Free training · Ads · 8 min
Judge your ads by booked jobs, not clicks.
Clicks and impressions are easy to count and easy to waste money on. The number that matters is what you pay for a booked job, compared with what that job is worth. Here's how to find it and move it.
01Track conversions that mean money
In Google Ads and Meta, the platform optimizes for whatever you tell it counts. Count calls from the ad, form submissions and bookings as conversions, not page views or clicks. If nothing is set up, the platform is guessing what a good customer looks like.
02Know your real cost per booked job
Spend ÷ leads gives your cost per lead. Spend ÷ booked jobs gives the number that matters. Compare it with what an average job is worth to you. Use the calculator below with last month's numbers; if you don't know how many leads became jobs, that's the first thing to start tracking.
03Tighten who sees the ad
Limit ads to the area you actually serve. In Google, review the search terms report every week and block the searches that will never hire you. In Meta, start with your real customer and location rather than the broadest audience. Broad targeting pays for people who were never going to buy.
04Match every ad to its page
Send each ad to a page that repeats what the ad promised and asks for one thing, not your home page. A visitor who has to hunt for the thing they clicked on usually leaves. If the page can't turn a click into a call, fix the page before spending more on ads.
05Decide on a schedule
Give a change a fair test (a few weeks of real data), then keep, fix or stop it based on cost per booked job. Write the decision down so next month's budget is based on numbers, not memory.
Your turn
Your real cost per booked job
Use last month's numbers from your ad account and your own records.
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The searches you should never pay for.
Stop paying for job seekers, DIYers and bargain hunters. A ready-made negative keyword list for your trade.
Ad work
See how this part is built and managed inside the Donahue Works system.
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