Why routine activities can be so dangerous
Heather explained that the mistake was not due to lack of knowledge but complacency. After setting up the same campaigns countless times, the process became second nature, making it easy to overlook a small but critical setting. Combined with busy work and the absence of a second pair of eyes, the campaign went live without any final checks that would have prevented overspending.
Honest communication saved the relationship
Rather than looking for excuses or blaming the advertising platform, Heather chose to remain anonymous about the client. He corrected the mistake during their scheduled face-to-face meeting, accepted responsibility and committed to preventing it from happening again. While the client was understandably unhappy, he appreciated the honesty and transparency, and nearly a decade later remains one of his clients—a reminder that trust is often built through difficult conversations rather than efficiency.
Checklists are better than confidence
The experience dramatically changed Heather’s process for starting a campaign. All Google Ads and Meta campaigns now go through a systematic implementation checklist before they are published, no matter how mundane the task may seem. Although he sometimes uses AI to provide a second opinion, he still relies on manual reviews because he believes a disciplined process is more reliable than assuming experience alone will catch mistakes.
Tracking conversions is still a big problem
Despite her experience, Heather said the most common problem she encounters when researching new client accounts is poor conversion tracking. Many accounts still suffer from mistakes made during the migration from Universal Analytics to GA4, businesses unknowingly optimizing campaigns towards actions that do not generate revenue. In one example, an ecommerce account spent an entire year targeting visitors using the site’s search bar instead of a completed purchase, which forced the account to effectively restart its machine learning once tracking was fixed.
AI is a useful assistant—not another
Heather believes that AI is becoming an important productivity tool, but only if it is used to support experienced marketers rather than replace them. Although he has seen many advertisers rely on Google’s AI-generated ads without reviewing them, resulting in repetitive and low-quality messaging, he has successfully used AI to analyze search term reports, identify opportunities for improvement and reduce manual labor hours. The important thing, he says, is to ensure that human intelligence is always responsible for the final decisions.
Learning comes from experimenting— and making mistakes
Reflecting on both her own experience and the pace of change within Google Ads, Heather encouraged PPC professionals to continue testing new features while accepting that not all experiments will be successful. He believes that mistakes are an inevitable part of developing technology, as long as they are accompanied by reliable communication, thoughtful analysis and improved processes that reduce the likelihood of repetition.
Every click wins the customer you lose.
See where competitors are investing, what keywords are driving their results, and how you can capture more of the market.
See who is stealing your traffic
Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. We are committed to providing the highest quality of marketing articles. Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is written by an employee or paid contractor of Semrush Inc.
