Many local service clients struggle to track their success with Google Ads and understand the quality of leads generated. Some still use outdated methods to measure their campaign performance.
This article explores three ways to effectively track the performance of your Google Ads lead generation campaigns for local service clients, including:
Standard contact form tracking. Phone number tracking. Call assets.
We’ll also discuss specific solutions such as landing page optimization, leveraging Google Click ID (GCLID), integrating with Zapier, and using call tracking tools like CallRail.
3 Key Tracking Methods for Local Service Companies
Here are three main methods for tracking the performance of your Google Ads lead generation campaigns for local services:
Standard contact form tracking
We’ve noticed that most of our agency clients’ websites are not optimized for conversions. Essentials like clear call-to-action buttons or prominently displayed above-the-fold phone numbers are often missing. This lack of optimization hinders the ability to effectively follow up on leads. If the design and navigability are easy for the customer or prospect, you’ll have a much better chance of converting.
Phone number tracking
Most businesses use their primary phone number as their marketing number. Reliance on a single business number for all calls is a common problem, making it difficult to attribute calls to specific digital marketing efforts. This approach dilutes the impact of our advertising strategies, as each caller dials the same number.
Call assets
With call resources, you can add unique phone numbers to campaigns or accounts, allowing you to track calls from specific campaigns or keywords. This method significantly improves your understanding of campaign performance and can help you understand the value of calls coming directly from the SERPs.
Go deeper: Google Ads for lead generation: 9 tips for scaling low-cost campaigns
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Solutions for improved tracking in Google Ads
To improve the accuracy of tracking and evaluating lead quality, consider implementing these various strategies:
Landing page optimization
Our first step is to make sure landing pages or websites have form fields and phone numbers clearly visible above the fold.
In some cases, you can leverage Unbounce, a no-code template-based landing page builder, to design conversion-optimized landing pages.
Unbounce allows us to include forms with customer contact information and service requirements, enhancing direct customer engagement. They also create a responsive landing page that will change based on the device.
Using GCLID
A crucial element of our strategy is to use the Google Click Identifier (GCLID). Capturing the GCLID on form submissions allows us to track conversions to the originating keyword, providing a granular view of potential sources.
The beauty of the GCLID is that it can be imported back into Google Ads using offline conversions. Offline conversions are great ways to track deeper customer metrics as they move through the funnel.
For example, someone who submits a form might fill out the form but need to be qualified by a sales rep, move to a quote or demo, submit a contract, and close.
All these points are important, right? Wouldn’t it be great if Google had visibility into these conversions? If so, you could optimize towards a group or these individual goals.
What I like about Unbounce is that by creating a hidden field in the form fill and naming it GCLID, the form is smart enough to activate the GCLID session without coding anything.
Dig deeper: Offline conversion tracking: 7 best practices and strategies to test
Integration with Zapier
Zapier is a tool for connecting two or more platforms using APIs. It’s powerful because most mainstream technology platforms have APIs that can be plugged into.
Connecting Unbounce to Zapier automates the transfer of form submission details, including the GCLID, to customers and back to Google Ads for conversion tracking. This setup only streamlines the process and enriches conversion data by linking customer actions directly to specific ads.
When you look at Google campaigns, you can segment all conversion actions to the level you want. Whenever you click Segment > Conversion > Conversion Action, you’ll see all offline conversions at the campaign, ad group, or keyword level.
Call tracking with CallRail
To address the limitations of phone number tracking, we partner with CallRail, a leading call tracking solution. CallRail’s seamless integration with Google Ads and Zapier makes it easy to fully track calls, marking phone inquiries as conversions and triggering email notifications for incoming calls linked to our marketing campaigns.
The easiest way to track is to put a unique phone number on your landing page and call extensions in Google Ads. If you receive a phone call, you can track it and listen to the call recording. Also, if the call originated in Google Ads, you can make it trigger a conversion.
Advanced setup is also relatively simple and straightforward. With a little bit of code, you can create a dynamic phone number insert. This means that the CallRail numbers can change depending on the origin of the session (Meta, Google, Google Business Profile). This will help you understand the impact of your overall marketing strategy.
Increase your marketing impact with advanced Google Ads tracking
By adopting these advanced tracking methods, you can significantly improve the transparency and effectiveness of Google Ads campaigns for local service clients.
These techniques improve measurement and optimization while helping clients understand the direct impact of their digital marketing investments.
Using technology partners like Unbounce, Zapier, and CallRail can greatly improve your understanding of marketing impact and significantly increase channel performance.
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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