Google Ads Conversions Dropped Suddenly [#1 Fix 2024]

Conversion matters to businesses advertising on Google Ads and it must be tracked regularly to ensure the campaigns are performing as intended.

Google Ads conversion is impacted by a variety of factors and it can drop less or more based on the monitoring and changes you have in place.

Set and forget is never the answer for Google Ads, season changes so the user behaviour and your competition are not just sitting there, they would like to get the best conversions possible too.

The question is what to do when your Google Ads conversion rate is dropped or how to avoid being dropped drastically.

The digital landscape keeps changing at a rapid pace. To remain competitive and relevant, one of the key metrics that advertisers must closely monitor and analyse is the conversion rate.

In this article, we will discuss how conversion rate impacts performance, potential reasons for the drop in conversion rates, and strategies you can adopt to boost your conversion rate.

Let’s dive in further.

Table of contents:

What is Google Ads conversion rate?
Why do low conversion rates impact performance?
Possible reasons for conversion rates drop and ways to fix it
How to increase Google Ads conversion
Get help from a Google Ads consultant
FAQs

What is Google Ads conversion rate?

The conversion rate indicates the percentage of website visitors through Google Ads who took a desired action, like purchasing, enquiring, or engaging with your content.

Mathematically it can be expressed as: Conversion rate (%) = (total conversions / total clicks ) * 100

So, if 100 people clicked on your ad and 5 of them bought the advertised product, the conversion rate would be 5%

The average conversion rate for Google Ads in 2024 is 6.96%.

Visit our What is a Good Google Ads conversion rate page to learn more across different industries.

Why do low conversion rates impact performance?

A low conversion rate indicates that your campaign is underperforming and missing key opportunities to boost revenue. Here are certain ways in which low conversion rates hit the performance of your ad campaign:

Low Engagement: A low conversion rate indicates that your ad isn’t effectively reaching or resonating with the target audience, failing to communicate your product value or service. As a result, users are less likely to take the desired action, which can significantly hurt your sales and customer retention.
Reduced Profitability: Inadequate conversions can reduce the ROI on your marketing budget and may require you to adjust your market strategy. Low conversions can lead to higher cost per acquisition (CPA) as you spend more on ads without corresponding conversions.
Resource Inefficiency: Marketing campaigns, ads, and promotions require significant investment. Low conversion rates indicate these resources are underperforming, resulting in inefficiencies and wasted ad spending.
Hindered Growth: For a business to grow, it needs a steady stream of new customers. Low conversion rates can slow down this growth, making it harder to scale operations and expand market reach.

Possible reasons for conversion rates drop and ways to fix it

If you have witnessed a sudden drop in conversion rate, you are not alone!

Many businesses invest heavily in ads with minimum to no regular monitoring. Various factors can lead to a drop in conversion rates, which can gradually affect your revenue.

However, the good news is that most of these factors are within your control. Understanding the potential cause allows you to troubleshoot effectively and take steps to mitigate similar issues in the future.

You can leverage analytics and technology to identify and fix the root cause with professional help.

Let’s go through them in detail.

1. Applying changes in campaigns without knowing the impact

It is quite common for inexperienced advertisers to make some minor or drastic changes without fully understanding the impact.

Here are some examples:

Adding generic keywords can attract irrelevant traffic, ultimately reducing conversion rates.
Similarly, poor ad copy or mistakenly linking incorrect landing pages can create a poor user experience, leading to a decline in ad campaign performance.
Making abrupt changes to your website design can also confuse your customers and disrupt their experience.

Changes to your campaigns can be monitored using the change history tool in Google Ads. This is particularly useful for troubleshooting a decline in conversions due to specific campaign adjustments, and if required, revert those changes.

Solution to avoid unnecessary drastic changes

Google Ads Expert: Ensure that you have an accountable Google Ads expert who fully understands the potential impact of every change, whether minor or significant. This expertise is critical to prevent any unplanned changes and to keep the performance intact.
Core Changes: Any core changes, whether in the campaign structure or on the landing page, should be carried out collaboratively with a clear understanding of the potential impacts. This approach helps keep the team aligned and avoids finger-pointing when challenges arise.

2. Failing to assess competition ads, budget & offers

In a competitive market, it’s important to stay informed about your competitors’ actions. Their offers, ad copy, and budget strategies can greatly influence your ad performance.

For best results, you need to broaden your horizon to look beyond your campaign. Your competitors’ strategies can significantly impact how effective your efforts are.

Analyse competitor strategy

Analyse competitor ads and keywords, then adjust your campaigns if you see any changes that may be required like changing the Ad copy, Ad Rank etc. Sometimes, learning from your competitors can be more efficient than reinventing the wheel.

Competition budget

Make sure your ads are available when your prospects are actively searching, and check if your campaigns are limited by budget. Don’t forget to check the auction insight report.

Keep track of your competitors’ Google Ads pricing strategy by reviewing their pricing models and promotions.

Products & Services offer

Similarly, you need to assess your products and services pricing compared to what your competition is offering. Pricing your products too high without a unique differentiation can make them unattractive to potential buyers.

Don’t forget to check if your offers to too expensive for your customers to consider particularly if the quality of the offer is similar.

3. Drop in Ad Rank & Quality Score

Ad Rank determines the position of your ad in the search results. Your ad rank depends on several factors including your bid amount, the context of the search, and your Quality Score.

Your conversions can drop significantly if your ad rank drops. Check out the key matrices below and take the necessary actions.

Check the auction insight report to see the “Top of the page rate” report and if you have a lower rate then you will need to re-assess your approach.
Drop in ad rank is often related to budget and poor structure.
You also need to monitor regularly and don’t run in set-and-forget mode.

Quality Score is a metric that Google uses to evaluate the relevance and quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. The quality score drops if Google sees your ad as less relevant when compared to other competitors.

Make sure to have keywords, Ad copy and landing page in sequence along with campaigns with a healthy budget to ensure you maintain a higher quality score.

4. Increase in Competition

An increase in competition means buyers have more options to consider from product and service offering points of view and when many advertisers try to compete for the same offerings the competition increases in Google Ads leading to higher CPC and fewer conversions.

Ads that rank lower tend to get fewer clicks, and since conversion rates are often linked to the volume and quality of clicks, this can result in fewer conversions. As more businesses compete for the same audience, the cost-per-click (CPC) can rise, reducing the efficiency of your ad spend.

Solution: Stay creative and innovate regularly not only from your product and services offering point of view but also from Google campaign management.

5. Ad fatigue

Imagine the feeling you get when working on routine, monotonous tasks.

Similarly, when your target audience is repeatedly exposed to the same or similar ads—a phenomenon known as ad fatigue – the effectiveness of each ad can diminish, leading to a decline in conversion rates.

Ad fatigue happens when you are not making regular updates to your campaign aligned with the industry trends, or fail to create a good visualisation experience for the audience. A good ad campaign leverages creativity to hook the target audience’s interest and sustain it over time.

Here are some means to address ad fatigue:

Ad Rotation: Regularly update your images, videos, and copy to keep your ads fresh and prevent ad fatigue on social media. This ensures continued user interest and engagement with your brand.
Dynamic Keyword Insertion: This feature enables you to automatically insert relevant keywords into your ad headlines and descriptions based on the user’s search query. By doing so, you can craft more personalised and relevant ads that align with the user’s intent and catch their attention.

6. Seasonality trends

Customer behavior often varies with changing seasons. Demand for your product can fluctuate depending on the time of year.

For instance, the ads on winter apparel can see a potential decline during the summer season. Similarly, back-to-school season can see a spike in sales for stationary supplies.

Seasonal trends are not entirely in your control. However, you can adjust your campaign to mitigate their impact such as:

Promotional Sales: Running promotional sales during the off-peak season can provide the necessary boost to your campaign. Offer exclusive discounts or bundle offers to incentivise the purchase.
Customer Engagement: You can leverage email marketing to send personalised emails or run targeted social media campaigns to maintain customer engagement.

7. Outdated keywords

Keywords are essential to the success of your ad campaigns, but poor management can harm your conversion rates. Adjusting the match type can influence your campaign’s performance, and being overly aggressive with negative keywords may limit your ad’s visibility.

An advertiser can often become attached to the keywords they have selected, which can lead to bias and resistance. Here are some actions you can take:

Search term report: By actively monitoring your search terms report, you can make changes by adding negative keywords to filter out irrelevant searches, and by keeping an eye on keyword quality scores. This can help optimise the keywords over time.
Conversion tracking: Conversion tracking is a free tool in your account that helps measure how clicks on your ads and free product listings result in valuable actions, like sales or leads. It enables you to assess your campaign’s effectiveness and refine your keywords to boost conversion rates.

8. Poor landing page experience

If recent changes to the landing page create a disconnect between your ad content and the landing page, it may lead to a decline in conversion rates. A negative landing experience could be due to:

Slow load times
Difficult navigation
Unclear messaging

Sometimes, the challenge is with CTA’s – they may not look clickable, or positioned in a way that other non-targeted areas also get clicked. This can discourage the shoppers from taking further action.

Additionally, it’s important to be mindful that many users access websites via mobile devices. Consequently, a landing page that isn’t mobile-friendly can deter potential customers.

Refer to our page on the importance of quality landing pages in Google Ads for more details and a design checklist.

9. Technical issues

It’s frustrating when a shopper lands on a 404 page or can’t click a button or CTA. Whether it’s broken links, pages, or elements, fixing is a must for URL changes, page deletion, or even server problems.

If there is a technical issue with your website, it can result in customer disengagement before you get to notice. Based on 2024 research by Baymard, 17% of US online shoppers abandoned their shopping cart due to website errors or crashes.

It’s quite possible that your conversion tracking is broken, which can hurt your performance metrics. Additionally, a change in Google’s advertising policies may place your ad in the ‘restricted’ category.

Following are some ways to troubleshoot technical issues:

Google Ads support: Reach out to Google Ads support for issues related to account suspensions, ad rejections, etc. You can choose between a chat, call, or email.
Website heatmap: For identifying website bugs, you can use heatmap tools like Hotjar to review session recordings and pinpoint where users are dropping off the site.

10. Change in bidding strategy

A change in bidding strategy changes the way Google bids your campaign. Lowering your bid can lower your traffic due to reduced visibility. Bidding strategy can be manual or automated, which you need to consider based on your budget and market dynamics.

For example, a campaign using the maximise conversions bid strategy focuses on boosting conversion performance. However, switching to a maximise clicks bid strategy could undermine the effectiveness of your campaign.

Modifying conversion goals or actions can disrupt smart bidding algorithms, which need time to adjust and optimise for new goals. This adjustment period can temporarily lower conversion rates.

Visit our blog to learn more about the best Google Ads bidding strategy.

11. Auto-apply recommendations turned on

When auto-apply recommendations are enabled, Google automatically adds keywords or updates your bidding strategy based on its assessment of what is “right.” This shifts control of your ad strategy from you to Google, which can negatively impact your campaign if it doesn’t align with your specific business goals.

Here are some tips you can follow:

Turn off auto-apply recommendations: Automatically applying irrelevant changes can increase spending without improving conversion rates. It’s more effective to take control and make targeted adjustments that have the potential to enhance your campaign.
Monitor changes: Should you choose to apply auto-recommendations, monitor regularly the changes made by Google to evaluate if they indeed align with your campaign. Let Google be your servant and not the master.

12. Change in search volume of keywords

A drop in keyword search volume results in fewer impressions and clicks, reducing the number of potential conversions. Fewer users can click on ads, which might lead to underutilised ad spend.

If the change in search volume reflects shifts in user intent or interests, it could impact how well your ad content aligns with what users are looking for. Low search volume could be due to specific unclear, or misspelled keywords.

Here are some corrective actions that you can take:

Use keyword planner: Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that you can utilise to discover new keywords related to your business and see estimates of the searches they receive and the cost to target them.
Content optimisation: Refresh and optimise your existing content to include your keywords naturally. This can help improve your organic search rankings and attract more targeted traffic.

How to increase Google Ads conversion

The end goal of your ad campaign is to drive engagement, sales, and awareness of your product in the market. Conversion rate metrics play a crucial role in determining the success of your ad campaign.

Once you understand the reasons behind the drop in conversion rates, there are certain actions that you can take to improve it as follows:

Keyword optimisation: Bidding selected and long-tail keywords is the most effective way to optimise the budget and achieve a lower cost per acquisition. By optimising the use of specific and negative keywords, you can boost your ad campaign. You can also utilise search term reports to add or exclude certain keywords from your keyword list.
Ad Refinement: Identify the trends within your industry. Catchy headlines and clear call-to-actions increase the likelihood of the lead taking the desired action. The product or service description should be clear.
Build your Funnel: Focus on a full-funnel strategy with a variety of campaign types, such as ebooks to build the audience’s trust and connect with their emotions.
Fine-tuning the CTAs: Evaluate the call to action throughout your conversion funnel to persuade every visitor to the landing page to take the desired action. Make your CTAs clear, compelling, and strategically placed throughout your site.
A/B Testing: Conduct A/B tests to identify high-performing elements of the ads through experimentation. Implement successful variations to improve conversion rates.

To learn more, visit our dedicated guide on how to increase Google Ads Conversion Rate.

Get help from a Google Ads consultant

It can be challenging to troubleshoot Google Ads conversions without the help of an expert.

We are here to do exactly that. We provide the best Google Ads service in Melbourne and across Australia.

Also, check our other location services:

FAQs

Why did my conversions decrease in Google Ads?

The decrease in Google Ads could be due to poor campaign design and implementation or landing page design experience. Many factors contribute to having a positive conversion rate from Google Ads, specifics can only be discussed after assessing the campaign.

Why are my ads not getting clicks?

One of the more obvious reasons for a low CTR is that your ad does not contain compelling content for users to click on or you may have a very low ad rank and not being shown regularly. Whether your ad contains text, display imagery, or a combination of both, how your content speaks to your audience can make a world of difference in the success of your ad. Make sure you have enough budget and bidding competitively to stay relevant.

Why am I getting clicks but no conversions?

If your ads are receiving clicks but not leading to conversions, it’s likely because they’re not attracting the right audience. You may have a disconnect from your ads to the landing page experience or your offers may not be compelling enough to convert.

Why have my Google Ads impressions suddenly dropped?

Potential reasons could be limiting your budget or setting up ad scheduling so that your ads only run at certain times will limit the impressions you receive. New competitors entering the market with better strategies can also influence the decline of your Google Ads impressions.

Why is my cost per conversion so high?

If your cost per conversion is too high, there may be issues with your ads – perhaps you’re targeting the wrong audience, or your ad copy isn’t engaging enough. Conversely, a lower cost per conversion suggests your ads are well-optimised for your audience, leading to easier conversions.

Google Ads conversions dropped suddenly