Google has evolved at breakneck speed. What worked in 2020, or even 2022, is no longer enough to compete in today’s AI-first search landscape. With the rise of AI Overviews, the launch of AI Max ads, and increased competition across search categories, businesses that continue to “coast” on campaigns built years ago are wasting money.
The truth is simple: Google account management has become a skilled role, requiring strategy, precision, and constant optimization. CMOs and CEOs can no longer assume campaigns run in the background are delivering efficient results. Every click matters, and every dollar must be maximized.
Here are the top five aspects of Google account management that directly impact your overall budget, and why now is the time to revisit your campaigns with expert guidance from agencies like Pulsion Management.
- Domain Authority: The Foundation of Visibility
In Google’s evolving environment, your ad performance doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Campaign success is tied to the perceived authority of your domain.
- Why it matters: Google favors domains it views as trustworthy and authoritative, not just in organic results but in ad quality scoring. A site with strong domain authority often pays less per click for the same keyword than a weaker competitor.
- What drives authority: Links from credible sources, consistent high-quality content, and well-structured schema.
- Budget impact: Companies with low authority often overspend on ads just to compete for visibility, while their better-optimized competitors achieve higher ROI with lower bids.
Investing in domain authority growth through link building, press releases, and interlinked content supports both organic ranking and more efficient ad campaigns.
- Relevance: Aligning Ads with Landing Pages
One of the most common (and costly) mistakes in Google Ads is running campaigns where the ad messaging doesn’t align with the landing page experience.
- Why it matters: Google assigns a Quality Score to every ad, heavily influenced by how relevant the landing page is to the ad. Poor alignment reduces ad rank and increases costs.
- Example: If your ad promises “commercial lending solutions” but lands a user on a generic home page, you’ll lose credibility, conversions, and money.
- Budget impact: Companies waste thousands each year driving traffic to pages that aren’t optimized for conversions or don’t match ad intent.
Skilled Google account management ensures ads and landing pages work together to improve Quality Score, lower cost-per-click, and maximize conversion.
- Negative Keywords: Protecting Against Unqualified Traffic
Negative keywords are often overlooked, but they’re one of the most powerful tools in budget protection.
- Why it matters: Without negative keywords, your ads show up for irrelevant or unqualified searches, generating clicks that will never convert.
- Real-world case study:
- A company offering commercial lending used broad terms like “loans” in its campaigns. Without negative keywords, ads appeared for personal loan searches, leading to wasted clicks from consumers outside their target.
- Result: Thousands in spend wasted on leads they could never service.
- Budget impact: Every unqualified click drains ad spend. Tight negative keyword lists ensure your budget goes only toward relevant prospects.
- Local vs. Global: Targeting Too Broadly
Another frequent mistake in Google Ads is targeting that is either too generic or geographically misaligned with the actual business opportunity.
- Why it matters: If you are a local service provider but run ads nationally, you’re paying for traffic that can never convert. Conversely, if you serve a broader market but restrict campaigns too tightly, you miss growth opportunities.
- We spoke with David Sahly Vice President of Growth at Pulsion Management and he gave is a great example: “An IT services company targeting “cybersecurity” without negative keywords or location filters. The result was they attracted small business clicks from outside its service area. Without negatives and geographic tuning, they burned budget without pipeline impact. You wouldn’t believe how often we see this in the IT industry”.
- Budget impact: Casting the net too wide leads to wasted impressions and irrelevant clicks; casting it too narrow leads to missed revenue.
Effective Google account management ensures campaigns reflect your actual service footprint, buyer intent, and budget priorities.
- Broad vs. Specific: The Danger of Generic Keywords
Generic keywords are tempting because they promise large reach, but in practice they are often too broad, too competitive, and too expensive.
- Why it matters: Terms like “personal loan” or “debt consolidation” may have massive search volume but are dominated by large institutions with seven-figure budgets. Mid-market companies will overpay for unqualified leads.
- Case study example: A subprime finance company launched campaigns targeting “debt consolidation.” The keywords were so competitive and broad that spend skyrocketed while conversions remained low.
- Budget impact: Broad keywords drain budgets fast. Targeted, long-tail keywords aligned with buyer intent produce far higher ROI.
Case Study Snapshots: Common Costly Mistakes
To illustrate how quickly budgets can erode without skilled management, consider three real-world examples we see time and again:
- Commercial lending firm using generic “loan” keywords, attracting consumer traffic. → Wasted clicks, poor lead quality.
- Subprime finance company targeting “debt consolidation” and “personal loan.” > Overly broad, hyper-competitive keywords with low ROI.
- IT services provider targeting “cybersecurity” without negatives. > Attracted small business leads they couldn’t serve, wasting time and money.
Each scenario highlights the need for constant optimization and vigilance. Without it, budgets are consumed by irrelevant or inefficient traffic.
The AI Factor: New Opportunities, New Risks
Beyond these fundamentals, 2025 has introduced a new layer of complexity: AI features in Google.
- AI Overviews: Ads now must compete for space in a landscape where buyers often make decisions before they click.
- AI Max Ads: Google’s new ad format integrates directly into AI-generated results, creating premium but limited real estate.
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): Content must now be designed not just for Google, but for AI answer engines that influence B2B research.
The opportunity is enormous, but so is the potential for waste. Poorly structured campaigns risk being invisible in AI-driven contexts. Skilled Google account management helps companies adapt to these new realities and ensures every dollar spent supports visibility and authority.
Why Refreshing Campaigns Is Critical Now
If your business hasn’t revisited its SEO, AEO, and paid campaigns recently, you are almost certainly overspending.
- Budgets are at risk when ads are too broad, landing pages are misaligned, or negative keywords are ignored.
- Opportunities are missed when campaigns aren’t optimized for AI features.
- Competitors pull ahead when they invest in authority signals like links, schema, and relevant content.
Now is the time to refresh strategies, reallocate spend, and ensure campaigns reflect 2025’s new search dynamics.
Budgets Need Agility and Deserve Better Management
The top five aspects of Google account management: domain authority, ad-to-landing relevance, negative keywords, geographic precision, and keyword specificity, all directly impact your budget. Layer in AI-driven changes like AI Overviews and AI Max ads, and the need for expert oversight becomes undeniable.
In 2025, managing campaigns is no longer about flipping the switch and letting ads run. It’s about constant optimization, authority building, and aligning spend with strategy.
About the Author
Pulsion is a Google award-winning digital marketing agency serving companies in Canada, the US, LATAM, and Africa. With expertise across SEO, AEO, social media, and digital strategy, Pulsion helps businesses strengthen their visibility, drive efficiency, and achieve measurable growth. www.gopulsion.io
