Google Ads · Demand capture

Google Ads for demand you've already earned.

Google catches intent you created elsewhere. High-intent category keywords, competitor queries, and branded defense. That's where B2B Google still works, and the playbook Google's own reps keep pushing, broad match, Performance Max, auto-applied recommendations, almost always makes it work less.

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9%

of B2B buyers start their software search on Google.

72%

still come back to Google to validate before buying.

4.3×

higher close-rate on "[vendor] vs" queries than broad category terms.

€1,840

average CAC across active Google Ads clients.

The strategic shift

Google went from discovery to verification.

AI, communities, and peer recommendations replaced Google as the starting point. But Google is still the last stop before a contract is signed. Your account should reflect that.

The 2020 playbook

then
  • Broad-match informational keywords ("project management software")
  • Generic landing pages optimized for MQLs
  • Max Conversions bidding on form-fills
  • Performance Max as the default
  • Reporting on CTR, impression share, CPL
  • Display + search on the same account

The 2026 playbook

now
  • Branded defense + "[vendor] vs" + bottom-funnel intent
  • Per-query landing pages (no generic "schedule a demo")
  • Target CPA or tROAS bidding on closed-won signal
  • Manual search campaigns with SKAGs / theme-tight ad groups
  • Reporting on SQLs, opportunities, closed-won pipeline
  • Display / Performance Max turned off unless proven
A point of view

Google's own advice, mostly wrong for B2B.

Your Google rep's job is to move you into products Google needs to grow. Broad match, Performance Max, auto-apply. None of that is designed for a 6-month sales cycle, 4 decision-makers, and a €40k ACV. The B2B accounts that work run the opposite playbook.
Google pushesBroad match keywords
We usePhrase & exact match, tight SKAGs
Broad burns budget on "free crm", "jira alternative reddit", and 900 other intent-adjacent queries. B2B budgets are too small and deal cycles too long to train algorithms on volume alone.
Google pushesPerformance Max campaigns
We useSearch-only, manual placements
PMax hides which query, placement, audience or asset drove the conversion. In B2B that's not "AI optimisation", it's a budget black box. When 10 closed-won deals a year pay for the account, you need to know which 10 clicks mattered.
Google pushesAuto-apply recommendations
We useWeekly manual review, recommendations off
"Add these 47 keywords", "expand to similar audiences", "enable broad match on exact campaigns". Each one is a revenue event for Google, a dilution event for you. We turn all of it off on day one.
Google pushesOptimise for "conversions"
We useOffline conversion import from CRM
If Google only sees form fills, Google trains towards form-fillers: researchers, students, job-seekers, competitors. When SQLs, opportunities and closed-won get pushed back into the account, the algorithm optimises for the buyers sales actually wants.
Google pushesDemand Gen / Discovery campaigns
We useLinkedIn for demand, Google for capture
Gmail + YouTube + Discover feed does not convince a VP of Engineering to evaluate your observability platform. LinkedIn does the generation work; Google does the capture work. Don't confuse the two just because one vendor sells both.
The campaign stack

Six campaigns, in this order.

We run the same structure across every B2B SaaS account we've audited, in rough priority order. The first three cover 70% of pipeline.
01

Branded defense

Your own brand + variations. Lowest CPC on the account, highest conversion rate. Competitors bid on your name, so you outrank them. Cheapest pipeline you'll ever buy.

[yourbrand] · [yourbrand] pricing · [yourbrand] login · [yourbrand] vs
02

Competitor conquesting

Bid on your top 3 to 5 competitor names. Pair with a landing page that does a fair, specific comparison, not a hit-piece. Convert the "anyone else?" moment.

[competitor] alternative · [competitor] pricing · [competitor] reviews
03

"Vs" comparison terms

The highest-intent keyword class in B2B SaaS. Someone typing "[A] vs [B]" is in a shortlist. Own every variation with dedicated landing pages.

[you] vs [competitor A] · [comp A] vs [comp B] · best [category] 2026
04

Bottom-funnel category terms

Not "project management software", but "project management software for [industry]" or "open source [category] tool". Long-tail, intent-rich, cheaper than head terms.

[category] for [vertical] · [category] with [integration] · enterprise [category]
05

Use-case / JTBD queries

"How to do X" phrased as a buying intent. Works when paired with a solution landing page that shows the outcome in the first scroll.

how to automate [workflow] · [job] without [pain] · [outcome] tool
06

Remarketing & RLSA

Custom bids for anyone who visited your pricing, comparison, or signup pages. Usually our #2 ROAS line item, right under branded.

Previous visitors × in-market audiences × specific page URL
Keyword selection

Not all queries are worth money.

A snapshot from a live audit we ran last quarter. We kill the top rows, defend the bottom ones, and reinvest the savings into intent-rich terms.
Keyword Intent CPC avg. Action
"best crm software" Top funnel €18.40 Kill
"what is crm" Informational €6.20 Kill
"hubspot alternative" Bottom funnel €11.80 Scale
"salesforce vs hubspot pricing" Bottom funnel €14.50 Scale
"[your brand]" Brand €0.40 Always on
"open source crm for agencies" Long-tail €4.10 Test
"free crm trial" Mid-funnel €8.90 Test narrow
The pattern we see

A typical before/after.

The shape of the turnaround we see most often on inherited accounts. Broad-match + Performance Max leaking spend on informational queries, rebuilt around branded defense, competitor, and "vs" campaigns.
Typical engagement shape
"Audit, kill, rebuild, measure." A full teardown in week one, a clean structure in week two, and pipeline attribution from week three. Same media spend, different intent mix, different reporting.
D
Demandgap method
How every Google engagement starts
Informational spend cut
40% 0%
"Vs" campaign share
0% 35%
Attribution depth
CPL SQL
Investment

What it actually costs.

Hourly billing, capped monthly. Your media spend goes directly to Google with no markup. You see the timesheet at month-end.

Google-only retainer

For teams whose pipeline depends on winning verification searches, or who inherited a bloated account that needs rebuilding.

  • Full account rebuild: SKAG / theme-tight ad groups
  • Branded + competitor + "vs" campaigns, in that order
  • Per-campaign landing page briefs
  • Negatives library & query cleanup (weekly)
  • Offline conversion import from HubSpot / Salesforce
  • Bi-weekly 30-min strategy call + async Slack
  • Monthly time-tracked invoice (capped)
From
€2,100/mo
Time-tracked at €150/h. Min. ad spend €5k/mo.
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Honest answers

Google Ads questions we always get.

Is Google Ads still worth it for B2B in 2026?

For in-market capture, yes — nothing else touches it. When a buyer types "LinkedIn Ads agency B2B" into Google, you're on a shortlist before the first call. Where Google fails for B2B is when agencies try to run it like e-commerce: broad keywords, PMax everywhere, optimise-to-form-fill. Done right for B2B, it's a ~€2–15k/mo channel that closes pipeline faster than any other paid channel.

Do you run PMax? What about Demand Gen campaigns?

We run PMax carefully, and only for clients with a clean product catalogue (rare in B2B SaaS) or a specific geo expansion motion. For most B2B accounts, PMax is a black box that burns budget on junk placements. Demand Gen we use selectively — it can work for retargeting and top-of-funnel video, but we don't lead with it. Our default is tight search campaigns on exact/phrase match, brand defence, and conversion-optimised retargeting on Display.

How do you set up offline conversion import?

We wire your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive) to Google Ads via GCLID passthrough on form fills, then push SQL/Opportunity/Closed-Won events back to Google on a rolling basis. Usually takes 3–5 days including CRM field mapping and test conversions. Once it's live, Smart Bidding actually has useful signal instead of optimising to the form-fill noise floor.

We've been told to use broad match — why do you disagree?

Broad match plus Smart Bidding plus offline conversions can work, but only on accounts spending €20k+/month with 12+ months of clean conversion data. Under that, broad match spends your budget on irrelevant queries faster than the algorithm can learn. For most B2B SaaS accounts we see, exact + phrase on a curated keyword set, with tight negatives, outperforms broad by a wide margin. We'll show you the query report on the audit call.

What's the minimum budget to make Google Ads work for B2B?

€2k/month for brand defence and a narrow high-intent keyword set. €5–10k/month for a full non-brand capture motion. Above €15k/month you start unlocking Display retargeting, YouTube pre-roll on intent audiences, and more aggressive experimentation. Under €2k we'd usually tell you to put the money into LinkedIn or outbound instead.

How long until we see results?

Week 1: audit, kill what's obviously broken, fix tracking. Week 2–3: new campaign structure live, first clean data starts flowing. Month 2: enough conversion data to tune bids and negatives meaningfully. Month 3: the account is running on signal, not guesses. If your sales cycle is under 30 days you'll see pipeline impact in month 2; longer cycles take longer, and we'll tell you that upfront.

30-min intro call

Want to see where your Google budget is leaking?

Send us read-only access. We'll come back with the top 3 leaks, the campaigns to kill, and an honest take on whether we'd take the project.

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