If you have ever run Google Ads hoping for steady enquiries but ended up paying for clicks that led nowhere, you are not alone. Many Australian businesses still treat Google Ads as a traffic tool instead of a genuine lead generation system. At Volcano Marketing, a digital marketing agency in Sydney that focuses on performance-driven campaigns, we see this issue often during audits. A campaign might look busy with clicks and impressions, yet the phone barely rings. Traffic is easy to buy, but real leads require strategy. With the right setup, your campaign can turn into a predictable source of enquiries instead of a drain on your budget.
Many businesses assume that a high number of clicks means the campaign is performing well, but clicks alone rarely tell the full story. The real measure of success is how many people take action after visiting your website. Looking at your campaign through the lens of lead generation helps you make smarter decisions, avoid wasted spend and focus on the visitors who are genuinely looking for your service.
Clicks can be deceiving. A campaign may attract hundreds of visitors, but if they are the wrong people, it will never translate into enquiries.
People click for all sorts of reasons. Some are comparing businesses, some are researching DIY solutions and others simply tap an ad by accident on their phone. Broad keywords make this worse by attracting users who have no intention of contacting a business.
For example, a plumber targeting “water leak” will attract renters checking for responsibilities, DIY enthusiasts reading tutorials, homeowners browsing out of curiosity and only a small portion who actually need a professional.
Clicks show curiosity. Conversions show real intent. The sooner you shift your focus to the latter, the faster your campaign becomes efficient.
Many business owners naturally aim to lower their cost per click, but cheaper traffic often brings lower intent. A smaller pool of high-quality leads will outperform a large pool of cheap, unqualified visitors every time.
A campaign built for conversions stops wasting money on people who were never going to take action in the first place.
Google Ads allows you to optimise for different outcomes, and choosing the wrong one can completely change your results.
If you ask the platform to chase clicks, Google will find the cheapest traffic available, even if those users are not likely to contact you. A lead-focused campaign must use conversion-based goals so Google understands what outcome matters.
How you structure your campaign determines how efficiently Google can find people who are ready to enquire. A clear setup ensures your budget is spent on the right users from the start, giving the system the signals it needs to optimise properly. This is where many campaigns fail, not because of the service being advertised, but because the campaign is built for clicks rather than conversions.
Your campaign type determines where your ads appear and how much control you have over targeting.
Search campaigns are still the strongest option for lead generation because they capture people actively looking for your service. They offer precise control over keywords, negative keywords and bidding, making them ideal for businesses that need consistent enquiries.
PMax works best once you already have conversion data. It uses machine learning to find leads across Search, Maps, YouTube, Display, Gmail and other channels. It can widen your reach without sacrificing quality, especially once the system learns what kind of user becomes a good lead.
Regardless of the campaign type, choose ‘Leads’ as your main objective so Google optimises for enquiries instead of traffic.
Good targeting ensures your ads are shown to people within your service area who are genuinely interested.
Instead of blanketing a whole state, focus on the suburbs or postcodes you truly service. For example, a Sydney electrician based on the Northern Beaches might not want to pay for clicks from Western Sydney. Tightening the map helps you stay visible where leads are more likely to convert.
Choosing “People in or regularly in your selected locations” prevents irrelevant interstate or overseas clicks. Excluding suburbs that historically deliver low-quality leads also helps keep your budget efficient.
Audience signals guide Google’s learning. They do not restrict your reach, but they help the system identify similar users who are more likely to convert. Useful signals include:
These signals strengthen Google’s understanding of who your ideal customer is.
Your ad copy should speak directly to people who are ready to enquire, not those who are simply browsing.
Curiosity-driven ads might get clicks, but they rarely get enquiries. Action-focused ads attract people who genuinely want to contact you.
Without conversion tracking, Google Ads becomes guesswork. The platform cannot optimise for leads if it cannot identify what a lead looks like.
Many businesses forget to track mobile calls, which can be a major source of conversions in Australia.
It is common to see campaigns where page views are counted as conversions or where the same action is tracked twice. Some businesses also forget to track actions from a third-party booking system.
Accurate tracking is essential because Google uses this data to find more people who behave like your best leads.
Once your campaign is running, the goal shifts to refining your audience, improving your conversion rate and reducing wasted spend. Optimisation is not about drastic changes; it is about steady, informed adjustments based on real data. This is how you increase lead quality and bring your cost per lead down over time.
Smart bidding works well when the system has enough data to learn from.
One mistake we see often is frequent budget changes. When you change your budget too aggressively, it resets Google’s learning period. Gradual adjustments keep your campaign stable.
Your landing page plays a bigger role in lead generation than most people realise. Even strong ads cannot convert visitors if the page confuses them or makes them work too hard.
For example, we have seen conversion rates jump significantly just by reducing a six-field form to three essential fields. Small improvements make a big difference.
Google Ads works best when you review and adjust regularly.
These checks help you eliminate wasted spend early.
Monthly reviews should look at bigger patterns. This includes landing page behaviour, lead quality feedback from your admin or sales team, seasonal keyword changes and overall cost per lead trends. You should also assess whether your bidding strategy still suits your goals.
Small monthly improvements compound over time and significantly strengthen your results.
A successful Google Ads campaign is built on clear goals, thoughtful setup and consistent optimisation. When your targeting, tracking and ad messaging work together, your campaign stops chasing empty clicks and starts generating high-quality enquiries. At Volcano Marketing, we use this approach every day to help Australian businesses turn Google Ads into a reliable and predictable source of leads.
