Paid search expert Alessio Fleites breaks down exactly how he identifies where paid media can create the biggest commercial impact for a business, and it starts long before you open the ad platform.
In this episode, Paid Search & Google Ads Specialist at Lab Coat Marketing shares why speed to lead is one of the most overlooked ad spend killers, how a single geofencing mistake can blow an entire budget, and why hyper-specific targeting almost always beats going broad. He also unpacks quality score, offline conversion imports, and how his team uses AI Max to capture users at the exact bottom of the funnel — including a real case study where broadening match types actually increased conversions.
Topics covered:
- Mapping the customer funnel before building a campaign
- Why speed to lead determines whether leads ever close
- Geofencing and match type mistakes that waste ad spend
- Audience segmentation and the “audience targeting floor”
- Quality score: expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience
- Offline conversion imports and enhanced conversions for leads
- Where AI fits into paid search workflows — and where it doesn’t
- The shift toward conversational, keywordless search and AI Max
Whether you’re managing paid search for local service businesses or high-ticket verticals, this conversation is packed with tactical frameworks you can apply immediately.
Takeaways:
- Paid search strategy starts with an offline interview, not the ad platform
- Speed to lead can make leads unclosable within hours
- Unset geofencing can expand targeting to the entire world
- Close variant match types can bid on the wrong city entirely
- Hyper-specific audience targeting improves quality score and lowers CPC
- Offline conversion imports let algorithms learn from real closed revenue
- AI works best for brainstorming, not unsupervised campaign execution
- AI Max is shifting paid search toward conversational, keywordless targeting