Snapshot
Boston Hair Restoration was investing in Google Ads, but its reporting blended branded and non-branded demand and made the true acquisition picture difficult to evaluate. NOVA audited the account at the keyword, search-term, campaign, and measurement levels before making optimization claims.
The audit covered 273 active keywords and more than 1,370 search terms. Only nine keywords had recorded conversion activity in the available account data.
The business problem
The account could report clicks and platform conversions, but it could not cleanly answer the questions that mattered:
- Which searches represented new patient demand?
- How much performance came from people already searching for the practice by name?
- Which terms were consuming spend without recorded conversion activity?
- Were the conversion signals reliable enough to guide bidding decisions?
Without those answers, a lower platform-reported cost per conversion could look like growth even when the underlying measurement was unstable.
What the data showed
- Branded and non-branded performance were blended.
- Broad matching allowed competitor and low-intent searches into the account.
- Similar keywords competed across ad groups.
- Most active keywords had no recorded conversion activity in the audit period.
This changed the assignment from “optimize the ads” to “make the account interpretable, then optimize.”
Decisions and implementation
- Separated branded demand from non-branded acquisition reporting.
- Reviewed 1,370+ search terms for relevance and intent.
- Built negative-keyword coverage for competitor and non-service searches.
- Consolidated overlapping keyword coverage.
- Tightened match-type and query controls around high-intent services.
- Rebuilt the reporting logic around cleaner, decision-ready conversion signals.
Verified evidence
- 273 active keywords audited.
- 1,370+ search terms reviewed.
- Nine keywords with recorded conversion activity in the available account data.
- A documented restructuring plan covering branded separation, negative keywords, overlap, intent, and measurement.
Measurement note
An earlier version of this case study reported a 71% cost-per-lead reduction and a 450% conversion increase. NOVA is excluding those before-and-after claims because the conversion setup was not clean enough to support a reliable lift calculation. The defensible result is a better account structure and a clearer measurement foundation—not a performance percentage the evidence cannot yet prove.
Skills demonstrated
- Google Ads account auditing
- Search-term and keyword analysis
- Branded versus non-branded segmentation
- Measurement governance
- Paid-search restructuring
- Evidence-based performance reporting
What to test next
Validate every conversion action against real consultation records, establish a clean baseline, and then test query controls, landing-page alignment, and ad copy against qualified consultation rate—not platform conversion volume alone.
