10 AdWords Mistakes to Avoid

As many businesses have discovered in their attempts to gain online exposure, it is not easy to succeed with Google AdWords. It is a very complicated platform that offers a dizzying array of options, settings, and advertising methods that can be employed. As a result, money can easily be wasted if campaigns aren’t created and managed by an experienced specialist. Here are eight of the most common mistakes businesses make, and that should be avoided:

1. Set & Forget

If there is one thing that AdWords is not, it’s a set and forget kind of platform. Your money is being spent there, so you want to pay close attention to all activity. Success with AdWords means committing to a process of continuous optimization.

2. Not Conversion Tracking

AdWords allows you to track the success of your ads through conversion tracking. It is critically important to use this feature. Conversion tracking can be based on a page view, meaning whenever someone clicks on an ad and then arrives at a certain webpage on your site, it’s considered a conversion. The conversion webpage is usually a thank you page for after someone completed an action, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form. Conversion tracking can also be based on a phone call

3. Poor Quality Ads

If you want to get business from AdWords, the quality of your ads is extremely important. Too many people create a new account, write one lousy ad, and then leave it running without ever changing or improving it

4. Not Split-Testing

Split testing is a very important technique to use. It’s where you create two or more ads that have different offers, wordings, or perhaps promotions. You set them to rotate so you can see which has a higher click-through-rate and conversion rate.

5. Not Linking AdWords to Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free tool offered by Google, and can be linked with your AdWords account. This is valuable because it allows you to see engagement metrics in AdWords, such as: how much time people are spending on your site.

6. Not Using ad Extensions

AdWords allows you to enable extensions to your ad. For example, location extensions add the physical address of your business, call extensions add a phone number, and sitelinks add links to different pages of your site. Extensions are valuable for several reasons. They can make your ads show more prominently. They can provide convenient information to help people reach you. They can promote certain specials or features of your business. And they can improve your quality score in AdWords, which leads to higher ranking and lower costs per click.

7. Using Broad Match

When you do keyword targeting in AdWords, you need to assign a “match type” to the keyword. Broad match is the one to use the most sparingly because it is too broad. It can be helpful for doing initial research, but overall should be avoided because it often triggers your ads for irrelevant searches.

8. Not Adding Negative Keywords

AdWords allows you to set negative keywords. These negatives prevent your ad from being triggered. It is imperative to ad as many negative keywords as you can – they will save you a lot of money.For example, if someone uses the word “free” or “discount” in their search phrase, you might not want your ad to appear.

9. Being Overly Obsessed with CTR, Quality Score, or Other Metrics

A common mistake is to become overly obsessed with particular metrics, like click through rate or quality score. While there are many important metrics in AdWords, remember that the most important metric is profit for your business. Also remember that a higher click through rate is not necessarily a good thing. It depends on who’s clicking and why the clicking.

10. Poor Landing Pages

No matter how well you’re using AdWords, your marketing doesn’t stop there. You need to consider how well your landing pages are working for you. Having poor landing pages is one of the most common reasons businesses are unsuccessful with AdWords.

Hello. My name is Barry, and I love Google AdWords! Would you like to connect with me? If so, send me an email at this address: