As the saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire, and for the first half of 2020, the Conway house featured neither.

We got a log burner installed soon after moving in, and in normal circumstances it’s the main way we heat our home.

But then I got pregnant, and all of a sudden the smell of soot and smoke was the worst thing in the world, which meant us reverting to our odourless central heating.

The result?  A big old gas bill.

As the months went on, the direct debit bill slowly crept up, and even when I’d given birth and we could have the fire on again, I wasn’t keeping on top of the meter readings, which meant our monthly bills stayed high for way too long.

Month after month I got the bill and winced, mentally reminding myself to submit a reading and – of course – quickly forgetting.

And then one day, by chance, I happened to go into the garage to get some more logs and realised that the meter was right there.

I took a reading, submitted it, and guess what? The direct debit came down.

Rinse and repeat the next month, and the same thing happened.

It’s a cautionary tale, applying to many things in life – when you don’t keep on top of things, costs can quickly spiral, and it’s definitely the case with Google Ads.

If you’re just allowing your account to run and paying the bill at the end of the month, the chances are there are areas where you’re wasting money; whether it’s because you’re paying over the odds for clicks or sending irrelevant traffic through to your website.

The old adage is certainly true – what gets measured gets improved, and if you want improved results from your Google Ads account, it’s time to start measuring.

Tash