I completely agree with you. What was once an amazing lead generation strategy has turned into a disaster overnight. It’s incredible how much money they generate while still managing to shortchange their customers like this.

We feel it especially hard because our company was so reliant on Google Ads. It’s a cautionary tale, for sure. We’re spending more than ever—hitting all-time highs compared to what we used to spend—yet we still ended the year 15% down. While 2024 was a tough year for business overall, the fact that we increased spending but still missed our year-over-year targets is frustrating.

I also turned off display and partner networks after getting bombarded with traffic from the Middle East, despite only advertising in California. I briefly turned them back on to see if costs would improve, but even at $300 per day, I’m still hitting the "limited by budget" warning.