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SEM Management

Updated on
➡️
November 5, 2025

6 biggest Wasted-Spend traps in Google Ads (2025)

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There is no use to raise budgets when you have any of these wasted-spend traps in your Google Ads account.

Most ad accounts don’t fail because of bad offers. They fail because of budget issues delivered into the wrong places.

Here are the 6 traps I see wasting budgets every day:


1️⃣ Irrelevant Search Terms:

   * Broad match with no negatives

Broad match keywords are triggered by many Search Terms that usually end up draining your budget if you don't apply negative keywords.

   * Paying for clicks with zero intent

Showing your ads for irrelevant search queries means that you will probably pay for clicks with zero intent because those search queries are too informational, or even totally irrelevant to your goals.

2️⃣ Poor Feed hygiene:

   * Missing GTINs, duplicate SKUs

Feed optimization is pivotal in PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns. Missing GTINs or having duplicate SKUs are common issues found in many feeds.

   * Generic titles/images killing CTR

An important part of feed optimization is creating compelling Product Titles and Images that make your ads more appealing to users.

3️⃣ Under-Tested RSAs:

   * Only 3–4 headlines (instead of 10+)

The more headlines and descriptions you have in your ads, the easier and faster will be the optimization of those ads. Moreover, your ads will be eligible to show for more queries.

   * Same ad copy recycled across campaigns

A low diversity in your ad-copy make your ads look poor and not appealing. You should not abuse repeating the same things over and over again.

4️⃣ Wrong bidding signals:

   * Optimizing for “leads” instead of revenue

Optimizing for leads may give the algorithms wrong signals that will cause to target low quality leads.

   * tROAS targets set without margin data

Every product has a different contribution margin and not applying this information into your optimization targets will make your campaigns less efficient.

5️⃣ Overlapping campaigns:

   * Brand campaigns cannibalizing non-brand

Brand campaigns tend to cannibilize non-brand campaigns if they are not properly managed. It is also quite common that Google triggers a generic keyword even though a user query included your Brand, this usually implies paying higher CPCs.

   * PMax + Search fighting for the same queries

Letting PMax and Search campaigns run on their own without control will most likely cause a fight for the same queries. It's important to monitor the performance of each campaign type to adapt your strategy accordingly.

6️⃣ Ignored placements:

   * PMax budgets draining into YouTube/Display

Revising PMax Placements is crucial to avoid wasting your budget showing ads to non-qualified audiences on irrelevant apps, webs or YouTube videos.

   * No exclusions for low-quality inventory

Not adjusting your account's Content Suitability settings or activating the Search Partners setting in your campaigns will definitely drain your budget much faster and most likely without getting any conversions.

Review those 6 issues in your account and you will find the low-hanging-fruit that will make your budgets perform much more efficiently.

Updated on_
November 5, 2025
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