If you –– like thousands of other businesses owners in the country –– run pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements as a part of an overarching digital marketing strategy, then chances are your ads could use a little help. That’s because, unfortunately, most PPC ads are garbage; they aren’t crafted with professional skill, and they don’t produce the results that their creators desire. So what gives? Why do so many ads miss their mark, and (more importantly) what can you do to fix them? Well, just like the basics of SEO, there are certain “golden rules” of PPC ad creation. Here are five reasons why any given campaign might fail –– and how you can make sure it doesn’t happen to your business:

Reason #1: Your Ads are too Broad

It’s understandable why business owners would want to cast the widest net possible when it comes to advertising their business. While that holds up fine as a theory, in practice it’s much more effective to be specific in your ad text. Modern consumers are sophisticated; they know what they want, and if your ad doesn’t appear to offer it, they’ll move on. Tighten up your ads and keep sharp focus on specific items or products.

Reason #2: Your Ads Aren’t Clear

Producing vague or confusing ads will irritate potential customers and likely send them to competitors’ websites. Additionally, writing ad copy that doesn’t stand out at all from your competition is equally damaging. Identify what makes your company special and put it on full display in your ad.

Reason #3: Keyword Misuse

If you aren’t utilizing negative keywords to cut down on unwanted traffic, then you’ll end up paying as droves of unqualified leads click on your ads with little chance of return. Plain and simple work to craft a cogent keyword strategy and set your advertising objectives before you launch any PPC campaign.

Reason #4: Incongruent Landing Pages

You got a lead to click on your PPC ad –– fantastic! Now it’s up to your landing page to deliver on the promise of your ad. If it doesn’t –– and your visitors find they’re not able to make contact with your sales team or else purchase a product from your landing page –– work to correct that mistake ASAP!

Reason #5: Your Ads Don’t Change

In advertising, timing is everything. So the biggest red flags to note in any PPC campaign are stagnant ads. If you’re not able to consistently, tweak, optimize, and update your ads, then you’re unlikely to see any improvement from their performance. The good news is, simply utilizing metrics gleaned from a call tracking system will allow you to determine which ads need retooling –– and which ones are performing well already. From there you can better apportion your time and optimize your ads for future deployment. Remember that every good business needs to adapt to survive –– and that same principle should govern how you think about your online advertisements.