Picture this:
A campaign you manage has been doing well for months. One day, you check on the performance only to see that conversions have dipped.
If you work with Google Ads long enough, you’ll inevitably encounter this situation.
However, what sets exceptional PPC marketers apart is their ability to prevent the problem from escalating and take control with confidence.
When conversions decline, clients aren’t happy.
The solution is singular and straightforward: Increase the campaign’s traffic volume, conversion rate, and conversion volume.
You’ll typically want to do this as you reduce the CPA or increase ROAS (both of which can suffer when conversions dip) while staying within budget.
10 common causes of low conversions in Google Ads
Seeing a dip in conversions can be worrying, especially if clients ask questions you can’t answer immediately or if there are other issues with the account.
It might be tempting to jump into the settings and start making changes, but that’s rarely the smart move.
Zoom out with a cool head, and you might discover that the reason conversions are dropping is easily fixable.
Here’s the checklist we use at my agency to diagnose the root cause of low conversions and fix them.
1. Not enough traffic
Before you can look at conversions, you must ensure you’re driving enough traffic. But how much traffic is enough?
Every account is different, so look at your data and work backward.
Typically, every account needs a certain number of clicks to generate a conversion and a certain amount of impressions to generate a click.
When the numbers are off at the top of that chain, they affect the KPIs at the bottom.
Say your account gets one conversion for every 10 clicks and one click for every 100 impressions.
If your campaign receives fewer than 10 clicks per day, you’re probably not hitting that threshold of 100 impressions, and there likely won’t be any conversions.
If this is the case, your goal must be to increase traffic and clicks. If your budget is being spent in full, you can achieve this by increasing your spend.
But if your budget isn’t being used up, that’s where you want to look next.
2. Campaign limited by budget
Most of the time, you’ll find that conversions are low because a campaign is not exhausting the entire budget you’ve allocated.
So, the first step is always to check whether Google is spending its allocated time or holding back.
Typically we will look in two places to determine if this is the case:
Search lost impression share (budget)
Ad group level performance graph
If either of these metrics indicates that the campaign is limited by budget, you can try decreasing bids (manual CPC) or loosening up targets (Smart Bidding) to bring in more traffic.
If your campaign spends the full budget on most days, you can probably get away with a lower CPC and drive more traffic from the existing budget.
I also recommend reviewing your search terms report to see if the traffic is from an audience relevant to your campaign.
If the campaign is spending what it should and conversions still aren’t at the level you want them to be, these are some of the other investigations we’ll conduct to get to the bottom of the issue.
3. Recent changes to campaign settings
Budgets, bids, and targets can sometimes cause conversions to dip.
Identify whether you made adjustments that were too high or too low. Perhaps there are several new competitors and the auction has become more competitive.
Sometimes, even a change in keywords or locations can force the bids to become much less competitive.
If you’re running Shopping or Performance Max, check if there are new errors in the Merchant Center.
One important caveat: Don’t make drastic adjustments, especially if the data set is too small.
Be proactive and not reactive. If you see a drop in performance for up to 7 days, don’t make substantial changes. Typically, any changes around ~10% are normal fluctuations.
4. Recent brand-side changes
If your conversions simply tank instead of falling off a cliff, a strategic change on the brand side could be to blame.
Things like new offers, changes to sales flows, or price increases can all cause a drop in conversions – especially if the client has a natural conversion lag.
And if you haven’t been kept in the loop on these changes, there’s no way for you to judge their impact.
Once you know that the client made a change, start by looking at the date conversions began to decline.
See if that lines up with when the offer was changed, or if prices went up.
If there’s alignment, that’s a good indicator that your client may need to revisit those changes or allow the market time to adjust.
5. Imbalance between search intent and keyword match types
If conversions are down and nothing’s changed, your keyword hygiene and balance may have been affected.
A good mix of keyword match types allows you to maximize the opportunities available through Search while maintaining control over intent levels.