Set up conversion tracking for the quote form, calls from your ads and taps on your number, then judge keywords by cost per enquiry after a month rather than by clicks.

Clicks are not customers

Plenty of small AdWords accounts measure one thing: clicks. The monthly report shows clicks, cost per click and impressions, and the account is judged on whether those look healthy.

A click is a visit. It says nothing about whether the visitor phoned, sent the form or left within five seconds.

Without conversion tracking, nobody can tell which keywords bring enquiries. Spending drifts toward whatever gets clicked most, which is usually the broadest and cheapest searches.

AdWords has a free feature for exactly this, and many accounts set up years ago have never used it.

What counts as a conversion

The second is the one most trades and clinics miss. On a phone, many people call straight from the ad and never visit the site, so a form-only setup never sees them.

Setting up the form

The simplest method needs one thing: a separate thank-you page that people see only after sending the form.

In AdWords, under Tools, then Conversions, create a website conversion and place the code it gives you on that thank-you page, or add it through the site's Google Tag Manager container, if it has one.

If the site already records form submissions as a goal in Analytics, the two accounts can be linked and the goal imported instead.

A form that thanks people on the same page needs a different method, usually set up by your developer. Either way, send a test and check that it counts.

Setting up calls

Calls from the ad itself are counted through the call extension. With call reporting switched on, the ad shows a forwarding number, and AdWords can see each call and its length.

Set a minimum call length, by default a minute, so a wrong number or a hang-up is not counted as an enquiry.

Taps on the phone number on your own site are a separate conversion. AdWords supplies a small piece of code for the link, which counts each tap from a phone after an ad click.

Neither is perfect. A tap is not a finished call, and a short call may still be a booking. Together they are far closer to the truth than clicks.

Two settings worth checking

For enquiries, count one conversion per click. Someone who sends the form, then calls the same afternoon, is still one enquiry.

Keep the conversion window long enough for your trade. The default of 30 days suits most local services; work that takes longer to decide may need more.

And give each conversion a plain name, such as quote form or ad call, so the reports still make sense a month from now.

A worked example

A solar installer with two crews works across a valley region from an office in a small city. Its AdWords account had run for two years on a fixed monthly budget, judged by clicks.

The broad keyword solar panels took most of the clicks and most of the money. Searches for a solar installer with a town name got far fewer clicks, at a higher price each.

In January the installer added conversion tracking for the quote form's thank-you page, calls from the ad lasting a minute or more, and taps on the number on its mobile site.

After a month the picture was clear enough to act on. The quote requests and calls had come mostly from the installer and town keywords.

The broad keyword had brought visits from people pricing kits for cabins and students researching assignments, and almost no enquiries.

The installer moved most of that keyword's money to the ones producing enquiries, and added negative keywords such as kit, cheap and how to.

Reading the first month

After a month, add the conversion columns to the keywords report: conversions, cost per conversion and conversion rate.

Look first at keywords that spent heavily and produced nothing. Those are the easiest decisions in the account.

Then open the search terms report, which shows the actual searches behind the clicks. It usually explains why a keyword is wasting money.

Check devices too. In many local trades, phones bring calls and computers bring forms, and the bid adjustments for each can reflect that.

Small numbers mislead

A small account produces small numbers. After one month, a keyword with three enquiries and one with none may be no different in truth.

Act on the clear cases, such as heavy spending with nothing to show, and leave the close calls for another month of data.

Where single keywords have too few conversions to judge, look at the ad group. Twenty enquiries across a group say more than one each across twenty keywords.

What tracking cannot see

Some people see an ad, close it, and phone a week later from memory. Others ask a neighbour for the name and never click anything.

And some tracked conversions are not customers at all: a supplier, a job seeker, a sales call. A conversion is an enquiry, not a job.

So once a month, compare what AdWords reports with the enquiries the office actually received, and with the jobs those became.

The counter-case

Some accounts are too small to say much about individual keywords even with tracking. A few dozen clicks a month will take a long time to show a pattern.

Businesses whose customers mostly walk in, such as a restaurant, will see only part of the effect in conversions.

Tracking is still worth setting up in both cases, judged over longer periods and whole campaigns. It is a far better guide than clicks.

For any account spending real money, track forms and calls, and let a month of enquiries decide where the money goes.

Setting up tracking

  1. Check whether any conversions are recording now.
  2. Add a thank-you page if the form lacks one.
  3. Create a form conversion and place the code.
  4. Turn on call reporting in the call extension.
  5. Add tracking to the number on your site.
  6. Send a test enquiry and confirm it counts.
  7. Book a date a month away to read the results.

Step four is the one that changes most local accounts. The call from the ad is often the most valuable result there is, and without it the account undercounts what is working.

Checking the ads themselves is covered in AdWords stops accepting the old text ads today.

Frequently asked questions

Why is click data not enough?

A click is a visit. It says nothing about whether the visitor phoned, sent the form or left, so spending drifts toward the broadest, most clicked searches.

How do I track form enquiries?

Send people to a separate thank-you page after the form, and place the AdWords conversion code there, or import an existing Analytics goal instead.

Can AdWords count phone calls?

Yes. Call reporting counts calls from the call extension with a minimum length, and a separate code counts taps on the number on your site from phones.

How should conversions be counted for enquiries?

One per click. Someone who sends the form and then calls the same afternoon is still one enquiry, and counting both inflates the results.

When should I read the results?

After a month. Add the conversion columns to the keywords report, look first at keywords that spent heavily with nothing to show, then check search terms.

Is tracking worth it for a tiny account?

Yes, judged over longer periods and whole campaigns rather than single keywords. Even sparse enquiry data is a better guide than clicks alone.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

AdWords account judged only by clicks?

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