10 Ways to Reduce Wasted Ad Spend—From Negative Keywords to Smart Scheduling

Introduction

Every click costs money. The more irrelevant clicks you attract, the more your budget drains without driving real returns. This post uncovers 10 actionable ways to reduce wasted ad spend—helping you focus only on high-intent traffic that’s likely to convert. By implementing these strategies, you’ll see a lower CPC, higher ROI, and better overall campaign efficiency.

1. Refine Negative Keywords

Negative keywords remain the top method for filtering out low-intent searches. Conduct weekly checks of your Search Terms report to find phrases that drain budgets. If you sell premium dog food, exclude words like “cheap,” “discount,” or “homemade.”

2. Monitor Match Types

Too much Broad Match can invite irrelevant queries. Use Phrase Match and Exact Match for critical keywords, then selectively deploy broad match with robust negative keywords for discovery.

3. Leverage Dayparting

If your data shows conversions mostly happen between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, schedule your ads accordingly. For B2C, you might find evenings or weekends more lucrative. Turning off ads during low-conversion windows saves money.

4. Adjust Device Bids

If mobile traffic yields high bounce rates, consider lowering mobile bids or refining your mobile landing pages. Conversely, if desktop users rarely convert, cut their bids and reallocate funds to better-performing segments.

5. Set Location Targets

If certain regions fail to produce profitable conversions, exclude them or bid lower. This approach is vital for local businesses or eCommerce retailers noting consistent trends, like zero sales from specific states.

6. Use Audience Exclusions

In-market or affinity audiences can boost relevance, but sometimes you might want to exclude segments that never convert (e.g., if you only target B2B clients, exclude audience segments focusing on personal hobbies).

7. Scale Back Underperforming Keywords

Regularly identify keywords with high spend but no conversions. Lower their bids or pause them. Reinvest the freed budget in top performers.

8. Employ Automated Rules

Set rules that automatically pause any keyword exceeding a certain CPA threshold or reallocate daily budgets to better-performing campaigns.

9. Optimize Your Quality Score

Align your keywords, ads, and landing pages to raise your Quality Score. Higher Quality Scores lead to lower CPCs. Consider reworking ad copy or landing pages if you see quality issues.

10. Reassess Broad Campaigns

Large, catch-all campaigns might lead to scattered results. If you’re not segmenting by product category or audience type, do so to pinpoint exactly where your budget is going.

Conclusion

Reducing wasted ad spend isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process of negative keyword updates, bid adjustments, and performance monitoring. By applying these 10 strategies, you’ll trim away unprofitable clicks and funnel your budget into traffic that truly matters. The result? A leaner, more efficient ad account with stronger bottom-line results.

Discover how to optimize your account foundation in Campaign Structure Deep Dive.

Refer to Google’s Quality Score Overview for official insights on improving ad relevance and lowering CPC.