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Over the years, we’ve seen so many small businesses burn through their entire ad budget and not even realise it. Perhaps, things were looking good for a month. However, the next month they could see that although clicks doubled, sales did not follow. Though PPC can be brilliant, it can quickly bleed you dry if you don’t keep an eye on it. On the whole, most PPC mistakes are the result of small oversights. For example, a forgotten setting or a lazy assumption. Keep in mind, PPC isn’t a “set it and forget it” method. Today, we’ll look at some of the most common PPC mistakes to help you preserve your budget and bring in results.

Mistake #1: Ignoring Search Intent

Simply put: showing the wrong ad to the wrong person. You might be using top social media campaign management services to run a great looking ad, but if a searcher’s intent doesn’t match, it’s all money down the drain. An example might be someone searching for “how to build a garden pond.” Maybe your ad says “Buy a prebuilt pond today.” However, in this case, the customer isn’t ready to buy. They’re just learning about ponds. In many cases, we’ve seen clients blow through a budget using generic keywords. Though this resulted in plenty of clicks, it didn’t convert to sales. Today, with AI aiding search engines to better understand people’s intent, then you always need to ask yourself, ““What’s the person behind this search really trying to do?”

Mistake #2: Relying Too Much on Broad Match Keywords

It’s essential to understand that broad match keywords, though looking good in theory, won’t help you in the long run. For example, many people pick a few key terms and then let Google do the rest to reach a wider audience. In reality, it means you’re just wasting money on relevant clicks. We had a clent selling accounting software. They ran ads showing “free accounting courses.” As you can imagine, none of those clicks turned into sales. However, the real hurt comes when you get the bill. We tend to use a mix of keyword types and then add in some negative keywords every week. Yes, it’s not glamorous. But it does keep our campaigns profitable. Although it looks tempting on paper, don’t let automation do everything.

Mistake #3: Setting and Forgetting Campaigns

It’s all too easy to launch your ad campaign, see good results in the first week, and then move on to other stuff. Then a month later you’re left scratching your head as to why traffic and sales have dropped. PPC campaigns need constant care and attention. Perhaps not on a daily basis, but regularly enough to catch any problems before they affect your campaign negatively. Remember that algorithms are constantly changing. It’s the same with your competitors tweaking their bids and customers shifting their interest. be careful that your budget doesn’t start spiralling out of control. In truth, the majority of common PPC mistakes start with neglect. Here we insist on a weekly check. As part of our essential digital marketing services, we examine things like placements, keywords, and conversions. The goal is to be preventive not reactionary.

Mistake #4: Weak Ad Copy and Creative Fatigue

Though it might seem like the perfect tool, don’t rely on AI to write your copy. Today, too many ads sound like AI slop, written by a robot. It’s the kind of copy that people scroll by fast. In reality, you only have seconds to grab their attention. We had a bakery running the byline “Order cupcakes today.” Once we swapped it out for “Handmade cupcakes that taste like Sunday morning” they saw a huge jump in both sales and interactions. Keep in mind that not all fixes are technical. They might also be emotional. Also, remember that ads wear themselves out and people will stop noticing them. That’s why it’s a good idea to rotate visuals every month. By keeping content fresh, it keeps the ad visible.

Mistake #5: Neglecting Conversion Tracking and Attribution

At the end of the day, you can’t fix what you can’t measure. So many small businesses run campaigns, spending thousands of pounds, without proper tracking of their results. Though they might utilise targeted online traffic generation services to look at clicks and impressions, they ignore the underlying data. If you’re failing to track conversion, then you’re essentially flying blind. This is one of the biggest PPC mistakes, yet it’s also probably one of the easiest to solve. Take some time out to check your tracking setup. Yes, Google and Meta now rely on less than perfect server-side tracking, it’s still better than nothing, as it removes guesswork and replaces it with data. 

Mistake #6: Poor Landing Page Experience

You might be feeling proud having written the best copy in the world, but if your landing page stinks, it won’t matter. At some time, we’ve all clicked on ads promising one thing only to be taken to a page that’s both cluttered and confusing. That’s a supreme waste of your ad budget. A good landing page follows through on the promise made by the ad. If, for example, your ad says “Book for a Free Quote”, then that should be the first thing people see on clicking through. As a given, your landing page should be fast loading, mobile friendly, and easy to navigate. If you have a problem here, fixing it can double your conversions overnight. Of all the PPC mistakes, a bad landing page hides in plain sight. Be sure to check your ad dashboard, as many common issues can be seen here.

Mistake #7: Ignoring Negative Keywords, Placements, and Audiences

We’ve dealt with clients who ran some great running campaigns. But on closer inspection, we found half the clicks were coming from unrelated search terms. This comes down to the fact they never added to their negative keyword list. In many ways, you can view negative keywords as a filter. They stop uninterested people from seeing your ad. These are people who would never buy as they have zero interest. Without realising it, this is one of the most common PPC mistakes that can drain your ad funds fast. With the latest AI-driven targeting, it’s now more important than ever to keep a running list of low-quality placements. This is essential if you’re using YouTube or Display campaigns. Believe us, but your ad budget will thank you for cutting out useless traffic. 

Avoid PPC Mistakes and Make Every Click Count

The main takeaway about PPC mistakes is that they don’t stem from a lack of knowledge. It’s more about lack of attention to the details. Online ads need small and steady care. We suggest that you begin with the basics of intent, tracking, creativity, and follow through. This is the same whether you’re utilising Google or Meta ads. make sure you review your campaigns on a regular basis. Use a digital marketing agency to go through everything and fix issues one at a time, then test them. We think that PPC can grow any business. But you have to treat it like an investment, not as something you cross your fingers with. try to catch any problems early. This will save wasting clicks and turn useful ones into customers.