In the competitive world of travel and tourism, digital advertising can make or break a business. A prominent Costa Rica-based tours and travel agency faced challenges with their Google Ads campaigns: rising costs per lead, declining conversions, and unoptimized strategies. With over a decade of industry experience and a goal to attract more travelers to Costa Rica, the client turned to AD360 for a transformational approach.

This case study explores how AD360’s meticulous audit and tailored solutions not only reversed the client’s struggles but also significantly boosted their campaign performance.

A detailed PPC audit revealed critical issues hindering campaign performance:

Misaligned Conversion Goals: Conversion sources were incorrectly configured, causing data discrepancies due to duplicated conversions imported from GA4.
Tagging Issues: Google Ads lacked proper Conversion Tags, relying solely on GA4 goals, which introduced inconsistencies.
Improper Conversion Tracking: The "Conversions per Count" option was selected incorrectly.
Lack of Optimization:
- No location, device, or demographic optimization.
- Bid adjustments were not optimized at the keyword level.
- Redundant and irrelevant keywords triggered ads unnecessarily.
Inefficient Account Structure:
- Missing negative keywords resulted in wasted ad spend on irrelevant clicks.
- Some ad groups lacked keywords entirely.
- No A/B testing was conducted for ad copies.
- Missing tracking templates at account, campaign, ad group, and ad levels.
Missed Opportunities:
- Relevant new search queries were not incorporated.
- No use of keyword or location insertion.

These factors collectively led to high costs, poor targeting, and underwhelming campaign performance.

Taking over the account in late September 2024, AD360 implemented a systematic overhaul starting in October. The approach focused on addressing each identified issue with precision and strategy:

Conversion Optimization:
- Properly aligned conversion goals and fixed discrepancies from GA4-imported data.
- Added Google Ads Conversion Tags to ensure accurate tracking.
- Corrected the "Conversions per Count" setting to track actions appropriately.
Account Restructuring:
- Reorganized ad groups to eliminate redundancy and ensure relevant keyword usage.
- Introduced negative keywords to filter out irrelevant traffic.
- Conducted keyword audits to refine targeting and include valuable new search queries.
Advanced Targeting:
- Enabled location-based bidding adjustments to prioritise high-performing regions.
- Optimized campaigns for devices and demographics for better audience targeting.
- Included tracking templates for improved performance analysis.
Creative Testing:
- Conducted A/B tests on ad copies to identify high-converting messaging.