Google Ads for beginners: budget is gone but zero orders, what should I check?

I spent a similar amount in the Riyadh market on home decor. Blew 1,200 SAR in the first week with zero orders. When I checked the search terms, 60% of the budget went to 'ceramic wholesalers' and 'cup repair'. Once I switched to exact match and loaded up negative keywords, we landed 5 orders the following week.

Jump into your Google Ads dashboard right now and open the 'Search Terms' tab on the left. Select the last 7 days and sort by spend. In the top 15 queries, you'll easily find at least 10 that have zero intent to buy your product. Just check the box next to them and click 'Add as negative keyword'.

To test if your conversion tracking code is actually working, place a test order yourself or create a hidden test product priced at 1 SAR and buy it. If the conversion doesn't register in Ads after checkout is complete, your technical tracking setup is broken.

Under Saudi e-commerce regulations, having a commercial registration (CR) number and Maroof badge clearly visible on the site is the primary trust factor for consumers. Missing these details often leads users to abandon the purchase at checkout, especially on foreign-language or newly launched stores.

Are your landing page and ad copy in Arabic or English? Also, how are your prices positioned compared to local competitors? Are shipping times and delivery fees showing up as an unpleasant surprise in the cart?

Had a similar issue last month. Everyone clicking the ad made it to the cart and bounced. Turned out the shipping selection field in the mobile theme broke when rendering Arabic fonts, pushing the 'Proceed to Checkout' button off-screen. Definitely try buying something from your own phone from start to finish.

420 clicks isn't the end of the world for e-commerce, but zero orders is definitely a red flag. The issue might not just be the ads; it could be your pricing, shipping costs, or poor product photos on the site. Traffic alone won't sell a product.

u definitely left the keywords on broad match mate. tbh put quotes around them for phrase match or google will just blow all your cash on random search terms.

Exactly and not many people know this. When making a decision first look at what data you have on hand.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

I'll try it.

I have no experience with Google Ads for beginners, so I'm asking. Merge instead of deleting; deleted content doesn't come back.

Good luck with that.

Here's how it went for us. Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

Solutions that work at a small scale collapse when you grow; I learned this late. Hope this helps.

I agree with this. When we decide without measuring, we always end up in the same place.

This is my opinion, I'm not claiming it's absolute truth.

Could you elaborate on that? People defend habits not processes. Resistance comes from there.

Any comment made without a control group is just a guess. If you have questions write them; I'll answer as best I can.

Thanks for posting.

There is something to watch out for. Speed is a threshold issue; if you're already fast, making it faster changes nothing.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

Correct in theory, but it doesn't work that way in practice. A page with low traffic might be reaching the right people. Look at where sales come from.

Of course, it varies if your situation is different.

Let me share what happened to me; it might be useful. The biggest time-waster for us was not knowing who had the final say.

Any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently.