Recap and next steps from the June 23 call, for the Ambrosia team
The throughline: the rebuilt paid account is early in a deliberate ramp. Bidding moved up a step and cost per lead responded immediately, the measurement cleanup means the numbers we report are real, and the qualified-lead signal that unlocks the next step is building. This page records where paid stood on June 23, the specific challenges we are working through, and what we agreed to watch. Mid-July is the read point for a meaningful upward trend.
1
Campaign status and the bidding ladder
Three active campaigns: General Rehab, Mental Health, and Branded. Adolescent exists as an ad group but not as a standalone campaign yet.
Bidding is moving up the ladder: from Manual CPC to Maximize Conversions optimizing for all leads. General Rehab switched the prior week; Mental Health switches this week. The next step, optimizing for qualified leads only, needs more conversion volume before it is safe.
Early result: General Rehab cost per lead nearly halved week over week since its switch.
Cost per non-branded lead is close to $1,000 and expected to fall meaningfully. CPCs above $100 are the main driver, a known tax on new campaigns.
Branded is now isolated, so it no longer inflates the non-branded numbers.
The progression, one step at a time
We graduate one step at a time. Each step trades manual control for outcome optimization, and we only advance when the conversion data can support it.
Where we started
Step 1 · Reset phase
Manual CPC
We set the max price per click
Full control while we rebuilt the account and cleaned search terms. Expensive and manual, not built to scale in a high-cost space.
1Done
Unlocked by
→
Enough lead volume + cleaner search terms
You are here
Now
Step 2 · Training the algorithm
Maximize Conversions
Optimizing for: any Lead
Google now bids toward leads instead of clicks. We optimize on all leads because qualified-lead volume is not yet high enough for the algorithm to learn from. This builds the data.
Google bids toward leads with real admission intent, not just any inquiry. From here we can layer Target CPA guardrails for efficiency at scale.
3Goal
The bridge to Step 3 is the conversion signal: more qualified leads, captured with their click ID.
2
Measurement cleanup: making the paid numbers real
Click IDs stamped at the manager-account level (pre-April) are rejected when passed back at the account level. The rebuilt conversion loop stamps and passes them back at the account level, so the signal actually reaches the bidding algorithm.
We pull admits by Google Click ID, not by campaign label, and it is the same yardstick every week.
Why this matters: under the old measurement, true non-branded cost per admit ran well above $10K. That is the starting line. Clean measurement is what lets us prove the rebuilt account beats it, and it is what feeds the bidding algorithm real outcomes so it can improve.
3
The challenges we are working through, and the fix for each
CPCs above $100. The main driver of a cost per non-branded lead near $1,000. Fix: daily search-term and negative keyword work keeps spend on treatment intent, and the move to Maximize Conversions lets Google buy the clicks that convert instead of the clicks that are cheap or expensive across the board.
New campaigns start with thin conversion data. Rebuilt campaigns cannot lean on the old history. Fix: optimize on all leads first to build volume fast (Step 2), then tighten to qualified leads once the algorithm has enough to learn from.
Qualified-lead volume gates the next bidding step. Step 3 needs enough qualified conversions, captured with their click ID, to be safe. Fix: the Salesforce-to-Google conversion loop passes every qualified lead and admit back automatically, banking that signal every day.
Early proof the approach works: General Rehab's cost per lead nearly halved week over week after its bidding switch. Mental Health makes the same switch this week.
4
Decisions made: self-pay and adolescent
Self-pay targeting via paid search is not viable. People do not search "self-pay rehab"; the same queries come from every payer type. Chasing self-pay zip codes would push CPCs to roughly $250 a click with too little volume to convert profitably.
Adolescent stays on hold until the current campaigns are optimized. It is historically the most expensive admit type (higher CPCs, lower conversion rate). Once the current campaigns have banked enough conversion data, the adolescent ramp will be faster than starting it cold now.
5
Timeline and budget outlook
Mid-July is the agreed read point for a meaningful upward trend in Google Ads performance.
Qualified-lead bidding (the next ladder step) is likely a few weeks out, pending conversion volume.
Budget: the team raised the possibility of reducing paid to around $50K a month depending on performance. The July budget conversation lands at the July 1 planning call.
6
Next steps and owners
Build the historical non-branded admit baseline from extended CTM and Salesforce data (Stephen). Click ID attribution isolates net-new paid admits while performance ramps.
Switch Mental Health to Maximize Conversions (Stephen). General Rehab switched the prior week.
Share this sync with the Ambrosia team (Stephen). A page like this follows each call so decisions and findings stay on the record.