Google Ads
When a broker's Google Ads stop working, look after the click
The ad is rarely the part that fails. The funnel runs search, ad, page, details, conversion, and when a broker campaign stalls, the break is usually at the page, the tracking or the compliance review. How to find which link broke in yours.
Rebecca TicknerMFAA member & finance broker · founder, WeCompound
Published 5 min read
Topics: Google Ads, Conversion tracking, Landing pages, Framework
When a mortgage broker's Google Ads are not working, the ad is usually not the problem. The break is after the click: a page that does not match the search, an account counting things that are not enquiries, or a compliance review that pulled the copy. Walk the funnel in order and fix the first broken link.
Brokers tend to blame the ad because the ad is the part they can see. I read the account first, because the account shows where the person stopped.
The funnel.
Five links, and the ad only owns one of them
- 01
Search
Hands on
A person with a specific question
Breaks when
The account is buying searches that were never going to settle, such as jobs, courses or another broker's name.
Look at
The search terms report, then the negative keyword lists.
- 02
Adthe part the ad owns
Hands on
The same question, now a click
Breaks when
One ad is written for every search, so it fits none of them closely.
Look at
Ad strength and ad relevance on the keywords, ad group by ad group.
- 03
Page
Hands on
The question answered, one next step
Breaks when
The click lands on the homepage, which answers everything except what was searched.
Look at
The Landing pages report, and the page itself on your own phone.
- 04
Details
Hands on
A name and a way to reach them
Breaks when
The form reads like a fact find, so people stop halfway.
Look at
The form on a phone, counted field by field.
- 05
Conversion
Hands on
A record the account can learn from
Breaks when
The account counts page views or button taps as conversions, so it learns to buy more of them.
Look at
Goals, then the conversion actions marked primary.
Compliance, around the ad and the page
Copy gets marked up after launch, or ads cannot serve until the verification is done.
Look at
Your aggregator's approval email, and the verification status in the Google Ads account.
The funnel#
Every Google Ads campaign is a chain. A person searches, sees the ad, lands on a page, leaves their details, and the account records a conversion. Each link hands the next one a person, and the ad only owns one of them.
That is why rewriting the ad so rarely fixes a campaign that has stalled. If the page loses people, a better ad sends more people to the same page that is losing them.
From the post.
“Search on Google → click the ad → land on a page that matches what you searched → enter your details → conversion.”
The page#
The third link is usually where the damage happens. The ad gives the search back to the person, and the click lands on a homepage that talks about everything else. The person was one tap from an enquiry and is now one tap from the back button.
Google rates landing page experience as one of the three components of Quality Score, and the Landing pages report in your account shows the pages your ads send traffic to. If every ad group lands on the same address, you have found your break. The full argument, with a calculator for what the page is worth on your numbers, is in the note on landing pages.
The tracking#
The fifth link decides what the account learns. Google splits conversion actions into primary and secondary: primary actions are used for bidding, and secondary ones are for observation only. Whatever sits in the primary set is what the account goes and buys more of.
Put a page view or a tap on the phone number in that set and the account will report a healthy cost per conversion while the enquiries dry up. Nothing looks broken from the dashboard. The split between a genuine conversion and a click recorded as one is in what Google Ads actually costs a broker.
Count each enquiry action once per click, not every time it fires. A borrower who fills in the form and then rings is one enquiry to you, and counting both teaches the account that a page which makes people do it twice is working.
The account is doing exactly what it was told to count, and that is the problem.
The compliance review#
The last break is the one brokers do not see coming. An ad that ran well for a month gets marked up by the aggregator's compliance team, the replacement is written in a hurry, and the replacement is weaker. Or the account cannot serve at all, because Google asks advertisers of financial services in Australia to complete its verification first.
ASIC's advertising guide lists paid search results among the forms internet advertising takes. RG 234.172 asks promoters to take special care with headline claims where space is limited and the look of the listing is not in their control, and RG 234.173 says a click through to more information cannot be used to correct a misleading overall impression. So the ad and the page each have to stand up on their own.
A responsive search ad also assembles itself from your headlines and descriptions, so a qualifying line in a description is not certain to show beside the headline it qualifies. Write every headline so it is safe on its own, and send the whole set to compliance before it runs rather than after.
Find your broken link#
Answer the six questions below with the account open in another tab. They follow the funnel in order and stop at the first link that is not a clear yes, because fixing a later link while an earlier one is broken is money spent downstream of the leak.
If the break is at the page, the calculator opens underneath on your own numbers. If every link holds, the remaining questions are budget and time, and those are in the note on what Google Ads costs a broker.
Your account.
Find the broken link
Six questions, in the order a person travels the funnel. Answer with the account open. The first link that is not a clear yes is the one to fix first.
- 1SearchChecking
- 2AdTo check
- 3PageTo check
- 4DetailsTo check
- 5ConversionTo check
- 6ComplianceTo check
Link 1 of 6: Search
Open the search terms report for the last 30 days. Are most of those searches ones you would happily take a call from?
Where to look
The search terms report, then the negative keyword lists.
A checklist for reading your own account, not an assessment of it. Nothing you answer is stored or sent anywhere.
Or have it read for you.
The complimentary Google Ads audit
Give one Google account read only access and I read the search terms, the ad groups, where each one lands and what the account counts as a conversion. You get a written report of where it breaks and what I would fix first.
Get the complimentary Google Ads auditRelated tool.
What the page your ads land on is worth
The landing page calculator prices the gap between two conversion rates on your own spend and cost per click, and turns it into modelled settlements for the loan type.
Open the landing page calculatorCommon questions
Because the break is after the click. The page the ads land on may not match what people searched, the form may ask for too much, or the account may be counting something other than enquiries and buying more of the wrong clicks. Check the landing page first: if every ad group sends people to the homepage, start there.