How to Get Financial Services Leads from Google Ads

If you're running a financial services business in the UK - whether that's broking, lending, insurance, or advisory — you've probably already tried Google Ads. And there's a fair chance you found it expensive, confusing, or both.

You're not alone. We've audited dozens of financial services Google Ads accounts over the years, and the pattern is almost always the same: money going out, clicks coming in, but nobody can tell you which leads actually turned into clients. The good news is that Google Ads works extremely well for financial services when it's set up properly. We've helped one vehicle finance broker increase their ad-driven revenue by 1,250% over 18 months, with ROI improving by over 300%. They didn't start with a huge budget - we proved the model first, then scaled what worked.

Here's how to do the same.

Why is financial services PPC so expensive?

Financial services keywords are some of the priciest in the UK market. Average cost-per-click sits between £3 and £8 for most finance-related terms, and competitive ones like business loan or commercial mortgage can push past £20 per click.

But expensive clicks are great if they convert. The real challenge is paying for clicks that never convert. That usually comes down to three things: bidding on keywords that are too broad, sending traffic to your homepage instead of a dedicated landing page, and not tracking what happens after someone clicks.

Fix those three and your cost per lead drops significantly - we've typically seen it fall by 40–50% in the first three months of taking over an account.

What FS keywords should you target?

The temptation is to bid on the big terms - "financial adviser," "business finance," "loans." Don't. These are expensive, competitive, and attract people who are browsing rather than buying.

Instead, focus on long-tail, high-intent keywords. These are the searches where someone already knows what they need and is looking for someone to provide it. You can broaden it out later.

A few examples of what works well in the UK financial services space:

• "commercial mortgage broker Manchester" rather than "commercial mortgage"

• "PCP finance rates UK" rather than "car finance"

• "R&D tax credit claim accountant" rather than "accountant"

The more specific the keyword, the cheaper the click and the higher the conversion rate. We'd rather you pay £5 for a click that converts at 10% than £2 for one that converts at 1%.

Location modifiers are particularly effective for financial services. Adding your city, county, or "near me" to your keyword list taps into people who are ready to speak to someone local - and these leads tend to close faster.

Decide what you DON'T want!

This is the most important part of any campaign. As Google takes search broader, it's super important to tell Google what you don't convert, what spam is and what keywords just don't match your campaigns. We'll have a master list of 'no-no's' and a campaign specific list of thousands of words we don't want. We'll also negative match between campaigns so Google doesn't leak the wrong words into a campaign that doesn't match.

Do you need a landing page for every campaign?

Yes. Or at least one per service area. Sending Google Ads traffic to your homepage is one of the most common mistakes we see in financial services accounts. It's fine for your brand terms, but likely to cost you money otherwise. We're all time poor, and our patience levels are wafer thin. Don't make me look for it!

Your homepage does ten jobs at once. A landing page does one: convince the visitor to get in touch. It should match the specific promise made in the ad, include trust signals relevant to finance (FCA registration, client testimonials, years in business), and have a clear, simple form or call-to-action.

For financial services specifically, you'll want to include:

• Your FCA authorisation number (if applicable) - it's not just compliance, it's a trust signal

• A line about data protection and GDPR - people handing over financial details want reassurance, so you could include your ICO registration number

• Social proof from the same sector the visitor is searching for — a testimonial from a property developer means nothing to someone looking for pension advice

• Your business address and name- Who are you, where can I check you out

• Reviews and ratings- What do your clients say about you.

Keep the form short. Name, email, phone, and one qualifying question (like "what's the approximate value of the finance you're looking for?") is plenty. Every extra field costs you conversions.

How do you track which leads are actually worth something?

This is where most financial services firms come unstuck. They can see clicks and form submissions in Google Ads, but they can't connect those back to actual revenue.

You need to track three things at minimum:

Phone calls from your ads — use a call tracking tool that assigns a unique number to your Google Ads traffic. This is essential in financial services where many enquiries come by phone rather than form.

Form submissions — make sure your forms fire a conversion event in Google Ads when someone completes them, not just when they land on the page.

Lead quality — not every lead is equal. A mortgage enquiry worth £500k is more valuable than one worth £50k. Feed value data back into Google Ads (either manually or through your CRM) so the algorithm can optimise for the leads that actually matter to your business.

Once you're tracking properly, you can tell Google Ads to find more people like your best leads. This is where the real efficiency gains happen — we've seen cost per qualified lead drop from over £100 to under £40 once an account has enough quality data flowing back.

How much should you spend to start?

For most UK financial services businesses, we'd recommend starting with £3,000–£5,000 per month in ad spend. That's enough to generate meaningful data without betting the farm.

The first month is about learning, not leads. You're finding out which keywords convert, which landing pages work, and what a qualified lead costs you. By month two, you should be cutting the waste and doubling down on what's working. By month three, you'll have a clear picture of your cost per lead and can make a sensible decision about scaling.

We've worked with financial services clients who started at around £5k a month and now spend ten times that — not because we pushed them to, but because the return made it an obvious decision. That's the approach we'd recommend: start with enough to learn, prove the model, then scale.

What about compliance and ad restrictions?

Google has specific policies for financial services advertising in the UK. You'll need to be aware of a few things.

FCA-authorised firms can run financial product ads, but Google may ask for verification. Non-authorised firms (like some lead generators) face restrictions on what they can advertise. The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) also governs financial promotions — your ad copy can't make claims about guaranteed returns or specific rates unless they're representative.

In practice, this means your ads need to be accurate and non-misleading. Phrases like "guaranteed approval" or "best rates in the UK" will either get your ad disapproved or land you in regulatory trouble. Stick to what you can substantiate, and make sure whoever writes your ad copy understands FCA rules — not just Google Ads best practice.

What to do next

If you're already running Google Ads for your financial services business, here are the four things worth checking this week:

• Review your keyword match types. If you're running broad match without smart bidding, you're almost certainly paying for irrelevant clicks. Check your search terms report for the last 30 days and add anything unrelated as a negative keyword.

• Check your landing pages. Are they specific to each service? Do they include FCA details and social proof? Is the form short enough?

• Set up proper conversion tracking. If you're only tracking page views, you're giving Google no useful data to optimise with. Track calls, forms, and ideally lead value.

• Look at your cost per lead, not your cost per click. A £6 click that converts is cheaper than a £2 click that doesn't. Shift your focus to the metric that matters.

We've put together a free Google Ads audit checklist specifically for financial services firms. It covers the 20 things we check every time we take on a new account - from keyword structure and negative lists to landing page compliance and conversion tracking. Download it, run through it on your own campaigns, and you'll know within 30 minutes exactly where your budget's going and what to fix first.