Boost Your counselling practice: Google Ads Success Case Study
153 leads in five months for this counselling practice
This counselling company wanted to attract more clients through Google Ads after struggling with poor results and wasted ad spend. With no conversions coming from their previous campaigns, they turned to us to restructure the account and create a strategy that would deliver measurable growth.
1950 Clicks
1950 total clicks in 5 months
$33.07 CPL
dropped cost per lead to $33.07
153 Leads
153 leads generated in 5 months of Google Ads
7.85% Conv
7.85% of people who clicked converted
about the counselling practice
This counselling service provides tailored support through a mix of individual sessions and affordable group programs that make therapy more accessible to a wider audience. Their approach balances personal attention with cost-effective options, ensuring clients can choose a path that suits their needs and budget.
With the growing demand for accessible mental health care, the company wanted to expand its reach online and connect with people actively seeking help. At the same time, they needed to keep ad spend efficient, focusing only on clicks that were most likely to convert into real appointments.
The goal was twofold: to fill counsellors’ appointment schedules with a steady stream of new clients while also building awareness of their low-cost group program.
The problem
Before we stepped in, the business was running campaigns that burned through budget without generating results.
Conversion tracking was set up incorrectly, only counting button clicks instead of true “Join Now” completions.
Broad, irrelevant keywords were draining spend, and overlapping ad groups meant the company was competing against itself.
A brand campaign was running unnecessarily, while ads suffered from poor capitalisation, low ad strength, and weak CTR.
Bidding strategies were misaligned, and several campaigns lacked essential assets such as callouts, sitelinks, and structured snippets.
what Bel. Digital found
- Conversion tracking measured button clicks instead of completed sign-ups
- Overlapping ad groups competing with the same keywords
- Wasted ad spend on a brand campaign that wasn’t required
- Broad match keywords generating poor-quality traffic
- Ads with poor formatting and low CTR
- Incorrect bidding strategy inflating costs
- Missing ad assets such as callouts, call, and structured snippets
- Negative keywords lumped together without proper organisation
- No location exclusions applied, which meant budget was being wasted on irrelevant areas
geo targeting
Excluded overseas traffic and refined location targeting to focus spend only on areas the business actually serves.
ad improvements
Rewrote responsive ads with stronger headlines, correct formatting, and updated ad extensions to improve CTR.
keyword targeting
Paused broad match terms and introduced phrase match keywords supported by campaign-specific negative keyword lists.
conversion tracking
Fixed tracking so it measured real sign-ups instead of button clicks, giving reliable data to guide campaign optimisation.
campaign structure
Consolidated overlapping ad groups, paused unnecessary campaigns, and removed automated Google features for tighter control.
client collaboration
Worked closely with the client to classify low-cost group sign-ups as primary conversions, aligning campaigns with real business outcomes.
our solution
Broad match keywords were paused in favour of phrase match targeting, and new negative keyword lists were created at both industry and campaign level.
Ongoing search term audits and n-gram reviews allowed us to exclude DIY traffic, competitors, and irrelevant queries.
New campaigns were launched with careful keyword research, geo-targeting, and custom ad copy.
Automated Google additions were removed, and experiments with bidding strategies ensured spend was allocated to high-converting keywords.
We also worked closely with the client to understand their business model and how different conversion types contributed to growth. Together, we agreed to classify the low-cost group program as a primary conversion, since the client converts these participants into long-term clients at a high rate. This tailored approach reflected the real value of each lead and ensured reporting aligned with the company’s goals.
results
From 1 April 2025 to 31 August 2025, this counselling company’s Google Ads campaigns generated 153 high-quality leads from 1,950 clicks, achieving an average conversion rate of 7.85%. With a total ad spend of $5,006, the cost per lead came to just $33.07.
The account’s steady growth across clicks, conversions, and conversion rate is the direct result of a clear strategy: precise keyword targeting, rigorous search term exclusion, and the client’s conversion-optimised website.
By treating the low-cost group as a primary conversion, the campaigns were tailored to the client’s unique sales process, proving that one size does not fit all.
This combination of niche targeting, customised tracking, and client collaboration has set the counselling practice on a path of sustainable growth, with campaigns that now reflect real business outcomes rather than vanity metrics.
We are excited to see what the next quarter has in store for this company.
Ready to come up with a plan of attack?
