Google Ads can bring in leads quickly. It can also burn through a budget just as quickly. After managing more than ₹20 crore in ad spend, I've found that most problems trace back to three things: tracking, targeting or the landing page. Very few come from the bid strategy people obsess over.
Before you spend anything
Set up conversion tracking. Forms, calls and WhatsApp clicks should all be counted, or Google's automated bidding has nothing to learn from. Choose one clear goal per campaign. Build a page that matches what the ad promises. And add negative keywords from day one, so you aren't paying for searches like "free", "jobs" or "course" if you don't offer those.
Why accounts waste money
The most common leak I see is broad targeting with nobody checking the search terms report. An AC repair business ends up paying for "AC price" and "AC installation jobs". A lawyer pays for students searching for notes.
The second is sending everyone to the homepage. People click an ad with one question in mind. A homepage answers twenty others.
The third is poor follow-up. A lead that waits four hours for a callback has often already called a competitor.
How much to budget
There's no universal figure. Look at likely cost per click in your area and what a customer is worth. The test budget should be big enough to collect real data in a few weeks. Too small, and you'll never know whether it worked.
When it's working
You should see leads at a cost per lead you can afford, and some of those leads becoming customers. If you can't tell either of those things, fix the tracking before anything else.
Need help? See my Google Ads management service, or read about Google Ads management fees.
Written by Aman Potlia.