Paid search,
minus the
waste.
Most underperforming Google Ads accounts are not short of budget. They are spending it on searches that were never going to convert, measured against conversions that were never real.
- A search terms and conversion audit
- Cost per qualified enquiry
- No spend changes without written sign off
The account is usually lying to you.
Open almost any inherited Google Ads account and the same picture appears. Broad match keywords pulling in searches with no commercial intent. A negative keyword list that has not been touched in months. Conversion actions counting page views, or counting the same enquiry three times.
Once conversions are miscounted, every automated bidding decision is built on a false signal. The algorithm optimises faithfully towards the wrong thing, and spend rises while genuine enquiries do not.
Add Performance Max absorbing budget with limited visibility, and it becomes very hard to answer the only question that matters: what does one real customer cost?
We start every paid search engagement by establishing what a conversion actually is, and refusing to count anything else.
That often makes the reported numbers look worse in month one. It also makes every decision after it sound.
Structure first, then spend.
Campaign architecture should reflect how the business makes money, not how the keyword tool grouped things. Separate campaigns where the economics differ, shared budgets where they do not, and ad groups tight enough that the ad can actually speak to the search.
Search terms get reviewed as a discipline, not an afterthought. Every term that spent money without producing anything is either a negative or a lesson about intent.
Landing pages are part of the account. Sending expensive traffic to a page that buries the contact route is the most common and most expensive mistake in paid search, and it is usually the cheapest thing to fix.
We will tell you when paid search is the wrong channel for you. For some businesses the auction price has moved past what the margin supports.
Saying that costs us a retainer. Not saying it costs you more.
Deliverables.
Account and conversion audit
Every campaign, ad group, keyword, negative list and conversion action reviewed, with the wasted spend quantified in pounds rather than percentages.
Conversion tracking rebuild
Conversion actions that count genuine enquiries once, wired through GA4 and Google Ads without duplication, with call and form tracking where relevant.
Campaign restructure
Architecture that matches your commercial reality, with match types and negatives chosen deliberately rather than inherited.
Ad copy and assets
Ads written against real search intent, with the asset coverage the modern auction expects.
Landing page direction
Specific, prioritised changes to the pages receiving the traffic, built or briefed depending on your setup.
Reporting against baseline
Cost per qualified enquiry, tracked monthly against the figure we recorded before we started.
How paid search runs.
Baseline
Current spend, current conversions, current cost per enquiry, and an honest assessment of how much of that conversion data can be trusted.
Measurement
Tracking fixed before structure, because restructuring an account against bad conversion data just moves the waste around.
Structure
Campaigns rebuilt, negatives applied, match types set, budgets allocated to where the evidence points.
Optimise
Weekly search term review, bid and budget adjustment, ad testing, landing page iteration. Every change logged with its date so its effect can be isolated.
Report
Monthly, in absolute numbers, against the original baseline.
Straight answers.
Will you change my budget without asking?
No. Spend changes need your written authorisation every time, without exception. We will recommend, explain the reasoning and show the numbers, but the decision is yours.
How quickly will results improve?
Tracking and structural fixes often show within two to four weeks because they remove obvious waste. Bidding strategies need learning periods, typically two to six weeks, during which performance can look unsettled. We will tell you which phase you are in rather than letting you guess.
Should I be running Performance Max?
Sometimes. It can work well where there is strong conversion data and genuine inventory or asset depth. It works badly as a substitute for a properly structured search campaign, and its reporting makes diagnosis harder. We would want to see your data before answering.
Do you charge a percentage of spend?
Percentage of spend creates an incentive to recommend higher spend. We would rather be paid for the work than for the budget, and we will discuss a fee structure that does not pull against your interests.
What if the audit says paid search is not viable for me?
Then we say so, explain why, and point you at what would work better. We have no interest in managing an account that cannot pay for itself.