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Paid lead generation used to be straightforward. You launched a campaign on Google Ads and received calls, form entries and chats, enough to keep your team busy and the business growing. It is not that simple anymore. Google Ads has become more competitive and more expensive, so it is hard to generate enough leads from that one channel alone. Google has also moved toward automation and away from advertiser control. As the landscape has evolved, so have the strategies, and there are new ways to find opportunities and generate leads at scale.
Use automation, but with guardrails
The first strategy applies to your Google Ads account itself: use automation with guardrails. Google’s message for years has been that automation is the future and manual control is a thing of the past. That makes things harder for agencies and advertisers, because settings that used to be easy to optimize are now outside your control or hidden. The good news is that you can use automation while keeping boundaries that stop it from taking over.
Our goal is to use automation only after significant testing and with guardrails in place. Those guardrails can take the form of bid strategy experiments, ad copy controls and careful adoption of new campaign types.
With bid strategies, a fully automated approach gives you little control over the cost per click. We have seen low-margin advertisers pay many times their usual cost for a single click because Google’s machine learning predicted a high chance of conversion. If that click does not convert, the money is gone, and a few of those can drain a budget quickly. Instead of moving everything to Maximize Conversions, use bid strategy experiments to test a more controlled approach against Google’s automated bidding and see which converts more efficiently and for less. You can also pair automated bidding with a maximum CPC limit so no single click gets out of hand. That way you gain the benefits of automation and keep some control.
Take back control of ad copy as well. Google Ads now serves responsive search ads only, and expanded text ads no longer exist. You can still guide the system by pinning key headlines and descriptions, writing multiple strong variations and testing ads against each other. Google also automatically creates some assets, such as additional headlines, descriptions and sitelinks. We generally review those settings carefully, especially when a client can only use approved wording, because automated copy can drift outside what is appropriate for the business.
Finally, be thoughtful about Performance Max (PMax) for lead generation. It has found success for some lead generation companies, and Google has added more reporting over time, but it still offers less visibility into search terms and lead quality than traditional search campaigns. It is hard to tell whether the conversions it reports are qualified leads. We recommend testing PMax alongside your search campaigns with a limited budget, feeding it real lead-quality data from your CRM, and not pausing your search campaigns in its favor.
Add lower-cost lead sources next to Google Ads
Google keeps getting more competitive, and many industry studies show that cost per click has risen significantly in recent years. Our own clients see the same trend across their accounts. Getting the same results for the same money is harder than it used to be. These alternatives can work alongside your Google Ads account.
Google Local Services Ads have been instrumental for many of our lead generation clients. More categories and businesses are now eligible. As the screenshot below shows, Local Services Ads (the Google Guaranteed badge) can appear above standard search ads, so you can show higher on the page with this campaign type.
The appeal of these campaigns is that you pay per lead instead of per click, and they have often been less expensive than standard search ads, although costs vary by industry and area. Local Services Ads are a little harder to start, because you must submit business documents for verification and may need background checks. Still, they are worth testing for most lead generation businesses that are eligible.
Microsoft Advertising (Bing) has also worked well for many of our lead generation clients. The volume is much lower than Google’s, so it is a supplement rather than a main channel, just like Local Services Ads. But lower CPCs have helped many of our clients in home services and law generate leads at a reduced cost. Microsoft keeps adding features that help advertisers grow their campaigns, including AI-assisted tools and LinkedIn-based audience targeting, and it is worth including in any lead generation strategy.
Reach people at every stage of the marketing funnel
The marketing funnel represents the whole journey a person takes when choosing a product or service: awareness, consideration, conversion and loyalty. Many lead generation companies focus only on immediate results and overlook awareness. But the days when someone searched “carpet cleaner” and instantly clicked and called are less common than they used to be.
People now have a world of information at their fingertips and see ads on search engines, favorite websites, YouTube, streaming services and social feeds. One search for a carpet cleaning company can set off a chain of retargeting, so that the same person sees related ads on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. A single search can lead to many ad encounters before someone picks a provider.
To stay competitive, it is not enough to bid on terms like “carpet cleaning” in a search campaign. You need to remain visible to potential customers, or they will turn to a competitor. That is why brand awareness through lower-cost channels such as YouTube and display ads matters for lead generation. These channels can work like digital billboards at a fraction of the cost. When you build awareness in advance, customers are more likely to come directly to you when they are ready to buy, rather than comparing every result on the page.
Adapt your tactics as the platforms change
The digital advertising landscape has changed a great deal, and those shifts directly affect lead generation. Costs are rising, competition is stronger and platforms are moving from user control toward automation. Companies that depend on online advertising for leads need to recalibrate their tactics and strategy. Those that adapt will likely do well, while those that stand still may struggle to keep up.
If you want deeper insight on strengthening your lead generation and growing your business, SmartSites is here to help. With our experience in digital advertising and omni-channel planning, we identify the right mix of channels for your goals. Schedule a free discovery meeting today to see how we can serve you.
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