The client
An Australian mortgage brokerage competing in one of the most expensive Google Ads markets in the country, where a single click for a home-loan search can cost more than a lunch.
The problem
The account arrived with broad-match keywords bleeding budget on searches that would never convert, no conversion tracking, and campaigns organised around ad groups instead of what people were searching for. Reporting showed clicks; nobody knew the cost of a lead.
What was done
- Conversion tracking rebuilt through Google Tag Manager for forms and calls, then tested end to end before any spend
- Campaigns restructured by search intent: purchase, refinance, first-home and investor
- Exact and phrase match keywords with negative lists rebuilt from search-term reports
- Responsive search ads written to each intent, with landing page changes to match
Results
The account produces 40 or more leads a month, and the average Quality Score moved from 5 to 8, which lowers the cost of every click. Dated screenshots from the account are added to this page as the client approves them.
Services used
Google Ads management, conversion tracking, landing page fixes.
Key Takeaway
Fix the measurement first; every optimisation after that is real instead of guessed.