Field notes

What broke, what it cost, and the exact fix

Write-ups from running ad accounts for real — including our own. Everything here is actionable without signing up for anything.

27 August 2026 · 7 min read · from a real account

How QRCodeStack cut Google Ads waste by 40% with Admiral

₹7.97 lakh of lifetime spend, 739 provider-reported conversions, and a conversion tag Admiral could only see once it knew the account's own id. What the first audit found on a real customer account, which fixes were approved, and what the receipts say four weeks on.

27 August 2026 · 8 min read · from a real account

Google Ads audit tools compared — Admiral vs Optmyzr vs Adzooma

Three tools, three different jobs. Optmyzr is the professional's toolkit, Adzooma is a free-to-start dashboard with suggestions, and Admiral prices every leak in rupees and turns the fix into one click with an undo. Which fits which buyer, read from each vendor's own page.

27 August 2026 · 8 min read · from a real account

How much are you wasting on Google Ads? A rupee-by-rupee breakdown

Across the accounts Admiral has audited, roughly a third of spend went somewhere it could not convert. Here is where, in the order it usually leaks — with the arithmetic for a ₹50,000-a-month account and the built-in report that finds each one.

27 August 2026 · 8 min read · from a real account

Meta Ads vs Google Ads for Indian SMBs in 2026

The wrong question is which platform is better. The right one is whether anybody is searching for what you sell. A ten-minute demand check, the lifetime numbers from our own accounts on both, and a decision table by business type — plus what each platform quietly does to a small budget by default.

27 August 2026 · 6 min read · from a real account

Why your agency hides your ad spend leaks

Not malice — arithmetic. A percentage-of-spend fee pays more when the account leaks, a report built on clicks flatters everyone, and the change history is the one tab nobody sends you. Where the incentive bends, what a good agency does about it, and the three reports that end the conversation.

24 August 2026 · 7 min read · from a real account

What should Google Ads management cost in India?

Retainers run ₹8,000 to ₹50,000 a month and most established agencies charge 15% of spend. Below ₹20,000 of spend an agency cannot pay for itself. The bands, the arithmetic, and the four questions that tell you which side of them you are on.

24 August 2026 · 6 min read · from a real account

Ask your agency for the last ten changes they made

One question separates an agency doing the work from one sending you a dashboard screenshot: what were the last ten changes, and what did each one do? Here is the question, what a good answer looks like, and the five reports that let you check it yourself.

24 August 2026 · 5 min read · from a real account

Your Meta ads can't tell you which one produced a customer

We checked 558 Indian businesses running Meta ads last week. 160 had no ad tag on their homepage at all. Here is the thirty-second check you can run on your own site, what each result means, and what to do about it.

16 August 2026 · 6 min read · from a real account

Your Performance Max campaign has a dead asset group

Performance Max hides most of what it does — but asset groups report cost and conversions, so a dead one (spending, zero sales) is findable in three clicks. How to spot it, and what to do.

16 August 2026 · 5 min read · from a real account

Your Display campaign is paying for junk app placements

The Display Network spreads your ads across millions of apps and sites — much of it accidental-tap traffic that never converts. How to pull the placement report, find the leaks, and exclude them.

14 August 2026 · 6 min read · from a real account

Your Meta ad is fatiguing: the numbers that say refresh

An ad doesn't die at once, it fades. Frequency climbs, CTR halves, CPM rises — our own account did all three over nine days. The three numbers that say refresh, and what 'fresh' actually has to change.

13 August 2026 · 6 min read · from a real account

Four Meta Ads defaults that quietly spend your money

No pixel, click optimisation, Audience Network on by default, one ad per ad set — all four were live on our own account when we audited it. What each default costs, and the five-minute check for each.

13 August 2026 · 5 min read · from a real account

You bought 561 link clicks. 195 people arrived.

On Meta, a link click is a tap — not a visit. Our own 30 days: 65% of paid clicks never became a landing-page view. Where the gap comes from, how to measure yours, and the fix ladder.

12 August 2026 · 5 min read · from a real account

The bid you set isn't the bid that serves: why your keywords are invisible

Five of our keywords sat at ₹20 against a ₹24.68 first-page threshold — 0-2 impressions each, week after week. Where Google hides that number, and the one keyword we deliberately left behind.

12 August 2026 · 6 min read · from a real account

Nobody searches for your clever keyword: the 10-minute demand check

Our precise keyword set pulled ~50 searches a month; the plain words next door pulled 6,860. The Keyword Planner walk that catches it before the first rupee.

12 August 2026 · 5 min read · from a real account

Your Google Ads say “Eligible (limited)”? Check your headlines for a trademark

Our own campaign was serving at a trickle — LIMITED, eleven eligibility reasons, both ads APPROVED_LIMITED. The culprit was two words in the headline. Here's how to spot it and what to write instead.

12 August 2026 · 7 min read · from a real account

Google Ads spending but nothing converting? Six leaks to check before you blame the market

Most 'ads don't work' accounts are leaking in one of six specific places, and every one is checkable for free in your own account tonight. The exact reports to open, and what to do at each.

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