The Importance of Tracking Conversions at Keyword Level

Charles Arellano

I have reached out to thousands of business owners over the past 5 years. To this day, I am still shocked to hear business owners admit to me that they don’t keep track of their conversions and that just as long as their phone is ringing and they are getting business then they’re okay with that. The majority of these business owners are not computer-savvy and don’t know how to install Google Conversion Tracking, Google Analytics or Call Tracking. The worst part is that they don’t have time to go on Google and search for step-by-step instructions, so they just rely on improving their campaigns based on clicks and impressions. It’s good to see that you are getting many clicks and that your CTR is fairly good. However, you are still in the blind when it comes to knowing the best keywords that are driving the most calls or online submitted forms.

This is like going out to sea fishing with a huge net at random times and using random bait. Yes, you will catch some fish (some small, some big) but you will also catch a lot of seaweed and trash. Once you install the right tracking tools and collect a good amount of data, you will be able to call yourself a true fisherman and know which are the best days, hours, locations, bait (keywords) to catch the specific fish you desire instead of only random ones.

Be the smart fisherman that knows the right time and location to cast your net!

Once you are tracking submitted forms and phones calls properly, your Google Ads Campaign will show you which keywords are getting you the most submitted forms and phone calls. It will also let you know which keywords are getting lots of clicks and no submitted forms or calls. Imagine what you can do with that data! You can filter out all the keywords that, despite their relevance, are just not cutting it because they are not getting you conversions. Now, you can re-adjust your bidding strategy to be more aggressive towards those better days, locations, time frames and top-performing keywords that are getting you the most calls, submitted forms and with a higher likelihood of converting into a paying customer.

Now that you’re on the right track, at the end of each month you will now be able to calculate how much you paid per lead. You will also be able to determine what your cost per acquisition is and, most importantly, you will finally know what your true return on your investment is. As long as you continue to track and optimize your campaign each month moving forward, you should be able to lower your cost per lead and increase your return on investment.

My last recommendation is: when tracking submitted forms, make sure that you create a Thank You page and track that page as a conversion. I noticed that some websites have Google Conversion Tracking installed but, when you fill out a contact form on their website and submit, it does not take you to a Thank You page.

Make sure that the only way to access the Thank You page is by submitting a form and redirecting to it.
This way, you can track the number of people that landed on it as Contact Form Submissions.

So what are you waiting for? Set up the proper tracking for your campaigns today! If you find that you simply don’t have the time to do it or you don’t know how and are too busy running your business to figure it out, then let us help you manage your Google Ads campaign with all the best practices and proper tracking. We offer a free Google Ads evaluation in order to help your business reach the next level with digital marketing. We’ll be happy to lend you a hand and help you grow.