Why waste removal Google Ads get expensive (and how to fix it)

If your Google Ads bill keeps creeping up while the phone rings the same or less, you’re not alone. Waste removal is a competitive space on Google, and accounts that aren’t actively managed tend to drift into wasting money.

The good news: the causes are usually the same handful of problems, and most can be fixed.

1. You’re paying for searches that will never book

This is the big one. Open your search terms report (not the keywords list, the actual searches people typed before clicking). In a lot of waste removal accounts you’ll find things like:

• “skip hire” (if you don’t do skips)
• “council bulky waste collection”
• “tip opening times” or “recycling centre near me”
• “free furniture collection”
• “man and van jobs” or “waste removal driver vacancies”
• Searches for towns you don’t cover

Fix: add these as negative keywords, build a solid starting list, and check the search terms report regularly. This is ongoing work, not a one-off.

2. Your location targeting is too loose

By default, Google can show your ads to people who are “interested in” your area, not only people actually in it. That can mean clicks from people miles away.

Fix: in campaign settings, set location options to Presence: people in or regularly in your locations. Tighten the radius or list of towns to where you genuinely want to work, and consider bidding differently for your best areas.

3. Search partners and the Display Network are switched on

New Search campaigns often come with Google search partners and the Display Network turned on. For many local service businesses, this sends clicks from sites and placements that rarely book.

Fix: check your campaign settings. If you’re not specifically testing them, switch them off and see what happens to your cost per enquiry.

4. You’re not tracking calls

If Google can’t see which clicks became calls, it can’t bid towards them, and automated bidding will optimise for whatever it can see, which may be the wrong thing.

Fix: set up conversion tracking for calls from ads, calls from your website and quote forms. Then mark which enquiries became booked jobs.

5. Everything is in one campaign

A single campaign for every service means your cheapest, least profitable jobs compete with your best ones for the same budget, and you can’t see which is which.

Fix: split campaigns by the jobs that matter (for example house clearances, rubbish removal, garden waste) so you can set budgets and bids based on what each is worth to you.

6. Broad match without guardrails

Broad match keywords let Google decide what your keyword “means”. Without strong negative keywords, good conversion tracking and close monitoring, that can pull in a lot of irrelevant searches.

Fix: start tighter with phrase and exact match on your core services, and only open up once tracking is solid and you’re watching the search terms.

7. Auto-applied recommendations are changing your account

Google Ads can apply some of its own recommendations automatically: adding keywords, changing bids, broadening targeting. Some are useful. Some quietly push spend up.

Fix: check the auto-apply settings in the Recommendations section and switch off anything you don’t want changed without your say-so.

8. Ads run when nobody answers

If your ads run at 9pm and nobody picks up, you pay for a click and lose the customer.

Fix: use an ad schedule that matches when you (or someone) can actually answer the phone, or make sure missed calls are returned fast.

9. The landing page loses the call

Sometimes the account isn’t the problem. People click, land on a slow, vague page, and leave. You pay for the click either way.

Fix: send ad traffic to a fast page that matches the search, with your area, what you take, how pricing works, your licence, reviews and an unmissable call button. See CTR and conversion optimisation.

How to check your own account in 15 minutes

1. Open the search terms report for the last 30 days. How much went on searches that could never book?
2. Check location options: “Presence” or “Presence or interest”?
3. Check networks: are search partners and Display switched on?
4. Check conversions: are calls being tracked?
5. Check auto-apply recommendations.

If you find problems in two or more of these, there’s almost certainly money to save, often without spending a penny more.

Want a second pair of eyes?

Our Google Ads for man and van consultation includes a full audit of your account. And because you always own your account, any fixes we make stay with you. If you’re wondering what a sensible budget looks like in the first place, read how much should a man and van spend on Google Ads?