Clicks and spending keep growing in your advertising account, but there are no new enquiries. The cause could lie in several places: your ads reach the wrong audience, the page does not explain the offer, the form does not submit, or enquiries arrive but are not recorded in reports.
To investigate, check the entire journey:
Ad → landing-page visit → enquiry → receipt by the company → response to the customer.
Below is a checking sequence for businesses that receive enquiries through a website. The search-term analysis primarily applies to Google Ads search campaigns. For other campaign types, also account for their advertising formats and available reports.
First, compare Google Ads with actual enquiries: CRM records, website emails, calls and messages. Check the same period and allow for the delay between an ad click and an enquiry.
Define what you consider a lead. A phone-number click does not confirm that a conversation took place. Opening a form does not mean it was submitted. And repeat messages from one person should not become several new customers.
In the conversions section, check the relevant action, its status and whether it is included in the campaign’s goals. Also compare the “Conversions” and “All conversions” columns: they may include different actions.
Primary and secondary actions affect reporting and the signals used for bidding. Custom goals have particular rules, so do not change every event to “Primary” without reviewing what it represents. See Google Ads’ documentation on primary and secondary conversions.
For technical verification, use Google Tag Assistant: submit a test enquiry and check whether the right tag fires at the right moment. Google describes this approach in its conversion tracking troubleshooting guide.
A successful technical test does not necessarily appear immediately as an advertising conversion: the connection to an ad interaction and data processing time also matter. Confirm event firing and the company’s receipt of the enquiry separately.
Open the final URL from the ad and follow the visitor journey on a phone and a computer.
Check:
Google Ads clicks and analytics sessions are different metrics. One person may click an ad several times within a single session. Some visits may also go unmeasured, for example if someone leaves before analytics loads. A discrepancy alone does not prove that traffic is being lost. Google explains the causes in its documentation on differences between clicks and sessions.
If the discrepancy increased sharply after a website change, check the new page, redirects, retention of advertising parameters and tag behaviour. Compare data for matching dates and account for data collection and user consent settings.
In a search campaign, examine the queries that led people to see your ad and visit the website. The keyword list shows your campaign settings, while the search terms report helps reveal visitors’ actual intent.
Divide the visible queries into groups:
This is an analysis method, not a ready-made exclusion rule. A query about pricing or comparing options may come from a future customer. Do not exclude terms solely because they have not yet produced a lead.
Identify how much spending goes towards clearly irrelevant intent. Then refine keywords, match types, negative keywords and ad content.
The report does not show every query: some infrequently used searches are hidden for privacy reasons. The visible list therefore does not describe all your traffic. Google explains the report’s capabilities and limitations in its search terms documentation.
For analysis, separate searches for your company name from general service queries. Their results may differ. A high CTR alone does not confirm that people are ready to order a service.
Even a relevant query can bring someone the company cannot serve: they are outside your service area, use a different language or expect conditions you do not offer.
Compare campaign settings with actual data by location, device and time of day. If several markets are combined in one campaign, an average can hide a problematic segment.
Google Ads location settings distinguish between “Presence” and “Presence or interest”. The latter can also reach people interested in your chosen area. If you only serve customers in a specific location, check whether that fits your goal. For an international service, interest in another market may be relevant. See the advanced location options documentation.
Location targeting relies on signals and is not perfectly accurate. Compare settings with actual enquiries and your ability to serve the customer.
Also check the campaign type and networks where your budget is spent. Assess different sources separately where reports allow it. A difference between them is a reason to investigate, not to automatically disable an entire source.
If enquiries arrive outside working hours, establish whether they are saved and who responds later. A form available around the clock is of little use if some leads remain unhandled.
Visitors should quickly recognise that they are in the right place. The ad’s promise and the page content should concern the same service, audience and terms.
Hypothetical example. An ad offers hourly website support, but leads to a general page about building new websites. The visitor has to find the relevant service and work out how it is provided. Correct this mismatch before assessing advertising effectiveness.
Check five elements on the landing page:
“Send an enquiry” becomes clearer when you explain the response someone can expect: a task estimate, clarifying questions or a project proposal. State a response time only if the team can meet it.
If you find several issues with structure, responsiveness and usability, a website audit can help organise them. Identifying problems and implementing fixes are separate tasks whose scope needs to be agreed.
The check should end with the company receiving the message. Clicking a button and seeing an on-screen notification is not enough.
Use a realistic enquiry scenario:
For an international website, separately check phone numbers with different country codes, form languages and confirmation-page languages. An overly restrictive phone mask or an unclear error can prevent a suitable customer from submitting an enquiry.
If you measure form submissions, the event should represent a successful enquiry rather than just a button click. Otherwise, reports may show conversions even when submission fails.
For messaging links, distinguish between opening the app and actually starting a conversation. Likewise, clicking a phone number and completing a call are different stages.
After checking measurement, establish which outcome you have asked the advertising system to pursue.
If the business needs enquiries but the campaign focuses on clicks or supporting actions such as page views, account metrics may grow without the required commercial result.
Review the chosen strategy, the specific campaign’s goals and the actions used for optimisation. For a target cost-per-acquisition strategy, also assess whether your data supports the chosen target.
Changing the strategy will not repair a broken form, an unsuitable audience or an unclear offer. First resolve confirmed problems and provide accurate signals.
Do not increase the budget merely to get more clicks. Expansion is justified when traffic quality, enquiry-path functionality and the evaluation method are understood.
For diagnosis, map the sequence of actions:
Visit → page load → form start → successful submission → receipt by the company → response.
Not all these stages will be available in standard reports: some events need separate setup. Event counts may also include repeated actions, so analysing the number of people requires appropriate measurement.
Hypothetical example. A campaign records 500 clicks; analytics shows 380 sessions from the advertising source; 18 visitors start filling in the form; there are no successful submissions.
These figures alone do not identify the cause. First, confirm that the stages are measured correctly. The difference between clicks and sessions also needs a separate investigation.
Suppose a manual check reveals that the form rejects phone numbers with the country code of one of your target markets. This is a confirmed technical issue to fix before changing bids or ad copy.
The example demonstrates a diagnostic sequence. It is neither an agency case study nor a conversion benchmark for businesses.
It helps to group fixes by priority:
Keep a short record for each problem:
Record change dates. If you change queries, ads, the page and the strategy together, it is hard to identify each change’s contribution. Related technical errors can be fixed together, while effectiveness hypotheses are better tested sequentially.
Choose the evaluation period based on traffic volume and decision time. There is no universal click count after which every business must receive a lead. An obvious technical fault, however, requires prompt correction without waiting for more statistics.
After fixes, assess genuine relevant enquiries and how they are handled. Growth in event counts within the advertising account is useful only when you understand what those events represent.
At iuntsevich.cz, you can discuss advertising setup and management: campaign analysis, goal checks and further optimisation. The scope and terms appear in our advertising commercial offer. Website and measurement improvements should be agreed for the specific project.
Start by confirming actual enquiries and form functionality. Then check queries, geography and alignment with the offer. This sequence helps identify a specific cause and choose an appropriate fix.