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Why Google Ads is spending your budget and the phone isn’t ringing
· 2 min read · zip
Money goes out every day, clicks add up, and nobody calls. For small businesses the problem is rarely the ad itself. It’s usually the settings and what happens after the click.
1. You pay for searches that have nothing to do with you
If you advertise “boiler repair”, your ad can also show for “how to fix a boiler myself” or “boiler manual pdf”. In Google Ads, open the search terms report and see what you actually paid for. Add the terms that don’t bring work as negative keywords.
2. Your ads show outside your area
The default location setting reaches people in your area, and also people who have only shown interest in it. For a local service that can mean clicks from people who will never come to you. If you only work locally, choose the location option that targets people who are actually in the area.
3. You don’t know what brings calls
If you don’t measure calls and enquiries (conversion tracking), Google optimises for clicks, not customers. Set up call and form tracking before you raise the budget.
4. The click lands on your home page
Someone searched for one service and landed on a home page with five others. Send each ad to the page for that service, with the phone number visible straight away, no scrolling.
5. Ads run when nobody picks up
If you answer the phone from 8 to 4, ads that lead to calls at 10 pm waste money. Match your ad schedule to when you can actually answer.
6. The budget is spread too thin
A small budget split across ten services and the whole country means nothing gets enough clicks to learn from. Start with one or two services that earn the most and the area where you actually work.