero paying clients makes me think something in our funnel isn't working properly.

Has anyone experienced something similar, especially in legal services?

I'd really appreciate any advice!

Hey Google ads expects,

I'm a Meta ads strategist and I'm considering learning Google ads and my boss is asked me to do work on "Google ads" 🗣️💦 but my practical knowledge is "Zero", I have theoretical knowledge though.

- How difficult is it to learn Google Ads if you already have experience with Meta Ads?

- Which concepts and skills transfer between the two platforms, and what works differently?

- How long might it take to become comfortable managing campaigns independently?

- What should I focus on first to build practical skills?

I'm particularly interested in understanding the strategic differences between the platforms, rather than just learning the interface.

I'd appreciate any advice from people who have worked with both platforms!

Hello, I have been running two new small campaigns for home removals in a couple of areas and so far I feel the ads are doing okay, they’ve had like 802 clicks and a 11.5% CTR on average over the past two months.

However despite this the campaign has seen 200 people enter their postcode to get a price for the services, but nobody has yet converted. There is an online booking process for home removals, it’s only four steps postcode > prices > date of arrival > payment.

But nobody has even landed on date selection yet. I don’t know if the traffic is wrong and I could update my ads. Im also thinking maybe it’s the process or prices? Prices are displayed at second step, but dont know whether to blame the ads or website for now

Any help would be appreciated on how I could turn my ad conversions around to get return on what I’m spending atm, is there anything I could test with the ads maybe? Thank you

In SEO, it's common to analyze what's ranking high and what's not in the search engine results page (SERP) of a keyword. This SERP is usually generated by the SEO tool (Ahrefs, Semrush etc) that the SEO person is using for keyword research, as part of the specific keyword's data. The rationale: notice what kind of content's ranking highly, and glean what kind of search intent it's addressing.

But is this a thing in Google Ads at all? In Google Ads, SERPs aren't generated for keywords, and each keyword is, as one can probably guess, a single aggregate of all the various variations - misspellings, semantic or grammatical variations etc - of itself. So there can't really be one SERP to analyze can there?

I ask this because if SERP analysis is a thing in Google Ads I imagine it'll be quite a useful thing from an insights perspective to inform your campaign settings and strategy.