Category: Google Ads
It’s one of the most frustrating places to be with Google Ads. You log in, the clicks are there, the money is going out, and yet the phone barely rings and the contact form stays quiet. Either the ads aren’t working, or something between the click and the call is going wrong.
Usually it’s the second. When a local business gets plenty of clicks but very few enquiries, the problem is rarely just the keywords. It’s more often something about who is clicking, what they find when they arrive, or whether you can actually see the enquiries that are coming in.
Here’s how to work out which.
First, check you can see your enquiries
Before you change anything, make sure the problem is real. A surprising number of businesses are getting more enquiries from their ads than they think, but they can’t see them because nothing is tracking them.
Google Ads can record when someone calls you from an advert, calls the number on your website after clicking, or fills in your contact form. But only if it’s been set up to. If your account shows lots of clicks and no conversions, the first question is whether conversion tracking is working at all.
Ask yourself, too, what happens to enquiries once they arrive. Does the contact form actually send emails to an inbox someone checks? Is the phone number on your website correct? It sounds obvious, but forms that quietly stopped working months ago and phone numbers with a digit wrong are more common than anyone likes to admit.
If tracking isn’t set up, get it sorted before anything else. Otherwise every other change is guesswork.
Are the right people clicking?
If you’re sure the enquiries genuinely aren’t coming, look at who is clicking.
The search terms report in your Google Ads account shows the actual words people typed before they clicked. Go through it and ask whether each one sounds like a potential customer. You may find clicks from people looking for jobs, training, DIY advice, free versions of what you sell, or a completely different service with a similar name. Each of those is costing you money with no chance of turning into work. Adding them as negative keywords stops it happening again.
Then look at where people are. Google Ads can show your advert to people outside your area, depending on your location settings. If a big share of your clicks are coming from towns you don’t serve, those people aren’t going to call. Check which locations you’re targeting and where your clicks are actually coming from.
What happens after the click?
If the right people are clicking but not getting in touch, the problem is likely to be the page they land on.
Click your own advert, on your phone, and look at the page honestly. Is it obvious straight away that you offer the thing they searched for? Can they see your phone number without scrolling? Does the page load quickly, or do they stare at a blank screen for several seconds? Is there a simple way to get in touch?
A common issue is sending everyone to the homepage. Someone who searched for “boiler repair Amesbury” and lands on a general homepage about plumbing, bathrooms and heating has to go looking for what they wanted. Many won’t bother. A page that matches the search, says clearly that you repair boilers in Amesbury and makes it easy to call will usually do much better.
Also check whether your advert makes a promise the page doesn’t keep. If your advert says “free quotes” or “same day call-outs”, the page should say so too.
When are your ads showing?
If your adverts run in the evening and at weekends but nobody answers the phone outside office hours, a lot of those clicks are turning into missed calls or voicemails that never get returned.
Look at when your clicks are happening and compare that to when someone is actually available. You can set an ad schedule to show your adverts only when the phones are covered, or you can make sure your adverts and website make it easy to get in touch in other ways out of hours.
Are people calling but not getting through?
Sometimes the problem isn’t Google Ads at all. If the phone is ringing but calls are going unanswered, going to a full voicemail box or being picked up by someone who doesn’t know how to deal with a new enquiry, the enquiries never become work.
If you can, ring your own number at a few different times of day and see what happens. It’s an uncomfortable test, but it’s an honest one.
Is the offer right?
Finally, it’s worth asking whether people are comparing you with someone else and choosing them. If your prices are clearly higher, your reviews are thin, or your website looks out of date next to a competitor’s, people may click, have a look around and go elsewhere.
That’s not something Google Ads can fix on its own. But it’s useful to know, because it tells you where to put your effort.
Work through it in order
The temptation when ads aren’t working is to change everything at once: new keywords, new adverts, more budget. Try to resist it. Work through the checks in order, starting with tracking, then who is clicking, then the landing page, then timing. Fix one thing at a time and give it a couple of weeks, so you can see what actually made the difference.
As we said in our post on getting the most out of your PPC, being seen on Google isn’t enough on its own. The clicks have to come from the right people, and they have to land somewhere that makes it easy to get in touch.
If you’d like someone to go through your account and find out where the enquiries are being lost, the friendly, experienced team at Spire Digital manage pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns for businesses in Salisbury and the surrounding area. Give us a call on 01722 320 500.