We've audited more Google Ads accounts than we can count, and the same handful of budget-draining mistakes show up again and again — often on accounts that have been "professionally managed" for years.
1. Broad match with no negative keyword list
Broad match can work, but without a maintained negative keyword list it quietly spends budget on searches with zero commercial intent.
2. No conversion tracking beyond "clicks"
If you can't see which campaigns actually produce leads or sales — not just clicks — you're optimising for the wrong number by default.
3. One giant ad group for everything
Broad, unstructured ad groups mean generic ad copy and poor Quality Scores, which pushes your cost-per-click up across the whole account.
4. Ignoring search terms reports
The gap between what you're bidding on and what people are actually typing is often where the wasted spend hides.
5. Never testing landing pages
Great ads sending traffic to a slow, generic landing page is the single most common reason cost-per-acquisition stays stubbornly high.
In summary
None of these fixes are exotic — they're just easy to skip when an account has been running for years without a proper audit. That audit is usually where the first real efficiency gains come from.