Google ads can be a great supplement to lower lead periods. If you’ve been considering Google Ads, there are some things that are helpful to know for before the click performance vs after the click performance. Because just getting impressions and ad clicks doesn’t equals sales or return on your ad spend. And that’s what this episode is about.
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Google ads can be a great supplement to lower lead periods.
If you’ve been considering Google Ads, there are some things that are helpful to know for before the click performance vs after the click performance.
Because just getting impressions and ad clicks doesn’t equals sales or return on your ad spend.
Before the Click
Before the click means performance indicators that happen before and including the actual ad click. Things that affect before the click performance are…
- ad copy
- target keywords
- all the ads settings like audience targeting or ad extensions
After the Click
After the click means performance indicators that happen after someone clicks the ad.
Things that affect after the click performance…
- landing page copy and visual
- the call to action on the page
- following up with the lead, aka your sales process
So when a google ads specialist says, oh we’re seeing great click through results and conversions, that might be true. But are the leads coming in actually booking?
Our services, yours and mine, aren’t typically purchased online right away. Many of us have the consultation call first and then someone starts working with us.
Tracking Google Ads Back to the Sale
There are three ways to track the google ads leads all the way to a sale.
- Have the google ad land on a specific page on your website. It’s called a landing page. It’s designated to only be available to that ad. It’s not indexed so Google can’t pick it up. It has specific messaging that is dialed in to matching with what the ad is talking about.
- If you dont’ use a specific landing page, you can bring people from the ad to your homepage. In this case, I’d encourage using tracking links. By default, Google Ads shows up as google ads source in your analytics, however for you to have some identifier in your form, it’s best to explicitly put the tracking links in your google ads links.
- Use HubSpot. there’s a free version that tracks the origin of a lead with an email address from the people who fill out forms on your website. You can track and match on the email address.
If you’re currently working with an agency or a partner, and they do not show interest in whether or not the ads actually convert to a sale vs just a lead inquiry, they are not a good partner. It’s just as important to pay attention to performance after the ad click as it is before.
Here’s an example. For one of my clients, we tried a very geographically specific campaign. We sent the ad to a specific landing page that used words people from that area would recognize. We were talking to people who lived in the midwest. We used that word specifically. Not all over but enough that made it feel more personal.
We tracked the quality of the lead. Some we could get through the data itself, other parts, we had to manually track. While ad performance itself was good, meaning it had acceptable impressions to click rates and saw a nice conversion rate of leads from the landing page, we booked only the entire life of the campaign which was 3 months. We didn’t see a return on ad spend. While we’ve since cancelled it, I would still maybe try it again in another year. Because we’re feeling it’s a little weird out there for this particular client’s industry.
Now let’s go back to before the click… one of the most effective ways to get better performance is ensure you’re targeting specific keywords and they go specifically to a page that talks about that topic.
Because if it doesn’t, your quality score goes down. And there’s less chance of your ad showing up for that keyword.
Pro tip… do not automatically accept all the “recommendations” Google provides in the dashboard. One example of this is a definite no is there stupid pushing of broad match terms. There are different ways you can target your keywords and if you follow their directions, you’ll end up spending money on keywords that don’t deliver leads.
The Takeaway
Google ads isn’t just about getting a lot of people seeing your ad or clicking the ad. It also matters after they click the ad. If you’re running google ads right now, ask yourself if you know how many booked with you. If you don’t know, there’s an opportunity to find out.
Next Up
If you want to dig deeper into how your website and ads work together, don’t miss bonus episode 21, Your Website Affects Your Google Ads + More Insider Tips. I brought on ads specialist Dewan Trevally to share practical advice on what really makes ads perform and how small changes to your site can make a big difference.
