A nationwide B2B security staffing company with 437 offices across all 50 states was generating leads at $174 each, and the true cost was even higher. Google Ads was double-counting leads, making performance look twice as good as reality. GCLID capture was only 15%, leaving the bidding algorithm flying blind, and offline leads were not tracked back into the platform. The account was also serving event-related searches (concerts, weddings) that produced one-night gigs instead of contracts, with all paid traffic landing on the homepage.
Fixed measurement first. Improved GCLID capture from 15% to 90%, set up enhanced conversions for every lead type (phone, form, chat, email) and imported offline qualified leads from the CRM as the primary conversion signal. Then overhauled the account: removed event-intent keywords, eliminated 23 irrelevant Fire Watch search terms, rewrote every RSA with credential-led copy (437 offices, same-day deployment, BBB A+), built a dedicated landing page with live chat, ran a structured A/B experiment against the homepage and moved bidding to Target CPA once the data was accurate.
Within 60 days, leads per week went from 54 to 82, CPL dropped from $174 to about $100, and conversion rate improved 40%. Over 16 months and 5,600+ CRM-verified leads, blended CPL held at $99.83. At the original rate, those leads would have cost $419,000 more.
