A while ago I wrote a post on the Hard Truths of Google Ads. Since then a number of people have asked where are the first places I look when I inherit a Google Ads account. There are a lot of bases to cover, but there are some checks that are always the same and although they might sound obvious, it is hard to believe how often they are hindering an accounts success. Here are my "favourites" - bad choice of word, but you know what I mean. Account time zone If you don't pay attention to the time zone of your account you will run into issues further down the line. Most new advertisers are just keen to get ads up and running - but somewhere (hopefully sooner rather than later) they realise that they get better results on certain days - and time of day. Some find that weekends are better than weekdays, others - the other way around. Some find that mornings work better than evenings. Sometimes these things make sense,..

Over the past few years Google Ads has become more and more automated. We have automated bidding, automated ad generation - copy and images that Google take directly from your website - automated videos from still images for use on YouTube, responsive ads, automated conversions, automated extensions.... and the list goes on. This is Google making things easier for the advertiser. It truly is. And it is a noble cause. If you don't have time to manage your Google Ads campaigns then you can add your basic details, give Google your credit card and let them build your business for you. What could be better than that? It frees up your time to do what you really need to do - which if you are a small (or even medium) sized business owner is, well, everything else. Many people have simply abdicated this responsibility to Google's algorithm. And, let's be clear, it is an algorithm. If you think that there is a Google employee..

Time was, language targeting in Google Ads was relatively simple. If you wanted to reach English speakers you chose English as your target language. If you wanted to reach Spanish speakers, you selected Spanish, and so on. Simple, right? Well, yes... it was. And it worked. Because Google determined a users language by seeing which language was selected in their browser preference. Seems logical. After all, if I speak English the chances are I will have my browser language preference set to English. Of course, there was always a little "leakage" and you would get the odd German speaker, or Chinese in the mix, but it was at a volume that didn't really impact on your results or budgets in any significant way. Fast forward a few years. Google have changed the way in which they identify a users ... let's call it, use of language. Now, rather than use the browser language preference as a guide, they use a combination..

As part of my work on the Google Ads Community Forum I get to see a lot of people who have been sucked into advertising on the Google Ads platform, and who have given up because it was either too hard to get a response, or because the response they did get simply didn't generate a return on investment that made sense economically and they reached the point where they were throwing good money after bad. Here are 6 home truths about Google Ads which are going to be very hard reading for some: 1. Google doesn't care if it works for you or not. Google is a huge machine. It runs 24/7 and churns out search results and display ads at a rate that would blow your mind if you could get your mind around it. If you have a credit card and a website you can join in the fun. And you have to play by the rules - which is fine, because everyone has to play by the rules, right? Just like a casino, Google doesn't care if this is your first..