Why Google Search ads get clicks but no enquiries

The report said the campaign was doing well. Clicks were up, the cost per click was reasonable, and the ads were showing near the top of the page. The owner read it twice, then looked at the inbox, which had roughly the same number of enquiries as the month before.

If that sounds familiar, the cause is usually in one of five places.

Clicks aren't the thing anyone wanted. They're the step before it.

Search is usually the most direct way to reach people who are already looking for what a business offers. When a Search campaign is busy but the phone isn't, the gap is rarely about how many clicks there are. It's about which clicks, and what happens to them.

Where a Search campaign loses enquiries

• The searches it shows for aren't from people looking to buy.
• The ad says one thing and the page after the click says another.
• The ads show at times or in places the business can't serve.
• The account is counting clicks or visits, not enquiries.
• Enquiries arrive but go nowhere after the click.

Searches that were never going to enquire

A Search campaign doesn't show for keywords. It shows for searches, and the two aren't the same list. A campaign built around "plumber" can end up showing for people researching how to become one, looking up a plumbing supplier, or checking what a job should cost before doing it themselves.

Each of those clicks is real, and each one costs the same as a click from someone with a leaking pipe. Only one kind was ever likely to call.

You can see this by reading the search terms report line by line and asking, for each search, whether that person was likely to become a customer.

The ad and the page don't agree

Someone searches for emergency service on a Sunday, sees an ad that says exactly that, and clicks. The page they land on is the homepage, with a general welcome, a list of services and opening hours that say Monday to Friday.

Nothing on that page is wrong. It just isn't the page the ad promised, so the person leaves and the enquiry goes to whoever's page matched.

You can check this by reading each ad next to the page it leads to, the way someone arriving from that search would.

Showing where, or when, nobody can help

A business that serves three suburbs can find its ads showing across a whole city. One that closes at five can find its ads running at nine at night, sending calls to a phone nobody answers until the morning.

Clicks at those times and places often look cheap, because fewer businesses are competing for them. That's usually the reason they're cheap.

You can see this in the reports that break clicks and costs down by location and by time of day.

Search ads can also show on sites beyond Google itself, which is covered in when Google Search Partners are worth it.

Counting the wrong thing

An account improves at whatever it's told to count. If nothing is being counted, it can't tell a good click from a bad one. If it's counting page visits, or taps on a phone number that never became calls, it gets better at finding more of those.

That's how a campaign can look healthy in its own reporting and quiet in the business at the same time.

You can check this by putting the conversions the account reports next to the enquiries that actually came in over the same weeks.

After the click

Sometimes the campaign does its job and the enquiry still gets lost. The contact form sends to an old email address. The call goes to a mobile that's on silent during jobs. The quote request sits for three days, and by then the person has booked someone else.

None of this shows up in Google Ads, because it happens after the part the account can see.

You can check this by sending an enquiry through your own form and calling your own number, then noting how long each takes to reach someone.

Where to start

The quickest way to find the gap is to follow one real search all the way through: what someone typed, which ad they saw, where it took them, and what happened when they tried to get in touch. Most of the time, the problem shows itself somewhere along that line.

None of this means Search is the wrong choice. These are the usual reasons a sound campaign brings in less than it should, and each of them can be found.

That's also where a review starts.

If you'd like someone to look at yours, you can request a review, or read more about Search campaigns.