This week was less about launches and more about cleanup: checking that the numbers we report are real, tightening what we bid on, and moving pages without breaking anything. Not glamorous work, but it's the work that keeps cost per lead going down. As always, every client stays anonymous.
What we shipped
We finished moving landing pages for a multi-location dental partner onto new hosting. The move itself went smoothly. The part I care about more is what happened after: we found a conversion tracking issue that had been quietly broken for about 70 hours and fixed it. Three days of missing conversions is enough to throw off automated bidding, so catching it early mattered.
For a new home services account, we structured the search campaign into separate ad groups by service and let a Performance Max campaign start collecting its first impressions. It's still early, and we're treating the first few weeks as a learning period.
For a software client, we switched five campaigns to maximize conversions bidding now that their new landing pages are live. Alongside that, we're setting up an exact match test on the highest intent searches with a 50/50 budget split, blocking search terms that don't show buying intent, and removing exit-intent popups from the main landing pages so they don't create a policy problem with Google.
And on Friday morning, October reports went out to clients.
Wins
One account's cost per lead dropped from $300 to $65. At two dental clinics, cost per conversion fell by 50% and 40%. An industrial client's October report showed 76 leads across two regions.
On the content side, an orthodontic trade publication accepted a practice management article from me on cleaning up the search terms report, and a dental magazine accepted a feature on whether the rest of the practice keeps the promise the ad makes. A state dental journal also said it would consider a piece through its peer review process. Our own funnel kept working too, with new free review calls booked from content marketing.
What I learned
1. Google will add things to your account that you didn't ask for. On the new home services account, Google recorded two phone call conversions even though the landing pages don't have a phone number on them. It had generated a phone number asset on its own using the account's location information. We removed the automatic conversion action so it couldn't keep inflating the numbers. If a conversion shows up that shouldn't be possible, treat it as a red flag, not a win.
2. A website move isn't done when the pages load. Pages can look perfect and still drop conversions in the background. The check that matters is whether leads are still being recorded the same way they were before the move. Now it's a standard step after every migration.
3. Changing bidding strategies has a cost, so plan for it. When campaigns switch to maximize conversions, clicks usually dip before they recover, and cost per click can rise. That's normal, but it shouldn't surprise a client. Running an exact match test with its own budget next to the automated campaigns gives us a control, so we can see whether the algorithm is actually beating a tight, manual setup.
4. Landing page tricks can put the whole account at risk. Exit-intent popups feel like an easy conversion boost. On the main ad destination pages, they can also invite a policy problem. A few extra form fills aren't worth putting the account in danger.
5. Don't over-tinker going into the holidays. Demand shifts through November, December and January. Our plan is to keep accounts stable, make small adjustments and avoid big swings in response to what is really just seasonality.
Next week
I'm writing both accepted articles. We'll watch the first results from the exact match test, keep a close eye on Performance Max as it settles on the new account, and confirm conversion tracking is clean across every page we've moved. Then more review calls with business owners who booked through the site.
If your Google Ads account is reporting conversions you can't explain, or your cost per lead has crept up, reach out. We're always happy to take a look.
