The Two-Campaign Fix for Google Ads with Low Search Volume

I recently helped someone with an interesting Google Ads challenge. The client runs a very niche travel business.

When people search for his service using very specific terms, they often become leads—and many of those turn into paying customers. The problem is, only about 600 people search using those exact terms each month. That’s not enough to keep his business fully booked.

Broader searches (from phrase or broad match) bring in more leads, but they don’t convert as well. In other words, they cost money but don’t lead to as many sales.

The best solution for him is to:

• Get every possible lead from the exact keywords, and
• Still try to find good leads from the broader searches—without letting them take over the budget.

When he followed Google’s advice and added broad match keywords to his main campaign, he got more leads. But he made fewer sales. That’s because the broad match keywords used up most of the budget. Then, the exact match ads didn’t show as often.

I recommended he create two campaigns.

Campaign 1: Exact Match Keywords

• Only include the exact match keywords that have worked well before.
• Use a bidding strategy like Manual CPC, Maximise Clicks, or Target Impression Share.
• Make sure this campaign has enough budget so it never misses a chance to show an ad.

The goal is to get as many clicks as possible, because these keywords usually lead to strong sales.

Campaign 2: Broad and Phrase Match Keywords

• Use this campaign to target broader searches.
• Add the exact match keywords from Campaign 1 as negative keywords—so this campaign doesn’t compete with the first one.
• Use a conversion-focused bidding strategy, like Target CPA, but focus on cost per qualified lead—not just any lead.

The goal here is to find hidden gems: people who are a good fit but didn’t search using the exact terms.

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