15 Fixes To Improve Low Conversion Rates In Google Ads – Search Engine Journal

Walk away with new knowledge from 9-figure ecommerce brands that you can apply immediately.
Learn how to make every location AI-ready in the next 90 days.
Get your fresh, 2026 small business marketing plan, from SEO to PPC to AI Search.
This data‑driven guide contains essential information and actionable steps for SEOs navigating the shift toward AI as the first surface of search.
Learn how to build off-page authority & prove to Google that you deserve a high-visibility spot on AI SERPs.
Walk away with new knowledge from 9-figure ecommerce brands that you can apply immediately.
Learn 15 practical ways to improve Google Ads conversion rates, covering bidding, targeting, ad copy, and landing page optimizations PPC managers can apply today.
Many Google Ads accounts generate steady traffic but struggle to turn that traffic into outcomes the business actually values, such as purchases, qualified leads, or demo requests.
That disconnect usually isn’t caused by a lack of demand or a broken platform. It’s more often the result of small, fixable issues across the account that quietly compound over time.
Keyword targeting drifts. Ad copy loses alignment with landing pages. Bid strategies stop matching how users actually convert.
None of these problems feel dramatic on their own, but together they can pull conversion rates down and make performance harder to scale.
The good news?
Improving conversion rates in Google Ads rarely requires rebuilding an account from scratch. In most cases, it comes down to tightening fundamentals, being more intentional with the levers already in place, and using performance data with a bit more discipline.
This article walks through 15 practical ways PPC managers can improve Google Ads conversion rates using changes that are realistic to implement and straightforward to test. The goal isn’t more traffic. It’s getting better results from the traffic you already pay for.
This first one seems like a no-brainer, but it’s often overlooked by many accounts.
The only way to understand whether your Google Ads campaigns are performing or not performing is to properly set up conversion tracking.
The most common ways Google Ads conversion tracking is implemented are through:
The other key component to proper conversion tracking is identifying what conversions make sense to track.
Oftentimes, brands have one big conversion in mind. For ecommerce, that is likely a purchase or a sale. For B2B companies, it’s likely a lead or a demo signup.
But what about all the other available touchpoints before a customer makes that leap?
Consider tracking “micro” conversions on your sites to really identify the positive impact your PPC campaigns have.
Examples of “micro” conversions to track include:
Taking a step back from the ins and outs of the platforms helps you hone in through the lens of a consumer. Setting up accurate measurements from the purchase journey can make a big impact on how you structure and optimize your Google Ads campaigns.
The second way to help increase Google Ads conversion rates is continuous optimization of keyword lists.
The Google Ads search terms report is a perfect tool for this. Not only can you see what users are searching for, in their own words, that leads to conversions, but you can also see what is not converting.
We’ll get to negative keywords later.
Keep in mind which match types you’re using throughout the keyword optimization process.
Broad match keywords have the biggest leniency when it comes to what types of searches will show for your ad. It also has the largest reach because of its flexible nature.
Turning some of your top-performing Broad match keywords into Exact match can help increase those Quality Scores, which can lead to lower cost per click (CPCs) and better efficiency for your campaigns.
Alright, so you’ve gotten a user to click on your ad. Great!
But you’re finding that not a lot of people are actually purchasing. What gives?
Surely, it must be a problem with the PPC campaigns.
Not always.
Typically, one of the most common reasons users leave a website right after clicking on an ad has to do with a mismatch of expectations.
Simply put, what the user was promised in an ad was not present or prominent on the landing page.
A great way to optimize conversion rates is to ensure the landing page copy is tailored to match your PPC ad copy.
Doing this ensures a relatively seamless user experience, which can help speed up the purchase process.
If a user isn’t performing the actions you’d expect to after clicking on an ad, it may be time to review your ad copy.
Since the emergence of Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), I’ve seen many redundant headlines and generic calls-to-action (CTAs).
No wonder a user doesn’t know what you want them to do!
When creating CTAs either in ad copy or on the landing page, keep these principles in mind:
Examples of action-oriented CTA language could sound like:
Try steering away from generic language such as “Learn More” unless you’re truly running a more top-of-funnel (TOF) campaign.
With mobile phones so prevalent in our society, it’s shocking how many websites are still not optimizing their mobile experience!
Creating a landing page with desktop top-of-mind should really be revisited, given that mobile traffic has overtaken desktop.
So, what can you do to help increase your conversion rates on mobile?
Ad copy is one of the biggest levers you can control in your PPC campaigns.
Even slight changes or tweaks to a headline or description can have a big impact on CTR and conversion rates.
Having multiple ad copy variants is crucial when trying to understand what resonates most with users.
Part of the beauty of Google’s Responsive Search Ads is the number of headline inputs you can have at once. Google’s algorithm then determines the best-performing ad copy combinations to increase conversion rates.
Google Ads also has tools built into the platform for more controlled testing if that is a route you want to take.
You can create ad variants or create an experiment directly in Google Ads for more precise A/B testing.
It’s also important to test one element at a time to isolate the impact of each change. Testing too many elements at once can muddy up analysis.
Ad assets are a great way to help influence a click to your website, which can help improve conversion rates.
Assets like callouts, structured snippets, and sitelinks can provide additional detail that couldn’t be shown in headlines or descriptions.
When your Ad Rank is higher, you have a better likelihood of showing ad assets, which helps increase the overall visibility of your ad.
Your ad assets can be customized to fit your campaign goals, and can even show specific promotions, special product features, and social proof like seller ratings.
A sound negative keyword strategy is one of the best ways to improve Google Ads conversion rates.
You may be wasting your paid search budget on keywords that aren’t producing conversions.
You may also notice that some broad keywords have gone rogue and are triggering your ads for terms they definitely shouldn’t be showing up for!
As mentioned earlier, the search terms report can help mitigate a lot of these types of keywords.
You can choose to add negative keywords at the following levels:
You also have the ability to add negative keywords as broad, phrase, or exact match.
Alleviating poor-performing keywords allows your budget to optimize for your core keyword sets that lead to conversions.
The type of bid strategy you choose for your Google Ads campaigns can make or break performance.
In recent years, Google has moved towards its fully automated bidding strategies, using machine learning to align performance with the chosen goal and bid strategy.
Currently, Google has four Smart Bidding strategies focused on conversion-based goals:
Choosing the right bidding strategy is just one piece of the puzzle.
The inputs of the chosen bid strategy are just as important, where more context is needed to have a successful campaign.
For example, suppose you choose a Target CPA bid strategy for a search campaign and set the target CPA to $50.
However, in that campaign, you notice that your average CPC ranges anywhere from $10-$20.
Suddenly, your impressions go down, and you’re not sure what’s happening!
It could be your bid strategy inputs.
In the example above, if you have high CPCs but set your target CPA to just slightly higher than the CPCs, that means you need to have a stellar conversion rate in order to stay within that $50 CPA threshold.
Additionally, many make the mistake of setting the same target CPA for all campaigns, regardless of brand or non-brand intent.
Most often, non-brand keywords will have much higher CPAs than brand terms, so the inputs should be set accordingly based on performance.
Make sure you set your Target CPA thresholds high enough initially for the campaigns to gather information to meet expectations.
As keyword match types tend to get looser, there is more emphasis on leveraging audience segmentation to reach the right people.
Using audience segments allows you to tailor your ads towards specific groups or utilize audiences as exclusions so your ads aren’t triggered.
Examples of audience segments within Google Ads include:
By segmenting audiences within your PPC campaigns, you can customize ad messaging based on those segments.
This can lead to maximizing relevance and engagement, ultimately increasing conversion rates.
You can also use insights from GA4 to inform your segmentation strategy to identify high-value audience segments.
On average, ecommerce conversion rates range from 2.5-3%.
That means 97% of people leave a website without purchasing. Talk about a missed opportunity!
With a retargeting strategy in place, you have the opportunity to win back those missed customers and turn them into your brand champions.
Retargeting keeps track of website or app visitors who don’t take the desired action you’d like them to. You can create retargeting lists as niche or as broad as you prefer, but keep in mind that audiences must be a certain size before they’re eligible to use.
Examples of utilizing retargeting could be:
These segments can be used to create retargeting campaigns, which show those users ads to help increase the likelihood of them converting. Be sure to set those ad frequencies within the campaign so you don’t annoy your audience, though!
These days, shoppers are more accustomed to expecting a discount whenever they purchase.
There’s certainly an argument that programming people to buy only during a sale can diminish a product’s value perception.
However, there are strategies that can boost sales and conversion rates without devaluing the product.
If possible, try making the offers more personal towards the user and their behavior.
Additionally, you can set smaller windows of sale times and incorporate real-time purchase behavior so users can see how many people have taken advantage of the sale.
One of the easiest ways to waste precious PPC dollars is to set up location targeting wrong.
Google Ads offers multiple ways to geo-target locations within the campaign settings to help reach your goals.
Location targeting allows you to set specific locations for your ads to show, including:
For example, if you have products that can only be purchased in the United States, you would likely target “United States” within the campaign setting.
Nowadays, it’s not as easy as just choosing “United States” (in this example). This is where advanced settings come in.
Within the Google campaign settings, you have two location-targeting options:
In the example above, it would make sense to choose “Presence” – otherwise, the campaign could show ads in areas where the products aren’t available.
If users in those countries click on the ad but see they can’t purchase when they get to the website, that is a recipe for poor conversion rates.
Brands can leverage social proof in their Google Ads campaigns to help boost conversion rates.
The goal of using social proof is to incorporate elements that demonstrate positive sentiment from customers, endorsements, or validation that the customer’s needs will be met.
There are many ways brands can add social proof to their campaigns:
Additionally, strategies like creating limited-time offers with an emphasis on social proof can help boost sales and conversion rates.
This could mean showing in real-time how many customers have taken advantage of the offer, which creates urgency for the customer to act.
Focusing on social proof and validation can build trust, credibility, and confidence among potential customers – ultimately leading to higher conversion rates.
Ad scheduling is an underestimated tool in Google Ads that helps improve conversion rates.
The beauty of ad scheduling is that you can control when your ad will or will not show.
Make sure to have ample budget and schedule ads when potential customers are most actively searching and are more engaged.
This can lead to higher effectiveness of the campaign and increased conversion rates.
For example, if you run a B2B software company, it’s highly unlikely that potential customers are searching in the middle of the night.
Optimize your spend by not showing ads at certain times of the day (such as the middle of the night) or days of the week (like weekends).
If you’re not sure how to start optimizing campaigns by time, consider the following:
Improving conversion rates in Google Ads is rarely tied to a single optimization or setting change. Strong performance usually comes from a series of small decisions that are reviewed, tested, and refined over time.
When those decisions stop getting attention, efficiency tends to slip, even in accounts with solid traffic and budgets.
The most effective PPC teams treat conversion rate optimization as an ongoing process rather than a one-time project. They regularly question assumptions, revisit historical decisions, and adjust based on how users behave today, not how the account was originally built.
If there’s one takeaway from these 15 tactics, it’s that better results don’t always come from spending more. They come from making the traffic you already earn more relevant, more intentional, and easier to convert.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Billion Photos/Shutterstock
Brooke serves as the Director of Growth Marketing at Smith Micro Software, with over 10 years of paid media experience. …
Join 75,000+ Digital Leaders.
Learn how to connect search, AI, and PPC into one unstoppable strategy.
Join 75,000+ Digital Leaders.
Learn how to connect search, AI, and PPC into one unstoppable strategy.
Join 75,000+ Digital Leaders.
Learn how to connect search, AI, and PPC into one unstoppable strategy.
In a world ruled by algorithms, SEJ brings timely, relevant information for SEOs, marketers, and entrepreneurs to optimize and grow their businesses — and careers.
Copyright © 2026 Search Engine Journal. All rights reserved. Published by Alpha Brand Media.

source