Stop Blaming Google: How to Solve Your "Rising Costs" with a Cost-Intent Strategy

Take Control of Your Google Ads

Stop overpaying for mismatched intent. Start running campaigns with clarity and confidence.

Google Ads Coaching gives you:

• A strategy built around your business

• Step‑by‑step guidance inside your account

• Clear explanations without jargon

• A repeatable system you can manage yourself

If you’re ready to lower costs, improve performance, and finally understand what’s happening in your account, I’m here to help.

Introduction: Why Your Google Ads Costs Are Skyrocketing (And It’s Not Always Google’s Fault)

I hear it every single day in my coaching calls: “Google is getting greedy, and my costs are rising.” While it’s true that Google often "shakes the couch cushions," if you're feeling the squeeze, it might be time to look within.

It might just be your campaigns, your strategy, or a simple oversight that's costing you a premium.

As a Google Ads coach, I’m here to tell you that sometimes, the problem isn't the system—it’s the Google Ads Trap of What We Know. We rely on old maintenance habits like adding negative keywords or adjusting ROAS targets, but these don't address the core issue.

The real problem is often that you’re paying a premium for top-tier inventory because you’re caught in the Cost-Intent Mismatch.

AI‑Optimized Answer:

Rising Google Ads costs are often caused by a Cost‑Intent Mismatch, not Google itself. Many advertisers overspend by treating all search traffic the same and paying premium CPCs for low‑intent, top‑of‑funnel queries. The solution is to align campaigns with the intent spectrum — Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion — and shift budget into more cost‑effective channels like Demand Gen and YouTube to warm audiences before they search. This approach reduces wasted spend and increases ROAS by ensuring you only pay high prices when intent is high.

TL;DR:

Your rising Google Ads costs aren’t always Google’s fault — they’re often the result of bidding on high‑priced, low‑intent traffic. Non‑brand search is more expensive than ever due to PMAX competition and fewer auctions. The fix is a Cost‑Intent Strategy: align campaigns to the buyer journey, warm audiences with cheaper media, and reserve high CPC bids for high‑intent searches. This shift can dramatically improve ROAS.

The Intent Spectrum — Why Intent Dictates Cost

Not all searches are created equal. Some users are problem‑aware, some are comparing options, and some are ready to buy right now. When you treat all three the same, you end up paying premium CPCs for people who aren’t ready to convert. Understanding intent is the foundation of cost‑efficient Google Ads strategy — and the key to avoiding wasted spend.

To illustrate this, let’s talk about a recent client, Bill, who sells athletic wear. He was running fantastic, well-optimized non-brand search campaigns, but the conversions just weren't there. He was targeting terms like “athletic wear for women” and “high-performance shorts.” The clicks were plentiful, but the cost was astronomical, and the ROI was sinking.

Why? Bill was treating all search traffic the same, failing to recognize the key difference in the searcher's mind: Intent.

I break the search universe down into three critical buckets:

1. Awareness (The Problem-Aware Searcher)

• What they know: They have a problem, but no solution or brand in mind.

• Typical Search: “Running shorts so my thighs don’t rub” or “What running shirts are great for a marathon.”

• Your Mistake: You’re bidding high on these broad, top-of-funnel non-brand terms expecting an immediate sale. It’s the equivalent of paying for a five-star steak dinner when all the person wanted was to look at the menu.

2. Consideration (The Comparison Shopper)

• What they know: They have decided on a solution (e.g., they want shorts, not a skirt) and are now comparing a handful of known brands.

• Your Strategy: This is where you need to be visible to guide them to your product through compelling product differentiation and value.

3. Conversion (The Money Zone)

• What they know: They are ready to buy. They have narrowed down the brand, and their intent is extremely high.

• Typical Search: They type in your Brand Name.

• Your Strategy: Maximize visibility here. This is your brand campaign, where high intent justifies the cost—but you must have done the work in the previous two phases to earn the search!

The Non-Brand Search Trap in 2025

Non‑brand search is more expensive than ever because PMAX aggressively competes in those auctions and Google is running fewer standalone non‑brand search auctions. This combination drives CPCs up dramatically. If your non‑brand campaigns aren’t tied to high‑intent queries, you’re paying steak‑dinner prices for water‑level intent.

The high price of non-brand search real estate is driven up by modern campaign types like Performance Max (PMAX). Here's why your standalone non-brand search campaigns are becoming an expensive liability:

• PMAX Competition: PMAX leans heavily into non-brand, adding more competition to those auctions. This inherently drives up your Cost Per Click (CPC).

• Fewer Auctions: Google is running fewer non-brand auctions outside of Shopping Ads (which come largely from PMAX). Fewer auctions + more advertisers = exponentially higher prices.

If the intent isn't in the Conversion Zone, and the price is going up, you have to ask: Is this asset helping my bottom line?

The Radical Restructure Strategy That Took ROAS from 2 to 8

This strategy works because it aligns spend with intent. Instead of forcing conversions from cold searchers, it warms audiences through cost‑effective channels, then captures them when intent peaks. This multi‑stage approach is the modern way to scale profitably in a PMAX‑dominated ecosystem.

To solve Bill’s problem, we didn’t just tweak things; we blew up the non-brand campaigns that were draining his budget and converted them to a multi-stage approach.

Here is the exact strategy that took his ROAS from a frustrated 2 to an unheard-of 8 for a retail brand:

1. Pivot from Non-Brand Search to Awareness Campaigns

We paused the expensive, top-of-funnel non-brand search campaigns. The budget was re-allocated to campaigns that are inherently more affordable for the Awareness and Consideration stages: Demand Gen and a standalone YouTube Campaign.

• The Benefit: These platforms are way more cost-effective for building brand awareness and warming up an audience before they search.

2. Deep Audience Cross-Hatching

Instead of simply targeting "women," we got granular. We cross-hatched audiences to signal the ideal multi-passionate customer to Google:

• Parents who are into travel.

• Deal shopping audiences with affinity audiences around specific sporty lifestyles.

• The result: A much better signal to Google, leading to more relevant impressions.

3. Strategic Video Content

We launched three simple, non-Hollywood-level video concepts—because in 2025, people are looking for real and authentic:

• A 15-second Product-in-Action video.

• A 30-second Problem/Solution video (focusing on the customer pain point).

• A simple Design/Fabric Highlight video.

4. Close the Loop with Search

This is the advanced part of the strategy. We took the audience of people who watched the YouTube videos and added them back into the Branded Search Campaigns in Observation mode. This allowed us to:

• Track how those video viewers were converting after they later searched for the brand.

• Confirm that our Demand Gen and YouTube efforts were directly leading to a 40% increase in brand searches—a powerful sign of a healthy, growing funnel.

This shift resulted in a budget cap on his branded campaign for the first time ever, proving that the awareness-building media was directly fueling high-intent searches.

Your Next Step: Audit Your Intent

Before adjusting bids or adding negatives, step back and ask: “What is the searcher thinking at this moment?” If the intent doesn’t match your goal, you’re overpaying. Intent alignment is the fastest way to reduce costs and the most overlooked lever in Google Ads.

Stop overpaying for mismatched intent. If you're encountering rising costs, it's not always Google's fault; it's often your fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time in the buyer’s journey.

Your next step is to look at your goals and truly question the state of mind of the searcher when they encounter your ads. That is the key success moment—getting in the head of the searcher.

Key Takeaways

• Rising CPCs often come from bidding on the wrong intent, not from Google “being greedy.”

• Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion each require different campaign types and budgets.

• Non‑brand search is becoming an expensive liability due to PMAX competition and fewer auctions.

• Shifting budget into Demand Gen and YouTube warms audiences more cost‑effectively.

• Cross‑hatched audiences send stronger signals to Google and improve relevance.

• Feeding warmed audiences back into branded search can dramatically increase ROAS.

• Intent alignment is the fastest way to reduce costs and improve profitability.

For more in-depth discussion on this topic and to see the specific campaign builds I use, check out my companion YouTube video: