When the Account Is Good But Could Be Better
Most Google Ads case studies tell a rescue story. This one is different.
This Columbia SC carpet cleaning account was already performing within the home services benchmark.
$58.72 CPA on a $1,761 budget. 30 confirmed conversions in Q1 2026. Solid geographic targeting covering Columbia, Lexington, Irmo, and Cayce. Correct conversion types tracked.
The job wasn’t rescue. It was refinement — finding $590 in quarterly waste, cutting it, and letting the budget do more work for the same spend.
What Was Working
What Was Wasting $590 Per Quarter
A named competitor carpet cleaning company had accumulated $52+ in spend across multiple search term variants before review. Those searches come from customers who already chose a competitor. Excluded.
‘Commercial exterior building cleaning’ and related commercial exterior terms produced $538 in spend across 2,394 search terms with no confirmed conversions.
Different service category — a carpet cleaner’s budget shouldn’t run against pressure washing and exterior building queries.
Combined: $590 in quarterly waste identified. Cut. That $590 stays in the budget and now works against searches that actually convert.
The Geographic Picture
Conversions concentrated in Columbia, Lexington, Irmo, and Cayce — exactly the service area this company covers. The geographic targeting was already correct.
That’s important. Good geographic targeting is the foundation of an efficient local services campaign. A bad geographic setup wastes budget on users outside the service area before you even get to keyword management.
‘Carpet cleaning near me’ at $20.15 CPA is the account’s standout performer — 5 conversions from $100.74 in spend. That’s the highest-volume, highest-efficiency term in the account and deserves the highest bid priority and budget allocation going forward.
