Google Ads work. You just have to dig your way to them.

Have you ever tried to run Google Ads yourself?

Once you set them up correctly, they are some of the best spent money in marketing. Someone searching for a plumber right now is a completely different customer from someone you interrupted in a feed.

But first you have to get there.

It is all in there. You just will not find it.

I have a feeling that somewhere around 2016 Google dissolved the department that made sure the thing could be used, and the rest of the company decided it would sort itself out.

It did not.

Whatever you need is hidden seven clicks away. A setting that can eat half your budget sits under an unremarkable little box.

It is like a government form.

Everything is there. Every box has its purpose. Someone designed the whole thing according to some logic.

That logic just was not yours.

The worst part is that you do not even know you are losing

When your website does not work, you notice. When nobody calls you, you notice that too.

But you can stare at a Google Ads account for weeks, see nothing wrong, and all the while the money flows somewhere you never meant to send it.

The campaign expands its own targeting.

The system enthusiastically recommends a change and you approve it, because it sounds reasonable.

None of it looks like a mistake. All of it looks like normal operation.

Then the invoice arrives and you stare.

You lost in a menu you never opened.

Three places where that money usually is

This is what I see in most accounts I take over from somebody else.

Search partners and the display network left on in a search campaign. An ad meant to catch people searching for your service shows up next to some article. Clicks are cheap, enquiries are nowhere. In the overview it looks great, because traffic is growing.

Broad match keywords with no negative list. You sell flooring and you pay for queries like "how to lay a floor yourself". Those people will never buy anything from you. You pay for every one of them anyway.

Measurement that does not measure the thing that matters. The account proudly reports conversions, except they are clicks on a phone number, not calls that happened. The numbers look beautiful and the phone stays quiet.

Each of those three can be fixed in an afternoon. You just have to know about it first.

What to do

You have two sensible options.

Start as simply as possible. One search campaign. Search partners and display off. A handful of exact keywords. A negative list. Measure one single thing, the enquiry. In a few weeks you will have a feel for it and you can add more.

Or hand it to someone who lives in it. It does not have to be me. But somebody who has spent hundreds of hours in that environment will get to a result sooner than you will get to understanding the interface.

What is not fine is leaving the account running and hoping.

In short

I do recommend Google Ads. They bring you a customer at the exact moment they are looking for what you sell. Few channels can do that.

Just count on the system not making the road there any easier.

Start as simply as possible, or bring in someone who knows the way.

Vladimír

P.S. If you want a fresh pair of eyes on your account, or would rather not deal with it at all, have a look at Google Ads management. All the best.