{"id":3488,"date":"2020-11-23T09:47:14","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T09:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/2020\/11\/23\/how-to-avoid-paying-the-google-ads-stupidity-tax\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T07:18:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T07:18:57","slug":"how-to-avoid-paying-the-google-ads-stupidity-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.elixirrdigital.com\/us\/2020\/11\/23\/how-to-avoid-paying-the-google-ads-stupidity-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Paying the Google Ads \u201cStupidity\u201d Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you currently advertise on the Google Ads platform as part of your PPC<\/a> efforts? If you do, chances are you are paying the \u201cGoogle Stupidity Tax\u201d, without even knowing it!<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not your fault either; the Google Platform is built as a self-serving ad platform, making it very easy and intuitive to be able to create and serve ads. This ease of use is both a blessing and a curse.<\/p>\n

A blessing in that you can have your ads up and running in 15 minutes or less, a curse because, you can easily waste a huge chunk of your ad budget on what we call \u201cThe Google Ads Stupidity Tax\u201d without even realising it.<\/p>\n

This is usually caused by making avoidable mistakes (some of which admittedly, are not apparent to the untrained eye).<\/p>\n

What is the Google Ads \u201cstupidity\u201d tax?<\/h2>\n

The phrase was coined to describe how advertisers can end up paying more for their Google Ads campaigns purely because they have not set them up in the most cost-effective way.<\/p>\n

At Coast Digital, we audit hundreds of Google Ad accounts as part of an onboarding (and pitch) process. We find that most accounts make the same common mistakes, and they often end up paying the price for it.<\/p>\n

Read on to find out what NOT to do<\/strong> when setting up, managing and optimising your Google Ads accounts.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t neglect tracking or measuring conversions<\/h2>\n

You can\u2019t improve what you don\u2019t measure. You\u2019d be surprised how many accounts that we look at, which have no goal conversions set up. If you don\u2019t have tracking set up, you won\u2019t know whether your advertising is working or not. Plus, the Google system works on a feedback loop which helps with optimisation.<\/p>\n

By tracking & measuring conversions – i.e. tracking sales, phone calls, opt-ins, etc. and linking them back to your actual Google Ads clicks, you can cut out a lot of wasted spend, cut your costs, increase the value per visitor, and learn more about what ad groups and keywords are converting.
\nAgencies that charge you a percentage of your spend as their fees love it when you don\u2019t track or measure outcomes!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t only look at default Google reports<\/h2>\n

The standard reports you get from the Google Ads interface don\u2019t tell you much. However, there are lots of insights to be had simply by digging a little deeper. By not running advanced reports and paying close attention to your actual results, you will end up paying the Google Ads Stupidity Tax. You need to know which search queries you are paying for, which sites your ads are showing upon, and where the users clicking on your ads are located. This brings me to my next point\u2026<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t target every country in the world<\/h2>\n

Unless you are a global conglomerate, you are unlikely to be able to serve customers all over the world. When creating your Google campaign, it very easy to target every country in the world, as it is the default and unless you specifically tell the system which country\/countries to target, it will show your ads to the whole world.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t accept Google defaults without questioning them<\/h2>\n

This is the number one \u2018gotcha!\u2019<\/em> that we see all the time. When setting up your campaigns, there are a lot of defaults (designed to make the campaign process seamless and easy), which will end costing you a lot of money in the form of \u201cThe Google Ads Stupidity Tax\u201d. For example, the targeted and advanced location options (if you are careful, people in outer Mongolia could be seeing and clicking on your ads even though you are targeting users in London!)<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t target Search and Display Networks with the same campaign<\/h2>\n

The Google Search and Google Display Network (GDN) are very different kettles of fish and need different, tailored strategies to make them work. Also, what works for one does not necessarily work with the other. Targeting both networks with the same campaign often results in underperformance and wasted spend.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t use phrase match keywords<\/h2>\n

Phrase match keywords are evil! They cause your ads to be shown for the most irrelevant searches than any other keyword match type. When your ads show up for search queries that are not very relevant to your business and users click on them, you end up paying the \u201cGoogle Ads Stupidity Tax\u201d.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t avoid doing proper research<\/h2>\n

It is very easy to set up a campaign and get them running, meaning it can be tempting to throw your campaigns together without doing enough research.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to research to create a strong campaign:<\/p>\n