Your Google Ads report shows plenty of clicks. The money is going out every month. But the phone isn't ringing and the enquiry form is quiet. It's one of the most common frustrations we hear from local business owners.
The cause is rarely one big mistake. More often it's a few small leaks: ads showing for the wrong searches, a landing page that doesn't match the ad, a form that breaks on a phone, or tracking that misses the enquiries you do get. Mobile devices made up 48.56% of Australian web traffic in October 2026 (StatCounter), so a page that's awkward on a phone can lose half your visitors before they ever reach the form.
This guide walks through the usual causes, how to spot each one and what to fix first. It's written for owners and managers, so you'll know what to check yourself and what to ask your agency.
Key takeaways
- Check tracking before anything else. If calls and forms aren't set up as conversions, your report can show zero enquiries even when some came in. Google's Tag Assistant "helps you verify your conversion actions on your website" (Google Ads Help).
- Broad match can bring in loosely related searches. Google says broad match ads "may show on searches that are related to your keyword, which can include searches that don't contain the direct meaning of your keywords" (Google Ads Help).
- The landing page has to match the ad. Google rates landing page experience on "How relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad" (Google Ads Help).
- Test everything on a phone. Mobile is nearly half of Australian web traffic, and a slow page or broken form on mobile quietly wastes clicks.
- Check where and when ads show. The default location option also reaches people interested in your area, and ads can run at hours when nobody answers the phone.
Are you really getting no enquiries?
Before changing anything, check that enquiries are actually missing and not just untracked. Google says conversion tracking helps you "learn which keywords, ads, ad groups, and campaigns are best at driving valuable customer activity" (Google Ads Help). If tracking isn't set up properly, your report can show zero conversions while real enquiries arrive.
Start with three quick checks:
- Compare the report with your own records. Count the calls, emails and form enquiries you received this month. Ask new customers how they found you. If people say "Google" but the report shows nothing, tracking is the likely problem.
- Check what counts as a conversion. Ask your agency for the list. A form submission and a call from the ad should both be there. If only page views or button clicks are counted, the numbers won't mean much either way.
- Test the tracking. Submit a test enquiry and see whether it shows up. Google's Tag Assistant is "a tool that helps you verify your conversion actions on your website" (Google Ads Help).
Calls are often the missing piece
For many local businesses, most enquiries come by phone. Google counts a tap on the phone number in your ad as a click: "When someone clicks your ad, like on the blue headline or phone number of a text ad, Google Ads counts that as a click" (Google Ads Help). So some of those "clicks with no enquiries" may be phone calls that were never counted as conversions.
Calls made after someone visits your website can be missed too, unless call tracking is set up on the site as well as in the ad. If your business relies on the phone, make sure both are measured.
If you're not sure what the numbers in your report mean, our guide to how to read a Google Ads report explains each one in plain English.
What are the most common causes?
When tracking is working and enquiries really are low, the cause is usually one of seven things. The most common is ads showing for searches that were never likely to become customers. Google says broad match ads "may show on searches that are related to your keyword, which can include searches that don't contain the direct meaning of your keywords" (Google Ads Help). Here's each cause and how to fix it.
1. Your ads are showing for the wrong searches
Keywords are what you bid on. Search terms are what people actually typed. Google's search terms report shows "how your ads performed when triggered by actual searches" (Google Ads Help). That's where you'll find the problem searches.
A family law firm might find its ads showing for "free divorce forms" or "family law jobs". An electrician might appear for "electrician course" or "how to change a light switch". Each of those clicks costs money, and almost none will become an enquiry.
The fix: review search terms regularly and add irrelevant ones as negative keywords. Google explains that "Negative keywords let you exclude search terms from your campaigns" (Google Ads Help). If broad match is bringing in too much noise, phrase or exact match gives tighter control. Exact match ads show on "searches that have the same meaning or same intent as the keyword" (Google Ads Help).
2. The landing page doesn't match the ad
If someone searches for "hot water system repair" and lands on your homepage, they have to hunt for what they wanted. Many won't bother. Google rates landing page experience on "How relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad" (Google Ads Help), and says landing pages "must be both relevant and easy to navigate" (Google, 2025).
The fix: send each group of ads to the page that matches it. A page about the exact service in the ad, with a clear heading, a short explanation and an obvious way to get in touch, will usually beat a general homepage.
3. The page is slow or awkward on a phone
Mobile devices made up 48.56% of Australian web traffic in October 2026 (StatCounter). Google's web.dev guidance says sites "should strive to have Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less" (web.dev), which roughly means the main content should appear within 2.5 seconds.
Slow pages, pop-ups that cover the screen, tiny buttons and text you have to pinch to read all cost enquiries on a phone. Our list of website fixes to make before a redesign covers how to check and fix these.
The fix: open your landing page on your own phone, on mobile data, and try to make an enquiry. If it's frustrating for you, it's frustrating for customers.
4. The form or phone number doesn't work properly
This sounds obvious, but broken forms are surprisingly common. A form might fail silently, send to an old email address or land in spam. A phone number might be an image that can't be tapped.
The fix: test every form and phone link once a month. Make the phone number tap-to-call. Keep forms short: name, contact details and a short message is usually enough for a first enquiry.
5. Your ads are reaching people outside your area
Google's default location setting is "Presence or Interest". Google describes it as reaching people "who are likely to be in or regularly present" in your locations "as well as people who have shown interest in your targeted locations" (Google Ads Help). For a business that only serves Brisbane, someone in Perth researching Brisbane may still see your ad.
The fix: for most local service businesses, the "Presence" option is a better fit. Google says it shows ads "to people who are likely to be located, or regularly located" in the places you target. Check the location report too, to see where clicks are really coming from.
6. Ads run when nobody can answer
If your ads run at 9pm and the main call to action is "Call now", those calls go to voicemail. Google lets you "Specify certain hours or days of the week when you want your ads to show" (Google Ads Help).
The fix: match the schedule to when you can respond, or switch the call to action outside business hours to a form or booking request. Look at which days and hours bring enquiries, then adjust.
7. Nothing gives people a reason to choose you
People often click several ads before deciding. If your page looks like everyone else's, with no reviews, no photos of real work and no clear next step, they'll move on. Our article on how Google's AI features affect local businesses explains why reviews and clear business details matter more than ever.
The fix: add genuine reviews, real photos, the areas you cover and a clear explanation of what happens after someone gets in touch. Make the next step easy and obvious.
How do you diagnose the problem step by step?
Work through the causes in order, starting with the cheapest and fastest checks. Tracking comes first, because Google says conversions help you "understand your return on investment (ROI) and make better informed decisions about your ad spend" (Google Ads Help). Without that, every other decision is a guess.
- Count your real enquiries for the last month and compare them with the report.
- Submit a test enquiry and make a test call to check tracking and that messages arrive.
- Open the search terms report and list any searches that would never become customers.
- Check the landing page for each ad group. Does it match the ad? Is the next step obvious?
- Try to enquire on your phone, on mobile data, from start to finish.
- Check the location option and location report. Is "Presence" set, and are clicks coming from your service area?
- Check the ad schedule against when someone can answer the phone.
- Look at the page through a customer's eyes. Would you choose this business over the next ad?
Most accounts have more than one leak. Fixing the first three or four checks usually makes the biggest difference, because they affect every click.
If you're weighing whether paid ads are right for you at all, our guide to SEO or Google Ads for a small firm compares the two approaches.
Frequently asked questions
The most common reasons are ads showing for irrelevant searches, a landing page that doesn't match the ad, a page that's hard to use on a phone, or conversion tracking that isn't set up. Google's search terms report shows "how your ads performed when triggered by actual searches", so start there and with a tracking test.
Yes. Google says a click on "the blue headline or phone number of a text ad" counts as a click. A call only shows as a conversion if call tracking is set up. If your business relies on the phone, some "clicks with no enquiries" may be untracked calls.
Broad match can find new searches, but it needs close watching. Google says broad match ads can show on searches "that don't contain the direct meaning of your keywords". For small local budgets, phrase or exact match with regular search term reviews usually wastes less.
Google's default location option, "Presence or Interest", also reaches people "who have shown interest in your targeted locations". Switching to "Presence" limits ads to people likely to be in, or regularly in, your area, which suits most local service businesses.
Fix tracking, search terms and landing pages first, then give the campaign a few weeks of clean data. Mobile devices made up 48.56% of Australian web traffic in October 2026 (StatCounter), so test the mobile experience before judging results.
Want someone to find the leaks?
Clicks with no enquiries is a fixable problem. In most accounts, the answer is in the tracking, the search terms or the landing page, and once those are sorted, the same budget goes further.
The Digi Lab manages Google Ads for local businesses in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Learn more about our Google Ads management, or talk to us about your project.
