Online advertising is a powerful growth driver for most industries. It can generate sales, leads, and customer loyalty.
That said, mistakes are common and can seriously undermine your chances of success across these channels. In this article, we've compiled the key mistakes to avoid so you can drive strong results. "The Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid on Google Ads and Meta Ads" will help you steer clear of these pitfalls and course-correct when needed. Each point illustrates a frequently made mistake that directly impacts campaign performance.
There are more than 10 mistakes to avoid in order to perform well, as this is more complex work overall, so don't hesitate to get a free audit to identify optimization opportunities across your accounts.
Paid Social (Meta Ads)
Meta Ads is one of the most important paid social channels, allowing you to address all your marketing objectives and reach the majority of audiences across your funnel. To do it right, there are several mistakes to avoid. Here are 5 of the most important:
- Not excluding retargeting audiences from acquisition campaigns
- Not setting a spend limit on existing audiences in ASC+
- Not leveraging your CRM audience lists
- Not installing the Conversions API
- Not anticipating ad fatigue
1: Not excluding retargeting audiences from acquisition campaigns
To build an effective paid social marketing strategy on Meta Ads, your structure should include acquisition campaigns and retargeting campaigns. The goal of acquisition campaigns is to acquire new customers, while retargeting campaigns target users who have already interacted with your brand. It's therefore very important to properly configure your audiences to ensure there's no cannibalization between your different campaign types and that they each perform at their best.
For this reason, it's essential to exclude retargeting audiences from your acquisition campaigns, since failing to do so will skew your campaign performance. The algorithm will focus on your warmest audience, i.e., retargeting, at the expense of potential new customers, who cost more to convert. In the end, you risk reaching only your existing customers instead of going after new users.
For an optimal strategy, remember to exclude these retargeting audiences and create a dedicated campaign for them with tailored creatives.
2: Not setting a spend limit on existing audiences in ASC+
The Advantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC+) is Meta's new automated campaign type, powered by machine learning. While the algorithm drives your campaigns, you still control several parameters that are essential to its proper functioning. One of these is the budget spend limit on existing audiences. To launch an ASC+, you need to feed it an existing audience that the campaign will use for delivery. You can then limit the budget allocated to that audience to avoid overspending on existing customers and instead reach new people. ASC+ campaigns are very effective for acquisition, so this spend limit is critical.
Our recommendation is to set this spend limit at 30% at launch (30% existing customers / 70% new customers), then gradually lower it to 10% in retargeting in order to maximize acquisition.
We were one of the first French agencies to A/B test the Advantage+ format on our accounts, so if you'd like to discuss it, feel free to reach out.
3: Not leveraging your CRM audience lists
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the cornerstone of any business that wants to last over time.
Often overlooked by advertisers who focus on acquisition rather than retention, CRM lists have many uses in digital marketing. Here are a few examples of how to use these audiences:
- Retention campaigns: run retargeting campaigns for people who have already purchased your product in order to optimize their LTV (Lifetime Value).
- Existing audience for ASC+ campaigns: as mentioned earlier, an ASC+ requires a source audience, and CRM lists can feed it with highly qualified customers.
- Lookalike campaigns: lookalike audiences let you create acquisition campaigns by targeting customers similar to your existing buyers.
- Exclusion: you can create custom audiences manually imported from your CRM and exclude them from your acquisition campaigns. This is often more precise than Pixel-based audiences, but requires regular refreshing.
Don't forget to use them for both your acquisition campaigns and your retargeting campaigns.
4: Not installing the Conversions API
CAPI, or the Conversions API, is a relatively new tool, but all the more important for gaining an edge over your competitors.
You're probably familiar with the Meta Pixel, which allows you to collect data on your site, whether that's visitors, add-to-carts, or even purchasers. This information feeds the algorithm and enables an effective, data-driven retargeting strategy. What more could you ask for?
Unfortunately, the pixel is becoming less and less effective due to increasingly strict data collection regulations: event tracking is therefore growing less reliable.
This is where CAPI comes in. This API allows you to send more data to Meta through your server rather than from your site (unlike the Pixel). Installing CAPI is a step you can't afford to skip if you want to pass on more conversions and make your campaigns more effective.
Quick tip: once CAPI is installed, make sure conversions aren't being duplicated between the Pixel and the Conversions API, and if they are, you'll need to deduplicate them. If you'd like to go further, our data team can help you on this, so feel free to reach out!
5: Not anticipating ad fatigue
In paid social, and on Meta in particular, creatives are essential to your ads and are one of the most differentiating factors between a high-performing Meta Ads campaign and one that falls flat.
Beyond producing quality creatives adapted to the platform, refreshing those creatives is essential. Ad fatigue can quickly impact your performance. It may seem obvious, but many advertisers are unfamiliar with the concept of ad fatigue, meaning the point at which you need to bring fresh life to your creatives because performance is declining. Nor are they necessarily familiar with frequency, which represents the number of times a single person is exposed to your ad. Whether on the consumer side or the algorithm side, anticipating ad fatigue prevents a significant performance drop and keeps you ahead of your competitors.
Make it a habit to regularly refresh your creatives!
Meta Ads is an essential channel for any brand looking to grow its visibility and drive conversions. Following best practices allows you to both generate strong results and do so cost-effectively. Make sure to apply these recommendations to your campaigns to ensure every launch is set up to perform!
Want a free audit of your Meta Ads campaigns? Contact us!
Paid Search (Google Ads)
Like Meta Ads, Google Ads is a pioneer channel in digital advertising. Any brand running online ads will turn to Google Ads at some point, as it's one of the most effective and profitable channels for the vast majority of industries. Again, this channel is powerful, but there are many mistakes to avoid in order to perform well. Here are 5:
- Not properly feeding your Performance Max campaign
- Not working your search terms by excluding and adding them
- Not testing automated bidding strategies
- Launching a campaign with keywords set to broad match only
- Leaving auto-applied recommendations (AAR) active
1: Not properly feeding your Performance Max campaign
Performance Max is a campaign type that allows you to deliver across Google's entire inventory. It's an automated campaign powered by machine learning where, unlike other campaign types, no keywords are specified upfront.
Whether you're running simultaneously on search, shopping, or display, several elements are critical to allowing this automated campaign to deliver results. Of course, high-quality optimized images, compelling headlines, and useful descriptions for the consumer all help your Performance Max campaign deliver effectively.
That said, some equally important elements are less obvious, and that's exactly what this mistake is about. The more you feed your campaign, the better it will perform.
One of the first things not to overlook is audience signals. These signals, which must be added when creating the campaign, are highly valuable because they allow you to include audiences to guide the algorithm and maximize performance. We recommend adding as many as possible.
But that's not all. Performance Max campaigns must also be fed a video in order to deliver on YouTube. If you launch your campaign without a video, Google will create a low-quality one automatically, which can significantly harm your brand image and your YouTube delivery.
Keep these elements in mind, whether you're launching or optimizing your Performance Max campaigns! There are other elements to optimize in Performance Max, and we offer free audits to help, so reach out.
2: Not working your search terms by excluding or adding them
Keywords have historically been the most important part of Google Ads, hence the former name "Google AdWords." To deliver your campaigns on the search network, Google matches your ads to user queries, which are called search terms. Your ads will be shown based on your keywords and how they relate to these search terms.
It's therefore obvious that you should exclude keywords on which you don't want to run ads or that aren't relevant to your brand. Depending on your keywords and the match type you've selected, Google will deliver on search terms that are more or less close to or related to your keywords. Once your campaign is live, you can view the terms on which you're delivering.
This is the perfect opportunity to take action: exclude keywords that cost you money without delivering a return on investment (and pay attention to keyword match types).
The second possible optimization is adding new keywords to your campaigns when you spot relevant search terms.
If you'd like to discover all the optimizations you can make to your keywords, feel free to contact us!
3: Not testing automated bidding strategies
Automated bidding is taking up more and more space, whether on Google Ads or other ad platforms.
The goal of these automated bidding strategies is to allow the algorithm, through machine learning, to reach the right user, in the right place, at the right time.
Choosing to run campaigns with automated bidding doesn't mean you don't have to optimize them daily. In fact, with less direct control over bids, optimization becomes more nuanced.
Through extensive testing, we've developed a strong command of bidding strategies, whether adding a target CPA, driving bids by ROAS, or choosing the right bidding strategy aligned to your marketing objectives.
4: Launching a campaign with keywords set to broad match only
Keyword match types are a concept specific to Google Ads, as mentioned earlier. It's therefore important to understand this concept before launching search campaigns and to grasp how your chosen match type impacts ad delivery. Simply put, keywords can be added in three different ways:
- Exact match, [blue shoes]:
Means searches with the same query or the same intent as your keyword can trigger your ad delivery.
- Phrase match, "blue shoes":
Means searches with the same meaning as your keyword are likely to trigger ad delivery.
- Broad match, blue shoes:
Means ads can be shown on searches related to your keyword, including queries that don't contain the keyword terms at all.
It's therefore essential to make sure your keywords are not exclusively on broad match, otherwise your budget risks being spent on users who aren't necessarily searching for your product, which reduces your chances of conversion.
5: Leaving auto-applied recommendations (AAR) active
Auto-applied recommendations are suggestions provided by Google to guide you in optimizing your campaigns. Google Ads will give you an optimization score based on how many of these recommendations you apply. While sometimes useful, certain recommendations are not necessarily aligned with your objectives, such as increasing your budget when your campaigns aren't generating conversions, for example.
If these recommendations are automatically checked, they will be applied without your approval, which can impact your entire delivery strategy. You need to uncheck them. Don't worry though: even if you don't activate these recommendations, there are still ways to increase your optimization score, including applying recommendations manually.
At datashake, we have a list of auto-applied recommendations and scripts that we apply across different accounts. If you'd like to know our recommendations, write to us and we can discuss it!
Although slightly more complex than other platforms, Google Ads lets you reach qualified audiences who are ready to make purchases. It's therefore even more important to configure your campaigns in the best way possible. By avoiding these mistakes, you increase your chances of performing well on Google Ads.
Want a free audit of your Google campaigns? Contact us!
The most effective channels for your paid acquisition are often Google Ads and paid social (Meta Ads). By being present on both platforms, with campaigns optimized for your marketing objectives, your digital strategy will reach the right users and turn them into future customers. Given the competitive landscape, it's essential to stand out by applying these tips to every new campaign you launch, or to optimize your existing ones.
Want expert support for your digital marketing strategy? Feel free to reach out to us!
FAQs
Q: How do you exclude an audience?
A: To exclude an audience on Meta Ads:
1. Go to your Ads Manager
2. Select the campaign, ad set, or ad you want to edit
3. In the "Audiences" section, look for the "Exclude" or "Exclusions" option
4. Click "Browse" and choose the audience you want to exclude
5. Confirm your changes and publish the updates to your campaign or ad set
Q: How do you import your CRM list?
A: To import your CRM list into Meta Ads:
1. Go to your Ads Manager
2. In the menu, select "Data Sources" then "Audiences"
3. Click "Create Audience" then "Custom Audience"
4. Choose "Customer List"
5. Follow the instructions to upload your CRM list
6. Once imported, this list will be available as a custom audience for your campaigns
Q: How do you exclude a keyword?
A: To exclude a keyword on Google Ads:
1. Sign in to your Google Ads account
2. In the side menu, click "Keywords"
3. Select the "Negative Keywords" tab
4. Click the "+ Negative Keywords" button
5. Enter the keywords you want to exclude and choose the exclusion level (campaign or ad group)
6. Click "Save"
You can also do this directly from the search terms view by selecting the term you want to exclude.
Q: How do you disable auto-applied recommendations?
A: To disable auto-applied recommendations on Google Ads:
1. Sign in to your Google Ads account
2. Click the "Recommendations" tab, then click "Auto-apply" in the top right
3. Uncheck all those that are currently auto-applied. You may want to leave a few active, such as:
- use optimized ad rotation
- update conversion tracking
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