✦ PPC
How Long Does PPC Take to Work?
First leads typically arrive within 1–2 weeks of launching a Google Ads campaign. Full campaign optimisation — where you've tested enough to know what works and what doesn't — takes 60–90 days. Initial results can mislead in both directions: some campaigns perform well in week one due to favorable auction conditions, others underperform initially and improve significantly once negative keywords and bid adjustments are made.
Week 1–2: campaign launches, impressions begin, first clicks arrive. You'll likely get some leads in this period if the campaign is well-structured. Don't judge campaign performance on this data — it's too small a sample to be meaningful, and auction conditions in the first days can be atypically favorable or unfavorable.
Weeks 2–8: data accumulates. You can now identify which keywords are producing leads and which are producing clicks without conversions, which ad copy performs better, which times of day produce the best conversion rates. Make incremental adjustments: add negative keywords, pause underperforming keywords, adjust bids on top performers. Don't make large structural changes during this period — you'll break the continuity of the data.
Days 60–90: you have enough data to make meaningful structural decisions. Split-test landing pages, test different bid strategies (target CPA vs. manual CPC), reorganise ad groups if the data suggests different keyword groupings. By day 90, a well-managed campaign should have a cost per lead close to its sustainable equilibrium — it's not going to drop dramatically from here without major changes to the campaign or market.
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