Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your Google Ads setup for your quad tour business.
You mentioned you're running two search campaigns, one with specific keywords and Maximize Clicks, the other with core keywords and Manual 'Top of Page'. You're seeing around 6% CTR and getting about 240 clicks for €40/day with Maximize Clicks. You're wondering about overlapping keywords and if splitting campaigns is better.
Let's get straight to the most critical part first, as it ties everything together.
Your Bidding Strategy Needs Alignment with Your Business Goals
Honestly, the biggest issue I see is that neither of your chosen bidding strategies is actually trying to get you paying customers. You're using Maximize Clicks and Manual 'Top of Page'.
Maximize Clicks sounds good, getting you clicks, but it simply optimises for quantity of clicks regardless of their quality or likelihood to book a tour. Manual 'Top of Page' just focuses on getting your ads visible in prominent positions, again, without caring if that visibility leads to a conversion.
For a business like yours, the goal is bookings, right? Or maybe leads that you then turn into bookings? If conversions are your goal, you absolutely must optimise for conversions. This is probably the single most important factor for success with Google Ads for service businesses. We're running a campaign for an HVAC company currently, and the entire focus is on driving leads and calls, not just traffic.
Why Conversion Tracking is Essential
To optimise for conversions, you need to tell Google Ads what a conversion is. This means setting up conversion tracking. The best way is usually to track when someone reaches a booking confirmation page after completing a purchase, or if you have an inquiry process, when they submit a lead form on your website.
Without this tracking in place, Google Ads doesn't know which clicks or keywords or searches actually led to a valuable action for your business. It's flying blind in terms of finding people likely to book.
The Overlapping Keywords Question
Regarding your question about overlapping keywords between campaigns: yes, it's okay to test different campaign structures and strategies like splitting keywords or bidding methods. However, if you have the *exact same* keyword in two active campaigns in the same account targeting the same audience, they will compete with each other in the auction. Google will typically enter the keyword from the campaign that is deemed 'better' in that specific auction, considering factors like Quality Score, Ad Rank, bidding strategy, etc. This can potentially lead to inefficiencies, sometimes driving up your CPCs, or causing you to compete against yourself unnecessarily.
But frankly, the impact of keyword overlap is likely minimal compared to the impact of using the wrong bidding strategy entirely.
Recommended Actionable Solution Overview
Based on what you've shared, here's a simplified plan:
| Step | Action | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Define & Set up Conversion Tracking | Crucial for telling Google what a valuable action (like a booking) is. |
| 2 | Consolidate Campaigns (Optional but Recommended) | Simplify management and avoid potential self-competition issues if keywords are truly identical. |
| 3 | Switch Bidding Strategy | Once conversion tracking is working and you have some data, switch to Maximize Conversions or Target CPA. |
| 4 | Refine Keywords & Ad Copy | Focus on targeting search terms from people likely looking to book a tour. Ensure ads speak directly to them. |
You might worry about conversion data volume on a €40/day budget. It's true, it can take a little while to accumulate enough conversion data for the automated strategies like Maximize Conversions to work optimally. But even then, optimising for conversions from the start forces you to focus on tracking what matters and will guide you towards the right kind of traffic.
You mentioned your CTR is around 6%, which isn't terrible, but focusing purely on clicks isn't the goal. You need to look at metrics further down the funnel once conversion tracking is live – like cost per conversion.
Moving Forward
Implementing proper conversion tracking and switching to conversion-focused bidding will be the biggest levers you can pull to improve your results. Testing keyword groups (specific vs. broad) can still be valuable, but within a framework that's ultimately aiming for profitable bookings.
Given you're working with a limited budget and likely want to see a return on investment, getting this foundational stuff right is key. Sometimes getting this setup correctly can be a bit technical, especially ensuring the tracking is robust. It might take some time to get the campaigns dialled in and performing efficiently once you make these changes.
If you'd like more in-depth guidance tailored specifically to your account and website, navigating these technical steps and strategy shifts is something we help businesses with regularly. Happy to set aside some time for a free consultation if that would be helpful.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
