Google search campaign starting out

Monterey933

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I'm running a Google ad campaign, it's one that I ran for years before Google changed it's algorithm and then eventually blocked my account. When I first ran the campaign it was very easy to get started I just did "Pest control" and set up a conversion action for phone calls. Google got this done and got me tons of calls within the first few hours and my conversion action knew what it was doing. However, after the Google changes and suspension of my original account I'm trying to get this campaign up and running again with Google ads. Except, I think the issue that I'm having now is that Google doesn't know what a conversion action is and because the broad match / search intent is now king, it doesn't actually know what kind of traffic to send me. Thus, I get tons of clicks for "pest control" because there is like 10,000 a day, but the ones I get are low cost and low intent clicks and I don't get any conversions.

I've tried doing this on exact match keywords, [call pest control], as an example, but all those keywords inevitably lead back to the search term "pest control". Which I think would be totally fine if Google had just a few conversions and knew what a conversion for me and my account was. But unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it there and it just keeps overspending my budget.

I've tried doing portfolio bidding with a minimum bid amount that is rather high, thus I am in more competitive auctions instead of what likely would be junk traffic. I've also tried doing a high CPA and it just doesn't do anything or totally over spends everything. Nothing has really worked for this. I think the solution would be to get Google as many conversion actions as possible, but this is seeming to be impossible at this time. Not sure what other approaches to take? How can I just really push Google to get those first few conversions?
 
Check what you were doing with the banned account and replicate it 1:1.
Think you already answered it for yourself, let it run until some conversions are achieved and just monitor for low quality keywords, exclude them.
 
I'm running a Google ad campaign, it's one that I ran for years before Google changed it's algorithm and then eventually blocked my account. When I first ran the campaign it was very easy to get started I just did "Pest control" and set up a conversion action for phone calls. Google got this done and got me tons of calls within the first few hours and my conversion action knew what it was doing. However, after the Google changes and suspension of my original account I'm trying to get this campaign up and running again with Google ads. Except, I think the issue that I'm having now is that Google doesn't know what a conversion action is and because the broad match / search intent is now king, it doesn't actually know what kind of traffic to send me. Thus, I get tons of clicks for "pest control" because there is like 10,000 a day, but the ones I get are low cost and low intent clicks and I don't get any conversions.

I've tried doing this on exact match keywords, [call pest control], as an example, but all those keywords inevitably lead back to the search term "pest control". Which I think would be totally fine if Google had just a few conversions and knew what a conversion for me and my account was. But unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it there and it just keeps overspending my budget.

I've tried doing portfolio bidding with a minimum bid amount that is rather high, thus I am in more competitive auctions instead of what likely would be junk traffic. I've also tried doing a high CPA and it just doesn't do anything or totally over spends everything. Nothing has really worked for this. I think the solution would be to get Google as many conversion actions as possible, but this is seeming to be impossible at this time. Not sure what other approaches to take? How can I just really push Google to get those first few conversions?
classic post-suspension issue. Google basically resets all your learning so it’s like starting from scratch. Best move in my opinion is set up a really simple call only campaign with "tight geos " and exact match, just run it manually for a bit, just to kind of force a few real conversions in and i mean once you got 5–10 legit calls tracked then slowly swiitch to tCPA. But don’t let it automate too early or it’ll just burn your budget on trash clicks so you gotta be careful.
 
classic post-suspension issue. Google basically resets all your learning so it’s like starting from scratch. Best move in my opinion is set up a really simple call only campaign with "tight geos " and exact match, just run it manually for a bit, just to kind of force a few real conversions in and i mean once you got 5–10 legit calls tracked then slowly swiitch to tCPA. But don’t let it automate too early or it’ll just burn your budget on trash clicks so you gotta be careful.
Yes, it's exactly the issue - learning completely gone. Thus, old keywords, bids, and search terms, not working anything like they used to on the old account. I've tried going around my money keyword to see if I can come back to it later when Google has it's learning, but even this is costing me a bunch and not getting me enough conversions to make this work. I'm thinking next of trying a phrase match only ad group with all "call" intents (Ie. "call pest control") for the purposes that it understands call conversions and learns all that. Then I can go back into my money KW and it will know based off of the learning.
 
I'm running a Google ad campaign, it's one that I ran for years before Google changed it's algorithm and then eventually blocked my account. When I first ran the campaign it was very easy to get started I just did "Pest control" and set up a conversion action for phone calls. Google got this done and got me tons of calls within the first few hours and my conversion action knew what it was doing. However, after the Google changes and suspension of my original account I'm trying to get this campaign up and running again with Google ads. Except, I think the issue that I'm having now is that Google doesn't know what a conversion action is and because the broad match / search intent is now king, it doesn't actually know what kind of traffic to send me. Thus, I get tons of clicks for "pest control" because there is like 10,000 a day, but the ones I get are low cost and low intent clicks and I don't get any conversions.

I've tried doing this on exact match keywords, [call pest control], as an example, but all those keywords inevitably lead back to the search term "pest control". Which I think would be totally fine if Google had just a few conversions and knew what a conversion for me and my account was. But unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it there and it just keeps overspending my budget.

I've tried doing portfolio bidding with a minimum bid amount that is rather high, thus I am in more competitive auctions instead of what likely would be junk traffic. I've also tried doing a high CPA and it just doesn't do anything or totally over spends everything. Nothing has really worked for this. I think the solution would be to get Google as many conversion actions as possible, but this is seeming to be impossible at this time. Not sure what other approaches to take? How can I just really push Google to get those first few conversions?

✅ Fix Strategy:​


1.​


  • Track soft actions: click “Call Now” buttons, time on page, view contact page.
  • Set as Primary Conversion temporarily to help Google learn.

2.​


  • Use high-intent keywords: [pest control near me], [emergency pest control].
  • No Smart Bidding yet.
  • Target tightly by location and business hours.

3.​


  • Use Call-Only ads or strong call extensions.
  • Only count calls over 60 seconds.
  • Use clear, urgent copy like: “Call now – fast pest control near you.”

4.​


  • Switch to Smart Bidding (Maximize Conversions or Target CPA).
  • Open up to broad match.
  • Let Google optimize based on real conversion data.



Don’ts:​


  • Don’t use Broad Match + Smart Bidding with no conversions.
  • Don’t set a high CPA without solid conversion volume.


 
I'm running a Google ad campaign, it's one that I ran for years before Google changed it's algorithm and then eventually blocked my account. When I first ran the campaign it was very easy to get started I just did "Pest control" and set up a conversion action for phone calls. Google got this done and got me tons of calls within the first few hours and my conversion action knew what it was doing. However, after the Google changes and suspension of my original account I'm trying to get this campaign up and running again with Google ads. Except, I think the issue that I'm having now is that Google doesn't know what a conversion action is and because the broad match / search intent is now king, it doesn't actually know what kind of traffic to send me. Thus, I get tons of clicks for "pest control" because there is like 10,000 a day, but the ones I get are low cost and low intent clicks and I don't get any conversions.

I've tried doing this on exact match keywords, [call pest control], as an example, but all those keywords inevitably lead back to the search term "pest control". Which I think would be totally fine if Google had just a few conversions and knew what a conversion for me and my account was. But unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it there and it just keeps overspending my budget.

I've tried doing portfolio bidding with a minimum bid amount that is rather high, thus I am in more competitive auctions instead of what likely would be junk traffic. I've also tried doing a high CPA and it just doesn't do anything or totally over spends everything. Nothing has really worked for this. I think the solution would be to get Google as many conversion actions as possible, but this is seeming to be impossible at this time. Not sure what other approaches to take? How can I just really push Google to get those first few conversions?
Sounds frustrating! Have you considered tweaking your landing page to better qualify leads? Sometimes that can help improve conversion rates even with broader traffic.
 
yeah, i think controlling the traffic first is better than just pushing for more conversions and check the search terms remove irrelevant ones and use more specific keywords and once Google gets some good or enough data it can be understand better what type of traffic you need.
 
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