Tip 1: fix conversion tracking before touching anything else
Every other tip in this post assumes your conversion data is true. If it is not, optimizing is just redecorating. Before adjusting a single bid, confirm that conversion tracking fires once per enquiry or sale, that phone calls are counted, and that the numbers roughly match what your CRM or bank account says.
A campaign with no tracking is just a very expensive trust exercise. And a campaign with double-counted conversions is worse, it looks like a winner while it teaches Google’s bidding to chase the wrong outcome.
If reports and reality disagree, stop and reconcile them first. Our analytics work exists because this is the most common problem we find in new accounts.
Tip 2: read the search terms report like it owes you money
The search terms report shows what people actually typed before clicking your ad. It is the cheapest market research you will ever get, and most accounts look at it roughly never.
A pattern we see constantly: one keyword looks fine on averages, but the search terms underneath split into two intents, people ready to buy and people doing homework. Splitting those into separate ad groups makes budget easier to control and ad copy easier to write, because you finally know who you are talking to.
- Weekly: scan for irrelevant terms and add them as negative keywords.
- Monthly: look for converting terms that deserve their own ad group and landing page.
- Quarterly: check whether the intent mix has drifted, platforms broaden matching over time, quietly.
Tip 3: use broad match only with guardrails
Broad match plus smart bidding is Google’s recommended setup, and it can work, the bidding system uses signals keywords cannot see. But broad match without conversion data, negative keywords and a sensible budget cap is how small accounts burn a month’s spend on adjacent nonsense.
- Start with phrase and exact while the account gathers conversion history.
- Build a negative keyword list from day one: competitors you do not want, job seekers, DIY searches, whatever does not pay you.
- Test broad match one campaign at a time, once smart bidding has real conversions to learn from, and watch the search terms report closely for the first fortnight.
Tip 4: write ads for the click you want, not the clicks you can get
The best-performing headline is not always the best headline. “Cheap” attracts clicks from people who will not pay your prices. Write ads that pre-qualify: name the service, the place you serve, and the thing that makes you worth calling, then let the wrong people scroll past for free.
- Fill every useful asset: sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call and location assets. They cost nothing and buy screen space.
- Pin sparingly. Responsive search ads work best when Google can rearrange; pin only what legally or logically must stay put.
- Match the landing page. The page should repeat the promise of the ad within one second of loading. If the ad says “emergency plumbing” and the page says “welcome to our website”, you paid for that confusion.
Tip 5: know when the answer is not more budget
More budget is not a strategy. It only makes the current strategy louder. Before increasing spend, check the boring constraints first:
- Impression share. If you already show for most eligible searches, extra budget buys diminishing returns, expand keywords or locations instead.
- Lead handling. If enquiries sit unanswered for a day, cheaper or more numerous leads will not fix revenue. Fix follow-up first.
- Landing page conversion. Doubling conversion rate beats doubling budget, and it usually costs less. That is CRO work, not media spend.
- Offer strength. If competitors offer something clearly better on the same search, your ads pay a tax on every click. Fix the offer.
If all four check out, then scale, gradually, one variable at a time, watching cost per conversion rather than spend. Accounts that grow this way keep their economics. Accounts that jump 3x in a week usually meet a different version of the auction and lose theirs.
And if this all sounds like a part-time job, it is. That is the honest case for having an agency run it, and why we audit the tracking before we touch the campaigns.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important thing to get right in Google Ads?
Conversion tracking. Every bidding decision, yours and Google’s, is based on conversion data, so if it is missing, duplicated or wrong, everything downstream optimizes toward the wrong goal. Verify tracking against your CRM or sales records before judging or scaling any campaign.
How often should I check the search terms report?
Weekly for adding negative keywords, monthly for finding converting terms that deserve their own ad group and landing page. Match types have broadened over the years, so the gap between what you bid on and what you show for grows quietly unless someone is watching.
Should I use broad match keywords?
Only with guardrails: real conversion history for smart bidding to learn from, a solid negative keyword list, and a close eye on the search terms report for the first couple of weeks. In a new account with little data, phrase and exact match give you control while the history builds.
Why are my Google Ads getting clicks but no enquiries?
Usually the landing page or the offer, not the campaign. Check that the page repeats the ad’s promise immediately, loads fast on mobile, and makes the next step obvious. Also check the search terms report, clicks from research-intent searches look identical to buyer clicks in the spend column.
When should I increase my Google Ads budget?
After confirming four things: you are losing impression share to budget, leads get followed up quickly, the landing page converts acceptably, and the offer is competitive. Then scale gradually while watching cost per conversion. If any of the four fail, fix that first, it is cheaper than louder advertising.