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Why Clicks Don't Matter if You Can't Track Leads
If you work with service-based businesses- plumbers, electricians, roofers, power washing companies, you already know one thing to be true:
They all rely on Google Ads to generate leads.
They know it.
You know it.
Their competitors definitely know it.
But here’s the issue I see constantly when I audit accounts or talk to business owners:
They’re “running ads”…
…but they have no idea where their leads are actually coming from.
No clear call tracking.
No form attribution.
No way to connect a booked job back to ad spend.
Just surface-level metrics like:
- Clicks
- Impressions
- Click-through rate
And while those numbers feel productive, they don’t answer the only question that matters:
Is this making me money?
| When it comes to your Google Ads leads, how confident are you in knowing exactly where they come from? |
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Attribution is not optional
If you’re paying for traffic but don’t know:
- Which phone calls came from ads
- Which form submissions were paid vs organic
- Which leads turned into actual revenue
Then you’re not running Google Ads.
You’re renting traffic and hoping for the best.
Attribution is the foundation of every successful lead generation campaign, and it should be designed before you ever write your first ad or choose your keywords.
Why vague metrics kill growth
Clicks and impressions are diagnostic metrics.
They tell you if the engine is running, not if the car is moving.
When business owners only see these numbers, a few things happen:
- They don’t trust the platform
- They hesitate to increase spend
- They make emotional decisions instead of informed ones
And worst of all, Google doesn’t get the data it needs to optimize effectively.
Google Ads works best when it receives clean, consistent conversion signals. If you don’t send those signals back, you’re handicapping the algorithm, and paying more for worse results.
What attribution should look like for service businesses
Attribution doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be intentional.
Here are the three core layers I look for in every lead-gen setup:
1. Call tracking
For service businesses, phone calls are often the highest-value conversion.
Using tools like CallRail allows you to:
- Track which calls came from Google Ads
- Record calls for quality review
- Push conversion data back into Google Ads
If calls matter to the business, they must be tracked.
2. Form tracking with UTMs
Contact forms should never be “blind.”
Every form submission should capture:
This is typically done by passing UTM parameters into hidden fields on the form.
That way, when a lead comes in, you know exactly where it originated, and which campaigns are pulling their weight.
3. Human feedback loops
Not all attribution is automated.
Simple questions still matter:
- “How have the calls been?”
- “Are these leads qualified?”
- “Are people mentioning Google when they call?”
Talking to your clients (or internal teams) closes the loop between data and reality.
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Attribution is part of the sale
If you’re a paid advertiser, attribution is part of your responsibility.
Not just to prove value, but to:
- Improve lead quality
- Reduce wasted spend
- Feed better data back into Google
- Create confidence when it’s time to scale
If you can’t clearly show where leads are coming from, you can’t confidently recommend spending more.
And if you can’t recommend spending more, growth stalls.
Attribution isn’t a “nice to have.”
It’s the price of admission.
Next week, I’ll break down how I structure attribution before launching campaigns, and how that structure changes how I bid, scale, and report.
If you want predictable growth, it starts with clean data.
— The Full-Stack Marketer
