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New Google Search Ad – very expensive irrelevant clicks
Posted by on February 26, 2026 at 8:43 amI launched my first Google Search ad 4 days ago to get phone call leads.
I have 3 ad groups: full home renovation, kitchen renovation, and bathroom renovation.
I’m getting $20–$40 CPCs, mostly from people searching for shops, tools, or DIY, not renovation services. I’m adding negative keywords daily, but it’s still happening.
Questions:
- What else can I do to reduce irrelevant clicks besides negatives?
- What bid strategy is best for a new campaign focused on phone calls?
- Is this CPC normal in the first few days?
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1 Reply
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Don’t use AI max. Don’t start a new account / campaign using broad match keywords. Look for a comprehensive negative keyword list that you can start with.
You say you want phonecall leads – but call ads are no longer available (as far as I know)
Are you sending these clicks to your website? Do you have real conversion tracking set up to track any phone calls? -
Are you targeting 100% phone and negatively targeting ipad and desktop?
You should be paying on conversions (ie calls) not clicks.
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Looks like another AI answer bot.
Please ban.
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Early days can be messy, especially in home services where competition is heavy. CPCs in that range aren’t crazy depending on location, but irrelevant intent usually means match types are too broad. Tighten to phrase or exact, and make sure your ad copy clearly says “full service renovation” to filter DIY clicks.
For bidding, many start with manual or max clicks to gather data, then shift to a call focused conversion strategy once you have real conversion tracking in place. Also double check your search terms report daily. That’s where the real story usually is.
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Remove any broad match Keywords you are targeting. Just keep exact and phrase matches. Look at the search report for any irrelevant terms that are triggering your ads and add them to your negative keywords
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if you’re using broad match, tighten to phrase or exact and clean up intent from the search terms report. i’d start with manual cpc or capped max clicks until you have real call data, then test tCPA. high cpcs are common in home services, but irrelevant queries usually mean targeting is too loose.
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Using only exact match keywords would help with irrelevant queries for your new campaigns. But adding negatives is something you’ll still need to do for a while.
As for bidding strategy, if you expect a low number of conversions to start (<10/month) I would use manual bidding for now. If you expect more you can start with Max Conversions.
You are in a highly competitive niche… if you’re inexperienced with Google Ads you’ll probably not get very good results. I recommend hiring an expert or consider Google Local Service Ads.
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