Your Google Ads are generating clicks. The enquiries are another story: people asking for services you do not offer, customers outside your coverage, or requests that never fit your business.
To improve Google Ads targeting in Cyprus, trace unsuitable enquiries back to the search, audience settings and landing page. An unwanted lead does not automatically mean the same thing is wrong in every campaign.
What did people actually search for?
Start with the available search terms report. The words people searched can differ from the keywords in your campaign. Review the meaning of those searches alongside the service you sell.
A business selling a professional service may attract research, employment or training enquiries if the search intent is poorly matched. Use relevant negative keywords where appropriate, and check that exclusions will not also remove valuable demand.
Google’s search terms documentation explains how to examine these matches. The report is a diagnostic tool, so combine it with actual enquiry feedback rather than judging relevance from click totals alone.
Is the customer in the wrong place, or searching from abroad?
Define where you can deliver the service and where the buyer can be located. Those are not always the same.
A local maintenance company may only serve a specific district. A Cyprus business working with overseas buyers may want enquiries from people who have not arrived on the island. Excluding every overseas enquiry could remove precisely the customers that second business wants.
Review the location settings available in the campaign and the geographic reports against that business model. Separate local and overseas acquisition where the messaging, budget or follow-up needs differ enough to justify it.
Does the language match the full customer journey?
An English advert leading to a page or follow-up process that only works in Greek creates unnecessary friction. The reverse can be equally confusing.
Check the advert, landing page, form confirmation and response process together. Match the languages to what your team can genuinely support. Our English and Greek Google Ads guide covers the wider planning decisions.
Does the advert set the right expectations?
Look at unsuitable enquiries for a pattern. Are people expecting a free service, a lower price, an immediate appointment or a product you do not supply?
Where commercially appropriate, clarify service scope, minimum order requirements, coverage and timing before the enquiry. Do not hide the information customers need to judge suitability. A more specific promise may bring fewer enquiries while making the remaining conversations more useful.
For example, a commercial fit-out company should make that focus obvious if it does not accept small domestic repair jobs.
A useful lead-quality review
Take a recent sample of enquiries and assign a clear reason to each unsuitable one: wrong service, wrong coverage, unrealistic timing, budget mismatch or no response. Keep genuine enquiries separate from spam and duplicate submissions.
Compare those reasons with the available campaign evidence. A wrong-service pattern calls for a search-intent review. A location mismatch calls for a coverage review. People asking what you actually do may point to unclear advertising or landing-page copy.
If the same issue appears in your Facebook and Instagram campaigns, read why Meta ads get attention without customers. If suitable visitors arrive but do not contact you, work through the search-to-enquiry journey.
Frequently asked questions
Should I exclude everyone outside Cyprus?
That depends on where your buyers are. A business serving people already in a particular district has different needs from a company selling Cyprus services to international customers. Set coverage around the real customer journey.
Should I increase the budget to get better leads?
First establish why the current enquiries are unsuitable. More spend can increase the volume of the same problem. Review the evidence, make a targeted change and assess lead quality before scaling.
Are you measuring qualified opportunities?
Check what the campaign reports as a conversion. A button click is not the same as a completed enquiry, and a completed enquiry is not automatically a suitable prospect.
Keep a simple record of why leads are accepted or rejected. Use that evidence to choose the next change: search relevance, coverage, copy, the landing page or follow-up. Avoid changing everything at once without a clear hypothesis.
For a wider account review, use our Google Ads audit checklist. Contact CREATE about your Google Ads with examples of the enquiries you want more of and those you want to reduce.
Reference: Google Ads search terms report.
Cover photograph: Carlos Muza / Unsplash. Stock image used for illustration.