Google Ads Leads Costing More Since August? Two Changes Every Trade Business Needs to Check

If your Google Ads leads feel more expensive than they did in the summer, you might not be imagining it.

Two things changed inside Google Ads over the last couple of months. Neither came with a big announcement to the people actually paying the bills. Most roofers, landscapers, window fitters and driveway companies running their own ads, or paying someone else to, won’t have heard about either.

One can quietly push your cost per lead up. The other can make your reports show fewer calls than your phone actually took.

This blog explains both in plain English, then walks you through exactly what to check. It takes about 20 minutes. You don’t need to be a Google Ads expert to do it, and if someone manages your account for you, you can hand them this list.

The short version

• Change 1: 17 August. If your campaign is set to aim for a target cost per lead and it’s “Limited by budget”, Google now aims for your target rather than beating it. If your target was set higher than what you were actually paying, your leads can drift up towards it.
• Change 2: late summer. Google confirmed that some ad calls were going to the number on your Google Business Profile instead of your tracking number. Your phone still rang, but your reports didn’t count the call. Google appears to have fixed it in late September, but your August and September figures may be wrong.

Neither of these means your ads are broken. Both mean your numbers need checking before you make any decisions off the back of them.

Change 1: What happened on 17 August

Google announced this one back in July, but it was aimed at agencies and advertisers who read the Google Ads blog. Not trades.

Here’s what it means in normal language.

Lots of trades campaigns use a bid strategy called Target CPA. CPA stands for cost per acquisition, which for you means cost per lead. You tell Google, “I’m happy to pay around £50 for an enquiry,” and Google bids to get you enquiries at roughly that price.

Lots of trades campaigns are also limited by budget. That just means there are more people searching for what you do than your daily budget can pay for. Very common for local trades.

Before 17 August, when a campaign was both of those things, Google often delivered leads cheaper than your target. You’d set £50 and get them at £35. Nice.

From 17 August, Google changed how this works. In its own words, budget-limited campaigns will now perform more consistently towards your target. So if your target says £50, Google is more likely to deliver £50 leads, even if it used to get you £35 ones.

Google’s own guidance to advertisers was not to just throw more budget at it, but to make sure your target actually matches what you want to pay.

Why this catches trades out

Most trades accounts have a target that was set once and never touched again. Maybe it was set when the account was first built. Maybe an agency set it high to “give the algorithm room”.

If your target is higher than what you’re happy paying, Google now has permission to spend up to it. And it will.

Who this affects

You’re affected if all three of these are true:

1. Your campaign uses Target CPA (or Maximise Conversions with a target CPA set).
2. Your campaign shows “Limited by budget”.
3. Your target is higher than the cost per lead you were actually getting before August.

If your campaign uses a different bid strategy, or isn’t limited by budget, this change shouldn’t affect you.

Change 2: Calls going to the wrong number

This one is more about your reports than your costs. But it matters just as much.

Most Google Ads accounts use a tracking number on their call ads. It forwards to your real phone, but it lets Google count the call as a lead. That’s how you know which ads are actually making your phone ring.

Many trades accounts also have their Google Business Profile linked to their ads. That’s the location you see under some ads, with your address and reviews.

Google confirmed in September that when an ad had both of these switched on, some calls were going to the number on your Business Profile instead of the tracking number.

Your phone still rang. You still got the job. But Google Ads never saw the call.

So your report would say the ads brought in fewer leads than they really did. And your cost per lead would look worse than it really was.

Google appears to have fixed this by late September. But any report covering August and September could be undercounting calls.

Why this matters more than it sounds

Picture this. Your report says you had 12 leads last month at £80 each. You think the ads have gone off a cliff. You cut the budget or switch them off.

But your phone actually took 20 calls from the ads, and the real cost was closer to £48.

You’ve just switched off a campaign that was working. That’s the real cost of a report you can’t trust.

Step by step: what to check in your account

Set aside 20 minutes. Log into Google Ads. Work through these in order.

If someone manages your ads for you, send them this section and ask them to confirm each step in writing.

Step 1: Find your campaigns that are limited by budget

1. Go to Campaigns.
2. Look at the Status column for each campaign.
3. Make a note of any campaign that says “Limited by budget”.

No campaigns limited by budget? Change 1 doesn’t apply to you. Skip to Step 5.

Step 2: Check which bid strategy those campaigns use

1. In the same Campaigns view, look at the Bid strategy type column. If you can’t see it, add it using the columns icon.
2. You’re looking for Target CPA, or Maximise conversions with a target CPA set.

If it says Maximise Clicks or Manual CPC, Change 1 doesn’t apply. Skip to Step 5.

Step 3: Compare your cost per lead before and after 17 August

1. Set the date range to 18 July to 16 August. Note the Cost / conv. for each campaign from Step 2.
2. Change the date range to 17 August to 15 September. Note the Cost / conv. again.
3. Compare the two.

One honest warning: the summer and September are different months for most trades. Some of any change will be normal seasonal movement. What you’re looking for is a cost per lead that has crept up towards your target.

Step 4: Compare that against your target

1. Open the campaign and go to Settings, then Bidding.
2. Look at the Target CPA figure.

Now ask yourself one question. Is that the most I’m genuinely happy to pay for a lead?

• If your target is £60 but you were happily getting leads at £40, and you’d like to keep paying around £40, your target is too high. Bring it down in steps rather than all at once. Big jumps can unsettle the campaign.
• If your target is already where you want it, leave it alone.
• If you want more leads and you’re happy with the current price, then a budget increase is the conversation to have. Not before.

Google has also added a Bid Target Adjustment Tool that shows past performance against your target. If you see it in your account, it’s worth a look.

Step 5: Check your call assets and location assets

1. Go to Assets (in some accounts it’s under Ads & assets).
2. Check whether you have call assets (your phone number on ads) switched on.
3. Check whether you have location assets (your Google Business Profile) linked.

If you have both, your account could have been hit by the call routing issue. Carry on to Step 6.

If you only have one or neither, you weren’t affected by Change 2.

Step 6: Compare tracked calls against your real phone

This is the most important check, and the simplest.

1. In Google Ads, go to Reports and find the Call details report. Set the date range to August and September.
2. Count the calls Google Ads recorded.
3. Now look at your actual phone. Your call log, your phone bill, or your call answering service. Count the new enquiries that came from people who said they found you on Google.
4. Compare the two numbers.

If your phone took noticeably more calls than Google Ads recorded, some of your leads weren’t being counted. Your real cost per lead was lower than your reports said.

Step 7: Test it today

1. Search for your own service in your area on your phone. Something like “roofer near me” or “driveway company [your town]”.
2. If your ad shows, look at the phone number on it.
3. Is it your tracking number, or the number on your Google Business Profile?

Don’t click the ad. Just look. Every click costs you money.

Step 8: Write down what you found

Keep a note of the date you checked, what you changed and why. When you look at next month’s numbers, you’ll know exactly what’s normal and what isn’t.

Questions to ask whoever runs your ads

If an agency or freelancer manages your Google Ads, you shouldn’t need to do any of the above. But you should be able to ask these questions and get a straight answer.

1. “Are any of my campaigns limited by budget and using Target CPA?”
2. “Did you review my targets before or after 17 August?”
3. “What’s my cost per lead before and after 17 August?”
4. “Do my tracked calls in August and September match what actually came in?”
5. “Have you checked that my ads show the tracking number, not my Business Profile number?”

A good agency will find these questions boring. They’ll have looked already.

If you get waffle, jargon, or “the algorithm’s just adjusting”, that tells you something too.

And while you’re asking questions, here’s another one every trade should ask: who actually owns your Google Ads account?

Why I’m telling you this

I’m Kelly. I run Google Ads and Meta Ads for trade and home improvement businesses across the UK.

I’m checking every one of my clients’ accounts for both of these before their October reports go out. Not because anything is necessarily wrong, but because a report you can’t trust is worse than no report at all.

Google makes changes like this constantly. Most of them never reach the people paying the bills. The businesses that do well with Google Ads aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones whose numbers are actually right.

Want a second pair of eyes?

If you’ve worked through this and something doesn’t add up, or you’d rather someone else just checked it for you, get in touch. Tell me your trade and roughly what you’re paying per lead, and I’ll tell you honestly whether it looks right.