Threw $600 at a Google Ads campaign with zero targeting

Threw $600 at a Google Ads campaign with zero targeting. I just wasted $600 in two weeks on a Google Ads campaign for my agency. I thought I could just set it up and let it run, but I didn't narrow down the keywords or locations at all. Every click was from people in other countries who weren't even looking for what I offer. I even saw a click from someone in rural India at 3am on a Sunday. By the time I looked at the analytics I had burned through my whole budget and got one useless email signup. It hurts to think about what else I could have done with that money. Anyone else fall for the idea that Google Ads is easy money?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera_lewis21mo ago

Jumped into Google Ads the same way with my first campaign last year. I mean, it's kind of like how people think throwing money at a problem will fix it fast, like buying a fancy coffee machine when you don't even drink coffee. But yeah, zero targeting is basically just setting your cash on fire and hoping a paying customer walks by the smoke. Idk, maybe it's just me but real results take way more groundwork than the ads make it seem.

torres.thea1mo ago

But can you really learn anything useful from throwing money at a broad campaign though? Like, if your targeting is too wide, you're just getting clicks from people who have zero interest in what you're selling, and that data is basically garbage. How do you even tell the difference between a keyword that's a total dud and one that just needs better ad copy or a different landing page? It feels like you'd need to run that test for a while and burn through a decent budget before any patterns even start to show up. Isn't that just paying for the privilege of guessing?

jana_jones1mo ago

Honestly, @vera_lewis2, isn't it kind of true though that sometimes you just gotta test the waters before you know what works? Throwing money at a broad campaign can be a fast way to see which keywords or audiences actually bite. At least that data upfront is cheaper than spending months on 'groundwork' that might end up being totally wrong.