Nearly every owner or sales manager of the home service companies we speak to has tried out Google Ads at some point. When we ask how it went, the response is normally lukewarm at best. Stories range from ‘meh’ to total full-blown money burning disasters.
It’s not surprising because its a hard platform to master. That being said, we used Google Ads to generate over 1500+ leads for our home service clients last month (August 2021), so using the platform for your business can’t be Mission Impossible right?
I’ve put together our list of the top 4 hidden mistakes that most companies make when using Google Ads. Avoid these, and you could have a money making lead magnet on your hands.
1. Search Partners
Having ‘search partners‘ ticked in the settings menu is a BIG no-no. Not many people know this, but the location targeting settings you choose don’t impact all Google search partners.
That means even if you choose to only target searches in your local town/city, Google can still show your ad to people all around the world!
Turn off search partners and save yourself a ton of £££ on wasted clicks.
2. Auto-Applied Ad Suggestions
Google and its amazing AI Algorithm can write out your ad copy for you. It can create headlines and descriptions that it thinks perfectly describe your business. The AI is very clever, but because it doesn’t know your business like you do, it cant create ads that are as personalised to your customers. Its ads often sound generic and robotic.
Not a problem if you don’t choose to use them though right? Wrong. Google by default allows the AI to create and publish these ads on your behalf. Take back control and opt-out of auto applied ad suggestions hidden in your Google account settings.
3. ‘Google Rep’ Advice
If you run Google ads you’ll probably be contacted by a ‘Google rep’ offering to help you improve your performance.
These reps are normally not employed by Google, they work for subcontracted third party companies based in Asia. They’ll be reading from scripts to give you generic optimisation recommendations.
Don’t be fooled, these recommendations may not benefit you in the slightest. In fact, they can do more harm than good. Always double check any advice you’re given independently before implementing it.
4. Great Ads > Terrible Website
You could build the perfect Google ad set-up and still get zero leads. Most people don’t realise, but if you have a bad website it don’t matter how much traffic you chuck at it, your phone still won’t ring.
The question is; how do you know if you have a bad website? One objective way of figuring that out is finding your site conversion ratio. Site conversion ratios sound technical, but they’re actually very easy. Simply put, it’s what percent of your site visitors turn into enquiries. Tools like GTM and Google Analytics can help you discover this stat.
Incase you’re wondering, the industry benchmark is relatively low at 5%, so anything less than that is a big problem. On the flip side, a great site, like the landing pages we use with our ad campaigns, convert at 15-25%. Thats the target to shoot for.
If you’d like to know more about how to improve your websites conversion ratio, check out our series of posts that talk about this exact subject.
Need Help?
If you don’t fancy the rollercoaster ride of running your own Google Ads, but need new enquires coming into your business, check out our lead generation service.
We help tons of cleaning and trades businesses just like yours connect with their perfect customers each month, and we could help you too. Get in touch today
