My Google Ads Search Campaign Tanked After Years of Success – Any Insight?

Hey everyone, I run a service-based business in NYC focused on indoor air quality testing (mold, VOCs, etc.), and my entire business has been built on Google Ads search campaigns. I don’t have a storefront – just a couple of employees, a solid service, and a phone number. Here’s the rundown: **The Backstory** When I started a few years ago, I knew very little – learned from YouTube, tried things out. Somehow I created a search campaign that worked. * 6–7 clicks a day * $6–$8 CPC * 1–3 phone calls a day * Booked 2–4 jobs a week This kept my business running smoothly for two years. I hired people. Life was good. **The Problem** In 2025, everything fell apart. Without any major changes, impressions vanished, CPC shot up to **$42 per click**, and conversions died. I paused that campaign, created a brand new one from scratch – same targeting, new ads – and the exact same thing happened: * Barely any impressions * CPC still sky-high * Leads dried up I rely almost entirely on inbound search traffic. Referrals help, but they’re not reliable – this is a one-and-done type service. You don’t need a mold test every week. My market is NYC, so demand should always exist. # What I’ve Tried * Rebuilt campaign from scratch * Tested new keywords and ad copy * Adjusted bidding strategies (Maximize Conversions) * Monitored quality scores and ad relevance (everything looked fine) # What I Don’t Understand * Why would a historically consistent campaign suddenly stop delivering? * Why would a new campaign, in a massive market like NYC, get almost no traffic? * Has something changed in Google’s system recently that favors big-budget or lead form campaigns? I’m honestly at a loss. This is how I feed my employees and pay rent. If anyone’s experienced this drop-off recently or has thoughts, I’d really appreciate some guidance or just to know I’m not going crazy. Thanks in advance. **Update:** First of all—massive thanks to everyone who commented on my original post. The advice, sympathy, and even just the “yeah dude, Google Ads is a black box now” validation helped more than you know. So after a week of *nothing*—no calls, no leads, just CPCs spiking to $54 and me paying my crew out of pure delusion—I was cooked. Burnt. Done. Sitting at my desk like a monkey staring at a glowing rectangle wondering why my life is now entirely dependent on an algorithm I don’t understand. Then I remembered I have ChatGPT Pro. And this thing called *Operator*. I was like, “You know what? I’m already getting zero calls so before i pay an agency let’s see what happens if I just let the AI do it. This campaign is already wrecked anyway. So I copy-pasted this prompt I built using GPT-4.5 and Reddit threads and deep reaserchj based on this, logged in through Operator, guide it to log in gave it my Google Ads credentials (yes, I know, probably insane), and told it: “Do whatever you want. Break shit. Edit anything. I literally do not care anymore.” And this thing *went to town*. For 27 straight minutes it was like watching a hacker movie in real-time. It removed 47 negative keywords, added new keywords, changed some to phrase some to broad match, adjusted targeting, restructured some ad groups, and scrolled through settings I forgot even existed. Every 30 seconds it would ask something like “Do you want me to change this?” and I finally just said: “STOP ASKING. YOU ARE GOD NOW.” Then it stopped. Said “all done.” I figured it was about to get my account banned or implode my credit card. **Next day, I get 4 phone calls.** Three scheduled jobs. One from a luxury retail store in SoHo. Another from a hotel needing 12 rooms tested. A few solid residentials. CPC dropped from $42 to **$7.96**. And it’s stayed there all week. The week before? **$0**. This week? **Booked $17K.** What even is reality anymore? Anyway, I’m working on diversifying channels now because I’m not trying to let one algorithm decide whether I eat next month. But for now—holy shit. We’re back.