Lead-gen PPC rebuild: from form fills to qualified feedback

The problem

• Conversion tracking was inflating lead value.
• Junk enquiries could train Smart Bidding.
• CRM, email and spreadsheet records did not provide a reliable source of truth.
• There was no simple way to correct bad lead feedback after the fact.

The build

• Custom static landing pages for paid traffic.
• First-party form handler with click ID, UTM, referrer and technical metadata capture.
• Every valid submission logged before external systems touched it.
• Server-side routing to email, CRM, sheets and quality review.
• Qualified conversion uploads back to Google Ads.
• Review and retraction path for borderline or bad leads.

The account moved from "a form was submitted" to "this was a commercially useful lead worth feeding back to Google".

Why it matters

PMax and Smart Bidding are dangerous for lead-gen when every form completion is treated as equal. The system optimises toward whatever you reward. Clean lead feedback changes the target.