Agency insights
Thoughts and lessons on client selection, burnout, pricing, and modernising legacy accounts, from someone who's run a Google Ads for years.
A new Google Ads campaign needs deep data, not wide data.
Published April 2024. Last updated July 2026.
A brand new Google Ads campaign needs deep data, not wide data. 100 clicks on 100 adverts tells you nothing. 100 clicks on 1 advert and a picture starts to emerge.
I met with a fellow PPC person who was tearing her hair out because a new campaign wouldn't get traction. After two weeks she'd had no leads and she was beginning to panic. The client trusted her, but if she couldn't generate leads...
The campaign was extensive. It covered every facet of the client's business. It had 50+ ad groups. Each ad group had two fully loaded responsive ads, and broad, phrase and exact match keywords. She was targeting the client's entire geographic footprint.
It was superb work. But it was too much for a brand new campaign.
When you launch a campaign you trade money for data.
The hope is that you can gather enough data to learn what works before you run out of money, or your client runs out of patience.
The problem with this campaign was that the data was spread too thin. There was not enough information about any one keyword or ad to be able to learn anything useful.
It's counterintuitive, but you get useful data faster from a smaller campaign than you do from a bigger one.
I suggested to her that she structure the campaign for learning:-
- Advertise only one facet of the client's business which would reduce the number of keywords.
- Use only the exact match keywords.
- Limit the ads to one city.
- Run one responsive search ad per ad group.
- Schedule the ads to run only when the client could respond to the leads.
- Increase the daily budget even if it means having to pause the campaign later to prevent overspending.
This will concentrate the data she's buying so she - or a bidding algorithm - has something to work with.
None of these changes are permanent. Once the campaign gets some traction she can expand it to cover different parts of the business, locations and so on.
Most Google Ads Problems Aren't Google Ads Problems
If my writing resonates with you, I'd like to give you a copy of my book, Profitable Google Ads. The book was written for business owners, but many PPC professionals have found it valuable too.
Before you download it, what describes you best?
Related articles
Testing Google Ads for an RV Campground
Why negative keywords are becoming less effective in Google Ads
What’s the right bidding strategy for a brand new Google Ads account?
You can't run profitable Google Ads if your pipes are leaking
The campaign looks good but the ads aren't profitable
Spent $35,000 on Google Ads, made no sales
Topics you'll find on this site
Conversion tracking
Understand what happens after someone clicks your advert. Subjects include offline conversions, CRM integration, attribution, auditability and marketing instrumentation.
Essays and thinking
Articles about marketing, engineering, AI and problem solving that don't fit neatly into the other topics. These are some of the ideas and experiences that have shaped how I think.
Google Ads for lead generation
Learn how to use Google Ads to generate profitable leads. Subjects include campaign strategy, bidding, targeting, optimisation and the challenges of running lead generation campaigns.
Landing pages
Things I've learned about high-converting landing pages. Subjects include copywriting, page structure, forms, trust, conversion rate optimisation and user experience.
Lead quality
Understand why some leads become customers while others don't. Subjects include diagnosing poor leads, qualification, filtering junk leads and improving the feedback you send to Google Ads.
Sales Process
What happens after a lead has been generated determines if Google Ads is profitable. Subjects include first contact, follow-up, quoting, lead nurturing and turning more enquiries into customers.