Google Ads aimed at booked calls — not cheaper clicks

01

Account & campaign architecture (search-first)

• Search campaigns first. Display, Demand Gen and Performance Max only if they are scoped — never as the default.
• A campaign map tied to the services that book calls, not one mixed campaign for the whole business.
• Brand, non-brand and competitor structures kept apart, so brand cost does not disguise non-brand cost per lead.
• Shared budgets only where they do not starve a service that actually books.
• Names a human can audit. No leftover agency spaghetti from the last login.

02

Keywords, match types, negatives, search-term mining

• Match types chosen on purpose: exact and phrase where intent is tight; broad only with a negative list that can carry it.
• Account and campaign negatives reviewed on a cadence, not a one-off spreadsheet.
• Search-term mining that promotes queries which book, and excludes queries that never will.
• Close variants watched, so a junk query does not hide inside a phrase match and look “efficient”.
• A written negative policy the next person on the account can follow.

03

Geos, schedules, ad group hygiene

• Geos matched to where the business can actually serve and take a call — not every country left on from setup.
• Location options set to presence, not interest, unless the brief says otherwise.
• Ad schedules aligned to when the phone is answered. Overnight spend is a decision, not an accident.
• One tight theme per ad group, so RSA relevance stays honest and mixed intents are split.
• Dead ad groups and leftover experiments paused or removed. We do not hoard them.

04

RSA copy & assets aimed at forms/calls

• Responsive search ads written to the enquiry and the call, not a slogan.
• Headlines that name the service, the outcome and the next step.
• Descriptions that say who it is for — and who it is not.
• Call assets, sitelinks and callouts pointed at the same action as the ad.
• Pinning used sparingly, so the line the business needs is not randomised away.

05

Landing intent alignment

• Each ad group lands on a page that answers the query, not the homepage by default.
• Form, phone number and promise above the fold match the ad.
• Message match checked: headline, offer and who it is for.
• We do not rebuild the landing page unless that work is scoped. We flag the mismatch and recommend the fix.
• A weak page is not scaled just because the click is cheap.

06

Bidding & budget against enquiry/call proxies

• Bidding strategies chosen against the conversion that means an enquiry or a call, not a click.
• Budget set so the account can learn without flooding the wrong queries.
• Cost per lead and booked-call proxies reported together. CPC is context, not the verdict.
• Bid adjustments only where the data supports them — geos, devices, schedules.
• We do not chase a ROAS target the account cannot measure.

07

Conversion tracking dependency (no scale on broken measurement)

• No scale until the primary conversion is a form, a qualified call, or an agreed proxy for a booked conversation.
• Page views, button clicks and duplicated thank-you hits are not a bidding signal.
• Google Ads conversions checked against GA4 for the same week, with measurement if that track is in the engagement.
• Enhanced conversions only when the data is clean enough to help, and never set up so the account double-counts.
• If tracking is broken, we stop and fix it. We do not buy our way through a bad signal.

08

Query insights shared with SEO

• Search terms that convert are passed to the SEO workstream as demand proof, not hoarded inside Ads.
• Queries with volume and no page are flagged as content gaps.
• Queries that waste spend — and would waste rankings — are named, so organic does not chase them either.
• One view of intent across paid and organic. Two channels, one lead system.

09

How Ads joins ClickOptimo lead system

• Ads is one track of the lead system, alongside SEO and measurement — not a separate vendor.
• Tracking parity is a dependency. Scale waits on the signal.
• Landing and SEO lessons fed back when a page earns clicks but not calls.
• The Diagnostic decides whether paid search is the leak, or a supporting track.
• Reporting is keep, cut or scale against enquiries and booked calls.

01

Performance Max & Display

Extend reach across Google’s network with strong conversion signals.

• Asset groups and audience signals
• Brand and placement exclusions
• Search term and channel reporting

02

Shopping campaigns

Product listings with prices and images for online stores.

• Merchant Center and product feed setup
• Feed optimisation for titles and attributes
• Standard Shopping and Performance Max structure

03

YouTube ads

Video ads that build reach and bring warm audiences back.

• In-stream, in-feed and Shorts formats
• Audience targeting by intent and interest
• View-through and conversion tracking

04

Microsoft Ads

Reach Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo users, often at a lower cost per click.

• Proven Google campaigns imported and adapted
• LinkedIn profile targeting on Microsoft
• Separate budgets and bid rules

05

Remarketing

Win back visitors who didn’t enquire the first time.

• Audiences built from GA4 and Google Ads
• Frequency caps and respectful messaging
• Customer Match for existing contacts

06

Budget management

Spend where it returns most, checked every week.

• Budget pacing and shared budgets
• Bid strategy selection and targets
• Weekly keep, cut and scale decisions