Digital Marketing & Growth
Google Ads management for small and mid-sized businesses.
Plenty of businesses pay for Google Ads every month without knowing which clicks turned into calls or enquiries.
Campaigns run with a specialist partner. Who does what
Written enquiries are answered by email
We plan, set up and run your campaigns, starting with tracking that shows which enquiries each one records.
Google Ads is one of our Digital Marketing services, alongside Meta Ads, landing pages and analytics.
The work, in short
- Conversion tracking set up or repaired
- Campaign structure and targeting
- Ongoing optimisation
- Reports in plain language
Google tools we work in
- Google Ads
- Google Analytics 4
- Google Tag Manager
What the work covers
Google Ads needs regular attention after setup. The work usually covers these six areas.
Strategy
We start with your business rather than the account: what you sell, which enquiries are worth most to you, which areas you serve and how customers search for what you offer. That decides which campaigns to run and where the budget goes first.
Setup
New campaigns are built from scratch, with a structure that makes it clear where the money goes. If you already advertise, tell us about it when we first talk, and we will explain how we would handle your existing campaigns.
Keywords, ads and audiences
We choose search terms used by people looking for what you offer, exclude the ones that use up budget without bringing enquiries, and write ads that say plainly what you sell. Where it suits your business, campaigns can also be shown to groups of people chosen by interest or by an earlier visit to your website, not only to people searching for a keyword.
Landing pages
Many clicks are lost on the page that follows the ad. We check that each campaign leads to a page that matches what the ad said and makes it easy to get in touch. If a page needs building or fixing, we do that ourselves.
Conversion tracking
We set up or repair tracking so that enquiry forms, calls from ads and other actions that matter to you are recorded as conversions in Google Ads and Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Without it, there is no way to tell which campaigns are worth what they cost.
Ongoing optimisation
Once campaigns are running, the work is steady and unglamorous: reviewing which searches triggered your ads, adding exclusions, adjusting bids and budgets, testing new ad text and moving money towards the campaigns that record enquiries.
Two example documents. First, a conversion tracking check agreed before launch: an enquiry form submitted is recorded once, a call from an ad and an online booking are recorded, and a call from the website is not recorded, which is set up or fixed before more of the budget is spent. Second, a campaign structure: search campaigns for the main services, the company name and the local area, each leading to a matching page, with searches for jobs and training courses excluded.
Your ad budget and our fee are separate
A managed Google Ads account involves two costs.
Your ad budget
Your ad budget is what Google charges when people click your ads; you decide how large it is, and you can change it.
- Spent on
- Clicks on your ads
- Decided by
- You, and you can change it
Our fee
Our fee pays for the work of planning, building, running and improving the campaigns.
- Charged by
- Unbelievable Software
- Agreed
- With you, before any work begins
We agree the fee and the starting budget before any work begins, so you always know what each one pays for. How the ad budget is paid is agreed at the same time. We don't publish prices, because the amount of work differs from one account to the next. We quote once we understand what you need.
How you'll know whether it's working
Before launch, we agree what counts as a result for your business: usually a submitted enquiry form, a call from an ad or from your website, or a booking. Those are the numbers we track and report, rather than clicks or impressions on their own.
Each report shows:
- what was spent, campaign by campaign
- how many enquiries and other agreed actions were recorded
- what each recorded enquiry cost
- what we changed, and why
- what we plan to do next
Reports are written in plain language. Before launch we agree how often you receive one.
Some visitors decline cookies, so Google Ads and analytics can record fewer conversions than took place. Results also depend on your market, your offer, your budget, your competitors and how well your website turns visitors into enquiries. You will see what your campaigns record and what we change in response.
Example Google Ads report
Your campaigns, in plain language
- Spend, campaign by campaignSearch, main services; Search, company name; Search, local area
- Enquiries and other agreed actions recordedEnquiry forms; Calls from ads; Calls from your website; Bookings
- Cost of each recorded enquiryWorked out for every campaign from the two parts above.
- What we changed, and whyExample: excluded searches for jobs and training courses, which do not match what the business sells.
- What we plan to do nextTest new ad text for the main service.
The first weeks
- 01
Conversation
We talk about your business, your goals and what you have tried so far.
- 02
Access
You give us access to your Google Ads account, or we set one up with you.
- 03
Account review
We look at the account, your website and your tracking, and tell you what we found.
- 04
Goals
We agree what counts as an enquiry, which services matter most and the starting budget.
- 05
Tracking
We set it up or fix it before more of your budget is spent.
- 06
Build and launch
We build the campaigns, and you approve them before they go live.
- 07
Learning period
Google's bidding systems need data before campaigns settle, so the first weeks are mostly about learning. How long that takes depends on your budget and on how many enquiries come in.
What we need from you
- access to Google Ads and Google Analytics, or permission to create them
- access to your website, or an introduction to whoever looks after it
- a clear picture of what you sell and which enquiries matter most
- someone who can tell us, from time to time, which enquiries turned into business
Without that feedback we can count enquiries, but we cannot tell which campaigns bring the work you want.
Who does the work
Campaigns are run with an established marketing partner: an independent specialist who works for us as a subcontractor, not a member of our staff. The partner handles day-to-day campaign work and analytics under our management. We build landing pages, make website changes and handle the technical side of tracking ourselves. Where this page says "we" about campaign work, it means us and our partner together.
Our marketing partner
- Day-to-day campaign work
- Analytics
Unbelievable Software
- Management of the work
- Landing pages and website changes
- The technical side of tracking
Typical situations
Example situations, not client projects
A local service business with no tracking
Imagine a company that runs search ads for its services. The phone rings, but nobody knows which calls came from the ads. The first step would be call and form tracking, followed by a review of search terms to stop paying for searches that never lead to a customer.
A seasonal business
A company whose customers come mainly in a few months of the year spends the same on ads every month. Here the work would move budget towards the months and searches that bring enquiries, and pause campaigns that do not.
A B2B company where only some enquiries matter
A company that sells to other businesses receives plenty of form submissions, but few from the kind of client it wants. Here the work would focus on targeting and ad wording that filter out poor fits early, and on regular feedback about which enquiries became opportunities.
Questions people ask
How long before we can judge results?
It depends on your budget and on how many enquiries come in. At the start we'll tell you when a fair judgement will be possible, and why.
Can you guarantee a number of enquiries or a return on ad spend?
No, and be wary of anyone who does. Results depend on your market, your offer and your competitors as well as on how the campaigns are run, and Google's auction changes all the time.
Do you also run Meta Ads or SEO?
Meta Ads, yes; the same partner runs them. SEO is delivered through vetted specialists when it suits your business. Both are described on the Digital Marketing page.
Questions about your campaigns?
Tell us how you advertise now, or what you would like to start. If Google Ads isn't the right channel for your business, we'll say so.