Eighteen Ways a Google Ads Account Goes Wrong.
Between 2021 and 2026 we recorded audits of 66 real Google Ads accounts. Not case studies and not opinion pieces. Recordings of us going through somebody's account and saying what was wrong with it. These are the eighteen failures we kept finding.
Start Here If Something Already Hurts
Every chapter stands alone. If you have a symptom, go straight to it.
The Eighteen Chapters, In the Order We Fix Them
Measurement first, because everything after it depends on the numbers being real.
Measurement
Is the account telling you the truth?
Structure
How the account is built
Targeting
Who and where you are buying
Competitive
What you pay, and where you show
Creative
The ads and the assets
Destination & History
Where the click lands, and what the account already knows
Fix Them in This Order
Most accounts get fixed in whatever order somebody noticed the problem. That is why the fixes never hold.
Measurement Before Anything
If the account counts the wrong things, every optimization after it just makes the wrong thing happen faster.
Structure Before Bidding
No bid strategy rescues one ad group holding everything the business sells. Fix the container first.
The Page Before the Account
Every fix upstream of the landing page only delivers more people to something that loses them.
History Before the Rebuild
The old account already paid to find out what works. Read it before you delete it.
Or Have Us Run It
On Your Account
We work through all eighteen before we touch a bid. That is what our Google Ads agency does on every account we take over.
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