Google Ads are a Ripoff Scam and are Optimized to Waste Your Money

Your Google Ads budget is bleeding out through “close variations” that aren’t close at all. Despite setting exact match keywords, Google shows your ads for completely unrelated searches. The platform prioritizes clicks over relevance. Your carefully planned campaigns burn through cash on worthless traffic. This systematic waste isn’t accidental – it’s designed to maximize Google’s revenue at your expense.

The “Close Variations” Scam That’s Draining Your Budget

Remember when exact match meant exact match? Those days are gone. Google now shows your ads for searches it considers “similar” to your keywords. But their definition of similar would make a dictionary weep. You bid on “plumber NYC.” Your ads show for “DIY plumbing tutorials.” You target “luxury watches.” Google displays your ads for “cheap watch repair.”

The platform calls these “close variations.” They’re about as close as Mars is to Miami.

We’ve seen campaigns where 47% of the budget went to these irrelevant variations. Nearly half the money vanished on clicks from people who never wanted what the advertiser sold. That’s not optimization. That’s theft with extra steps.

How Google Inflates Your Cost Per Click

Google’s auction system looks fair on paper. It’s not. The platform artificially inflates competition for keywords. They expand match types without telling you. Suddenly, you’re bidding against advertisers from completely different industries. A dentist competes with a teeth whitening product. A local bakery battles against a cooking blog.

More competition means higher prices. Every irrelevant competitor drives up your cost per click.

Google also pushes automated bidding strategies that promise better results. These strategies consistently overpend. They chase expensive clicks because the algorithm optimizes for volume, not value. You set a target cost per acquisition of $50. The system spends $75 per conversion and calls it a success.

The quality score system adds another layer of manipulation. Google claims it rewards relevant ads with lower costs. Yet advertisers with perfect quality scores still pay premium prices. The algorithm finds reasons to penalize you. Your landing page loads in 2.1 seconds instead of 2.0. That’ll cost you 20% more per click.

The Click-First Philosophy Destroying ROI

Google counts every click as a win. Your business needs customers, not clicks. The platform’s algorithms optimize for the maximum number of clicks within your budget. They don’t care if those clicks convert. A bot clicking your ad counts the same as a ready buyer.

Smart campaigns – Google’s “simplified” solution – exemplify this problem. You provide a budget and website. Google handles everything else. Everything else includes showing your ads to anyone breathing near a computer. Local pizza shop? Your ads appear nationwide. B2B software? Google targets teenagers.

The search terms report used to show exactly what triggered your ads. Now Google hides most searches behind “other.” You can’t see what you’re paying for. You can’t block irrelevant terms you can’t see.

Real Examples of Budget Waste

An online furniture store targeted “modern dining table.” Google showed their ads for “how to build a dining table,” “dining table decorations,” and “dining etiquette.” The store sold tables, not advice. They paid $3.50 per click for DIY enthusiasts who would never buy.

A SaaS company bid on their exact brand name. Should be straightforward, right? Wrong. Their ads appeared for completely different software companies and SaaS terms with vaguely similar names.

Why Google Won’t Fix This

Google makes over $200 billion in ad revenue. Every irrelevant click adds to that number. Fixing close variations would reduce ad impressions by an estimated 30-40%. That’s billions in lost revenue. Google’s shareholders wouldn’t appreciate that honesty.

The company frames waste as an opportunity. They say broad matching helps you “discover new customers.” What they mean is that it helps them discover new revenue streams from your budget. They’ve trained advertisers to accept 50% waste as normal. It’s not normal. It’s predatory.

Their support documentation deliberately obscures these issues. Try finding clear explanations of close variations. You’ll wade through pages of corporate doublespeak that explain nothing.

Protecting Your Budget from Google’s Greed

You can’t fully escape Google’s money-grabbing tactics. You can minimize the damage.

Start with negative keyword lists. Build them aggressively. Add hundreds of irrelevant terms before launching campaigns. Update them weekly. Yes, weekly. New irrelevant variations appear constantly.

Abandon broad match entirely. Even phrase match is risky now. Stick to exact match and accept lower volume. Quality beats quantity when quantity costs money.

Review search terms reports daily. Not weekly. Daily. Google’s automation works 24/7 to waste your money. Your defense must be equally vigilant.

Set up automated rules to pause keywords with high spend and no conversions. Don’t trust Google’s “optimization” recommendations. They optimize for Google’s revenue, not your success.

Use third-party tools to monitor performance. Google’s own reporting conveniently hides the worst waste. Independent platforms show the ugly truth.

The Future Looks Worse

Google keeps expanding close variations. Each update makes them broader. Soon, exact match won’t exist in any meaningful way. Everything will be broad-matched with different names. Your “exact” keyword will trigger ads for anything Google’s AI considers conceptually related.

Performance Max campaigns represent this future. You provide assets. Google decides everything else. Where, when, and to whom your ads show remains a mystery. You pay for the privilege of not knowing.

The platform pushes automation because automated campaigns waste more money. That’s not conspiracy thinking. That’s an observable fact. Automated campaigns consistently show higher spend with lower relevance than manually managed ones.

What This Means for Your Business

Every dollar wasted on irrelevant clicks is stolen from legitimate marketing. You could invest in SEO, quality backlinks, and content that actually ranks. You could build email lists of real prospects. You could improve your product instead of funding Google’s next moonshot project. Small businesses suffer most. They can’t afford 50% waste rates. But Google doesn’t care about small businesses. They care about quarterly earnings. Your failed campaign is their successful quarter. The solution isn’t to abandon Google Ads entirely. It’s to approach them like a hostile negotiation. Assume every default setting exists to extract maximum money. Question every recommendation. Trust nothing Google suggests. Your budget is under attack. Defend it accordingly.