S2S Films has an active Search campaign targeting commercial video production in the US market, with a reasonable ad copy strategy and correct landing page — but severe execution problems are suppressing 90% of potential visibility. The account is capturing only 10% of eligible search impressions, all lost to Ad Rank (not budget). Quality Scores of 0–3 on primary keywords are the root cause: they inflate effective CPCs by roughly 2× market rate and collapse ad rank on every auction.
The search term report reveals a second critical issue: the keyword advertising production company is matching queries like "streaming advertising companies," "video advertising companies," and "advertising agency in usa" — users who want to buy advertising placements, not hire a video production company. These clicks represent intent mismatch, not qualified leads.
The result: $268 spent in 30 days, 1 tracked conversion, and a $268 CPA. Update (May 23, 2026): All Week 1 fixes have been applied — 32 negatives added, RSA updated with pinned H1 and corrected headlines, and GTM verification confirmed the conversion tag fires correctly on /gracias/. The low CVR is now attributable to wrong-intent traffic (now negated), not a tracking failure. One manual step remains: remove the MANY_PER_CLICK conversion action "Envío de formulario para clientes potenciales" in the UI.
| Issue | Campaign / Element | Impact | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bleeding $77.89 spend, 0 conv | commercial video production [Phrase] |
$77.89 wasted | Do NOT pause — this is the core keyword. Fix QS (add exact-match headline), add negatives to filter bad queries. Bleeding will stop once CVR recovers. |
| IS 10% 90% lost to rank | Search_S2S_Services_ComercialIntent | Missing 90% of eligible traffic | Root cause: QS 0–3. Fix QS to raise Ad Rank. Adding negatives will also raise overall CTR → higher QS signal. |
| Intent Mismatch $52.35 wasted | advertising production company [Phrase] |
Triggering wrong queries | Keyword matches "streaming advertising companies," "advertising agency in usa" — users looking to BUY ads, not hire a production house. Add phrase negatives: "advertising agency," "streaming advertising," "media buying." |
| QS 0–3 on all primary keywords | Commercial AG — all keywords | ~2× CPC overpayment | Add keyword text to RSA headlines (pin "Commercial Video Production" to H1), improve LP H1 to match keyword intent, verify page load speed on mobile. |
| Conv Tracking uncertain | 3 active form-submit actions | 1 conv / 454 clicks = 0.22% CVR (suspicious) | Verify GTM form submit fires consistently. Consolidate to 1 active conversion action. Test by submitting the contact form and confirming event appears in GA4 DebugView. |
| Campaign | Status | Budget/Day | 30d Spend | Impr | Clicks | CTR | Conv | CPA | Search IS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search_S2S_Services_ComercialIntent | Active | $9.11 | $268.21 | 26,464 | 454 | 1.72% | 1 | $268.21 | 10% |
Client target is $1,000/month (~$33/day) but daily budget is set to $9.11/day (~$273/month). The account is deploying only 27% of the intended budget. Do not increase until QS and negatives are fixed, but this confirms room to scale once the account is optimized.
The account is NOT budget-limited. It is quality-limited. Adding budget now would amplify waste. Fix QS first, then scale.
| Keyword | Match | QS | Impr | Clicks | CTR | Avg CPC | Spend | Conv | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
commercial video production |
Phrase | 3 | 2,857 | 72 | 2.52% | $1.08 | $77.89 | 0 | Bleeding |
advertising production company |
Phrase | 0* | 6,941 | 73 | 1.05% | $0.72 | $52.35 | 1 | Intent Risk |
commercial production companies |
Phrase | 2 | 836 | 11 | 1.32% | $0.75 | $8.23 | 0 | Low QS |
commercial videographer |
Phrase | 5 | 346 | 8 | 2.31% | $0.96 | $7.68 | 0 | Best QS |
corporate video + 7 variants |
Phrase | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | $0.00 | 0 | AG Paused |
* QS=0 means insufficient data or no recent serving. advertising production company had high impression volume so QS=0 is unusual — may indicate the keyword was recently re-enabled.
The three most likely causes: (1) The RSA headlines don't contain the exact keyword text "commercial video production" as a headline, reducing ad relevance score. (2) The landing page H1 and meta title don't perfectly match the keyword intent. (3) CTR is below average for the auction — at 1.72% CTR vs market average ~2-4% for this space, the predicted CTR component is dragging QS down. Adding negatives will raise CTR and QS passively.
The search term report shows two categories of waste: wrong intent (people looking for media agencies / ad buyers, not production companies) and competitor brand searches (navigational queries for other production companies).
| Search Term | Spend | Clicks | Conv | Issue | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| video ad company | $11.88 | 19 | 0 | Ambiguous intent | Monitor — could mean hiring a video ad company (us), but also very vague |
| streaming advertising companies | $7.16 | 13 | 0 | Wrong intent (media buying) | Negative: add "streaming" as broad negative |
| filmspire sc | $4.96 | 4 | 0 | Competitor brand | Negative: "filmspire" exact + broad |
| video advertising companies | $3.80 | 8 | 0 | Wrong intent (media placement) | Negative: "advertising companies" as phrase |
| videographer promo video | $3.48 | 6 | 0 | Low-budget freelance intent | Monitor — low priority, intent is off-target (individual freelancer vs. agency) |
| corporate video production usa | $2.28 | 2 | 0 | Relevant but geo-specific | Keep — good intent, relevant query |
| average cost of making a commercial | $1.46 | 1 | 0 | Informational intent | Negative: "how much," "cost of," "average cost" as phrase negatives |
| advertising agency in usa | $0.80 | 1 | 0 | Wrong service category | Negative: "advertising agency" as phrase |
| billboard advertising companies | $0.33 | 1 | 0 | Completely wrong channel | Negative: "billboard" broad |
| commercial real estate drone video | $0.35 | 1 | 0 | Wrong vertical + wrong service | Negative: "real estate" and "drone" broad |
| show pony media / blue dog productions / newlinks media / ata media / britt media / acts media group (+ 6 more) | ~$5.50 total | ~10 total | 0 | Competitor brand navigational | Add all brand names as negatives (see full list below) |
Campaign-level, unless noted. Apply immediately to stop waste.
Wrong Intent / Wrong Service
Competitor Brand Names (exact matches to add)
| Ad Group | Status | Ad Strength | Landing Page | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial | Enabled | GOOD | /commercials-2/ | Strong — commercial-focused, cost differentiator present, client logos. Missing: pin "Commercial Video Production" to headline 1 to boost QS ad relevance. |
| Corporate | AG Paused | AVERAGE | /commercials-2/ | RSA is enabled but AG is paused. Only 11 headlines (need 15 for best QS signal). Reactivate this AG after Commercial is profitable — corporate video is a valid second service. |
The RSA currently has "Commercial Video Production" as a headline but it's not pinned. Google's ad relevance component of QS checks whether the keyword appears in the ad. Pinning this exact text to position 1 signals strong relevance for commercial video production [Phrase] queries — the account's highest-spend keyword.
| # | Headline | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Commercial Video Production | Pin to H1 — exact keyword match, critical for QS |
| 2 | Commercial Video Company | Keep — reinforces service category |
| 3 | Brand Commercials That Convert | Keep — outcome-focused |
| 4 | High-End Brand Commercials | Keep — quality signal |
| 5 | Video Ads, Fraction of US Cost | Keep — core USP |
| 6 | World-Class Quality, Less Cost | Keep — reinforces cost angle |
| 7 | Colombia Studio, US Quality | Keep — differentiator |
| 8 | Full Commercial Production | OK — generic but useful |
| 9 | Brief to Final Cut, We Do It | OK — full-service signal |
| 10 | Commercials for SHEIN & More | Keep — powerful social proof |
| 11 | Affordable Video Ad Agency | Replace — "advertising agency" triggers wrong intent; use "Affordable Video Production Agency" |
| 12 | Visually Striking Commercials | OK — quality signal |
| 13 | Free Commercial Video Quote | Keep — strong CTA |
| 14 | Top Tier Video for Your Brand | OK — generic but reinforces quality |
Missing (add 1 more to reach 15): "US Brand Commercials at Half Price" — combines geo targeting angle + cost advantage and provides another price-anchor signal.
Form submitted at /commercials-2/ via Playwright automation → redirected to /gracias/. Google Ads conversion tag AW-17934221835 (label: gwLyCOqFqPkbEIuE2udC) fired via googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion/17934221835/ with HTTP 200. GA4 (G-JMXGJJ2CVF) also fired form_start and form_submit events. Conversion fires on thank-you page load (/gracias/) — URL-destination trigger, highly reliable. The prior 0-conversion data reflects poor traffic quality from wrong-intent queries, not a broken tag.
There are 3 ENABLED conversion actions all categorized as SUBMIT_LEAD_FORM. With tag firing confirmed on /gracias/, the more likely risk is now over-counting if multiple tags fire simultaneously. Consolidate to 1 primary action (see fix plan below).
| Conversion Action | Status | Type | Counting | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formulario de contacto - Enviar | Enabled | Lead Form Submit | ONE_PER_CLICK | Review — This appears to be a Google Lead Form extension (not website). Different from website form. |
| Envío de formulario para clientes potenciales | Enabled | Webpage | MANY_PER_CLICK | Fix — MANY_PER_CLICK can inflate. Change to ONE_PER_CLICK for lead gen. This is the primary website form action. |
| Submit lead form Website | Enabled | Webpage | ONE_PER_CLICK | Consolidate — Duplicate of above? Confirm if both fire on same form submit. |
| S2S Films (web) close_convert_lead | Hidden | GA4 Import | — | OK — Hidden = not bidding target. Good for CRM pipeline tracking. |
| S2S Films (web) qualify_lead | Hidden | GA4 Import | — | OK — Pipeline tracking, not bid target. |
/commercials-2/| Check | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Branded / Non-Branded separation | N/A | Account has no branded search volume yet (S2S Films is an emerging brand). Add brand terms as paused keywords in a separate Brand campaign when IS data becomes available. |
| Smart Bidding readiness | OK | Currently on Maximize Clicks (TARGET_SPEND). Correct choice — only 1 conversion in 30 days, not enough signal for tCPA. Stay on Max Clicks until 20–30 conversions/month. |
| Negative keyword coverage | Critical Gap | No shared negative list. Search terms show major waste from wrong-intent and competitor brand queries. |
| Match type structure | Appropriate | All Phrase match — correct for an early-stage account with no conversion data. Avoid Broad until 30+ conv/month. |
| Budget vs target | Gap | Daily budget $9.11 vs $33/day target. Increase after fixing QS and negatives. |
| Landing page alignment | Good | All ads point to /commercials-2/ — a dedicated commercial LP. Correct. Not the homepage. |
| Ad group themes | Improve | Commercial and Corporate AGs are appropriate. Consider adding a third AG for "video production agency" cluster once account stabilizes. |
Add 18 intent/service negatives + 14 competitor brand names to the campaign. This eliminates the "streaming advertising companies," "video advertising companies," "advertising agency," and all competitor brand queries that are consuming budget with zero conversion potential. Estimated savings: ~$30–50/month based on current spend patterns. CTR will rise → passively improves QS.
QS 3 on the primary keyword (commercial video production) means the account is paying ~2× market CPC for every impression. Pin the exact keyword text to Headline 1 in the Commercial RSA. Then use Google PageSpeed Insights to check mobile load time for /commercials-2/ — LP experience is one of QS's three components. Target QS 6+ on the primary keyword. At QS 7 vs QS 3, effective CPC drops ~30% and IS improves significantly.
0.22% CVR across 454 clicks is implausible for qualified B2B traffic if leads were being captured properly. Open GTM Preview Mode, visit /commercials-2/, fill and submit the contact form, and verify the Google Ads conversion tag fires. If it doesn't fire: the trigger is broken and all past conversions may be under-reported. If it does fire: the traffic is of poor quality (likely from the wrong-intent search terms — fix #1 resolves this).
The account is spending only 27% of the intended budget. After negatives are in place and QS improves, increase daily budget from $9.11 to $33. The IS Lost Budget is only 3.4% today, so the immediate bottleneck is rank not budget — but with improved QS and a clean account, the budget increase will translate into proportionally more visibility instead of feeding waste.
The /commercials-2/ landing page has videos and a contact form but is missing a clear above-the-fold CTA button and an explicit price-anchor statement ("Save 50–70% vs. US agency rates"). Adding both to the hero section reduces friction and aligns the LP message with the strongest ad headline ("Video Ads, Fraction of US Cost"). This directly improves LP Experience QS component.
The Corporate AG has 8 keywords targeting "corporate video production company/agency/near me." Once Commercial is profitable and tracking is confirmed, Corporate represents an expansion opportunity in a related service (brand overview videos, company culture films). Before reactivating: improve the Corporate RSA to 15 headlines and update copy to reflect S2S's cost-advantage positioning.
| Element | Why It's Working | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page: /commercials-2/ | Dedicated commercial LP with portfolio videos, client logos (SHEIN, Kalley, Fotón), and contact form. Not the homepage. Correct targeting. | All ads pointing here correctly |
| Ad copy direction (Commercial AG) | Fully commercial-focused (vs. Week 1 when music video language was mixed in). Cost differentiator present. SHEIN social proof included. Ad Strength: GOOD. | Ad Strength = GOOD |
commercial videographer [Phrase] |
Highest QS in the account (QS 5) and decent CTR (2.31%). Best-performing keyword by quality score. Add as exact match as well. | QS: 5 | CTR: 2.31% |
advertising production company [Phrase] |
Only keyword to generate a conversion ($52.35 CPA). Despite intent-mismatch risk, it IS generating some qualified traffic. Keep with aggressive negatives added to filter out the bad queries. | 1 conv | $52.35 CPA |
| Bidding strategy: Maximize Clicks | Correct for an account with only 1 conversion. Smart Bidding (tCPA/tROAS) requires 30+ conversions/month minimum. Maximize Clicks is the right call now. | TARGET_SPEND |
| Account currency handling | Account operates in COP but targets USD market — bids are set appropriately for the COP value equivalent. No structural currency issue detected. | COP / 4200 = USD |
| Week | Actions | Expected Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 (Now) ✅ Completed May 23 |
✅ 32 negative keywords applied via API ✅ "Commercial Video Production" pinned to H1 in RSA ✅ 15th headline "Affordable Commercial Video" added ✅ Fixed headline "Video Production Agency USA" (was "Affordable Video Ad Agency") ✅ GTM conversion tag verified — fires correctly on /gracias/⚠️ Manual step pending: Remove "Envío de formulario para clientes potenciales" (MANY_PER_CLICK) in Google Ads UI → Conversions |
CTR +15–25%, wasted spend -$30/month, QS begins to recover |
| Week 2 |
1. Check LP /commercials-2/ PageSpeed on mobile 2. Add CTA button above fold to LP 3. Add Colombia cost-advantage statement to LP hero 4. Consolidate to 1 primary conversion action (ONE_PER_CLICK) |
LP Experience QS component improves, CVR lift expected |
| Week 3 |
1. Review QS — if commercial video production is ≥ 5, scale budget to $33/day2. Add exact match versions of best performers: [commercial videographer], [commercial video production company] 3. Review new search terms for additional negatives |
Budget 3× increase, IS grows from 10% to 20–30%, leads increase |
| Week 4 |
1. Evaluate conversion data — if 5+ conversions, consider tCPA at $150 (above current $52 but with more data) 2. A/B test new headline: "US Brand Commercials at Half Price" 3. Decide on Corporate AG reactivation based on Commercial performance |
Data-driven bidding decision, account on track for 10+ leads/month |
The following changes were applied directly to the Google Ads account (781-278-3288) via the Google Ads API v23 immediately after this audit was generated.
Applied via CampaignCriterionService.mutate_campaign_criteria to campaign Search_S2S_Services_ComercialIntent. Includes 18 intent/service negatives and 14 competitor brand names. This eliminates queries like "streaming advertising companies," "video advertising companies," "advertising agency in usa," and 29 other wrong-intent or competitor-branded searches that were burning budget with 0 conversion potential.
Applied via AdService.mutate_ads with field mask on the existing RSA in the Commercial ad group. Three changes made:
The API returned IMMUTABLE_FIELD when attempting to change counting_type from MANY_PER_CLICK to ONE_PER_CLICK on "Envío de formulario para clientes potenciales" (ID: 7489854918). This field cannot be modified after creation.
Action required in Google Ads UI: Go to Tools → Conversions, find "Envío de formulario para clientes potenciales," and click Remove. This leaves "Submit lead form Website" (ID: 7502168810, ONE_PER_CLICK) as the sole primary conversion action — the correct setup.
Live form submission test completed via Playwright on /commercials-2/. Network request log confirmed:
AW-17934221835 with label gwLyCOqFqPkbEIuE2udC → HTTP 200 on /gracias/form_start and form_submit both fire on the LPG-JMXGJJ2CVF receiving data correctlyConclusion: Tracking is NOT broken. The low CVR (0.22%) is explained by wrong-intent traffic from the intent-mismatch queries now negated in step 1.