Paid acquisition

Optimising for clicks buys you traffic that was never going to buy.

The platforms optimise for what you feed them. Feed them clicks and you get clicks. The whole job is getting qualified-lead data back into the system so it can optimise for the thing you actually want.

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How we do it

5 steps, in this order.

  1. 1Define a qualified leadIn writing, agreed with sales. Everything downstream is guesswork until this exists.
  2. 2Fix the tracking firstClick IDs captured, stored, and sent back on conversion. Without this the platform is optimising blind.
  3. 3Restructure around intentCampaigns grouped by what the searcher wants, not by what your product team calls things.
  4. 4Send conversions backOffline conversion upload so the platform learns from qualified leads instead of form fills.
  5. 5Cut ruthlesslyNegative keywords, placements, audiences. Most accounts are carrying spend nobody has questioned in a year.

What you end up with

  • A written qualified-lead definition sales has agreed to
  • Click ID capture and offline conversion export, implemented
  • Restructured campaigns and ad copy
  • A negative keyword and placement pass
  • Reporting on cost per qualified lead, not cost per click

Questions this answers

What people ask before they call.

How do I send offline conversions from HubSpot to Google Ads?

Capture the click ID on the form, store it on the contact, and send a conversion back when the lead reaches the stage sales cares about, usually a qualified deal rather than a form fill. Enhanced conversions for leads can match on hashed email when the click ID is missing.

Why are our Google Ads leads junk?

Because the platform optimises for whatever you report as a conversion. If a form fill counts, it finds more form fills, including spam. Write a qualified-lead definition sales agrees to, send that event back as the conversion, and the bidding starts chasing the right people.

Should B2B SaaS optimise for cost per lead or cost per qualified lead?

Cost per qualified lead. Cost per lead rewards cheap volume that sales ignores. Once qualified-lead conversions flow back to the ad platform, you can compare campaigns on what they add to the pipeline and cut the spend that only ever produced form fills.

What is the first thing to fix in a B2B Google Ads account?

Tracking, before bids or copy. If the account cannot tell which clicks became qualified leads, every optimisation after that is guesswork. Check that click IDs are captured and stored, that conversions fire at the right stage, and that the negative keyword list has been reviewed recently.

Updated

Copy this into your agent

Work out what a qualified lead actually is

The definition is the thing most accounts are missing, and no amount of bid tuning substitutes for it.

I am spending on paid acquisition and I am not confident the leads are any good. Work through this with me one step at a time.

1. Ask me what we sell, the typical deal, and how long the sales cycle runs.

2. Help me write a qualified-lead definition that sales would actually agree to. Push back if my first attempt is really just "filled in a form".

3. Ask me what happens to a lead between the form fill and the first sales conversation, and tell me where in that path the data is being lost.

4. Tell me what I need to capture at click time, store, and send back to the ad platform so it can optimise for qualified leads rather than form fills. Be specific about what breaks if any piece is missing.

5. Ask me how my campaigns are currently grouped, and tell me whether that structure matches buyer intent or our internal product names.

6. Give me the five questions I should ask my sales team this week that would tell me whether my spend is working.

Where you are guessing about my funnel, say so instead of guessing.
Works in Claude, or whatever you already use.

The other five

PositioningNobody can repeat what you do. LaunchLaunch day is covered. Week two isn't. SEO & contentContent is a backlog nobody owns. Lead generationThere's no repeatable way new leads arrive. Marketing opsYou can't join spend to pipeline.

Tell us what you’re trying to move.

Fifteen minutes, no deck, no prep. If it isn’t a fit we’ll say so on the call and point you somewhere better.

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