The three problems we see in almost every Google account we audit.
Most Google accounts leak budget in three specific ways – usually all three at once.
Spending too much on branded search. Brand-name search converts at 30%+ and shows ridiculous ROAS – which makes it tempting to keep pouring budget in. But brand search is largely cannibalising organic clicks the brand would have earned for free. The “amazing ROAS” hides the fact that real new-customer acquisition is barely happening.
Bidding on irrelevant terms. Broad match keywords and Google’s expanded matching routinely send your spend to queries that have nothing to do with your product. We regularly find premium-brand accounts spending hundreds or thousands a month on searches that would never convert – because Google’s matching defaults are aggressive and most accounts aren’t auditing the search query data.
Pushing products that don’t convert. Shopping and Performance Max campaigns push your full catalogue equally – including products that have never converted, products with poor margins, and products misaligned with the buyers Google is finding. Without product-level controls, a meaningful share of your budget is buying inventory that won’t deliver returns.
