When an advertising campaign “isn't working”, the instinctive reaction is usually to cut the budget or switch platform. But in most of the accounts we audit, the money isn't lost to bad luck: it's lost in three very specific and detectable places.
The 3 commonest leaks
The budget almost always escapes through some combination of: audiences that are too broad or badly defined, keywords that attract clicks but not buyers, and landing pages that receive the traffic but don't convert it. Fixing just one of the three is rarely enough.
Badly targeted audiences
Advertising to “everyone interested in your sector” sounds good but costs dear: you pay for clicks from people who will never buy from you. Targeting well doesn't mean narrowing reach arbitrarily; it means investing where there is already real buying intent — remarketing, audiences similar to your current customers, very specific interests.
Keywords you compete for by accident
- ✓Generic terms with enormous competition and a sky-high cost per click.
- ✓Informational searches (nobody looking to buy) slipping into conversion campaigns.
- ✓Negative keywords never set up, letting irrelevant clicks through for free… well, not for free.
Optimising Ads without touching the landing page is like filling a bucket with a hole in the bottom.
The landing page that doesn't close
You can have the best-optimised campaign in the world: if the page that click lands on isn't designed to turn that specific visit into a customer, the budget is lost anyway. The landing page must speak to exactly the ad that brought it, with a single clear action.
No hype: before raising a budget, we always check these three leaks. Spending more on a leaky campaign only loses more money, faster.
Frequently asked questions
How much budget do I need to start on Google Ads?
The real minimum is whatever lets you gather enough data to decide. If your click costs €1 and you need 30 clicks to know whether a keyword works, €100 a month will tell you nothing at all. It's better to concentrate the budget on a few campaigns than to spread it across many.
Where does the money escape in a campaign?
Through three places, almost always: searches that have nothing to do with you and that you're paying for, ads leading to a page that doesn't deliver what they promised, and campaigns still running out of inertia because nobody reviews them.
What are negative keywords and why do they matter so much?
They're the searches you don't want to appear for. Without them you end up paying for “free”, “jobs”, “reviews” or the name of a competitor you don't compete with. Reviewing the search terms report every week is one of the most profitable things you can do.
Is it better to invest in Google Ads or in SEO?
They answer different timescales. Ads give you traffic from day one and stop the day you switch off; SEO takes months and then sustains itself. The usual route is to start with Ads to learn which searches genuinely convert, and use that to decide what content to invest in.
How often does a campaign need reviewing?
Weekly for the operational side (search terms, budget, ads that have dropped out) and monthly for the strategic side. A campaign nobody looks at for a quarter isn't optimised: it's spending.
Do you know where your budget is escaping right now?
We audit your real Ads account, with no commission on your advertising spend, and tell you which leaks to close first.