Stan Consulting · Problem
Wasted Google Ads spend usually has one of five structural causes. Broad match types pulling irrelevant queries. Bid strategy optimizing for a weak signal. Conversion tracking misfiring. Campaign structure blending brand and non-brand at the same bidding table. Or Performance Max cannibalizing Search without the audience signal architecture to contain it.
Quick answer
Google Ads wasted spend comes from structural causes: bid strategy misalignment, conversion tracking errors, match-type leaks, Shopping feed gaps, and audience signal failures. Stan Consulting identifies the specific leak points in 72 hours via the $999 Conversion Second Opinion - a written diagnostic with a prioritized fix list.
Structural Causes
Broad match and modified broad pulling queries that do not qualify. Search terms report shows the spend-to-conversion mismatch line by line.
Maximize Conversions running with no conversion volume at threshold. Target ROAS running without enough conversion data to train. tCPA when the offer cannot close at that CPA.
Counting view-throughs as equal to clicks. Double-counting across GA4 and Google Ads. Missing event fire on thank-you page. Any of these corrupts the bid signal.
Brand campaigns outperform, non-brand dilutes the aggregate. The algorithm optimizes for the aggregate ROAS and starves the non-brand segment of budget.
Performance Max running without audience signals, without asset group themes, without customer list seeds. It buys the cheapest conversion regardless of value.
When a diagnostic is warranted
Days the symptom has persisted
If the commercial problem has outlasted a month of in-house investigation, it is structural, not tactical.
Turnaround on the report
Written diagnostic and prioritized fix list delivered within seventy-two hours of granted account access.
Engagement fee, one time
If the weekly cost of the problem exceeds $999, the diagnostic is underpriced against the loss it prevents.
The first fix on the prioritized list is the one with the highest commercial impact at the lowest implementation cost. That is the structural judgment the engagement is paying for.
Common Questions
First-pass wasted spend reduction is usually visible within seventy-two hours of implementing the fix list from the diagnostic. Structural wasted spend reduction continues across thirty to sixty days as the algorithm retrains on cleaner signal.
Usually: turn off broad match on non-brand campaigns and migrate to phrase match with negatives. This alone regularly cuts fifteen to thirty percent of wasted spend the same week.
Tools report symptoms. A diagnostic reads which root cause is dominant and in what order to resolve them. That kind of structural read is what tools cannot do.
The Engagement Format
$999 · 72-hour written diagnostic · No retainer structure · fee is final on submission before work commences
Get the $999 Diagnostic