Optimising to the wrong event
Almost every underperforming account we inherit is optimised to form submissions. The platform gets very good at finding people who fill in forms — which is not the same population as people who become clients. Feed qualified-lead status back from your CRM and let the algorithm chase the right thing.
The four habits we dropped
- Launching broad match before there is conversion data. It needs a signal to learn from. Give it one first.
- Sending every campaign to one contact page. One landing page per service, matching the ad's promise, is usually the single biggest lift available.
- Reviewing search terms monthly. Weekly for the first two months. The negative list is the account's real asset.
- Reporting on cost per lead. Report cost per qualified lead and, where the sales cycle allows, cost per client.
What we do instead in the first month
Tight exact and phrase match on terms with clear intent, conversion tracking verified end to end before spending anything meaningful, one landing page per service, and a weekly search-terms review with the client in the room. Budget expands only once the numbers are trustworthy.
An account with clean tracking and a small budget beats a large budget with tracking nobody has verified. Every time.
When paid is the wrong answer
If the average deal value cannot absorb the cost per click in your market, paid search is not a channel for you yet — and a partner who tells you that before taking the budget is worth keeping.
