After 17+ years in the business and more than $112M in managed Google Ads spend, we’ve seen just about every billing question, concern and bit of confusion you can imagine. One of the most common is why Google’s card charges don’t always line up neatly with a business owner’s monthly budget. Thankfully, there’s usually a very good reason for this, and it all comes back to how the Google Ads billing cycle works.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, as a top 3% Google certified agency, we strive to offer the best Google Ads management in the country and our focus is always on squeezing as much value and as many clicks and enquiries/sales as we possibly can from your investment in Google Ads Advertising. And depending on your budget, this does not always mean ranking #1 on Google on every single keyword every second of every day. You might be interested in reading our blog post about why a rank #1 position via Google Ads (AdWords) is not always best.

If you’re an active client and need specific insights related to campaigns we run for you, feel free to send us an email — we’re happy to help

Nice to Know that Google Thinks We’re Performing Better than 97% of Google Ads Agencies Across the Nation

We work tirelessly to deliver for our clients, and will always represent your best interests first and foremost. And while we work for YOU (and not for Google), we certainly won’t be losing any sleep over the fact that Google recently re-certified us (again) with 2026 Premier Partner status, recognising us as performing better than 97% of Google Advertising agencies across Australia.

Ultimately, the best measure of our performance is the results we deliver for our clients year after year. Combined with the proactive, prompt and professional service we have become well known for. And many aspects of Google Ads Advertising campaigns that perform at the very highest levels are very difficult for Google to measure at scale. Frankly, no one runs campaigns like we do, but we will take the win!

Please just know that whenever we are faced with serving Google’s best interests (or Google’s internal KPI’s) VS serving our clients best interests, it will always be you as our client and your best interests that come first.

Mr Search — Premier Google Partners

We take an enormous amount of pride in our work, and that’s not going to change. So it’s business as usual for us in Google Ads land  — just another feather in the cap. But now it’s official (again) — with Mr Search, you’re with the best in the business and in very safe hands.

PSA and humble brag: for those reading this who are not already clients, please just be aware that the service and results we deliver are in a class of their own. And to go one step further, they are honestly on a different planet compared with what you will typically experience from your friend next door who’s ‘good with computers’, your nephew who watched a Wix how to video on YouTube, or your graphic/web designer that can setup Google Ads for cheap. We know because we’ve seen it all before. If you don’t believe us, give it your best shot and we’ll cross all our fingers (and toes) for you, I just hope your business isn’t relying on it 😉

Online visibility is SO important. No need to preach to the choir. From time to time we have a client who runs a test search and wonders why they didn’t happen to see themselves prominently within the search results. This might be you, and it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to query. Google’s systems have become much more complex over the years, leading to several possible explanations.

Firstly, just so we’re all on the same page, we are talking about the Google Ads sponsored search results that appear at the top of the search results, and not the Google Maps pack or the organic search results that appear lower down the page, and are an entirely different beast.

The Most Common Explanations as to Why You Didn’t See Your Business When Running a Test Search

1. Personalised Search Results on Your Device: people often don’t realise that Google personalises results for your device/account based on what you do and don’t click on in the search results. And this can happen quite quickly when running a few searches and not following normal user behaviour (and not clicking on the search results and spending time on pages etc). Google is quick to respond if you are behaving like a bot and not clicking as a normal human would, and will often shuffle around the search results, push the Google Ads search results to the bottom of the page (or not at all) and so on. A telltale sign of this occurring is if you don’t see any other Google Ads search results showing at the top of the page on your device.

2. Intermittent Ad Serving Due to Limited Budget: Google may intermittently show our listings throughout the course of the day if your current nominated click budget is maxing out. If you would like to consider increasing the maximum daily Google Click Cap to help maximise exposure, please just let us know and we’ll be happy to discuss, and give you some honest advice (as always, we don’t make a single cent from Google Clicks).

3. Broader Keywords with Lower Commercial Intent: If you search on broader keywords it’s possible that these might have lower conversion performance and that we are therefore bidding less aggressively on these and giving more priority to higher converting keywords that will help us to maximise overall conversion numbers and ROI. For example if a broader keyword converts at only one-third that of other better converting keywords, we will heavily optimise and bid accordingly to ensure your investment is going to areas where it will deliver the best results.

4. Other ‘Performance Signals’ that Indicate a Low Conversion Probability: because we heavily optimise and bid based on performance signals, there may be other factors that indicate a lower conversion probability (based on large performance datasets), resulting in our listing not showing. For example, based on the type of device you are searching from (smartphone, computer, tablet etc), time of day, geo location, RLSA (re-marketing lists for search ads), affinity and in-market audiences, interests and so on. Ultimately, if conversion probability is high, we will bid aggressively (and maximise visibility), and if conversion probability is low we will bid accordingly to focus your budget in the areas it will have greatest impact.

Other Reasons Why You Might Not See Your Listing

5. There Might Be Something Else Happening on Your Device: For example please make sure you are searching on Google.com.au, not another smaller search engine by accident, as these can sometimes hijack your device and set themselves as the default. Or there could possibly be an issue with Google accurately detecting your location and showing localised search results for your area. This is highly unusual, but can happen on rare occasions. VPN’s and other over-zealous security software can also sometimes create issues.

Are you seeing other Google Ads showing at the top of search results? If you’re not, then this is usually a good indicator that something funny might be going on with your device/web browser.

6. Our Listings Might Not Be Scheduled to Run: This is not that common, but you might have requested that we run our campaigns only certain hours. Or for example if you are searching after midnight, there is a good chance our listings will not be scheduled for their normal start until 5 or 6am.

7. Issues with Declined Payments: In the event of payment issues, Google tends to be quite quick to temporarily take our Google Ads campaigns offline and block ad serving until resolved.

There is ALWAYS a Good Reason Why

If you are an active Google Ads client please send our friendly team through a quick email, along with a few screenshots, and we’ll be happy to triple-check, and give you some further insights and options.

Running Test Searches is Not the Best Gauge of Visibility

Google’s systems have become extremely complex over the years with a huge number of moving parts. And when we are talking about tens/hundreds of thousands (or often millions) of search impressions in an average month, while it can be interesting to run a test search every now and again, the reality is that this is not going to give you the best or most accurate gauge of overall results. Perhaps a little like looking at one grain of sand on a beach.

We proactively monitor and optimise based on Google’s complete raw numbers (like Impr. Top and Impr. Abs. Top, which tell us on a percentage basis how often our listings appear at the top of search results). This generally gives us a much better ‘full picture’ dataset and view of what’s going on, informing our ongoing optimisation.

You’ll generally get a well rounded feel for performance and results by looking at our weekly/monthly dashboard reports which touch on metrics like actual click-throughs and enquiries and conversions and look at trends over time. Ultimately if we’re getting good volumes of click throughs and conversions at a reasonable cost per conversion that’s often the most important thing for most businesses, because running repeated test searches can easily drive you crazy if you let it — due to personalisation and the many layers of optimisation.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, as a top 3% Google certified agency, we strive to offer the best Google Ads management in the country and our focus is always on squeezing as much value and as many clicks and enquiries/sales as we possibly can from your investment in Google Ads Advertising. And depending on your budget, this does not always mean ranking #1 on Google on every single keyword every second of every day. You might be interested in reading our blog post about why a rank #1 position via Google Ads (AdWords) is not always best.

Again, if you’re an active client and need specific insights related to campaigns we run for you, feel free to send us an email — we’re happy to help

The Hidden Cost of Google’s “Helpful” Automation: If you’re a Sydney-based business, the Google Ads advertising we run for you should be reaching people who are genuinely searching in your service area, right? Unfortunately, time and again, we see examples of Google’s automated close match logic getting it completely wrong.

Google Ads keywords specifically targeting Sydney based keywords can sometimes end up being shown on Lithgow based keywords — a two-hour drive away — thanks to Google’s automated and increasingly broad ‘close match variants’ keyword matching. Please see the example keyword screenshots below. Someone pays for that mistake. Spoiler: it’s not Google.

Mismatches like this are not one-offs. They’re unfortunately regular, recurring issues that we see on an almost daily basis. We invest considerable resources into managing and blocking bad matches through our ever expanding negative match keyword programming to maximise results and represent the best interests of each and every one of our clients.

Why Negative Keyword Programming Matters More Than You Think

Negative keywords are not just a technical feature — they are one of the most important levers in making Google Ads programming efficient and commercially viable. At Mr Search, we constantly expand and refine our negative match keyword programming (based on Google’s ever expanding keyword match type interpretations) to ensure our campaigns aren’t being triggered by irrelevant, time-wasting queries.

For example, if we’re targeting “Plumbers Parramatta”, we will actively block traffic from job seekers, information gatherers, and importantly — out-of-area locations like Lithgow or Newcastle that can easily slip through Google’s automated close match variant matching.

Without this proactive approach, Google or Microsoft Bing may well be billing you for Google Ads clicks that never had the potential to convert.

Some Recent Examples of Poor Keyword Matching from Google or Microsoft’s Automated Systems Include:

These are just a few actual search term mismatches that were caught and blocked through our monitoring:

• Target Keyword: Electrician Marrickville
  Triggered Search: Marrickville Physiotherapy
  A health-related search matched to a trades campaign. Completely irrelevant.
• Target Keyword: Plumber Killara
  Triggered Search: Killara Motor Inn
  Someone booking accommodation was served a plumbing ad.
• Target Keyword: Childcare Mortdale
  Triggered Search: Mortdale Nursery Inertial
  Nursery as in plants — not children. Google often gets this one wrong.
• Target Keyword: European Car Service Brisbane
  Triggered Search: Subaru Brisbane Service
  Campaign aimed at high-end vehicles matched with mass-market traffic.
• Target Keyword: Tree Services
  Triggered Search: Root Barrier Installation Near Me
  One is about tree removal. The other is about preventing tree growth — opposite needs.

Recent real world example screenshots of so called “close match variants”:

What We Do About Poor Google Ads Automated Keyword Matching — And Why It Matters to You

At Mr Search, we don’t believe in set-and-forget Google Ads management. We monitor search term reports regularly, identifying any rogue queries that may be diluting your ad spend and performance.

This includes:

• Blocking irrelevant suburbs and towns if/when they come up
• Identifying misleading or ambiguous terms
• Cutting out non-commercial or low-intent searches
• Staying ahead of Google’s ever-changing definition of “close variant”

Every new batch of search data is an opportunity to improve performance — but only if someone is actually reviewing it. That’s exactly what we do, and we use this to further optimise our PPC advertising performance and ROI.

The Value of Our Strategic Negative Match Programming

Our ongoing optimisation helps to protect your budget and improves results by:

• Increasing click-through rate (CTR) by showing ads to the right people
• Reducing cost-per-click through improved Quality Scores
• Ensuring you only compete where there’s a real chance to win business
• Keeping your ads visible in high-value, high-conversion areas

It’s not a one-time setup. It’s a long-term process that we manage with care.

Final Thought: We Can’t Always Rely on Google’s Automated Systems to Get this Right

Google’s automation serves its own bottom line — and that doesn’t always match yours. That’s why we take a hands-on approach to monitoring and refining your campaigns, with particular focus on the negative match keyword strategy.

When we see a search from Cairns showing your ad in Brisbane for example, we don’t just shake our heads — we fix it. And we keep fixing it month, after month, after month.

If you’re a Mr Search client, this is one of the most valuable, least visible parts of the work we do behind the scenes. And if you’re not, there’s a good chance your campaigns are leaking budget — one irrelevant click at a time.

As a Premier Google Partner with a managed spend of over $112M that’s been around the block a couple of times, we make it our mission to maximise results for each and every one of our Google Advertising clients.

An important part of this is us being highly effective in communicating RELEVANCE and your USP (unique selling point) in our Google ad copy, to help us win the click. However, Google has very strict character limitations which we must work within. For example a maximum of 30 characters (inclusive of spaces) for our H1, H2, and H3 headlines.

Why abbreviations and shortened words are sometimes the best option

Google has very strict character limitations which we have to comply with, so when working with longer words or phrases we sometimes have no choice but to either:

1. abbreviate a word
2. or to just not include it at all — which can hurt relevance and CTR (click-through-rate)

So we do use abbreviations and shortened words where advantageous in order to maximise relevance, and therefore CTR, Google QS (quality score) and overall clicks, enquiries and ROI.

Some common examples of this include:

• Service = Srvc
• Melbourne = Melbrn
• Doctor = Dr
• Street = St
• Castle Hill = Castle Hl
• Fraser Island = Fraser Isl
• Brisbane = Brisbn
• 24 Hour = 24 Hr
• West = Wst
• Australia’s Number One = AU’s #1

The bottom line is there is no need to worry

We will only abbreviate or shorten a word in the Google Ads copy we run when it is needed and in your best interests to do so, based on Google’s strict character limitations. And because we heavily split test our ad copy, we’ll always optimise based on results and prioritise ad copy which generates the best possible results anyway.

As a Premier Google Partner with a managed spend of over $112M that’s been around the block a couple of times, we make it our mission to squeeze through as many clicks and enquiries as what your Google Click Budget possibly allows for.

People sometimes assume that a rank #1 position on the page is always best, but that’s just oftentimes not the case. Particularly when we are working with smaller Google Click Budgets and delivering maximum ‘bang for your buck’ is a key priority.

Why a rank #1 position via Google Ads (AdWords) is not always best, particularly when we’re working with a lower click budget

Maintaining a rank #1 position (particularly in a competitive niche) can often require a much higher CPC (cost per click) investment when it comes to CPC, driving up the cost of generating business. If you have a limited click budget, bidding too aggressively is likely to consistently max out your budget, meaning while you might have a higher rank, you might only show one-third of the time, ironically meaning LESS exposure overall. It can be a classic tortoise and hare situation, so we need to be smart about it.

Let’s say you have a $500 maximum daily Google Click Budget. Which would you prefer from your $500 investment?

1. 25 clicks at $20 per click, and ~15 leads at ~$67 per lead?
2. Or 50 clicks at $10 per click and ~30 leads coming in at ~$33 per lead?

In the above hypothetical example, almost every business owner is going to opt for the second option, since cost per lead is HALF and ROI is TWICE as high. What if I told you that would involves us not always maintaining a #1 position, and oftentimes appearing in a #2 or #3 position on the page, or sometimes not at all? This is even more so the case when efficiency is the key priority and we’re working with smaller click budgets.

Sure, like any hypothetical, we’ve had to make some pretty reasonable assumptions in the above scenario (for example conversion rate being steady regardless of position, and that search volumes on Google are high enough to utilise the full budget even with a slightly less aggressive ranking strategy). But, with figures like this, most business owners would agree that it’s a no brainer.

Ultimately, we’ll always heavily optimise to generate maximum ROI whatever your nominated Google Ads budget is — striking a good balance between the VOLUME of clicks and enquiries and the EFFICIENCY at which we can generate them

Most businesses don’t have an unlimited budget and can only afford to invest so much to generate a lead or sale while keeping ROI positive. It’s therefore vital that we’re smart about how we optimise the campaign, and that’s what we’re all about.

A big part of us maximising results is our advanced bidding strategies that make use of machine learning algorithms allowing us to bid based on conversion probability

For mature Google Advertising campaigns, when we bid based on conversion probability, we are factoring in what keyword someone is searching for (of the hundreds/thousands of keywords we’re targeting), what type of device they are searching from (device class), time of day, where they are searching from (geo location), RLSA (re-marketing lists for search ads — have they visited your website previously?), affinity and in-market audiences, a person’s interests and so on.

Ultimately, when conversion probability is very high, we’ll bid aggressively aiming for a high rank so we can maximise enquiries and sales. When conversion probability is OK, we’ll bid moderately, and when conversion probability is very low, we often don’t want to appear at all, saving your ad dollars for better qualified clicks. Our conversion focussed approach makes a HUGE difference, helping us to turbo-charge results and deliver more enquiries and sales, and a vastly better overall ROI. So who cares if you’re in first position at rank 1, a rank 2 or a rank 3 if the results and the efficiency is there!?

Other ways we make lower Google Ads budget stretch further

There are many pieces in the puzzle when it comes to maximising Google Advertising ROI. Getting our ranking strategy and bidding right is vital. But so too is making sure landing pages are really compelling and optimised to convert clicks into enquiries and sales as efficiently as possible. There is also a heap that we do in in the background to ensure we’re maintaining best practice Google Ads campaign structure, negative match programming, ad extensions, audiences, tracking systems and so on.

So what’s the bottom line?

While AdWords rank and page position is important, it isn’t everything. Even more so for those with smaller budgets. Efficiency and ‘bang for your buck’ means that with your best interests in mind, we often need to bid less aggressively to make your budget stretch further. 

It’s important that we make the most efficient use of your nominated Google advertising budget to drive through as many clicks and enquiries as possible. This is best achieved by us taking an intelligent approach and bidding based on what is going to drive the most clicks and enquiries most efficiently, while factoring in conversion probability. So unless you have an unlimited budget and unlimited cost per lead/sale target, and have little interest in ROI, please don’t expect to always see yourself in a top rank 1 position on every single keyword, all day every day. Rest assured we’ll be proactively monitoring and optimising visibility levels in the background with your best interests in mind and will be working hard to squeeze through as much business as possible, as efficiently as possible.

As a Premier Google Partner with a managed spend of over $112M that’s been around the block a couple of times, we’ve seen it all. One query we sometimes get from business owners is why we’re not always ranking them in a consistent #1 position on the page.

Why a rank #1 position via Google Ads (AdWords) is not always best

The long and the short of it is because maintaining a rank #1 position (particularly in a competitive niche) generally requires a much higher investment when it comes to CPC (cost per click), driving up the cost of generating business. If you have a limited click budget, bidding too aggressively is likely to also max out your budget, meaning while you might have a higher rank, you might only show half the time, ironically meaning LESS exposure overall. It can be a classic tortoise and hare situation, so we need to be smart about it.

Let’s say you have a $1K daily Google Click Budget. Which would you prefer from your $1K investment?

1. 50 clicks at $20 per click, and ~15 leads at ~$67 per lead?
2. Or 100 clicks at $10 per click and ~30 leads coming in at ~$33 per lead?

In the above hypothetical example, almost every business owner is going to opt for the second option, since cost per lead is HALF and ROI is TWICE as high. What if I told you that would involves us not always maintaining a #1 position, and oftentimes appearing in a #2 or #3 position on the page, or sometimes not at all?

Sure, like any hypothetical, we’ve had to make some pretty reasonable assumptions in the above scenario (for example conversion rate being steady regardless of position, and that search volumes on Google are high enough to utilise the full budget even with a slightly less aggressive ranking strategy). But, with figures like that, most business owners would agree that it’s a no brainer.

Ultimately, we’ll always heavily optimise to generate maximum ROI whatever your nominated Google Ads budget is — striking a good balance between the VOLUME of clicks and enquiries and the EFFICIENCY at which we can generate them

Most businesses don’t have an unlimited budget and can only afford to invest so much to generate a lead or sale while keeping ROI positive. It’s therefore vital that we’re smart about how we optimise the campaign, and that’s what we’re all about.

A big part of us maximising results is our advanced bidding strategies that make use of advanced machine learning algorithms allowing us to bid based on conversion probability

For mature Google Advertising campaigns, when we bid based on conversion probability, we are factoring in what keyword someone is searching for (of the hundreds/thousands of keywords we’re targeting), what type of device they are searching from (device class), time of day, where they are searching from (geo location), RLSA (re-marketing lists for search ads — have they visited your website previously?), affinity and in-market audiences, a person’s interests and so on.

Ultimately, when conversion probability is very high, we’ll bid aggressively aiming for a high rank so we can maximise enquiries and sales. When conversion probability is OK, we’ll bid moderately, and when conversion probability is very low, we often don’t want to appear at all, saving your ad dollars for better qualified clicks. Our conversion focussed approach makes a HUGE difference, helping us to turbo-charge results and deliver more enquiries and sales, and a vastly better overall ROI. So who cares if you’re in first position at rank 1, a rank 2 or a rank 3 if the results and the efficiency is there!?

So what’s the bottom line?

While AdWords rank and page position is important, it isn’t everything. It’s important that we make the most efficient use of your nominated Google advertising budget to drive through as many clicks and enquiries as possible. This is best achieved by us taking an intelligent approach and bidding based on what is going to drive the most clicks and enquiries most efficiently, while factoring in conversion probability. So unless you have an unlimited budget and unlimited cost per lead/sale target, and have little interest in ROI, please don’t expect to always see yourself in a top rank 1 position on every single keyword, all day every day. Rest assured we’ll be proactively monitoring and optimising visibility levels in the background with your best interests in mind and will be working hard to squeeze through as much business as possible, as efficiently as possible.

It’s a mammoth task for Google to maintain the quality of reviews on its platform

Yelp receives 26,830 new reviews per minute (translating into over 1.6 million reviews an hour, or 38.6 million reviews every day). While that’s a huge number, Google is far more popular when it comes to online reviews (particularly in Australia). So it would be safe to say the number of Google reviews would be many multiples of this. We’re talking big numbers.

Like any platform, there are unfortunately a small number of ‘bad actors’ who attempt to spam or cheat the system. Google therefore has a range of systems in place to block and filter out suspicious looking reviews. In 2020 alone, Google removed 55 million suspected fake reviews. It’s certainly a job that I wouldn’t envy!

Why do customer reviews not always show, get published right away or go missing on Google?

1. Because Google is still processing the review to make sure it meets it’s quality standards (this normally takes less than 24 hours, but in rare situations can sometimes take several weeks)
2. Google’s algorithms have already determined that the review looks suspicious and are therefore ‘filtering’ it and will not display it to the public. Google’s systems generally do an ‘OK’ job of getting this right, but are certainly not perfect.

Unfortunately there is no reliable way of overriding the algorithm.

We are regularly approached by people looking to market homeware businesses with Google Ads, but the advice we have can often surprise people

As a Premier Google Partner rated by Google as being in the top 3% of agencies in the nation, Google Advertising is what we do all day everyday. So yes, we can easily get the rankings, and rank your business prominently within Google Search results, and yes, we can run a world-class campaign. But is that enough?

Why we turn down partnerships with most homeware based businesses

In short, because these sorts of businesses rarely perform well when advertising on Google in such a competitive space.

There are always exceptions, and some homeware businesses do really well online. Having said that, here is why the majority of new homeware businesses struggle to succeed on Google and have great difficulty generating a positive ROI

1. Many homeware and nick-nack purchases are impulse buys which often occur in a physical setting. For example, you might walk by a candle popup store in the shopping centre on the way to do your weekly grocery shop and an amazing fragrant candle catches your attention and you end up spending $10-20 that wasn’t planned. And in that context there is just the one candle stand so there is basically no competition so you’ll likely decide to buy it then and there. I mean, why not? This is often very different to what happens in the online world.
2. The online world is fiercely competitive in the ecommerce space. With a simple search Google Shopping, eBay and Amazon present an endless list of very similar products with thumbnails and pricing — showing in a split second who is prepared to offer these at the lowest price. The sad reality for retailers is that this can often lead to a race to the bottom on price with lower priced products generally being rewarded with better CTR (click through rates), CPCs (cost per click rates) and conversion rates. For this reason, in the homewares space, cheap imported products coming out of China and other low wage countries are very common.
   At this very moment, I’m looking at a retailer on eBay offering natural soy wax scented candles in glass jars for $4.95. If someone can buy this in 2 clicks and the space of a few seconds, respectfully, why would they want to buy something from an unknown online store for 2-4X the price for what appears to be a very similar product? Particularly when the checkout process may be more difficult, the presentation possibly not as good, and the fact that they may not have purchased from your store previously (limited trust and less convenient compared with big players like eBay, Amazon, Kogan etc). It can unfortunately often just be a really ‘hard sell’.