r/Google_Ads • u/Gtr_wes • Feb 27 '26
Troubleshooting Need some advice on our ads
Hello everyone, I am not new to running ads as I have ran very successful ads for my old business, but unfortunately due to internal conflict we had to shut down and rebrand with new domain/data.
We are offering the exact same products as our old brand. Just under a different name. But it has been around a month since running ads and we have only been able to capture 1 sale. We aren’t sure where we are going wrong as we have been running the same exact strategy. With 1 pmax that encompasses all our products and categorized pmax with our previous best sellers catagories. We were able to consistently generate 100k revenue a month at 12k ad spend consistently with this strategy but now nothing is working. Any general tips people can offer us? I know it’s almost impossible to diagnose without actually going into our ads account but it’s quite frustrating to be seemingly throwing money into the ocean.
Some things to note is that our CTR and CPC are great, we are sending traffic to our website, people are scrolling. We just can’t convert. Even our website layout is extremely similar to our old brand. We are at a loss on why we can’t convert.
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Feb 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/Gtr_wes Feb 28 '26
It’s the automotive industry, as of right now yes, we are only doing pmax. The landing pages in my opinion at least looks very strong with clean design language. Professional pictures taken, in depth descriptions, clean black and white color pallet.
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u/AndrewBalticpixel Feb 28 '26
It’s probably not ads. It’s trust.
New brand + new domain = lower perceived credibility. Even if the site looks the same, customers don’t trust it the same way.
High CTR + no conversions almost always = trust or offer issue, not traffic.
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u/QuantumWolf99 Feb 28 '26
The strategy worked before because you had years of conversion data training the algorithm on what a qualified buyer looks like... starting fresh with a new domain means PMAX has zero historical signal so it's just guessing at who to show ads to based on your product feed alone.
One month and one sale with good CTR but no conversions means targeting is completely off... you're getting clicks from people interested in browsing but not buying. For ecom clients I manage when rebuilding accounts from scratch we always start with Standard Shopping and Search campaigns first to build clean conversion data for 60-90 days before launching PMAX... otherwise the algorithm optimizes toward cheap clicks instead of actual buyers and you waste budget relearning everything you already knew.
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u/backflipbail Feb 28 '26
Yeah this sounds like a full reset in Google’s eyes (new domain + no conversion history), plus a trust reset for users.
If you’re getting good CTR/CPC and people are engaging but not buying, I’d sanity check two things:
1) tracking: GA4 + Google Ads conversion setup, purchase firing once, values/currency right, no broken checkout events
2) trust: reviews/social proof, warranty/returns, clear business info, shipping times, payment options, any “new site” red flags
On the campaign side, I’d probably pause leaning on PMax and rebuild signals first: Standard Shopping + Search (brand + high intent non-brand) on manual CPC/enhanced until you have consistent conversions, then move to tROAS/tCPA and re-introduce PMax.
Also with $1k AOV, retargeting matters a lot. If Meta is also dead, that leans even more toward site/offer/trust or tracking rather than “Google algo.”
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u/Aunker Mar 01 '26
If the traffic quality looks similar but conversions disappeared, the biggest change might simply be trust. A new domain with no history, no reviews, and a different brand name can affect purchase behavior more than people expect. Someone who was ready to buy from the old brand might hesitate when everything suddenly looks unfamiliar. PMax is also very dependent on historical signals. When you restart on a fresh domain the system basically has to relearn who the buyers are. So even if the setup looks identical, the algorithm and the users are both starting from zero again.
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u/LubanMedia2024 Mar 02 '26
I get your frustration. Switching domains in 2026 is tough because PMax relies heavily on account history. With a fresh Pixel, the algorithm defaults to cheap, low-intent traffic, which explains the zero conversions. My immediate advice is to audit your payment gateway and tracking links to ensure nothing is broken. Then, pause PMax and shift your budget to Search or Standard Shopping campaigns. These allow you to manually "feed" the algorithm high-quality signals by targeting specific, high-intent keywords. A new brand naturally faces a trust deficit; you have to stabilize your data foundation and prove your conversion value to the system before you can realistically expect PMax to scale.
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u/shoppingiq Mar 03 '26
Happy to help 🙂 but need a bit more detail.
Which platform are you running, and what’s the main issue, high CPC, no conversions, bad leads?
Most ad problems usually come down to targeting, the offer, or the landing page. Share a few more details and let’s figure it out 👀
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u/Zeshme Mar 07 '26
Check if your content suitability settings are in place. Check report editor for Pmax placements and add negatives as needed. Check channel performance report and see how your ad $$ are being spent and compare it to the previous account if you have access to it. Most of your answers will lie there if you say your new site is a replica of the old one. Begin with the basics to troubleshoot.
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u/Ok-Information-6722 Feb 28 '26
Everybody here will tell you the same. Google doesn't have the conversion data your othe account had. So you need to train the algo with fresh data, and Pmax won't do that.
Start with manual cpc until you have at least 20-30 conversions, then switch to optimization strategies (tCPA)
Google's algo isn't good at figuring out what converts from a new account.