Free calculator
Wasted Ad Spend Calculator
Most local service accounts pay for some clicks that never had a chance of becoming customers: DIY searches, product shoppers, job seekers. Estimate what that costs you each month and each year.
The default values are examples only and vary by industry, location and account setup. Replace them with your own numbers; your search terms report shows the real share of irrelevant clicks.
Find your real wasted spend: free audit ↗What counts as wasted spend?
- Clicks from people looking for information or products rather than a service, such as “how to clear a green pool” or “chlorine price”.
- Clicks from job seekers: “pool cleaner jobs”, “salary”.
- Clicks from outside your service area.
- Clicks at times when nobody can answer the phone.
How to find your real number
In Google Ads, open the search terms report for the last 30 to 90 days and add up the cost of every search that would never become a customer. Divide that by your total spend, and you have your real wasted share. Many accounts that have never had negative keyword work done find a meaningful share of spend going to searches like these.
How to reduce it
The fix is usually a combination of negative keyword lists, tighter keyword match types, correct location settings and a sensible ad schedule. See: Why your pool ads get calls from the wrong people (and how to fix it).