Getting a Google Ads campaign launched for your pool service business is one thing, but keeping it optimized and running well over the long term is where the real work happens.
A lot of pool service companies will set up a campaign, get it running, and then just let it sit there on autopilot.
That’s a mistake.
Google Ads campaigns need regular attention and optimization to perform their best. If you’re not actively working on improving your campaign, you’re most likely wasting money somewhere.
The good news is that optimization doesn’t have to be complicated or take up hours of your time every week.
Today I’m going to walk you through 4 straightforward optimizations you can make to your pool service Google Ads campaign that will help improve performance and bring down your cost per lead.
Let’s get into the content.
1) Go Through Your Search Terms Report Regularly
This is probably the single most important optimization task you can do for your pool service Google Ads campaign.
Your search terms report shows you the actual searches that triggered your ads. This is different from the keywords you’re bidding on.
Why does this matter?
Because Google will show your ads for searches that are similar to your keywords, and sometimes those searches can be completely irrelevant to what you actually offer.
For example, you might be bidding on the keyword “pool service”, but your ad could end up showing for searches like “pool service jobs”, “pool service software”, or “how to start a pool service business”.
None of those are people looking to hire a pool service company.
If someone clicks on your ad after one of those searches, you’re still paying for that click even though it was never going to convert into a lead.
That’s wasted budget.
Here’s what you need to do:
At least once a week (ideally more often when you’re first starting out), go into your Google Ads account and review your search terms report.
Look for any searches that are irrelevant to your business and add them as negative keywords.
This will prevent your ads from showing up for those types of searches in the future.
On the flip side, you also want to look for good search terms that are generating clicks and conversions but aren’t already in your campaign as keywords.
When you find those, add them in as new keywords.
This process does two really important things for your campaign:
First, it cleans up your traffic and makes sure you’re only paying for clicks from people who are actually looking for pool service.
Second, it helps improve your click-through rate (CTR) because your ads are showing up for more relevant searches.
Both of those things lead to better campaign performance and lower costs per lead.
2) Remove Underperforming Keywords
This one is pretty straightforward, but it’s something that a lot of people overlook.
Not every keyword you add to your campaign is going to perform well.
Some keywords might get a lot of impressions but no clicks. Others might get clicks but never convert into leads.
Either way, if a keyword isn’t pulling its weight, it needs to go.
Here’s how to identify which keywords to remove:
Look at keywords with low click-through rates – If a keyword is getting impressions but no one is clicking on your ad, that’s a sign that either your ad isn’t relevant to that search or people just aren’t interested.
Look at keywords that are getting clicks but no conversions – If you’ve got a keyword that’s been running for a while and has gotten a decent number of clicks but hasn’t generated any leads, it’s probably not worth keeping around.
Look at keywords with high costs per conversion – Even if a keyword is generating leads, if the cost per lead is way higher than your other keywords, you might want to cut it and reallocate that budget to better performing keywords.
The goal here is to make sure every dollar you’re spending is going towards keywords that are actually bringing in leads for your business.
There’s no point in keeping keywords around just because they’re getting traffic if that traffic isn’t converting.
One thing to keep in mind though is to make sure you’re giving keywords enough time to gather data before you cut them.
If a keyword has only gotten 4 clicks, that’s probably not enough data to make a decision on.
But if it’s gotten 10+ clicks with no conversions? That’s a pretty clear sign it’s time to let it go.
That said, it is important to know that if your ads are just not converting at all, the issue may not be the keywords, but the landing page you’re sending the traffic to.
More on that in just a bit.
3) Monitor Your Ad Schedule and Make Adjustments
This is one that I don’t see people talk about as much, but it can make a big difference for pool service campaigns specifically.
Your ad schedule is when your ads are showing throughout the week.
By default, your ads will run 24/7 unless you change it.
I recommend running your ads during regular business hours when you’re able to get to the phone.
But here’s the thing, not all days of the week or times of day are going to perform equally for your business.
For one of my pool service clients, we noticed something interesting when we looked at the data.
Mondays were consistently the worst performing day of the week. We were getting clicks, but the conversion rate was much lower and the cost per lead was way higher.
On the other hand, Saturdays were killing it. Great conversion rates, low cost per lead, and high quality leads coming through.
So what did we do?
We cut out Mondays completely from the ad schedule.
That simple change saved money every month and brought down the overall cost per lead for the entire campaign.
The leads we were getting on Saturdays more than made up for any volume we lost by not running ads on Mondays.
Here’s what you should do:
Go into your pool service Google Ads account and look at your performance by day of the week and by time of day.
See if there are any patterns.
Are certain days consistently underperforming? Are you getting a lot of clicks during certain hours that never convert into leads?
If you find days or times that just aren’t working for you, adjust your ad schedule accordingly.
You can either pause ads completely during those times, or you can reduce your bids so you’re not spending as much during lower-performing periods.
This won’t be the same for every business or every market, so you need to look at your own data to figure out what works best for you.
But if you’re not even looking at this, you could be leaving money on the table.
4) Test Your Landing Pages
If you’ve already got your search terms cleaned up, you’ve removed underperforming keywords, and you’ve optimized your ad schedule, but your cost per lead is still higher than you’d like, then it’s time to look at your landing pages.
Your landing page is where the conversion actually happens.
You can have the most perfectly optimized Google Ads campaign in the world, but if your landing page isn’t converting visitors into leads, you’re still going to struggle.
I see this happen all the time. Someone will have everything else dialed in on their campaign, but their landing page is either poorly designed or just not relevant to what people are searching for.
The result? A low conversion rate and high cost per lead.
Here’s what you should be testing:
Headlines – Does your headline clearly speak to what someone searched for? Is it compelling enough to keep them on the page?
Offer – Are you making a strong offer? “Free estimate” is fine, but can you do better? Maybe a discount on their first service, or a free pool water test, or something else that’s more compelling?
Design and layout – Is your landing page clean and easy to navigate? Is it obvious what action you want someone to take? Are there too many distractions?
Call to action – Is your phone number prominently displayed? Are your forms easy to fill out? Do you have multiple opportunities for someone to convert throughout the page?
Trust elements – Do you have reviews, testimonials, or trust badges on the page? People need to trust you before they’ll call.
The best way to figure out what works is to test different versions of your landing page.
You don’t need to test everything at once. Start with one element like your headline or your offer, and see if a new version performs better than your current one.
If you see an improvement in your conversion rate, keep the winner and move on to testing something else.
Even a small improvement in conversion rate can have a big impact on your cost per lead over time.
If you’re currently converting 15% of your traffic and you can bump that up to 20%, you’re looking at a 33% decrease in your cost per lead.
That’s huge.
Conclusion
Optimization is what separates a decent Google Ads campaign from a great one.
You can’t just set it and forget it.
These four optimizations, along with many others not mentioned here for the sake of simplicity, are things you should be doing on a regular basis.
The good news is that none of these are overly complicated or time-consuming once you get into a routine.
Spend an hour or two each week on optimization, and you’ll see better results over time.
Your cost per lead will come down, your lead quality will improve, and your campaign will run more efficiently.
At the end of the day, that’s what we’re all looking for. A Google Ads campaign that brings in consistent, high-quality leads without breaking the bank.
Need Help Running Pool Service Ads?
If you go to the link below, you can reach out for a free consultation on your pool service ads.
We offer complimentary account audits, and can give you an audit of your existing pool service ads to see where you could be performing better.
To get started, click on the link below and fill out the free consultation form.
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