Google Ads is an incredible platform—but it’s full of hidden traps. Many of these are Google’s default settings, and they’re designed to get you more clicks, not necessarily more customers. Welcome to “Marketing Philosophy,” where we use philosophy to understand marketing, and marketing to understand why your customers claim that they “ignore ads” and yet sometimes actually do click, get excited, and convert while simultaneously munching on potato chips and salsa, streaming football, scanning Instagram on their phone, and Google searching “Mexican restaurants near me.”
My name is Jason McDonald. Here are the seven biggest Google Ads gotchas I see beginners make, and how to avoid them.
Watch Google Ads Gotchas: 7 Beginner Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs on YouTube!
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Gotcha #1: A Bad Landing Page
The Mistake: Paying for clicks before fixing your website.
Summary of the Gotcha: Google Ads doesn’t sell your product—your landing page does. When someone clicks your ad, they should immediately understand what you sell, why you’re different, and what they should do next. If visitors are confused, Google gets paid and you don’t. Example: health insurance plans for young adults.
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Gotcha #2: No Conversion Tracking (or Bad Conversion Tracking)
The Mistake: Measuring clicks instead of customers.
Summary of the Gotcha: Before you optimize anything, decide what success looks like. Is it a phone call? A contact form? A purchase? Then set up conversion tracking correctly. And watch out for fake leads and bot traffic—they’re becoming a much bigger problem thanks to AI. Example: use ChatGPT to ask for a step-by-step to installing Google conversion tracking on your website in WordPress.
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Gotcha #3: Bad Keyword Match Types
The Mistake: Believing that “exact match” is “exact match,” “phrase match” is “phrase match,” and “broad match” means Google will be honest. “Bless your heart,” you think Google terminology is accurate.
Summary of the Gotcha: If you’re using Broad Match, you’re giving Google way too much freedom. Start with Phrase Match or Exact Match, and build a solid negative keyword list. The tighter your keywords, the better your traffic—and usually the lower your costs. Example: check out the official Google guide on match types, and then de-construct it. Run a search terms report in your Google Ads ad group to see actual terms. You may be surprised! Or horrified, or probably both!
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Gotcha #4: Letting Google AI Run Your Campaign
The Mistake: Accepting every recommendation Google suggests.
Summary of the Gotcha: Google loves Smart Campaigns, Performance Max, automated bidding, auto-generated ads, and endless recommendations. Some of these tools have value, but remember: Google’s goal is more clicks. Your goal is more customers. Use AI—but don’t surrender control to it. The underlying problem is data and conversions – not enough (conversion) data, or too noisy of data and “garbage in, garbage out.” Example: smart bidding on Google Ads, or ask ChatGPT, “Tell me the scuttlebut on “Performance Max” on Google Ads. Is the buzz that PMax is good, bad, or ugly?” Additional Gotcha – believing / trusting Google Ad reps. Many are poorly trained. All highly over-recommend AI-type of approaches such as CPA bidding, or PMax.
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Gotcha #5: Accidentally Running on the Display Network
The Mistake: Advertising across thousands of websites without realizing it.
Summary of the Gotcha: Many beginners think they’re only advertising on Google Search. They’re not. Google often turns on the Google Display Network by default, which means your ads may appear on random websites, apps, and low-quality placements. Unless you’re intentionally running Display campaigns, stick with Search. Pro tip – find it, and disable it inside of Google Ads (Campaign Settings).
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Gotcha #6: Ignoring Device Performance
The Mistake: Assuming phones, tablets, and desktops perform equally.
Summary of the Gotcha: Google pushes a mobile-first philosophy, but your business may not. Some businesses generate far better leads on desktop than mobile, while others are the opposite. Look at your conversion data by device and adjust your bids—or even turn off devices that simply don’t perform. Pro-tip: run a device report in Google ads, and compare it with conversions by device type.
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Gotcha #7: Thinking Google Ads Is the Only Option to Reach Customers!
The Mistake: Putting every marketing dollar into Google Ads.
Summary of the Gotcha: Google would love you to believe every problem can be solved with more Google Ads. Reality is messier. SEO, email marketing, reviews, social media (organic or paid), PR, YouTube, and even good old-fashioned word of mouth may produce a better return on investment. Smart marketers diversify instead of betting everything on one platform. SEO, in particular, can really outperform Google Ads if and when you get a workable SEO strategy. Check out Wordstream’s SEO factors.
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SUMMARY
Google Ads works—but only if you’re running your campaigns instead of letting Google run them for you. Before you spend another dollar, work through these seven gotchas. They’ll save you money, improve your conversions, and make you a much smarter advertiser.
This has been “Marketing Philosophy.” I’m your host, Jason McDonald. Thank you for watching!
