Google Ads: improving lead quality over raw volume (UK)
Negative keywords, audience layering, form friction and sales feedback loops — how to stop paying for leads your team ignores.
A full inbox and an empty diary is a quality problem. More budget makes it more expensive. Start by agreeing what a good lead is, then make the ads, the queries and the form line up with that definition. The landing page half of this is the landing page checklist. The account half is below.
Weekly search terms review
- Phrase and exact where the account can sustain coverage; broad only with strong negatives and signals.
- Add negative themes (job seekers, DIY, wrong geography) systematically.
Close the loop with the people who take the calls
Once a week, ask which enquiries were a waste of time and why: wrong area, no budget, a job you do not do, a candidate looking for work. Turn the repeated reasons into negative keywords, a line on the landing page, or a form question. If you can import “qualified” back into Google Ads, do it — bidding can then prefer those leads. Until you can, judge the account in a shared note, not only in the conversions column.
Friction is a filter when it is honest
A form that asks for a postcode, the job type and when they need it will get fewer submissions than a form that asks for an email only. That is the point, if the missing submissions were never going to become work. Say so on the page: who you can help, and the jobs you do not take. The cost per lead should rise. The cost per useful conversation should fall. If both rise, the traffic is wrong, not the form.
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Questions people ask
Why am I getting lots of Google Ads leads and few customers?
The account is optimising for the conversion you gave it, which may be any form fill. Cheap queries, a form with no qualifying question, and no feedback from sales all push volume up and quality down.
How often should I check search terms?
Weekly on a small UK account is enough. Add negatives for job seekers, DIY research, the wrong trade and places you do not cover. Leave a note of why, so next month’s review is faster.
Can Smart Bidding fix lead quality by itself?
Only if you tell it which leads were qualified or won. Without that label it will find more of whatever is easiest to count.
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