What the tool does well, and what it does badly if left alone
Google Ads puts an advertisement in front of somebody who has just stated a need. That is a commercial position with no equivalent. It is also an auction system designed by a company whose revenue is your spend, which is worth keeping in mind when the interface suggests broadening.
Measurement before everything else
An account wired to faulty conversion tracking takes wrong decisions very efficiently: it methodically learns to find people who will not convert. It is the fault we meet most often on accounts we take over, before any problem of structure or budget.
The searches you actually pay for
The keywords you choose are not the searches you pay for. The gap between the two almost always contains the most immediate saving: job applications, the curious, definitions, competitors searched by name. The exclusion list is built by reading the real queries, not by thinking about it beforehand.
Campaigns that run themselves
Automatic formats spread the budget themselves across search, display and video. They work, on two conditions: reliable measurement and a history. Switched on in a new account with a vague objective, they find the cheapest click, which is rarely the most qualified.
What the tool will not fix
A slow or off-topic landing page. A three-day callback delay. A price out of line with the market. Advertising amplifies what exists, it does not correct it.
