Geography nobody has looked at since setup
The most common finding in a low-cost account is budget leaving the service area entirely. A radius drawn once around a pin, a state-level setting nobody noticed, or location options left on the default that includes people merely showing interest in the area.
In an expensive metro that surfaces within weeks because the waste is painful. Here it can run for years, because a wasted click costs so little that nothing forces anyone to look.
Conversion counts that flatter everybody
Duplicate tracking, form views counted as submissions, and every phone tap recorded regardless of whether anyone spoke. The reported cost per conversion looks excellent and bears no relationship to booked work.
The tell is simple. If the conversion count and the number of jobs on the schedule have never been compared in the same room, the reported figure is decoration rather than measurement.
A landing page nobody had a reason to question
When traffic is inexpensive, a page converting at two percent still produces enough enquiries to feel acceptable. Nobody investigates, because the cost per lead never got alarming enough to prompt it.
That same page is what breaks first when competition arrives and prices climb. Fixing conversion while media is still cheap is the highest-return work available in this market, and it is almost always deferred.