Google Ads Checklist: 25 Mistakes That Eat Your Budget

Conversions and analytics

Without accurate analytics, ads don't know who to target

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1. Primary conversions are real leads and sales, not page views or clicks on any button.That's what your ads learn from. Goals → Conversions → Summary: which actions are marked as primary 2. One lead is counted once: there aren't two primary conversions for the same action.A common case: the same lead comes from both GA4 and the Google Ads tag. Keep only one as primary. Goals → Conversions: compare the primary actions 3. Calls and messages count too: clicks on phone, Telegram and Viber are tracked.If customers usually call or message you but only the form is tracked, your ads see just part of the results. Goals → Conversions: are there actions for calls and messengers 4. For an online store, the order value is passed, not the same value for every purchase.Without the order value, you can't optimize ads for revenue. Goals → Conversions → "Purchase" action → Value 5. Google Ads is linked to GA4, and auto-tagging is on.Without it, GA4 can't tell that a visitor came from an ad. Admin → Account settings → Auto-tagging 6. Your own visits and your employees' visits are excluded from the stats.Otherwise test leads end up in your reports. GA4 → Admin → Data streams → Define internal traffic

Campaign settings

Check who sees your ads, where and when

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7. Ads are shown to people who are in your region, not just interested in it.The "Presence or interest" option often spends budget on people from other cities and countries. Campaign → Settings → Locations → Location options: "Presence" 8. The Display Network is turned off in search campaigns.Otherwise part of your search budget goes to banners on websites. Campaign → Settings → Networks 9. Campaign languages match your customers' languages.For Ukraine, you usually need Ukrainian and Russian. Campaign → Settings → Languages 10. Ads run when you can actually answer a call or a request.If nobody answers at night, money goes to customers who won't wait for a reply. Campaign → Ad schedule 11. Each service or product group has its own keywords, ads and landing page.If everything is in one ad group, the ads end up generic and people land on the wrong page. Review the structure of campaigns and ad groups 12. Your best campaigns aren't limited by budget.If the campaign with the cheapest leads is limited by budget, you're missing leads exactly where they're cheapest. Campaigns → "Status" column: "Limited by budget"

Keywords and search terms

Cut irrelevant traffic and wasted spend

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13. At least once a week you check which search terms trigger your ads.This is where you see what you're really paying for. Insights and reports → Search terms 14. Irrelevant search terms are added as negatives where they appeared, not to every campaign at once.A negative keyword in every campaign can block relevant searches in a neighboring campaign. Search terms → add as negatives to the right campaign 15. There's a basic negative keyword list.For example: free, DIY, vacancy, job, download, essay. Tools → Shared library → Negative keyword lists 16. Broad match is used only together with an automated bid strategy and working conversions.Without them, ads show for searches that are too far off. Keywords → match type + campaign bid strategy 17. The same keywords aren't added to different campaigns.Otherwise campaigns compete with each other and the stats are hard to read. Keywords → sort by keyword

Make your ads stand out from competitors

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18. Your ads have an ad strength of "Good" or "Excellent".A low rating usually means there are too few headlines or they repeat. Ads → "Ad strength" column 19. Headlines include specifics: price, timing, benefit, city.Phrases like "High quality at a low price" are used by every competitor. Read your headlines through a customer's eyes 20. Assets are added: sitelinks, callouts, phone number, address.They make the ad bigger and give more reasons to click. Ads → Assets 21. Promotions and prices in ads are up to date and match the website.An expired promotion disappoints a customer before the first contact. Compare ad copy with your website

Bidding and budget

Give the algorithm data and time

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22. Automated bidding is turned on once the campaign already has data.Rule of thumb: 15-30 conversions per month. On a new campaign with no data, cost per lead often jumps. Campaign → Settings → Bidding 23. Bid strategy and budget aren't changed more often than once every 1-2 weeks.Every major change restarts the learning period. Tools → Change history

Website

Ads bring people in, the website turns them into leads

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24. Ads lead to a page with what the person was searching for, not to the homepage.The page immediately shows the service or product, the price and a contact button. Ads → "Final URL" column 25. The website works well on a phone: the number is tappable, the form sends in a couple of taps, the page loads fast.Most customers come from mobile. Open your ad on your phone and try to submit a request yourself

Where to start?

Fix the points in the "Conversions and analytics" section first. If your ads learn from wrong data, all other settings work at half strength.

25 mistakes in Google Ads that eat up your budget

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