Google Ads in Aberdeen built around enquiries, not clicks.
For trades, installers, clinics and professional services around Aberdeen, every click costs the same whether it turns into work or nothing at all. Whether that money comes back has less to do with the bidding than with who sees the advert, and what happens in the minute after they arrive.
Get a Free Google Ads Review →I will look at what you are currently paying for, and where the budget is going.
Clicks are easy to buy. Enquiries are what you are paying for.
Google Ads reaches people at the moment they are looking for what you sell, and charges per click regardless of what that click does next. Money can be lost at several points between the search and the enquiry.
- Someone searchesThey have already decided they need something. That is what makes paid search different from advertising at people who were not looking.
- An advert appearsWhether it appears for the right search is the first place money is won or lost.
- They clickYou are charged here, whatever happens next.
- They land on a pageIdeally one about the thing they searched for, not a homepage they have to work through.
- They get in touch, or they do notHow easy the next step is decides whether the click becomes an enquiry or a bounce you paid for.
- You find out what workedWhich searches produced enquiries, not just clicks. Without that, the next decision is guesswork.
Only the first three happen inside Google Ads, which is why I treat the campaign and the page it lands on as one problem rather than two jobs.
Spend more of the budget on searches that matter.
Much of the work is finding spend that was never likely to bring in an enquiry and cutting it back, so more of the budget reaches people who might get in touch.
Setting up, or opening up what you already have
New campaign or existing account, the first job is the same: what are you paying for, and has any of it turned into work?
Deciding which searches are worth paying for
Someone typing "emergency plumber Aberdeen" and someone typing "how to bleed a radiator" are not the same person.
Ruling out searches that were never going to buy
Excluding searches about free options, DIY, jobs and idle curiosity, so less of the budget goes on them. Negative keywords are the tool for it.
Adverts that put the wrong people off
An advert saying plainly what you do, where and who it suits gets clicked less often. That is the point: fewer clicks from people who were never going to book.
Sending the click somewhere that answers it
Reviewing where adverts land, so the visit you have already paid for has somewhere useful to go.
Knowing which advertising produced which enquiry
Conversion tracking, so a genuine enquiry is recorded as one. Without it, reporting counts clicks and calls them results.
Keeping it moving, and reporting plainly
What changed, what it cost and what came back, in language you can act on. Not a dashboard nobody opens.
Google Ads and SEO answer different questions.
They are not competing versions of the same thing, and neither suits everyone.
Reach people searching now
Adverts can put you in front of people searching today, more or less as soon as the campaign is live. You choose which searches to appear for and what you spend, and can turn it up or down as the workload changes.
It runs on ongoing spend. When the advertising stops, that visibility stops with it.
Build visibility over time
Search visibility is built rather than bought and is not charged per click. It takes months rather than days and gives you less control over what you appear for, but does not disappear the moment you stop paying.
Slower to arrive and slower to lose. How I approach SEO.
Plenty of businesses run both: adverts covering the months while the slower work takes hold. If one clearly suits you better, I would rather say so than sell you both.
A campaign does not end at the advert.
By the time someone reaches your website you have paid for them. Whether that money comes back is usually decided outside the ad account.
A click landing on a page that answers the search does better than one landing on a homepage. And an enquiry nobody replies to, or a call nobody could pick up, is a click you paid for and then lost.
Where that is the real problem, I can fix it too: the page people land on, the enquiry and quote journey behind it, and what happens when a call is missed. Each is separate work with its own cost, not something folded into managing a campaign. If your adverts already land somewhere that works, that is one less thing to change.
What you spend on adverts is yours to set.
Your advertising budget is paid to Google, not to me, and stays yours to set, pause or stop. What I charge covers managing the campaign, and is separate from what you spend on the adverts themselves.
Talk it through →The questions worth asking anyone who wants to run your adverts.
Can you guarantee Google Ads will bring in leads?
No, and be wary of anyone who does. Google sells placement in an auction, not outcomes, and what happens after a click depends on your market, prices and competition as much as the campaign. What I can do is aim the spend at people looking to buy, and be straight about what the numbers show.
How much should I spend on Google Ads?
It depends on what you sell, who else is bidding on the same searches, and how much work you can realistically take on. I would rather look at your market first and recommend a figure I can justify than name one before I know anything about you.
Can you take over an existing Google Ads account?
Yes, and it is often the most useful place to start. A running account has history in it: what has been paid for, which searches triggered adverts, and whether anything was tracked. You keep ownership either way, and I work in your account rather than moving your history into mine.
How will I know whether the advertising is working?
By what it produced rather than what it cost. With conversion tracking in place I can report which campaigns and searches led to real enquiries, and which spent money without any. If something is not earning its place, that is worth knowing early.
Find out what your budget is actually buying.
What you are paying for now, which searches trigger your adverts, where the clicks land and whether anything is tracked properly. You get a straight answer on what is worth changing first, whether or not you do it with me.
Get a Free Google Ads Review →Tell me what you want more of.
The work you want more enquiries for, and roughly what a customer is worth. That is enough for a useful first conversation about whether advertising makes sense.
- 07577 796931
- lee@westhillai.com
- Westhill, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire
- I'll review your details and reply personally by email.
Advertising is one way to be found; search visibility is the slower one, and the two work differently. More about how I work.