During the November 2025 onboarding call, The Cordwainer's Google Ads campaign was identified as a significant budget drain with poor return on investment. The account was paused by the client prior to engagement, and a full audit was queued as an early deliverable for [1] account.
The client reported that cost-per-click was high relative to results. Likely causes to investigate during audit:
- Overbidding on broad or highly competitive keywords
- Poor Quality Scores driving up effective CPC
- Lack of negative keyword lists allowing irrelevant traffic
- Bidding strategy misaligned with conversion goals
No visibility into current keyword set prior to audit. Suspected issues:
- Targeting overly generic terms (e.g., "memory care" without geographic modifiers) where large national aggregators dominate
- Missing long-tail, intent-rich queries (e.g., "memory care near Norwell MA," "dementia care facility South Shore")
The site's technical health at time of audit — security score 0/100, speed score 45/100 — would have negatively impacted Quality Scores and conversion rates, compounding poor ad performance. See [2].
Dynamic number insertion (DNI) via CallRail was active on the site, but the system was capturing fewer than 5 leads/month, with most calls being internal staff. This means lead attribution from ads was likely unreliable. DNI is flagged for disabling. See [3].
A live search performed during the onboarding call showed no paid ads appearing for relevant memory care queries in the target market (search conducted from Wisconsin; results may differ with a Boston-area VPN). This suggests:
- Competitors may have also pulled back on paid search
- Organic and Map Pack visibility may offer better ROI in this market
- If ads are reactivated, reduced competition could mean lower CPCs than historically experienced
The Cordwainer was ranking 4th in the Map Pack at time of call, behind one aggregator (sponsored) and two organic competitors. Improving Map Pack position is a higher-priority near-term lever than paid search. See [4].
Once Google Ads manager access is granted (via manager link sent to Erica Lathrop), the audit should cover:
Do not reactivate spend until:
- Website technical issues are resolved (speed, security) to improve landing page Quality Scores
- Conversion tracking is confirmed clean (CallRail DNI disabled or properly scoped)
- Audit findings are reviewed and a revised campaign structure is proposed
If the audit reveals the account is structurally sound but simply underfunded or mis-targeted, a revised campaign with tighter geo-targeting, stronger negative keyword lists, and a lower initial test budget ($500–$1,000/mo) may be worth piloting. If the competitive CPC environment makes paid search uneconomical, budget should be redirected to local SEO and Meta paid social.