Synetix SystemsGoogle Ads usually wastes money for one of five reasons: ads show on searches you did not mean to buy, outside your area, or on partner sites, and the account learns from the wrong conversion. Each one shows in reports you already have.
Work through them in this order. The first ones are the cheapest to fix.
1. You pay for searches you did not choose
Your keywords are not the searches you pay for. With broad match, Google shows your ad on searches it judges related, and those can be far from what you sell. A family law firm can pay for "free divorce forms". A CPA firm can pay for "CPA exam".
Check it: open the search terms report. It lists the real searches that showed your ad. Add the wrong ones as negative keywords. Google explains the steps in get negative keyword ideas using the search terms report.
2. Your ads show outside your area
The default location option is "Presence or interest". It can show your ad to people who are not in your area but have shown interest in it. A firm that can only take local clients usually wants "Presence" only.
Check it: campaign settings, then Locations, then Location options. Then look at the locations report to see where the clicks came from.
3. Your search ads also run on other sites
A new Search campaign can include the Google search partners and the Display Network. Partner and display traffic often converts differently from Google search, and many advertisers report lower-quality leads from it, as this review of default settings describes.
Check it: segment the campaign report by network. If partner or display traffic costs more for each real lead, turn it off.
4. Bidding learns from the wrong conversion
Smart Bidding buys more of whatever you count as a conversion. If you count every form fill, it learns to buy spam and wrong-fit inquiries too, because those also fill in forms. This is the most expensive problem on the list, because it gets worse as the account "learns".
Fix it: mark which leads were real, then send that result back to Google Ads as an offline conversion. Then bid for the qualified lead, not the form.
5. Invalid clicks
Google filters most invalid clicks before it bills you. When its systems find invalid clicks later, it credits them to your account. Invalid clicks are real, but they are usually a smaller problem than the four above, and a click-fraud tool does not fix the four above.
A question to ask about your fee
If your agency charges a percentage of spend, it earns more when you spend more. That does not mean it wastes your money. But it is a reason to ask who checks the search terms, and how often. See should you pay a percentage of spend.
Getting help
Synetix Ads manages Google Ads for a flat fee banded by the budget cap you set, and bids for the leads you mark as qualified.