Look, you're probably being robbed
I’m going to be blunt. Most of the small business owners I talk to in Brisbane are getting absolutely hosed by Google.
They’re spending $1,000, $5,000, or even $10,000 a month on ads, and when I ask them how many phone calls that money actually generated, they look at me like I’ve got two heads. Or worse, they show me a report from an agency that’s full of graphs, 'impressions', and 'clicks'.
Clicks don't pay your mortgage. Phone calls and sales do.
Running a business is hard enough without donating your hard-earned profit to a multi-billion dollar tech giant because your settings are wrong. I’ve sat down with tradies, lawyers, and shop owners from Paddington to Chermside, and the story is always the same: they feel like Google Ads is a 'black hole' for cash.
It doesn't have to be. Usually, the problem isn't that Google Ads doesn't work—it’s that you’re making one of these ten mistakes that are basically designed to drain your bank account.
If you want to stop wasting ad spend, you need to look under the hood. Here is exactly what we check first when we audit a Google Ads account.
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1. You're paying for your own name
This is the biggest 'easy win' for lazy agencies. They set up an ad for your business name. So when someone searches for 'Dave’s Plumbing Brisbane', your ad pops up at the very top.
You see a high click-rate and think, "Great! People love me!"
Rubbish. Those people were already looking for you. They were going to click your free organic listing anyway. Google just charged you $5 for a click you would have had for free.
Unless a competitor is aggressively bidding on your name to steal your leads, you should stop paying Google for people who already know you exist. It’s a vanity metric that makes your reports look good while adding zero dollars to your bottom line.
2. The 'Smart' Campaign Trap
Google loves to push 'Smart Campaigns'. They tell you it's AI-driven and 'set and forget'.
In reality? It’s a 'set and forget your money' button.
Smart campaigns take away almost all your control. You can’t see exactly what keywords people typed in, you can’t easily block bad searches, and you can’t tell Google to only show ads to people in specific suburbs.
We see businesses in Brisbane paying for clicks from people in Perth because the 'Smart' algorithm thought they were 'interested' in the service. If you can’t drive to the job, why are you paying for the click?
Switch to 'Expert Mode'. It sounds scary, but it’s the only way to actually see where your money is going.
3. Your website works on phones (or it doesn't)
I’ll bet my last dollar that 70% or more of your customers are looking for you on their phone while they're on the go.
If they click your ad and your website takes five seconds to load, or the text is so small they have to pinch and zoom, they’re gone. They’ll hit the back button faster than you can blink, and you just paid $8 for that privilege.
We check if your site is fast and if the 'Call' button is front and centre. If a customer has to hunt for your phone number, you’ve already lost the sale. Your website needs to turn visitors into customers, not act as a digital brochure that no one can read.
4. Broad Match is Killing You
This is the silent killer. Google has a setting called 'Broad Match'.
If you sell 'Designer Kitchens', and you use broad match, Google might show your ad to someone searching for 'cheap kitchen sponges' or 'how to paint kitchen cupboards'.
Technically, it’s 'related'. Practically, it’s a waste of money.
You want to be using 'Phrase Match' or 'Exact Match'. This tells Google: "Only show my ad if they actually type in what I do." It means fewer clicks, but the people who do click are actually looking to buy what you sell.
5. You aren't tracking phone calls
If you aren't measuring your ROI properly, you’re just guessing.
Most business owners tell me, "Oh, I just ask people how they found me."
That’s not a strategy. People forget. They might have seen your van three weeks ago, then Googled you today, then clicked an ad. They’ll say "I saw your van."
You need call tracking. It’s a simple bit of code that shows a different number to people who come from Google Ads. When they call, you know exactly which ad they clicked and how much that call cost you.
If you don’t know your cost-per-lead, you don't have a marketing strategy; you have a gambling habit.
6. The 'Search Partners' Leak
When you set up a campaign, Google sneaks in a checkbox for 'Search Partners'. These are other random websites that use Google’s search tech.
Nine times out of ten, the quality of these leads is rubbish. It’s where your ads show up on weird parked domains or irrelevant blogs.
Uncheck the box. Stick to the actual Google Search results page. That’s where the high-intent buyers are.
7. Negative Keywords (The stuff you DON'T want)
Most people focus on what they want to show up for. The pros focus on what they don't want to show up for.
If you’re a high-end lawyer, you should be blocking words like 'free', 'cheap', 'pro bono', and 'jobs'.
If you aren't looking at your 'Search Terms' report every single week and adding negative keywords, you are bleeding money. We once saw a mechanic paying for hundreds of clicks for 'toyota hilux parts' when he only did servicing. He wasn't selling parts, but Google didn't care. He was paying for those clicks anyway.
8. Sending everyone to the Homepage
This is a classic. You run an ad for 'Emergency Hot Water Repairs', and when the customer clicks, they land on your homepage which talks about your 50-year history, your team of ten, and your general plumbing services.
The customer has a flooded laundry. They don't care about your history. They want hot water.
You should be sending people to a specific page that talks only about the thing they searched for. If they search for hot water, send them to a hot water page. If they search for blocked drains, send them to a blocked drains page.
The more relevant the page is, the more likely they are to call you.
9. Your ads sound like everyone else
"Quality Service. Family Owned. Free Quotes."
Boring. Everyone says that. Your potential customer is looking at four ads at the top of the page. Why should they click yours?
You need to give them a reason. "Fixed Price Repairs," "On-site in 2 hours," or "Over 500 5-Star Brisbane Reviews."
Speak to their problem. If they're searching for a lawyer, they're probably stressed. If they're searching for a pest controller, they're probably grossed out. Use your ad to tell them you can fix that feeling, not just that you have a license.
10. Location Settings are 'Interested In'
This is a sneaky one. By default, Google shows your ads to people 'in, or who show interest in' your location.
This means someone in Sydney looking for 'Brisbane hotels' might see your ad for a local Brisbane electrician if they happen to type 'electrician' later.
You need to change this setting to 'Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations'.
Unless you can ship your product or travel interstate, don't let Google show your ads to people outside your service area.
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What should you do now?
If you're running ads right now, go open your account. Look at your 'Search Terms' report. If you see words in there that have nothing to do with your business, you’re losing money.
Marketing shouldn't be a mystery. It should be a machine where you put $1 in and get $5 out. If it’s not doing that, something is broken.
At Local Marketing Group, we don't care about 'impressions'. We care about your phone ringing. If you want us to take a look at your account and tell you honestly where the leaks are, let’s have a chat. No jargon, just straight talk about how to get more customers.
Get in touch with us here and let's stop the bleeding.