Google Ads & Paid Advertising
Ads that pay for themselves.
Machina manages Google Ads and Meta Ads campaigns optimized for cost-per-lead and return on ad spend — not clicks and impressions. Strategy, creative, landing pages, conversion tracking, and weekly optimization. Every dollar accounted for.
The problem
The structural mistakes that waste paid advertising budget
Most of these are invisible until someone runs the numbers. By then, the waste has been accumulating for months.
Homepage as the landing page
Sending paid traffic to your homepage is the fastest way to waste budget. A homepage serves everyone; a landing page serves one audience with one offer. The mismatch kills conversion rate regardless of how well the campaign is structured.
No negative keyword strategy
Most Google Ads accounts without active management waste 20–30% of budget on irrelevant searches. Without weekly search term review, campaigns accumulate irrelevant queries — and Google's broad match will find new ones constantly.
Conversion tracking gaps
Optimizing toward clicks and CTR instead of actual leads and revenue. If your agency can't show you cost-per-lead and return on ad spend tied to real conversions — not just Google's modeled conversions — they're optimizing for the wrong metric.
Each of these problems is fixable. Most require structural changes before campaign changes — which is why every engagement starts with an audit, not a campaign build.
How we think
How we approach every campaign
Every dollar must be accountable.
We set up complete conversion tracking before spending. Form fills, phone calls, purchases — each tied to the campaign, ad group, and keyword that generated it. If we cannot trace a click to a conversion, we fix tracking before building the campaign.
The landing page is half the campaign.
An ad creates intent. The landing page converts it. Sending paid traffic to a homepage or generic service page wastes that intent regardless of how well the campaign is structured. Every Machina campaign includes dedicated, conversion-optimized landing pages matched precisely to the ad copy.
Quality Score compounds like interest.
Improving ad relevance and landing page experience raises Quality Score, which lowers cost-per-click and improves position — independent of bid. The longer a well-managed account runs, the more efficient it becomes. Most agencies optimize bids. We optimize the full system.
Paid and organic are not competitors.
A business ranking organically and running paid ads simultaneously occupies more real estate on the search results page, builds familiarity through multiple touchpoints, and captures both the click-first and the research-first buyer.
Platforms
Where we run your campaigns
Platform selection is strategy. We recommend the right mix based on where your customers are in their decision process and what they are doing when they are ready to buy.
Google Search Ads
Best for capturing existing demand
Appear at the top of Google when someone searches for what you offer. Search Ads reach people at peak intent — they are already looking. Ideal for local service businesses, professional services, and B2B products with defined search behavior.
Google Display & YouTube
Best for awareness and retargeting
Image and video ads across the Google Display Network, which reaches 90% of internet users. Most effective for retargeting — staying visible to people who visited your site but did not convert — and for YouTube pre-roll where video communicates value before a search begins.
Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram)
Best for creating demand
Reach people who match your ideal customer profile before they begin searching. Meta's targeting lets you narrow by location, demographics, interests, behaviors, and lookalike audiences built from your existing customer list.
Retargeting
Best for closing warm prospects
The highest-ROAS campaign type in most accounts. Most visitors do not convert on the first visit. Retargeting keeps you visible through the consideration phase — across Google Display and Meta — with messages matched to what someone looked at and how close they were to converting.
Results
Client results
SaaS go-to-market
A B2B SaaS startup needed to build ARR from zero with paid as the primary acquisition channel. We built a campaign structure targeting specific job titles at companies matching their ideal customer profile across Google Search and LinkedIn. Campaign architecture was built around bottom-of-funnel keywords with dedicated landing pages per audience segment. Landing pages were A/B tested and refined weekly based on heatmap data and conversion events. The result: $2.5M ARR in 18 months at a 4.2× return on total ad spend across all paid channels.
Read the full case study101 Exterminators
Paid advertising was one pillar of the multi-channel growth strategy for 101 Exterminators. We targeted high-intent pest control searches across four Central Coast counties with geo-specific landing pages, call-only ad extensions, and Local Services Ads running alongside standard Search campaigns. Paid ads captured immediate demand while SEO built long-term organic visibility — the two channels reinforcing each other rather than competing. Revenue grew 5,567% over three years as the combined system dominated the local market.
Read the full case studyHow we work
Our paid advertising process
Four phases, in this order. The audit always comes first — spending before understanding the competitive landscape or existing account structure is how budgets evaporate in the first 30 days.
Audit
For existing accounts: campaign structure, keyword match types, negative keyword gaps, Quality Score distribution, conversion tracking accuracy, bid strategy alignment, and landing page performance reviewed and documented. For new accounts: competitive research, keyword universe mapping, and audience definition. You receive a written findings report before we touch anything.
Strategy
Campaign architecture, keyword selection and match type strategy, negative keyword foundation, audience definitions, ad copy frameworks, landing page wireframes, and the KPIs that define success. Every element documented and approved before a campaign is built.
Launch
Campaigns built, landing pages live, conversion tracking verified with test transactions. The first two weeks are structured data collection — we observe and monitor for early warning signs while the algorithm learns. Nothing goes live without a QA checklist completed across every element.
Optimize
Weekly optimization cycles: bid adjustments, negative keyword additions, Quality Score improvements, ad copy tests, landing page updates, and audience refinements. Monthly full-funnel review from impression to lead to revenue. Performance compounds as the algorithm accumulates data and we refine what works.
How we compare
What a Machina-managed account looks like vs. a typical agency
Most of these differences are invisible from the outside — until you see the cost-per-lead report and discover where the budget has actually been going.
| Typical agency | Machina |
|---|---|
| Homepage used as the landing page | Dedicated conversion-optimized landing page for every campaign |
| Clicks and impressions as success metrics | Cost-per-lead and ROAS tied to actual revenue |
| No negative keyword strategy built pre-launch | Negative keyword foundation built before launch, refined weekly |
| Smart Bidding before conversion data exists | Bid strategy matched to account maturity and conversion volume |
| Quality Score ignored — paying a CPC penalty | Full Quality Score optimization: ad relevance, CTR, landing page |
| Same creative running for months | Structured A/B testing on copy, headlines, and landing page variants |
| Monthly report, no weekly optimization | Weekly bid adjustments + monthly full-funnel revenue review |
Questions
What people ask us about paid advertising
Direct answers to the questions we hear most often.
Related Services
Paid ads works best paired with
Paid advertising drives immediate traffic. These services make that traffic more valuable and compound results over time.
We audit before we build and build before we spend. Tell us about your current campaigns — we will find what is costing you and show you what we would do differently.
Service Area
Paid advertising across California
Headquartered on California's Central Coast. We manage campaigns for businesses across the Central Coast, Silicon Valley, and greater California — fully remote.
Get started
Turn ad spend into measurable revenue.
Tell us about your current campaigns or what you are trying to accomplish. We will audit what you have, identify the waste, and show you exactly what we would do differently.