Google Ads
Google Ads is where you capture demand that already exists. Someone has a problem, they are describing it in a search box, and the question is whether you appear and whether the click was worth paying for.
What decides whether an account works
Three things: whether the traffic is qualified, whether the landing page matches what the ad promised, and whether conversion tracking is telling the truth. Bidding strategy matters far less than any of them, and it is where most accounts spend their attention.
How an account should be structured
Single-theme ad groups. One intent per group, copy written for that intent, and a landing page built for it.
The alternative, a handful of large ad groups covering everything, forces one piece of copy to answer several different questions. It answers none of them well, quality scores drop, and cost per click rises to compensate for relevance the account no longer has.
Negative keywords matter more in industrial B2B
The vocabulary overlaps heavily with people who will never buy. A search for a piece of industrial equipment is used by buyers, by students, by technicians looking to repair one, and by jobseekers. Broad and phrase matching will serve all of them unless told not to.
Most accounts we inherit have either no negative list or one written once at launch. The first pass is subtractive, and cost per qualified lead usually improves before anything is added.
Match types worth using
This has changed, and the old advice is now actively harmful.
Ads appearing inside AI-generated answers require AI-driven targeting: broad match, Performance Max or the newer keywordless formats. An account built entirely on exact match, once the disciplined choice, is structurally excluded from that inventory.
That does not make broad match safe by default. It makes broad match plus a rigorous negative list and reliable conversion data the working combination. Broad match without those is how budgets disappear.
| Match type | Use it for | Requires |
|---|---|---|
| Exact | Terms with proven conversion history, where control matters most | Little. It is the safe default and the narrow one |
| Phrase | Controlled expansion around a proven term | An active negative list |
| Broad | Discovery, and reaching answer-surface placements | Strong negatives, accurate conversion signals, regular search term review |
| Performance Max | Broad reach across Google inventory including answer surfaces | Good conversion data and brand exclusions, since it will otherwise buy your own brand traffic |
What gets reviewed regularly
- The search terms report. What people actually typed, as distinct from what you bid on. This is where negatives come from.
- Conversion integrity. Whether recorded conversions are real enquiries, spam or double counts.
- Landing page alignment. Whether the page still answers the promise the ad makes.
- Budget distribution. Whether spend sits where the qualified leads are.
Brand terms
Usually worth bidding on, for two unglamorous reasons: competitors bid on your name, and the clicks are cheap. It is not incremental growth and should not be reported as though it were. We separate brand from non-brand so the numbers stay honest.
Where this fits in the wider account
It sits inside paid media management, alongside LinkedIn, Meta and remarketing. Landing pages are conversion work, and paid search terms are useful evidence for what the organic program should target.
Frequently asked questions
How much should we spend?
Enough that campaigns gather conversion data within a reasonable window. Below that the account cannot learn and every reading is noise. The right number depends on cost per click in your category and how many conversions a month you need to make decisions, and we will work it out before you commit rather than after.
Is Performance Max worth using?
Sometimes, with guardrails. It reaches inventory other campaign types cannot, and it will happily spend on your own brand traffic and report it as success. Brand exclusions and clean conversion data are prerequisites rather than refinements.
Can we run ads while the SEO program builds?
That is one of the better reasons to run them. Paid produces traffic and data immediately while organic compounds, and the search terms that convert tell the organic program exactly what to target.
See where you stand
We will review your current search visibility and show you what buyers find when they look for what you do.
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