How do you get more leads from Google Ads when you’ve maxed out impression share?
I faced this problem with a client of mine. Google Ads is working really well for his business but his sales team was craving more leads.
We’ve got a wide set of keywords covering every possible way we’ve seen people search for his services. We’re advertising on search and search partners and running the ads 24/7. We’ve got all the budget we need, and more. We’re getting almost 100% impression share.
I’d done all the normal things to optimise the Google Ads campaigns:
- Split test ads to improve the CTR.
- Tweaked the landing pages.
- Experimented to find the optimum bid strategy.
- etc...
And they've worked. They’ve got us from a pilot campaign generating 79 leads a month to a steady 500+ leads every month.
But, we’ve hit a plateau.
The strategy that got us from 0 to 500 leads a month isn’t going to take us from 500 leads to a 1 000 leads a month. We needed a different approach.
The solution: advertise on complementary searches
In economics, the concept of complementary goods describes things that you buy together.
When you buy a car, you buy fuel. When you buy a printer, you buy ink. You buy computer hardware and then you buy computer software.
Cars and fuel are complementary goods, as are printers and ink, and hardware and software. You can’t use one without having the other.
My client helps people immigrate from South Africa to Australia.
Someone thinking about moving to another country will also think about where they're going to work and live. They'll Google for jobs, property prices, medical care etc.
These searches are complementary to immigration services, in the same way fuel is to a car.
A search for "plumbing jobs in sydney" is a clue that the searcher is thinking about emigrating. So is a search for "perth property prices".
I set up a test campaign targeting South Africans searching for a job in Australia. It’s worked better than expected so far.
- The CTR is just under 10% after the first 5000 impressions. It’s not terrible and we’ll be able to tweak it up.
- The conversion rate is promising. About 14% of visitors filled in an enquiry form. Again, that’s something we'll work on.
- The CPA is well under the our target.
We’ve only had 70 leads so far so it’s very early days, but, the sales team tell us that these leads are as good as the others we’re getting from Google Ads.
We’ll keep monitoring to see how many of these leads turn into clients. If it’s a reasonable number we’ll optimise the campaign to get as many leads as possible.
If you’re interested in a similar sideways approach to using Google Ads you should check out the rubber glove approach to cold calling.
I offer 1-to-1 mentoring and consulting. You’ll get help, advice, support and answers without having to commit to a long-term contract. Details here.
Related articles
How to Track Which Google Ads Bring Paying SAAS Users If you're running Google Ads for your SaaS, it's not enough to track free trial signups — you need to know which ads are actually bringing in paying users.
How Many WhatsApp Clicks Turn Into Leads? You can track clicks on the WhatsApp button as conversions in Google Ads but you can't track leads. This results in overcounting how many clicks turn into leads. Inflated conversion numbers lead to overvaluing advertising and other problems. Here is some data...
How Adding Pricing to Google Ads Headlines Increased B2B Lead Qualification by 27% B2B advertisers often waste money on B2C leads. The thinking was that adding the price to the ad would deter individuals without scaring off B2B buyers.
Tracking Google Ads Without the Google Tag or Tag Manager Occasionally, I need to track Google Ads conversions without using the Google Tag or Google Tag Manager. Here’s a simple, non-technical explanation of how I do it.
Does broad match work for lead generation? A better question is When does broad match work for lead generation campaigns?
How I helped a client reduce their risk while scaling up a Google Ads campaign. Scaling up a successful Google Ads campaign by targeting new locations can risk your lead flow. Here's how I helped a client reduce this risk.
Tracking WhatsApp leads as conversions in Google Ads. There’s currently no built-in way to track WhatsApp leads as conversions in Google Ads. I've fixed this.
"Help. I'm Getting Calls For Competitors From My Google Ads." You're paying Google because you want lots of high-quality leads, not because you want a bunch of wrong-number calls.
Can you improve B2B lead quality by blocking free email addresses? Some say blocking free email addresses from B2B enquiry forms improves lead quality. Here's why I disagree.
Some ideas for improving B2B Google Ads. B2B Google Ads usually faces one of 2 problems: very little traffic, or lots of traffic - but most of it B2C. Here are some ideas to improve B2B Google Ads campaigns.
How I stop Spanish job-seeker leads from Google Ads Most Spanish job-seeker spam comes from click fraud. Here's how I stop it.
Data from launching a brand new campaign using Target CPA bidding. Normally you wouldn't launch a new campaign using a conversion-based bid strategy. I did, here's what happened.
A 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.
How I track WhatsApp conversations as conversions in Google Ads At the time of writing Google has no way of tracking WhatsApp leads as conversions. I've used a couple of work arounds to solve this.
Most Google Ads advice is wrong for small businesses A small account needs a different setup and different management. You see, something that improves a $50 000 a month account might tank a $500 a month account.
Modernising a Legacy Google Ads Account Without Breaking It A successful restructure leaves the account easier to understand, easier to optimise and better positioned for the future. Understanding why the account looks like it does is key to getting from sticky mess to well-oiled machine.
How I reduce wrong-business leads from Google Ads This is for you if you advertise on Google Ads and get leads who think they're contacting a different business. They call or fill in a form looking for someone else.
How I improve lead quality by telling Google which leads are good. By default Google Ads believes every lead is good. But that's not true. You can give Google feedback on lead quality and use that feedback to get better leads.
How's your Chinese? Google shows English adverts to people who searched in Chinese even though the campaign language is set to English. Here's how you can stop this and why you might want to.
Is it safe to use broad match keywords for lead generation campaigns? Google is pushing broad match hard and, some people are reporting good results. But, is it actually best practice now? Or are broad match keywords a waste of money?
Should I split a massive multi-country Google Ads account into separate accounts? At first glance it seems like splitting a big account into smaller accounts will make it easier to manage. But, there are downsides and, there are ways to make big accounts easier to manage.
Why did Google charge me $300 for a $20 click? Every now and again Google would charge an outrageous amount for one click. As much as 15 to 20 times what they normally paid. Here's how to prevent that.
Why I don't just delete fake leads from my inbox If the only thing you do with fake leads from Google Ads is delete the lead delivery email you risk getting swamped by fake leads. Here's why and what to do to improve lead quality.
Getting a lot of junk leads from Google Ads? You can spot conversion fraud because the leads have genuine email addresses and phone numbers but when you call them they don't remember filling in your form.
A love letter to statistics This is for you if you’re interested in making data-driven decisions about your Google Ads. Amy Hebdon, founder at Paid Search Magic, wrote a fantastic article she described a love letter disguised as a how to about PPC data interpretation.
Allocating budget How do you know the best way to split your ad budget between search and display, between Facebook and Google, between one keyword and another?
Does Google rip advertisers off? I'm not saying that everyone who's paid for Google ads has turned a profit. That's definitely not the case. But, when people lose money on Google ads its likely to be because Google Ads was a poor fit for their business, or because of the way they did Google Ads. I can't see Google risking their future to steal your advertising budget
Don’t believe every recommendation from Google. The optimisation score is Google’s newest way of telling you how to run your Google Ads account. Read on to see how following it blindly can hurt your business.
Don't believe my writing I'm not trying to bamboozle you, it's just that my - and everyone else's - writing isn't always right for your circumstances. Read on to find out more...
Google showed your ads to the wrong people today. Google showed your some of your adverts to the wrong people today. You (or someone you hire) must deal with this or your ads are going to start costing more and generating fewer leads. Here's how.
Has Google jumped the gun on mobile? How much commercial activity happens on mobile phones? Is it enough to justify a mobile-first approach to development? Case study with mobile vs desktop AdWords generated leads across 7 industries.
How to get fast traction on a brand new Google Ads campaign. I worked out a process for getting fast results from new AdWords campaigns so I didn't have to worry as much. You're welcome to copy (and improve) my process.
I'm scared I'll break my campaign If you don't feel confident making changes to Google Ads campaigns this might help...
Improve conversion rates by adding extra calls to action. Need to improve your conversion rate? Here's a tested approach that takes only a few minutes.
Should you advertise on Search Partners? We check the campaigns we manage regularly to see how much it costs to generate an enquiry on Google search versus search partners. Most of the time it costs more or less the same. Sometimes the difference is huge.
Should you show ads to people on their phones? It is a fact that more people use the internet on their phones than they do on computers these days. But are these glued-to-their-phone types going to buy from you?
The hidden trade-offs of automated bidding I like automated bidding. But, there are some trade offs with automated bidding that are not well documented.
Using the Search Terms Report to find negative keywords. The Search Terms Report is a great place to find negative keywords to add to your AdWords campaign. It shows (some of) the actual words and phrases that triggered your ads.
You don't have enough data to be confident that you're making the right decisions. Here are 3 rules of thumb I use to to help me make more of the right decisions when data is scarce.
Putting a little science into AdWords In the past I relied on a combination of the change history in AdWords, some rough notes and my memory to keep track of my testing. It worked but it wasn't great. It became more difficult as my business grew. I started to feel like I was losing control. I couldn't answer questions about an account without having to root around in Google docs, AdWords and email. Read on to see how I fixed this.
I’m getting too many B2C leads. I want only B2B. I’ve bumped into this problem with almost every client who sells to other businesses (B2B) not to consumers (B2C). Here are some options ..