Fixing a Stalled Paid Search Account Without a Bigger Budget
Industry: B2B Managed Services (Mid-Market)
Channel: Google Search (Non-Brand)
Engagement type: Mid-flight account takeover, restructure, and optimization
The Challenge
We inherited a Non-Brand Search campaign mid-flight for a managed services client targeting mid-market companies with meaningful cloud infrastructure spend. The offer was a free assessment designed to generate qualified sales conversations.
The account we took over had no negative keyword hygiene, an ad group structure that didn't reflect actual buyer intent, and a keyword list that hadn't been revisited since launch. Conversions were trickling in, but cost per conversion was high and climbing, and there was no clear read on which terms were actually working.
The Approach
Rather than requesting more budget to force volume, we focused on structural efficiency:
- Rebuilt ad groups around distinct intent clusters instead of a flat, undifferentiated structure
- Deployed a negative keyword list to cut spend on low-intent and irrelevant queries
- Expanded the keyword list based on the search terms that were already converting, rather than guessing at new themes
By the end of the following month, the results were clear…
Results
+233%
Increased conversions
-66%
Decreased cost/conv.
-25%
Lowered CPC
+22%
Increased impressions
+52%
Increased clicks
Why This Matters
The most important number in this table isn't the conversion lift, it's the impression share. It stayed flat, capped under 10% the entire time, meaning none of these gains came from spending more. They came from spending the same budget on the right terms, in the right structure, without waste.
A 233% increase in conversions and a 66% drop in cost per conversion, on a fixed budget, is what account structure and keyword discipline look like when they're done right. It's the difference between throwing more money at a channel and actually understanding it.
Takeaway
When a paid search account underperforms, the instinct is often to ask for more budget. In this case, the fix wasn't more spend, it was cleaning up what was already there: cutting waste, organizing around real intent, and expanding only where the data pointed. The result was a leaner, more efficient account that converted at a fraction of the previous cost, in a single month.