Negative keywords were definitely my first big win. I had a campaign for a paid service and discovered searches containing words like “free,” “jobs,” and “tutorial” were generating clicks. Those visitors weren't necessarily bad people, but they weren't looking for what we were selling. Blocking those types of searches helped us spend more of the budget on people with actual buying intent.
- Thread starter BradleyReyes
- Start date
- Jul 1, 2026
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I've learned not to judge a keyword based on one or two days of data. I used to pause anything that didn't convert quickly. Sometimes a keyword would get several clicks without a conversion and I'd immediately remove it. Later I realized some of those terms had strong performance over a longer period. Now I look at enough data before making major decisions, especially when the conversion cycle is longer.
- Jul 1, 2026
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One campaign improved after we stopped sending every visitor to the same landing page. We created separate pages for different services and matched them to the corresponding ad groups. The change made the journey feel much more relevant. People didn't have to search around the site to find what they were looking for. Conversion rates improved without needing a major increase in ad spend.
- Jul 1, 2026
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I think the biggest lesson is that CPC can be a misleading metric by itself. I've had campaigns with relatively expensive clicks that produced excellent customers, and campaigns with cheap clicks that produced almost nothing. These days I care much more about cost per qualified lead and eventually cost per customer. A cheap click isn't useful if it never creates business.
- Jul 2, 2026
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- Thread starter
- #25
Great lessons and learnings..
- Jul 1, 2026
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My biggest saving came from removing irrelevant keywords. Some keywords looked good because they had lots of searches, but they weren't bringing customers. After removing them, the budget was used much better.
- Jul 2, 2026
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Checking search terms and adding negative keywords can save a lot of money. I also think improving the landing page helps turn more clicks into real leads.
- Jul 1, 2026
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Good points! I would also suggest reviewing campaigns by device and location. Sometimes mobile traffic performs much better than desktop, or certain locations bring more genuine leads. Small adjustments based on actual conversion data can make a noticeable difference.