7 Google Ads Mistakes That Are Killing Your ROAS

We audit dozens of Google Ads accounts a year. The mistakes are remarkably consistent. Fix these seven and most accounts see a 20 to 40 percent ROAS improvement within 30 days, with no additional spend.

1. Broad match without a tight conversion signal

Broad match works in 2026, but only if Smart Bidding has clean conversion data and a meaningful conversion volume (30+ per month per campaign). Without that, broad match becomes a budget furnace. Either feed it better data or move back to phrase match.

2. Conversion actions counting everything

If your account counts page views, button clicks, scroll depth, and form fills all as conversions, the algorithm has no idea what to optimize for. Pick one or two conversion actions that represent real business value, mark the rest as secondary, and let Smart Bidding focus.

3. One Performance Max campaign that owns everything

Performance Max is powerful but it is also a black box. When you let it run across every product, audience, and asset group, you cannot tell what is working and you cannot intervene. Split PMax by margin tier or product category, and exclude branded search so it does not steal credit from your dedicated brand campaign.

4. No negative keyword hygiene

Most accounts we audit have not had a serious negative keyword review in months. The search terms report is full of irrelevant queries eating 10 to 25 percent of the budget. Run a negative keyword sweep monthly, minimum.

5. Branded search is doing too much work

Branded search has a great ROAS because the user already decided. It is a measurement artifact, not a growth lever. If 60 percent of your conversions are coming from branded search, your account is not scaling, your brand is. Separate it, watch it, but do not credit it for performance.

6. Landing pages that do not match the ad

If your ad promises a 'free SEO audit' and the landing page is your homepage with the navigation intact and three conflicting CTAs, you are paying Google to send qualified clicks to a confusing page. Build dedicated landing pages per offer, kill the nav, and match the H1 to the ad copy word for word.

7. No call tracking on phone-driven businesses

If your business closes deals over the phone (services, healthcare, legal, home services, B2B sales), and you are not feeding call conversions back into Google Ads, you are flying blind. Smart Bidding is optimizing for form fills while your real revenue is on the phone. CallRail or WhatConverts plus offline conversion import fixes this in a week.

Most Google Ads accounts do not need more budget. They need someone to delete things.

Where to start tomorrow

1. Audit conversion actions. Demote anything that is not real business value.
2. Pull a 30-day search terms report. Add negatives ruthlessly.
3. Separate branded from non-brand. Look at non-brand performance honestly.
4. Make sure offline conversion import (or Enhanced Conversions for Leads) is firing. If it is not, that is the fix with the biggest payoff.