PPC / Analytics

$40K/mo Regional PPC Account Restructure

This $40,000/month Google Ads account looked busy but was wasting money. Conversion rates were low, cost per action was too high, and the account was reaching too many searches and locations that did not match the company's real service area or sales goals. I tightened keyword targeting, blocked irrelevant searches, narrowed geography, and rebuilt the account around searches and locations that were more likely to convert into real leads.

Results summary

·42% lower CPA
·38% lower spend
·7% more conversions

Engagement Snapshot

Service: Paid Search Management
Client type: Regional lead generation business
Scope: Account restructure, keyword cleanup, location targeting cleanup, landing page review, tracking review
Timeline: Initial improvements were almost immediate
Platform: Google Ads, Bing Ads, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Budget: About $40K per month at handoff

The Challenge

The team needed lower acquisition costs without turning off the lead flow the business still depended on. The goal was not to spend less for its own sake. It was to stop paying for clicks that were unlikely to become real customers.

The account had grown too loose for its budget size. Campaigns overlapped, location targeting reached beyond the useful market, and search terms were not being filtered aggressively enough. Reports still showed activity, but the spend was not focused enough on the right demand.

What I Found

01
The account was paying for searches that sounded related but did not match the company's real services or sales goals.
02
Location settings were too broad, which let budget reach areas the business was not trying to serve.
03
Campaigns and ad groups overlapped, so similar keywords were competing for the same searches instead of giving the team a clean read on performance.
04
Lead counts were inflated by people who clicked the top ad without enough buying intent, so I had to judge performance by fit and quality, not just form fills or calls.

Strategy

I rebuilt the account around regional fit. That meant the right services, the right searches, and the right locations. The first job was to separate useful demand from expensive noise so budget changes were based on what could actually turn into a lead.

I also wanted reporting to become more useful for decisions. Instead of asking only how many leads the account produced, I looked at which searches and locations produced them, whether those leads fit the company, and where the account was still paying for clicks that were unlikely to turn into customers.

The first priority was to cut the obvious waste quickly, then rebuild the account around the searches and locations most likely to produce real leads.

What I Did

Reorganized campaigns around the services and markets most likely to produce real leads.

Tightened keyword targeting so ads matched the company's actual services more closely.

Blocked irrelevant or weak-fit searches before they consumed more budget.

Narrowed location targeting so spend stayed closer to the areas the business could actually serve.

Shifted budget away from poor-fit searches and into campaigns with better lead quality.

Matched ad copy and landing pages more closely for the campaigns most likely to produce good leads.

Cleaned up lead tracking and created a weekly review routine around search quality, location performance, and lead quality.

Constraints and Complications

The account could not be paused while the rebuild happened; the business still needed lead flow during the cleanup.

Complete lead quality data was limited at first, so early decisions had to combine ad data, call tracking, and reviewed analytics data.

Some account decisions had to be made before lead quality data was as clear as I wanted, so I kept the early cuts focused on the clearest waste.

I had to avoid cutting too aggressively on day one, because a sudden lead drop would have made the cleanup harder to trust.

Measurement Notes

Results were compared against the pre-rebuild baseline after the account had enough post-change data to stabilize.

I looked beyond raw lead count and watched cost per action, conversion rate, search-term quality, location performance, and reviewed lead quality.

The CPA improvement came from a group of connected fixes: tighter keywords, blocked irrelevant searches, narrower geography, cleaner campaign structure, and improved review routines.

Results

The rebuild worked because it cut irrelevant searches and out-of-area clicks without shutting off lead flow. Spend dropped, cost per action fell, and conversions still increased because the account was aimed at searches and locations that fit the company better.

42%

lower CPA

Cost per action dropped once fewer clicks went to searches and locations that were never a strong fit.

38%

lower spend

Spend fell because the account stopped paying for as many irrelevant searches and out-of-area clicks.

more conversions

Conversions increased because the remaining traffic was a better fit for the company's services, markets, and sales goals.

Key Takeaway

This was not a case of simply spending less. The account improved because the spend became more disciplined: tighter keywords, narrower geography, and fewer clicks from people who were unlikely to become customers.