The Hidden Places Google Ads Wastes Your Money
Search partners. Auto-applied recommendations. Display expansion. These default settings are draining your budget. Here's what to turn off.
The Default Settings Draining Your Budget
Google Ads has dozens of settings, many of which are enabled by default. Google's incentive? They get paid when you spend money, regardless of whether that spend converts.
Your incentive? Conversions and ROI.
These incentives aren't aligned, which is why Google's default settings often favor spend over efficiency. Here are the hidden places your budget is leaking—and how to plug the holes.
Leak #1: Search Partners Network
What It Is
When you create a search campaign, Google shows your ads on the Search Partners network by default. This includes sites like Amazon, The New York Times, and thousands of smaller partner sites.
Why It Wastes Money
Search Partners typically convert at 30-50% lower rates than Google.com proper. The user experience is different, intent signals are weaker, and traffic quality is lower.
Yet you're paying the same (or similar) CPCs.
How to Fix It
- Go to campaign settings
- Under Networks, uncheck "Include Google search partners"
- Or, analyze Search Partners performance first—some accounts see decent results
Our data: Across 100+ accounts, only ~15% show acceptable Search Partners performance. The other 85% should turn it off.
Leak #2: Display Network Expansion
What It Is
Google offers to "expand your reach" by showing search ads on the Display Network. This option appears in campaign settings and sometimes as a "recommendation."
Why It Wastes Money
Display traffic has fundamentally different intent than search traffic. Someone searching "buy running shoes" is ready to purchase. Someone browsing a blog article is not.
Mixing these in the same campaign destroys your performance data and wastes budget on low-intent clicks.
How to Fix It
- Go to campaign settings
- Under Networks, uncheck "Include Google Display Network"
- If you want Display advertising, create a dedicated Display campaign with appropriate targeting and bids
Never mix Search and Display in the same campaign. Ever.
Leak #3: Auto-Applied Recommendations
What It Is
Google will automatically implement "recommendations" to your account unless you opt out. These include:
- Adding broad match keywords
- Adjusting bids
- Creating new ad variations
- Adding audiences
- Changing targeting settings
Why It Wastes Money
Google's recommendations optimize for Google's goals (more spend, more automation), not yours (more conversions at target CPA).
Common damaging auto-applies:
- Adding broad match keywords that match irrelevant searches
- Increasing bids to "improve position" (spending more for same results)
- Adding RSA variations that dilute your tested messaging
- Expanding targeting to lower-quality audiences
How to Fix It
- Go to Recommendations → Auto-apply
- Review what's being auto-applied
- Turn OFF any auto-apply settings you don't explicitly want
- Review manually instead
Our recommendation: Turn off ALL auto-applies and review recommendations manually. Accept only what makes sense for your goals.
Leak #4: Broad Match Keywords (Without Constraints)
What It Is
Broad match keywords show your ads for any search Google considers "related" to your keyword. For the keyword "running shoes," this might include "walking sandals," "marathon training tips," or "shoe repair near me."
Why It Wastes Money
Google's definition of "related" is extremely generous. Broad match burns budget on:
- Informational searches (people researching, not buying)
- Tangentially related topics
- Competitor brands (if you haven't excluded them)
- Low-intent variations
How to Fix It
Option 1: Avoid broad match entirely
Use phrase match and exact match only. More control, better relevance.
Option 2: Constrain broad match properly
If using broad match:
- Apply Smart Bidding (required for any broad match sanity)
- Use extensive negative keyword lists
- Monitor search terms weekly
- Set aggressive CPA/ROAS targets to force efficiency
Never run broad match with manual bidding. The combination guarantees waste.
Leak #5: Location Targeting Settings
What It Is
When you set location targeting, Google offers two options:
- "Presence or interest": People IN your location OR interested in your location
- "Presence": People physically in your location
The default is "Presence or interest."
Why It Wastes Money
If you're a local business in Miami, "Presence or interest" shows your ads to someone in New York who once googled "Miami restaurants" for a trip they took last year.
That's not your customer.
How to Fix It
- Go to campaign settings
- Click Locations → Location options
- Change target to "Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations"
- Change exclude to "Presence: People in your excluded locations"
Critical for: Local businesses, service area businesses, anything geographically constrained.
Leak #6: Performance Max Lack of Controls
What It Is
Performance Max campaigns run across all Google properties (Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Discover) with AI-driven optimization.
Why It Wastes Money
PMax lacks transparency and control:
- You can't see which placements drive results
- Search term visibility is limited
- It often cannibalizes your branded search
- Low-quality Display and YouTube placements eat budget
How to Fix It
If you must run PMax:
- Exclude brand terms using brand exclusion settings
- Use audience signals to guide the algorithm
- Provide high-quality assets (better input = better output)
- Monitor asset performance and remove underperformers
- Run alongside standard search campaigns, not instead of
Alternative: Standard Search + separate Display/YouTube campaigns give you more control and visibility.
Leak #7: Enhanced CPC "Optimization"
What It Is
Enhanced CPC (ECPC) lets Google adjust your manual bids up or down based on likelihood of conversion. Sounds helpful—but Google removed the cap on upward adjustments.
Why It Wastes Money
Google can now raise your bids by 100%, 200%, or more. There's no limit. A $5 max CPC bid can become a $15 or $20 actual CPC.
Advertisers using ECPC with the expectation of controlled CPCs often see costs spiral unexpectedly.
How to Fix It
Option 1: Switch to full Smart Bidding (Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions). At least you're getting algorithmic optimization for the flexibility you're giving up.
Option 2: Use pure manual CPC (no enhancement). You control every bid.
Avoid the middle ground of Enhanced CPC—it offers the downsides of automation without the benefits of full algorithmic optimization.
Leak #8: Hidden Costs in Smart Bidding
What It Is
Smart Bidding strategies (Target CPA, Maximize Conversions, etc.) optimize automatically, which is great. But they also hide where budget goes.
Why It Wastes Money
Without oversight, Smart Bidding can:
- Over-invest in low-value placements
- Spend excessively during "learning" phases
- Pursue volume at the expense of efficiency
- Hide poor performance in aggregated metrics
How to Fix It
- Review placement reports monthly (especially for PMax/Display)
- Check the "insights" tab for unusual patterns
- Monitor for conversion lag—Smart Bidding makes decisions based on incomplete data
- Set guardrails (minimum ROAS, maximum CPA constraints)
- Use portfolio bid strategies for better cross-campaign optimization
The Quick Audit Checklist
Run through this list monthly:
- [ ] Search Partners: Off (or performing well)
- [ ] Display Network: Off for Search campaigns
- [ ] Auto-applies: All reviewed/disabled
- [ ] Broad match: Constrained or avoided
- [ ] Location targeting: Presence only
- [ ] PMax: Brand excluded, controlled
- [ ] ECPC: Switched to Smart Bidding or pure manual
- [ ] Placement reports: Reviewed for waste
- [ ] Search term reports: Negatives added
The Bottom Line
Google's defaults favor Google, not you. The platform is designed to make spending money easy and controlling spend hard.
Fight back by understanding where waste hides and actively managing these settings. The accounts that perform best aren't the ones with the biggest budgets—they're the ones that spend most efficiently on what actually works.
Want us to audit your Google Ads settings for waste? Our diagnostic identifies exactly where your budget is leaking and quantifies the savings opportunity. Most accounts have 10-30% waste hiding in default settings.
