Google Ads & SEO Review — November 2025

Overview

Asymmetric reviewed BluePoint ATM's Google Ads campaigns and SEO progress in a working session with Wade Zirkle and Mike Stebbins (BluePoint) and Mark Hope and Melissa Cusumano (Asymmetric). The meeting covered campaign-by-campaign performance, the mechanics of Quality Score optimization, organic growth metrics, AI snippet capture, and next steps for CallRail implementation.

The overarching theme: campaigns are in a learning phase. The primary lever for reducing cost and increasing impression share is improving keyword Quality Scores, which in turn depends on tightening the alignment between keywords, ad copy, and landing page content.

Campaign Performance

PMAX (Performance Max)

• Top-of-funnel campaign combining search, display, and YouTube inventory.
• High volume at low cost; useful for early data gathering but not conversion-focused.
• Decision: Scale back or pause within ~1 month to redirect budget toward higher-intent search campaigns.

Cashless Campaign

• CTR is above average (~5% is typical); the core problem is ad rank, not budget.
• 80% of impression share is lost due to poor rank — a direct consequence of low Quality Scores.
• Target CPA: ~$100 long-term.
• Action: Improve Quality Scores to raise rank and lower CPA. Do not increase budget yet.

Traditional ATM Campaign

• $6 CPC is unsustainable. Conversion rate is very low, indicating a landing page problem as well.
• Decision: Immediately reduce CPC target to ~$3. Continue pulling it down weekly until at a "dull roar." Wade indicated willingness to turn it off entirely if needed.
• Action: Melissa to flag landing page for content and conversion optimization.

Reverse ATM Campaign

• New landing page is still gaining traction with Google.
• Low volume is expected at this stage; CPC economics look healthy.
• Outlook: Performance expected to improve as the page builds authority. Possible future merge with Cashless campaign pending Quality Score review.

Quality Score Optimization

Mark walked through the Quality Score framework in detail. Key points:

• Google assigns a QS (1–10) per keyword based on ad relevance and landing page experience.
• QS directly multiplies or discounts effective CPC:
• QS 10 → ~50% discount on bid
• QS 5 → baseline (pay full bid)
• QS 1 → ~4× bid penalty
• Default QS at campaign launch is 5–6. Moving from 6→7 is achievable; above 7 requires sustained effort.
• Current state: BluePoint has keywords ranging from 3 to 8. Keywords scoring 3–5 are the immediate focus.

How to Improve QS

1. Update landing pages to include the target keyword with sufficient density, in headings, and with supporting images (with alt text).
2. Create dedicated landing pages for keyword clusters that don't fit the current page (e.g., a separate Reverse ATM landing page vs. Cashless).
3. Remove or negate keywords that are irrelevant or not worth the landing page investment.
4. Rule of thumb: Optimize each landing page for no more than ~5 keywords. Spreading across too many dilutes scores.

Keyword Spreadsheet Process

• Asymmetric will send BluePoint an updated keyword performance spreadsheet.
• BluePoint to review and flag each keyword: keep, optimize, or remove.
• Asymmetric will implement changes in Google Ads from the spreadsheet.

SEO Growth

Organic Traffic Metrics (June 2025 → November 2025)

Growth is driven primarily by blog content. The highest-impression pages are blog posts (e.g., "What is an ATM?" — 57k impressions; "Where to find the best ATM for sale" — 23k impressions).

AI Snippets Strategy

• BluePoint now appears in 26 AI-generated snippets (Google AI Overviews and similar).
• These are sourced from FAQ sections added to blog posts.
• When a user asks a question in Google or an AI tool, Google pulls the answer from a page that has explicitly answered it — making BluePoint the cited source.
• Strategy: Continue adding FAQs to all relevant pages and blog posts to capture more snippet positions.

Domain Rating

• Current DR: 29
• Target DR: 40s
• A higher DR improves ad rank independent of bid — meaning BluePoint can outrank competitors without outspending them.
• Method: Build high-quality backlinks through valuable, linkable content.

Content Strategy

Reverse ATM Explainer Video

• Embed the existing explainer video on all blog posts that discuss reverse ATMs or cashless solutions.
• The same video can appear on multiple pages; each placement earns SEO credit independently.

"Pennies Are Going Extinct" Article

• BluePoint identified a timely content opportunity: the penny shortage / penny elimination discussion connects directly to the need for cashless payment solutions.
• Process: BluePoint will provide an outline; Asymmetric will develop the full article.
• Goal: drive organic traffic and earn backlinks to improve Domain Rating.

Reverse ATM Section on Cashless Page

• Mike flagged that the main Cashless page lacks a clear "What is a Reverse ATM?" explanation.
• Action (BluePoint): Add a "What is a reverse ATM?" section to the main Cashless page.

CallRail Implementation

• Asymmetric has created a CallRail account for BluePoint.
• Decision pending: Dynamic number insertion (tracks ad source per session) vs. replacing the main business number with a CallRail number (comprehensive tracking across all channels).
• Next step: Asymmetric to send BluePoint a list of implementation questions to resolve the approach.

Competitor Research

Mark demonstrated the SpyFu tool for competitive keyword intelligence:

• Identify which keywords competitors (e.g., ReadyCreditCorp, GlobalPayments) are targeting organically and via paid search.
• View competitors' actual ad copy history.
• Use Venn diagram overlap to find: (a) keywords everyone is fighting over, (b) keywords a competitor owns that BluePoint isn't targeting yet.
• ReadyCreditCorp was noted as a fast-growing organic competitor worth monitoring.

Key Decisions

Action Items

Asymmetric

• [ ] Reduce Traditional ATM campaign CPC target to ~$3
• [ ] Send BluePoint updated keyword performance spreadsheet
• [ ] Send BluePoint CallRail implementation questions
• [ ] Review Traditional ATM landing page for conversion optimization
• [ ] Add search bar to blog index page

BluePoint

• [ ] Review keyword spreadsheet; flag each keyword as keep / optimize / remove
• [ ] Send Asymmetric outline for "pennies are going extinct" article
• [ ] Add "What is a reverse ATM?" section to main Cashless page

Attendees

Related

• ^[1]
• ^[2]
• ^[3]