The B2B Google Ads Guide: Skyrocket Lead Generation

Right, optimising B2B Google Ads, is it? The key here is to really understand that search intent. Too many businesses treat Google Ads like a guessing game, throwing keywords at the wall and hoping something sticks. That's a mug's game in B2B.

First off, forget broad keywords. If you're selling AI implementation services, you need to be targeting keywords like "AI implementation service", "AI agency near me", or even "software agency near me" if that's part of your offering. Stop wasting money on generic terms that attract the wrong kind of traffic.

Secondly, your website is your salesperson. It needs to be optimised to convert, not just look pretty. What's the *one* thing you want people to do when they land on your site? Fill out a form? Schedule a call? Make that the focus of your landing page and write some decent sales copy that actually persuades people to take action. I've had clients that said they had good copy, but the data was always terrible. Some professional copy could really go a long way, I'd say.

Website as Salesperson:

Your website is not just a digital brochure; it's a 24/7 sales machine. It needs to be optimised for one thing and one thing only: converting visitors into qualified leads.

• Clear Call to Action: What do you want visitors to do? Fill out a lead form? Schedule a consultation? Download a whitepaper? Make it crystal clear what the next step is.
• Persuasive Sales Copy: Ditch the jargon and focus on benefits. How will your solution solve their pain points? Use testimonials, case studies, and social proof to build trust.
• Mobile Optimisation: If your website isn't mobile-friendly, you're losing leads. Ensure a seamless experience on all devices.
• Fast Loading Speed: Slow websites kill conversions. Optimise images, leverage caching, and use a CDN to improve loading times.

Think about your sales process. What do you want people to do to become a qualified lead that you can turn into a customer? Usually, the first step is to either fill out a lead form or to schedule an intro meeting or consultation. You could also offer a free audit or strategy review. Depending on what the first step is that people need to take, this is what your website's start page should lead people to. Optimise this page with sales copy, make it really persuasive to take the first step.

The B2B Website Conversion Funnel

Understanding the B2B conversion funnel is key to optimising your website and ad campaigns.

• Awareness: The initial stage where potential customers become aware of your brand through your ads.
• Interest: Visitors land on your website and explore your content, demonstrating interest in your offerings.
• Consideration: Potential customers evaluate your solutions, comparing them with competitors.
• Conversion: The final stage where a lead becomes a paying customer.

And don't neglect the analytics. If you're seeing loads of clicks but no conversions, something's clearly wrong. Dig into the user journey. Are you attracting the wrong traffic? Is your landing page a mess? Are you asking for too much information upfront? Maybe people aren't ready to buy now and need long-term retargeting.

Diagnosing Your Google Ads Performance

Understanding your key performance indicators (KPIs) is vital for optimising your Google Ads campaigns. A few things you should look at:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Low CTR indicates your ads aren't resonating with your target audience. Improve your ad copy and targeting.
• Conversion Rate: Low conversion rate suggests issues with your landing page, offer, or overall user experience.
• Cost Per Lead (CPL): High CPL means you're spending too much to acquire each lead. Refine your targeting and ad creative.
• Bounce Rate: High bounce rate indicates visitors are leaving your website immediately. Improve your website's relevance and user experience.

The most important thing to consider is that you could be getting visitors to your start page but only a small percentage of product page views. You're either getting the wrong type of traffic (look at your ad targeting/keywords) or maybe the products features aren't a good fit.

You could also be getting lots of product page views but no adds to cart? Likely your product photos, product descriptions, or pricing needs work. Maybe a special offer could help.

Now, let's talk about budget. I usually recommend a budget for ad spend of $1-$2k per month to start with - but this depends on how many leads you need (number of leads you need x cost per lead = ad spend). Remember that we're running a campaign for an HVAC company currently, they are in a bit of a competitive area, and they are seeing costs of around $60/lead. We’ve run ads for childcare services where the CPL was around $10 per signup. And our best consumer services campaign was for a home cleaning company which got a cost of £5/lead.

Don't just pull that number out of thin air, though. Do the maths. How many leads do you *actually* need to hit your revenue targets? What's your average deal size? Work backwards to figure out a realistic budget that aligns with your business goals.

Estimating Your Cost Per Lead

Use the calculator below to estimate your cost per lead based on your budget, conversion rate, and other factors.

Ad Platform Choice: Where Can You Reach Your Ideal Customers?

Choosing the right ad platform is crucial for B2B success. Consider where your target audience spends their time online.

• Google Search Ads: Ideal for reaching potential customers who are actively searching for your solution.
• LinkedIn Ads: Best for targeting specific decision-makers in specific industries.
• Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram): Can work for B2B if you target small business owners or business page admins.

Leveraging LinkedIn for B2B Lead Generation

LinkedIn can be a goldmine for B2B leads if you know how to target effectively.

• Target by Job Title: Reach decision-makers like CMOs, CTOs, and Heads of Sales.
• Target by Industry: Focus on industries that benefit most from your solution.
• Use Lead Gen Forms: Capture leads directly within LinkedIn with pre-filled forms.
• Sponsored Content Ads: Share valuable content that educates and engages your target audience.

A) If your target audience is actively searching for your solution -> Google Search ads; Do some keyword research to find keywords related to what your ideal customer persona might be searching for when they need your services.

E.g. you could target keywords like "AI implementation service", "AI agency near me", "software agency near me", "AI developer near me" - depends on your services of course

B) If they aren't -> Social media/display ads, for B2B your main option here is usually LinkedIn as that's where you have narrow B2B targeting available. Meta - limited B2B targeting. Reddit - limited B2B targeting but maybe with the right subreddits.

B2B Google Ads - Recommended Audiences to target:

Recommended B2B Google Ads Campaign Structure

Structuring your Google Ads campaigns effectively can significantly improve performance.

• Campaigns: Organise by product or service category.
• Ad Groups: Group keywords by theme or intent.
• Keywords: Use a mix of broad match, phrase match, and exact match keywords.
• Ad Copy: Write compelling ad copy that highlights the benefits of your solution.

Actionable advice and recommended solution

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Look, I've scaled quite a few campaigns for B2B SaaS. Some see ROI within a few days. But many take longer to optimise. A lot will depend on your offer, a completely free trial usually works best to get people in the door, then you can onboard them, nurture them, and upsell them to a plan later. To get people interested, you need a landing page with persuasive copy - we use a copywriter for this with experience writing for SaaS. Then need to decide on the right ad platform: for B2B it's usually either LinkedIn or Google Search ads. Probably only search ads will be viable in your case as you need people to be actively searching for a new accounting software.

This all goes to say: You may benefit from working with someone with expertise in optimising software campaigns, someone that's got a team around them to support you, that's done this many times before, with different business models and business verticals, with different tech stacks, and in different markets. As an agency, we've definitely seen some pretty amazing outcomes with software clients, including one campaign that generated 4,622 registrations for a B2B software at a cost of $2.38 per registration, as mentioned. We also ran a campaign where we reduced the cost per lead from £100 to £7.

Consider reaching out for a free consultation. It might be the smartest thing you do today!