Google Ads managed against cost per enquiry
Professional services clicks are expensive. The difference between a campaign that works and one that does not is almost entirely setup, tracking and what you exclude.
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The problem
Where the money usually goes
In most accounts I audit, the same faults recur. Conversion tracking counts page views or button clicks rather than actual enquiries, so the bidding algorithm is optimising towards the wrong thing. Broad match is switched on with a thin negative keyword list, so the account pays for searches from people who will never instruct you. Location targeting is set to anyone interested in the area rather than people in it. And nobody is separating brand traffic from everything else, which flatters the whole account.
Fixing tracking usually produces a bigger improvement than any bid change, because everything downstream depends on it.
The other number everything depends on is your ceiling: work out the most you can afford to pay for an enquiry before anyone changes a bid.
Scope
What is included
Account audit
Structure, tracking, match types, negatives, geography, ad extensions. You get the findings in writing whether or not you go ahead.
Conversion tracking rebuilt
Real enquiries as conversions, with values where they can be estimated, so smart bidding optimises towards revenue rather than form loads.
Keyword and negative strategy
Intent-led selection, and a negative list that is maintained rather than written once. Search term reviews are where most of the saving is found.
Ad copy across distinct angles
Not four variations of the same sentence. Different propositions tested against each other, so the result tells you something.
Landing pages
A campaign pointed at a generic services page will underperform whatever you bid. Where it is worth it, I build the page too.
Monthly reporting
Spend, enquiries, cost per enquiry, and what I changed and why. Plus an honest note where Google Ads and GA4 disagree, because they routinely do.
What happens next
What happens after you get in touch
- Step 01
Audit
Your site, your rankings, your ad account and your analytics, and a written account of what is wrong. You get the report whether or not you hire me.
- Step 02
Agree the target
One number we are both working to, usually cost per enquiry or enquiries per month. Not sessions, not impressions, not rankings on their own.
- Step 03
Do the work
Technical fixes first, because content on a broken site does nothing. Then the pages and campaigns that go after the searches worth having.
- Step 04
Report monthly
What moved, why it moved, what happens next, and an honest note on anything that cannot be measured.
How the engagement works
What you are committing to
Google Ads for law firms has published pricing. For everything else I give a fixed monthly figure after the free audit, because it depends on your site and your market. What can be said up front is the shape of it.
- Term
- Three month minimum, then monthly with 30 days' notice. Set out in the Google Ads paragraph of the terms of business.
Straight answers
Common questions
- What budget do I need?
- Enough to gather data in a reasonable time. For most professional services accounts that means a meaningful monthly spend rather than a token one, because clicks in legal and financial terms are expensive. I will tell you if your budget is too thin to learn anything, rather than take it and hope.
- How quickly does it work?
- Faster than SEO. You can get enquiries in the first fortnight. Getting the cost per enquiry down to where it should be takes longer, because it depends on accumulating enough conversion data to optimise against.
- Should we use Performance Max?
- Sometimes, and rarely as the first thing. It gives you less control and less visibility, which is a poor trade when the account has not yet proven what converts. I would rather establish that on search campaigns first.
- Who owns the account?
- You do, always. I work in your account under my own access. If we stop working together you keep the account, the history and the learning.
- Do you charge a percentage of spend?
- No. That model rewards me for spending more of your money, which is not an incentive you want. Fixed monthly fee.
- Can you guarantee a cost per enquiry?
- Not a specific figure, and be wary of anyone who promises one. What I do guarantee: if your cost per enquiry has not improved after 90 days, your fourth month is free. The conditions are in the pricing for law firms.
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Find out what Google Ads would change for your firm
A written audit of your site, your rankings and your ad account, back within five working days, plus a call to walk through it.
Get your free auditNo obligation to go further, and plenty of firms do not.