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This is almost always a landing page relevance issue compounded by the bidding strategy switch.
You switched to maximize conversions but the campaign probably doesn’t have enough conversion data to optimize properly. Google needs roughly 30-50 conversions per month for that bidding strategy to work. If you’re only spending $150/month you’re getting maybe 2-5 conversions. The algorithm has nothing to learn from so it just stops spending.
The ‘below average’ landing page experience is killing you twice. Once on quality score which raises your CPCs so the $40/day buys fewer clicks. And again on the algorithm’s willingness to spend because Google sees low relevance and decides your ads aren’t worth showing.
What I’d try:
Switch back to maximize clicks with a bid cap for 30 days. You need volume and data before you can optimize for conversions. Let the budget actually get spent first.
Have a direct conversation with the client about the negative keywords. Pull the search terms report and show them what’s actually converting vs what they think should convert. Data wins that argument every time.
Fix the landing page. This is the real bottleneck. Page needs to match the keyword intent, load fast, and have clear conversion actions. Everything else is a band-aid until this is solved.
Also worth checking what competitors in this space are running right now. I do this for my clients before touching any campaign settings. Sometimes the issue isn’t your ads, it’s that competitors changed their approach and the auction dynamics shifted. You can see what anyone is running through Meta Ad Library or similar tools for Google. Gives you a baseline before you start testing changes.
