Clicks and Clarity with Claire
If you’re spending real money on Google Ads and still asking, “Why isn’t this working?”—this podcast is for you.
I’m Claire Jarrett, Google Ads strategist and founder of Jarrett Digital. Each week, I break down what’s actually going on behind the numbers—so you can stop wasting ad spend, start attracting qualified leads, and scale with confidence.
No fluff. No jargon. Just clear advice, real audits, and proven strategies from accounts managing four to six figures in monthly ad spend.
Whether you're DIY-ing your ads or working with an agency, this is the clarity you've been missing.
Clicks and Clarity with Claire
The Google Ads Shortcut That’s Costing You Thousands: A Real Client Audit
In this episode of Clicks and Clarity with Claire, I take you behind the scenes of a real Google Ads audit from a $40K/month account that was bleeding money—while the agency claimed “everything looked fine.”
We’ll break down:
- Why Performance Max isn't a strategy (and what to do instead)
- The critical visibility mistake most agencies miss
- What your click-through rate should be—and what it means if it’s not
- The five-step fix to stop wasting ad spend and start scaling smarter
Whether you manage your own account or rely on an agency, this episode will give you the clarity you need to make better decisions and stop flying blind.
Hi and welcome to Clicks and Clarity with Claire.
Today, I’m walking you through a real Google Ads audit—inside a forty thousand dollar a month ad account that was quietly underperforming, while the agency reports said everything was fine.
If you’ve ever felt like your campaigns are working... sort of... but not really?
This is for you.
First, let’s set the stage....
Tom runs a medical equipment business.
It’s business-to-business.
High margins...
Customers who reorder....
He should EASILY have been winning with Google Ads!
Instead, performance dropped thirty to forty percent—and his agency didn’t catch it!
When I audited his account, what I found wasn’t just underwhelming—it was a textbook case of lazy management!
Here’s what we discovered....
The entire account was built around Performance Max...
That’s Google’s automated campaign type that mixes search, shopping, display, YouTube, and more.
Now, in theory, Performance Max sounds great.
But in practice—especially in business to business where conversions are lower volume but higher value—it often fails.
And in Tom's case, it did exactly that!
He wasn’t showing in the top search ad results.
When I searched for his products, competitors dominated both the shopping carousel and the top search ad spots.
Tom's business? Tucked way down the page—if it showed at all!
And that’s the first problem: visibility.
So now let’s talk results....
One of his campaigns had spent over sixteen thousand dollars and brought back just twenty-six hundred in return.
That’s not underperforming! That’s seriously losing money!
Another campaign delivered twelve times return—but had barely any spend.
This is what happens when you rely on automation with no strategic oversight!
Next, here’s another red flag: the change history.
Over a thirty-day period, I found just seven changes in each of the most important campaigns!
Things like budget up, budget down, or a fifteen-minute change to the ad schedule.
Not meaningful optimizations. Just noise....
I also looked for negative keywords—these are critical in any serious account.
There were almost none....
That means Google was matching Tom's products to irrelevant searches like “free dentist chat rooms” or generic stirrups that had nothing to do with his medical equipment!
You can’t scale a business on that kind of traffic.
Click-through rate on the shopping ads was under one percent.
To give you a benchmark—well-optimized search campaigns in this space often hit eight to twelve percent.
So what’s the difference?
With search, you control the message.
You send people to tailored landing pages.
With shopping, Google picks one product—and crosses its fingers.
Even more concerning—there were no auction insights.
That’s the data showing how you stack up against competitors.
And why wasn’t it showing?
Because he had less than ten percent search impression share.
Translation: he wasn’t even in the race!
Now, imagine you’re a doctor shopping for equipment.
Do you click the ad that says, “Medical Exam Table with Stirrups—Free Shipping, In Stock”?
Or the one that just shows a product photo with a vague headline?
Search wins. Every time!
But Tom's budget was going solely to Performance Max, and most of that budget was being diverted to Shopping Ads.
This wasn’t a strategy—it was a shortcut!
And unfortunately, many agencies love shortcuts.
Why? Because Performance Max is set and forget.
It gives the illusion of complexity—dozens of URLs, segments and reports—but no real depth.
And it fails to protect your investment.
So what’s the fix?
First, you need search campaigns segmented by product type, margin, geographic area and intent.
Don’t let Google guess.
Tell it what to show, to whom, and when.
Second, build out negative keyword lists.
We add five hundred, a thousand—even three thousand terms in some cases.
Third, rebuild landing pages where needed.
Let’s say you sell six medical tables with stirrups.
Instead of sending someone to one random product, send them to a comparison page with all six.
Now they’re informed, in control — and more likely to buy.
Fourth, rethink your reporting.
Don’t just look at Return On Ad Spend in bulk.
Ask—Which products are making money?
Which ones are bleeding cash?
Where are you overpaying for low-value clicks?
If it’s under three times return—it gets paused.
End of story!
Finally, zoom out.
This isn’t just about ads!
It’s about how your brand is showing up.
Are you at the top of the page?
Do your reviews show?
Is your return policy visible?
That’s what buyers see—and trust—before clicking.
So here’s the clarity...
If your agency can’t tell you what changed this week... what they tested... and what they’re doing next...
It's time for change.
Tom's account had serious potential.
But it needed a rebuild. Not a report.
That’s it for today on Clicks and Clarity with Claire.
Thanks for listening. Bye for now.