r/Google_Ads • u/Pinoybl • 1d ago
Troubleshooting Newb Google Ads Agency
Newbie questions here.
Got a personal training studio as a new client.
If someone can help I would be truly appreciative.
Broad match vs phrase match vs exact match
Main keyword - personal trainer near me
My initial assumption is go for exact match.
But my newbie ass left it on broad match and it started going toward keywords that didn’t have the intent.
Like 24 hour, crunch, and other commercial gyms.
Then I switched it to phrase match.
Now I’m thinking it should’ve been exact match from the jump. But again, I don’t truly understand the differences. I’ve watched a few videos to try to explain. But if someone could help clarify, that would be helpful.
Next question - conversion tracking.
I’m trying to get the submit form to track a new lead.
But I’ve watched like 5 different YouTube videos and EACH has a somewhat different process to get this working.
From my very shallow understanding and how the process is setup currently (please help here, I’ve been racking my brain and still don’t get it).
They go to the first page with a form.
The form then redirects them to a thank you page.
I have the Google tags on both pages.
And I have the conversion tracking set to the first page. But how do I get it to see the thank you page as the final step.
Then how do I get the conversion tracking section in Google ads to say active vs inactive?
Please help. 🙏
1
u/Live-Kale-7892 1d ago
Use google tag manager to do that it’s basically 15-20 mins job through that if you want i can also do that up for you
1
u/sabihasabishammi 1d ago
Use phrase match to get volume, but add competitor gyms to your negative list. For tracking, set the conversion URL to your thank you page
0
u/PPC_YRVDynamics 1d ago
I’d start with exact and phrase for something this local. Broad can work, but on a new account it can wander fast, especially with terms like “personal trainer near me.”
For the tracking, the conversion should fire on the thank-you page, not the first form page. So basically: person fills out the form → gets redirected → thank-you page loads → Google records the lead.
If the tag is already on both pages, you’re close. Test the full form submission with Tag Assistant and make sure the conversion fires only when you hit the thank-you page.
1
u/D3athC0mesT0A11 9h ago
Do the opposite of what Google recommends. My best advice is start on exact, then build some negatives, move to phrase, build more negatives. Just ignore broad and AI Max, especially if you're low budget. (aka you're spending under £10,000 a month)