Skaalen Google Ads Performance — March 2026

Overview

March 2026 Google Ads performance for ^[1] showed a dip in clicks and spend compared to February, but efficiency metrics remained strong. Analysis points to a seasonal decline in search volume — not a structural ad problem — compounded by the deliberate pause of the Competitor campaign.

Discussed during the ^[2].

Key Metrics

Metric	Assessment
Clicks	Down vs. February
Spend	Down vs. February
Cost Per Click (CPC)	Low — efficient
Interaction Rate	High — ads performing well
Organic Search Traffic	Up 35% month-over-month
Paid Traffic	Down (Competitor campaign paused)

What Happened

Competitor Campaign Paused

The primary driver of reduced spend was the deliberate pause of the Competitor campaign by Mark Hope. The campaign was yielding low clicks and was not cost-effective, so pausing it was the right call. This accounts for most of the cost decrease and should not be interpreted as overall ad underperformance.

Seasonal Search Volume Dip

The remaining click decline is consistent with a seasonal pattern. The hypothesis — raised by both the Skaalen team and Asymmetric — is that fewer people are actively searching for senior living options in late winter/early spring (the "snowbird" effect: families with elderly relatives may be less urgently searching during this period).

Supporting evidence:
- Interaction rate remained high, meaning people who did see the ads engaged with them at a strong rate.
- CPC remained low, meaning the budget was spent efficiently on the impressions that did occur.
- Clicks began trending upward at the end of March, suggesting April may show recovery.

"What we did spend was spent efficiently… it comes down to more of a search volume type of thing — just not as many people searching or clicking." — Sebastian Gant

Post-Snowstorm Spike (March 17)

Dawn Zaemisch noted an observable uptick in clicks on the Monday/Tuesday following the March 16 snowstorm. This is anecdotal but consistent with the pattern that weather events prompt people to reconsider living arrangements for elderly family members.

Campaign Breakdown

Branded campaigns drove the highest click-through volume (271 clicks).
Retirement-focused campaigns contributed ~60 clicks; keyword expansion in this area is planned per Mark Hope's OKR work.
Senior Living / Assisted Living keywords (e.g., "senior living facilities," "assisted living Stoughton," "dementia care facility near me") showed solid average position rankings.
The blog post targeting "When to Move to Memory Care" was pulling organic search traffic, validating the content strategy.

SEO Context

Kris Krentz raised a concern about search ranking after receiving a cold-outreach solicitation email claiming Skaalen ranked poorly on certain keywords. Key context:

Search results are highly personalized by location, device, time of day, and search history — a single result screenshot is not representative.
Asymmetric's SEO work is gaining traction in AI search tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude). Skaalen is appearing as a reference source for topics like "continuum of care," which is an increasingly important discovery channel as users shift away from traditional Google search.
The keywords cited in the solicitation email will be analyzed by Melissa Cusumano to identify any genuine optimization opportunities.

Conclusions & Recommendations

No action needed on ad structure. High interaction rate and low CPC confirm the campaigns are set up well. The dip is external (volume), not internal (quality).
Monitor April closely. The end-of-March uptick suggests recovery. April data will confirm whether this was truly seasonal.
Competitor campaign remains paused. Correct decision given low ROI. Revisit if competitive landscape shifts.
Continue blog and content investment. AI search referencing is a real and growing channel; the "Continuum of Care" blog update is in progress and directly supports this.
Keyword analysis from solicitation email. Melissa to review and surface any gaps worth addressing.

^[3]
^[2]
^[4]
^[5]