Straight-talking Google Ads advice. No fluff.

A resin installer paying for "how to lay a resin driveway." A fencing company appearing for the film Fences. A downsizing firm triggered by "swedish death cleaning." These businesses paid for every click. Here's why it keeps happening.

Google gives you 15 headlines and asks you to let them mix and match freely. Don't. Here's how to structure an ad that attracts the right clicks, deters the wrong ones, and doesn't leave any of it to chance.

Your account looks healthy. Ad strength is good. Smart bidding is active. Everything is green. And somehow the leads still cost twice what they should. A look at whose interests Google's defaults actually serve.

Google sets your bids. Google, the company that makes more money every time you spend more. Here's what smart bidding actually does with that control — across three accounts, three industries, same pattern.

When you block a search term, Google's default is to block it in exact match. That sounds fine. It isn't. One extra word, one plural, one typo — and your ad shows again. Here's the fix.

Every keyword could theoretically work — but some have a high conversion likelihood and some have a negligibly low one. The difference between "emergency plumber Sydney" and "plumber" isn't just specificity. It's intent.