How to Improve Google Ads Performance

Add Negative Keywords from Search Terms Report

Your Search Terms report shows the actual queries triggering your ads. Many will be irrelevant, especially if you use broad or phrase match keywords.

Action: Review your Search Terms report weekly. Add negative keywords for any query with 10 or more impressions and zero clicks, or any query that generated clicks but no conversions despite having enough volume to expect at least one.

Example: If you sell project management software for agencies and your Search Terms report shows queries like "free project management tools" or "project management certification," add "free" and "certification" as negative keywords. These queries will never convert for your product.

Negative keywords prevent wasted spend. Even removing $50 per week in irrelevant clicks saves $2,600 annually.

Pause Underperforming Ads

Most ad groups contain at least one ad with a significantly lower click-through rate than the others. That ad dilutes your overall performance.

Action: Review ads in each ad group. Pause any ad with a CTR 50% or more below the group average after accumulating at least 100 impressions. Keep at least two ads running per ad group to continue testing.

This improves your average Quality Score over time, which lowers costs and increases ad rank.

Adjust Bids on High-Converting Segments

If you use manual CPC or enhanced CPC bidding, you have direct control over how much you're willing to pay for clicks from different segments.

Action: Increase bids by 10-20% on keywords, audiences, or devices with conversion rates 50% or more above your account average. Decrease bids by 10-20% on segments with conversion rates 50% or more below average.

If you use automated bidding strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS, you can't adjust bids directly. Instead, use bid adjustments for devices, locations, and audiences to guide the algorithm.

Fix Broken Tracking or Landing Pages

Performance optimization is meaningless if you can't measure results accurately. Broken conversion tracking creates blind spots. Broken landing pages kill conversions.

Action: Verify your conversion tracking is firing correctly by completing a test conversion yourself. Check that your landing pages load quickly and display correctly on mobile devices. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to identify load time issues.

If your landing page takes longer than three seconds to load, you lose conversions before visitors even see your offer. Slow landing pages also hurt your Quality Score.

Review and Adjust Budget Pacing

Many campaigns overspend early in the month, then run out of budget when performance typically peaks at month-end. Others underspend consistently, leaving potential conversions on the table.

Action: Calculate your daily budget target by dividing your monthly budget by the number of days in the month. Compare actual daily spend to this target. If you're consistently 20% or more over-paced by mid-month, reduce bids or pause low-priority campaigns. If you're under-paced, increase bids on high-performing campaigns or expand targeting.

Budget pacing is easier to manage when you track spend across all channels in one place. If you manage budgets across Google Ads, Meta, and LinkedIn, tools like marketingOS Budget Checker centralize pacing visibility so you can adjust before overspending becomes a problem.

Manual vs. Automated Bidding

Manual CPC gives you full control over bids. Use it when:

• Your campaign has fewer than 30 conversions per month (not enough data for automated bidding to work well)
• You need precise control over spend on specific keywords
• You're testing new campaigns and want to gather data before automating

Automated bidding strategies (Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions) use machine learning to optimize toward your goal. Use them when:

• Your campaign consistently generates 30 or more conversions per month
• You trust your conversion tracking accuracy
• You want to scale campaigns without manually managing hundreds of keyword bids

The most common mistake is switching to automated bidding too early. If Google doesn't have enough conversion data, its algorithm will overspend on low-quality traffic while it "learns." Wait until you have consistent conversion volume.

How to Transition from Manual to Automated Bidding

Don't flip the switch abruptly. Automated bidding strategies go through a learning period where performance can fluctuate.

Action: Start with Enhanced CPC (eCPC) if you're currently using Manual CPC. This lets Google adjust your bids slightly while you retain control. After two weeks, if performance is stable or improved, transition to Target CPA or Maximize Conversions.

Set your Target CPA at or slightly above your current average CPA to give the algorithm room to optimize. If you set it too aggressively low, Google will restrict your ad delivery.

Using Bid Adjustments Effectively

Even with automated bidding, you can guide the algorithm using bid adjustments.

Action: Review performance by device, location, and audience. If mobile converts 30% worse than desktop, apply a -20% bid adjustment to mobile. If users in a specific city convert 50% better, apply a +30% adjustment to that location.

Bid adjustments tell Google where to focus your budget within the constraints of your bidding strategy.

Improve Expected CTR

Expected CTR is influenced by your ad's historical click-through rate. The more users click your ads, the higher this component scores.

Action: Write ads that directly address search intent. If someone searches for "project management software for agencies," your ad should say "Project Management Software for Agencies" in the headline, not a generic "Manage Projects Better."

Use ad extensions (sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets) to increase your ad's footprint on the search results page. Larger ads attract more clicks.

Test emotional triggers in ad copy. Ads that promise to solve a specific pain point (e.g., "Stop Missing Deadlines") often outperform generic benefit statements (e.g., "Improve Your Workflow").

Improve Ad Relevance

Ad relevance measures how closely your ad matches the user's search query. If someone searches for "Google Ads optimization tips" and your ad talks about social media marketing, relevance is low.

Action: Organize ad groups tightly around keyword themes. Each ad group should contain 5-15 closely related keywords, and every ad in that group should reference those keywords in the headline or description.

Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion sparingly. It can increase relevance when done well, but often creates awkward ad copy that reduces CTR.

Improve Landing Page Experience

Landing page experience evaluates whether your landing page delivers what the ad promises and provides a good user experience.

Action: Ensure your landing page headline matches your ad headline. If your ad says "Project Management for Agencies," your landing page headline should say the same thing, not "Welcome to Our Homepage."

Reduce load time to under three seconds. Compress images, minimize JavaScript, and use a content delivery network (CDN) if necessary.

Simplify your conversion path. Remove unnecessary form fields. If you ask for someone's job title, department, company size, phone number, and address before they can download a whitepaper, you'll lose conversions. Ask for name and email only.

Optimize for mobile. More than 50% of Google Ads traffic comes from mobile devices. If your landing page isn't mobile-responsive, your Quality Score and conversion rate will suffer.

Why Quality Score Improvements Compound

Quality Score improvements reduce cost per click, which lets you generate more clicks with the same budget. More clicks mean more conversions, which increases your conversion data. Better conversion data improves your automated bidding performance, which increases conversions further.

A single point of Quality Score improvement (e.g., moving from 6 to 7) can reduce CPC by 10-15%. Across a campaign spending $10,000 per month, that's $1,000-$1,500 in savings, or 100-150 additional clicks at the same budget.

Identify High-Performing Keyword Segments

Not all keywords perform equally. Some drive conversions at half your average CPA. Others waste budget on irrelevant clicks.

Action: Export your keyword performance report. Sort by conversions and cost per conversion. Identify keywords with:

• High conversion volume and low CPA: Increase bids or expand these into dedicated campaigns
• High conversion volume and high CPA: Investigate whether the conversions are valuable (check revenue or lead quality)
• Low conversion volume and high CPA: Pause or reduce bids significantly

Many performance marketers keep underperforming keywords active because they "might work eventually." They won't. Reallocate that budget to proven performers.

Use Match Types Strategically

Match types control how closely a user's search query must match your keyword for your ad to appear.

• Exact match: Highest relevance, lowest reach
• Phrase match: Moderate relevance, moderate reach
• Broad match: Lowest relevance, highest reach

Action: Start new campaigns with phrase match keywords to gather data. Add exact match keywords for top performers to control bids more precisely. Use broad match only if you have a robust negative keyword strategy and sufficient budget to absorb wasted spend during the testing phase.

Broad match can work well with automated bidding strategies like Target CPA, because Google's algorithm can identify which broad match queries convert and adjust bids accordingly. But if your conversion tracking is imprecise, broad match will overspend.

Layer Audience Targeting on Search Campaigns

Google Ads lets you layer audience segments (remarketing, in-market, affinity) on top of keyword targeting. This doesn't restrict who sees your ads. It lets you adjust bids based on whether the user belongs to a valuable audience.

Action: Add remarketing audiences to your Search campaigns with a +20-30% bid adjustment. Users who previously visited your site are more likely to convert.

Add in-market audiences related to your product with a +10-20% bid adjustment. If you sell email marketing software, layer the "Marketing Automation Software" in-market audience.

Exclude Low-Intent Audiences

If you discover certain audiences consistently underperform, exclude them.

Action: Review audience performance in your observation or targeting settings. If an audience segment has 100+ clicks and zero conversions, exclude it. For example, if you sell B2B software but find that users in the "Frequent International Travelers" affinity audience never convert, exclude that audience to reallocate budget.

Test Ad Variations Systematically

Most performance marketers create two ads per ad group, let them run indefinitely, and assume Google Ads is optimizing. They're not testing. They're just hoping.

Action: Create three ad variations per ad group, each emphasizing a different benefit or angle:

• Ad 1: Feature-focused (e.g., "Track All Campaigns in One Dashboard")
• Ad 2: Pain-focused (e.g., "Stop Wasting Time on Manual Reports")
• Ad 3: Outcome-focused (e.g., "Increase ROAS by 20% with Better Data")

Let them run for at least 100 clicks or two weeks. Pause the lowest-performing ad, then create a new variation that tests a different headline or description.

Set your ad rotation to "Optimize: Prefer best performing ads" so Google shows your highest CTR ad more often. This improves your expected CTR component of Quality Score.

Align Ad Messaging with Landing Page

Message match between ad and landing page reduces bounce rate and improves conversion rate. If your ad promises "Free Trial," your landing page headline should say "Start Your Free Trial."

Action: Review your top 10 ads by impressions. Click each one and compare the ad copy to the landing page headline. If they don't align, rewrite the ad or update the landing page. Many advertisers send all ads in a campaign to the same generic landing page. This kills conversion rates. Create dedicated landing pages for different keyword themes or audience segments, then direct each ad to the most relevant page.

Use Ad Extensions to Increase CTR

Ad extensions increase your ad's size on the search results page, which increases click-through rate without requiring better ad copy.

Action: Add these extensions to every campaign:

• Sitelink extensions: Link to specific pages (Pricing, Features, Case Studies, Contact)
• Callout extensions: Short phrases highlighting benefits ("No Credit Card Required", "24/7 Support")
• Structured snippet extensions: Lists of features or services ("Campaign Types: Search, Display, Video, Shopping")

If applicable, add call extensions (for phone leads) and location extensions (for local businesses).

Extensions improve CTR by 10-15% on average. Higher CTR improves Quality Score, which lowers cost per click.

Write Ads That Match Search Intent

Search intent determines what users want when they search. Ads that match intent convert better.

Action: Analyze your target keywords and categorize them by intent:

• Informational: User wants to learn (e.g., "what is google ads quality score")
• Commercial investigation: User is researching solutions (e.g., "best google ads alternative")
• Transactional: User is ready to buy (e.g., "google ads management services pricing")

Write ads that match the intent. For informational queries, promise clear answers. For commercial investigation, emphasize your differentiators. For transactional queries, lead with pricing or offers and include strong calls to action.

Landing Page Load Speed Impact

Google research shows that 53% of mobile users abandon pages that take longer than three seconds to load. If your landing page is slow, you lose half your traffic before they see your headline.

Action: Use Google PageSpeed Insights to audit your landing page. Prioritize these fixes:

• Compress images (use WebP format when possible)
• Minimize JavaScript and CSS
• Enable browser caching
• Use a content delivery network (CDN)

A one-second improvement in load time can increase conversions by 7% or more. That's a 7% lift without changing any copy or design.

Message Match Between Ad and Page

If your ad promises "Compare Campaign Performance Across Channels," your landing page should immediately show how to do that. Don't send users to a generic homepage where they have to hunt for the feature.

Action: Create dedicated landing pages for each major keyword theme or audience segment. If you're running separate ad groups for "Google Ads reporting" and "multi-channel marketing dashboards," build two landing pages with headlines that match those themes exactly. Generic landing pages produce generic results.

Simplify Conversion Path

Every additional form field, navigation link, or decision point reduces conversion rate.

Action: Remove navigation menus from landing pages (or make them minimal). Users should have two options: convert or leave.

Reduce form fields to the minimum required. If you only need an email address to start a trial, don't ask for company size, job title, and phone number. You can collect that information later.

Place your call-to-action button above the fold and repeat it after each major section. Users should never have to scroll to find the conversion point.

Mobile Experience Optimization

More than half of Google Ads clicks come from mobile devices, but most landing pages are designed for desktop first.

Action: Test your landing page on an actual mobile device, not just a resized browser window. Check:

• Is the headline readable without zooming?
• Are buttons large enough to tap accurately?
• Does the page load in under three seconds on 4G?
• Are form fields easy to complete on a small screen?

Mobile optimization isn't about shrinking your desktop design. It's about rethinking the experience for a smaller screen and touch input.

Campaign Segmentation Best Practices

Campaigns should be organized by goal, audience, or product category. This makes budget allocation and performance analysis easier.

Action: Create separate campaigns for:

• Different products or services (if they have different target CPAs or ROAS goals)
• Different audience segments (new visitors vs. remarketing)
• Different match types (exact match in one campaign, broad match in another)
• Brand vs. non-brand keywords (brand keywords typically convert better and cheaper)

Avoid creating campaigns that overlap significantly. If two campaigns target the same keywords and audiences, they compete against each other in the same auctions, which inflates your costs.

When to Split Campaigns vs. Consolidate

Splitting campaigns gives you more control but requires more budget and management time. Consolidating campaigns simplifies management but reduces control.

Action: Split campaigns when:

• Products have significantly different profit margins or target CPAs
• You need to allocate budget precisely between different goals
• Performance differs dramatically between segments (e.g., remarketing converts 5x better than cold traffic)

Consolidate campaigns when:

• You have limited budget (less than $1,000 per month total) and splitting starves individual campaigns of data
• Products or services are closely related and have similar conversion rates
• Automated bidding isn't working because individual campaigns don't have enough conversions

With automated bidding strategies like Target CPA, consolidating campaigns can improve performance by giving Google's algorithm more data to optimize.

How to Organize Ad Groups for Relevance

Ad groups should contain tightly related keywords so you can write highly relevant ads.

Action: Limit each ad group to 5-15 keywords that share the same intent and theme. If your ad group contains "project management software," "task management tool," and "team collaboration platform," split them. They may be related, but the best ad for "project management software" isn't the best ad for "team collaboration platform." Tighter ad groups improve ad relevance, which increases Quality Score and lowers cost per click.

Budget Allocation Across Campaigns

Many advertisers distribute budgets equally across campaigns. This underinvests in high performers and overinvests in low performers.

Action: Allocate budget based on performance, not equality. If Campaign A generates conversions at $30 CPA and Campaign B generates them at $90 CPA, shift more budget to Campaign A until it saturates (stops generating additional conversions efficiently). Use shared budgets sparingly. They give Google control over how budget is distributed across campaigns, which can lead to overspending on low-priority campaigns if their traffic surges unexpectedly.

Essential Metrics to Monitor Daily, Weekly, and Monthly

Not all metrics matter equally. Focus on the ones that indicate whether you're on track to hit your goals.

Daily metrics:

• Spend vs. budget pacing
• Conversions or conversion value
• Cost per conversion (spot sudden spikes)

Weekly metrics:

• Click-through rate by ad group (identify weak ads)
• Search Terms report (add negative keywords)
• Quality Score (track improvements over time)

Monthly metrics:

• Return on ad spend (ROAS) or revenue per customer
• Conversion rate by landing page
• Lifetime value of acquired customers (if available)

Most performance marketers check too many metrics without prioritizing action. If spend is on pace, conversions are steady, and CPA is within target, the campaign is healthy. Focus your time on campaigns that deviate from these standards.

How to Identify What's Actually Working

Performance fluctuates naturally. You need to separate signal from noise.

Action: Establish baseline performance before making changes. Track the metric you expect to improve (CTR, conversion rate, CPA) for at least two weeks before and after an optimization.

Document every change you make. If you adjust bids, add negative keywords, and launch new ads simultaneously, you won't know which change drove the results.

Use campaign experiments (Google Ads' built-in A/B testing feature) to test major changes like bidding strategy shifts or landing page redesigns. This splits traffic between control and test versions so you can measure impact accurately.

The Role of Unified Dashboards in Staying Proactive

Performance marketers manage campaigns across multiple platforms: Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, Google Analytics. Checking each platform daily is time-consuming and reactive. By the time you notice a problem in one platform, you've already wasted budget.

Unified dashboards centralize performance data so you can spot issues early. Instead of logging into Google Ads, then Meta, then LinkedIn to check if you're on budget, you see all spend in one view.

Google Ads Performance Manager from marketingOS tracks Google Ads performance alongside other channels, so you identify declining performance before it impacts monthly results. You're not reacting to problems at month-end. You're catching them early and adjusting before wasted spend compounds.

This approach keeps you in control. You monitor results on your schedule, not when you remember to check each platform individually.

Quick Wins (Complete Today)

Ongoing Optimizations (Weekly or Monthly)

Structural Changes (Monthly or Quarterly)