Search advertising that reaches people while they are looking
Google and Microsoft search campaigns built by intent and run on cost per lead
Search ads reach somebody at the exact moment they type the problem, which makes them the most accountable advertising available and the easiest to fritter away. We build accounts by intent, write ads that match the page they land on, and read the search terms report every week so the budget follows the queries that turn into enquiries.
Search advertising done properly
The mechanics of Google Ads take an afternoon to learn. The discipline takes longer. A profitable search account has tight ad groups, exact and phrase match kept honest by a growing negative list, ad text that mirrors the query, extensions filling out the result, and a landing page that carries on the same conversation. Most accounts we inherit are failing at three of those five at once.
We run Google and Microsoft side by side. Microsoft costs less per click and skews older and more B2B, which suits some clients and wastes money for others; a month of data settles it. Reporting is on cost per qualified lead as verified in GA4, never on clicks.
On bidding we are unfashionable. Smart Bidding needs a supply of real conversions before it can do anything useful, so new accounts start manual and move across when the volume justifies it, usually somewhere past thirty conversions a month. Handing an empty account to the algorithm is how learning budgets disappear.
When the same terms are worth owning permanently, we hand them to SEO and spend the paid budget somewhere new.
What search advertising includes
Keyword research & structure
Campaigns split by intent, ad groups kept to one theme each, and match types chosen deliberately rather than left on broad.
Ad copy & extensions
Ads that repeat the searcher's words and the page's promise, plus sitelinks, callouts, call and structured snippet extensions to take up more of the result.
Landing page alignment
The page continues the query instead of restarting it, loads in under two seconds on a phone, and puts the next step above the fold.
Bid & budget management
Manual bidding until the conversion volume can support automation, then Smart Bidding with targets you have agreed. Budgets shift weekly.
Negative keywords
A weekly pass through the search terms report, with negatives applied at campaign or account level so they hold as the account grows.
Tracking & reporting
GA4 conversions and call tracking tested with a live enquiry, then a monthly report on cost per qualified lead.
From audit to steady state
Audit or planweek 1
For an existing account, the leaks ranked by what they cost. For a new one, a keyword and budget plan with an expected cost per lead attached.
Tracking firstweek 1
Form, call and chat conversions verified before any budget goes live. We submit a test enquiry and watch it land.
Buildweek 2
Structure, ad copy, extensions and landing pages built and launched together rather than in three separate weeks.
Optimise weeklyweekly
Search terms, bids, ad tests and budget reallocation, on the same day each week so the changes can be told apart.
Reportmonthly
Cost per lead against the agreed target, what changed, and the one thing we are testing next.
From $600/month
Management from $600/month or 12% of ad spend, whichever is higher.
Search ads, answered
What is search advertising?
Text ads on Google or Bing, shown when somebody searches a term you have chosen to bid on. You pay per click rather than per view. Everything that decides whether it makes money happens around the auction: the terms, the ad, the page, and how honestly you measure the result.
How is search advertising different from SEO?
Paid appears the day you switch it on and disappears the day you stop. Organic takes months and then keeps going. Run together, paid finds the phrases worth having and SEO takes them off the payroll one by one.
What does it cost to run search ads?
Management is $600 a month or 12% of spend, whichever is higher. Media budgets from around $1,000 a month give enough data to optimise in most markets, and a single-city campaign for a trade or clinic can work on considerably less.
How fast will we see results?
Clicks on day one. A cost per lead you can plan around usually takes four to eight weeks, because that is how long it takes to build the negative list and get a landing page test finished. The first fortnight of any new account is expensive by design.
What is a good return from search ads?
It depends entirely on your margin and how long your sales cycle runs. We agree a target cost per qualified lead with you before launch, based on what a customer is worth to you, and every report is measured against that number rather than an industry average.
Do you run ads on Bing as well as Google?
Yes, Microsoft Ads covers Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo, and it is usually worth a month's test for B2B and for older audiences. Clicks are cheaper but volume is far lower. If your data says it is not paying, we will tell you to turn it off.
Pay for intent, not impressions.
Give us read access to the account, or just a budget and a target. You get a plan back with an expected cost per lead.