Common campaign errors that drain budgets without delivering leads - and how to fix them.
Running a successful Google Ads campaign for a trade business isn't just about picking the right keywords; it's about avoiding the expensive pitfalls that many SMEs fall into. In the UK market, competition for high-intent keywords like 'emergency plumber' or 'electrician near me' is fierce, and a single mistake can waste hundreds of pounds of ad budget in days.
The first major mistake is not using negative keywords effectively. If you're a high-end kitchen installer, you don't want to pay for clicks from people searching for 'cheap kitchen repairs' or 'DIY kitchen ideas'. Without a robust negative keyword list, you're essentially throwing money away on traffic that will never convert into a profitable job.
Secondly, many businesses fail to track conversions properly. If you don't know which keywords are driving actual phone calls and form submissions, you can't optimise your budget. You might be spending 80% of your budget on a keyword that gets lots of clicks but zero leads, while your best-performing keyword is starved of funds.
Thirdly, sending all traffic to your homepage is a conversion killer. A potential customer searching for 'boiler replacement' should land on a page specifically about boiler replacements, not a general 'About Us' page. Dedicated, high-conversion landing pages are the single most effective way to drop your cost per lead and maximise your ROI.