During a conversation with a client who lost over $20k on Google Ads in a year, the author spoke to over a dozen paid ads experts to learn common mistakes people make with Google Ads. These mistakes include inaccurate conversion tracking, where non-conversion events are tracked as conversions or duplicate conversions occur, leading to inflated conversion rates and skewed data. Another mistake is ignoring close variants of exact match keywords, which can lead to irrelevant search terms triggering ads and costing money. Additionally, keeping default geo-targeting settings can result in ads showing up for people who aren't relevant to the target location. Irrelevant landing pages can also lower Quality Scores and conversion rates, while not trademarking branded keywords can allow competitors to bid on them. Finally, not automating ad workflows can waste resources and lead to inefficiencies.