Deep Dive Analysis

St. Joseph Medical Corp

Google Ads & Meta Ads Performance Analysis, June 10 - July 10, 2026. Account: 514-349-3594 (V2)

01

Executive Summary

Total Combined Spend: $19,304.70 across Google Ads ($17,628.90) and Meta Ads ($1,675.80) over 30 days. The account has improved significantly since the April deep dive. A dedicated Search campaign is now live and performing well, and a second PMax campaign has been added. However, 8 primary conversion actions are inflating conversion counts, a brand new Demand Gen campaign is burning money with zero conversions, and the negative keyword list has critical gaps.

Google Ads (30 Days)

Spend
$17,629
Clicks
5,220
Impressions
95,091
Conversions
835
Inflated (8 primary actions)
CTR
5.49%
CPC
$3.38
CPA (reported)
$21.11
Artificially low due to inflation
Search Imp. Share
~10-16%
Massive opportunity gap

Meta Ads (30 Days)

Spend
$1,676
Clicks
1,959
Impressions
55,934
Conversions
128
120 purchases, 8 leads
CTR
3.50%
CPC
$0.86
CPA
$13.09
Strong performance
Reach
28,537
02

Critical Issues Found

Critical #1

8 Primary Conversion Actions = Massively Inflated Numbers

The account has 8 conversion actions set as "primary for goal", which means a single form submission is likely being counted 3-5 times. This makes the reported 835 conversions and $21.11 CPA unreliable. The real lead count is likely 200-300 range, putting actual CPA at $59-$88.

  • CGM_Form_Submission (GA4 Custom, Primary) - likely the real form event
  • fb_thank_you_page (GA4 Custom, Primary) - thank you page view, fires on same submission
  • sweetspot___form_submission_thank_you_pa (GA4 Custom, Primary) - another thank you page variant
  • l_p_form_submitted (GA4 Custom, Primary) - landing page form, duplicates CGM form
  • Call from Website #new (Website Call, Primary)
  • Calls from ads (Ad Call, Primary)
  • Calls from ads (1) (Ad Call, Primary) - DUPLICATE call action
  • Zoho CRM Lead Qualification (Upload Clicks, Primary)
  • Zoho CRM Leads/Contacts (Upload Clicks, Primary)

Fix: Set exactly ONE primary conversion action (CGM_Form_Submission) and make ALL others secondary. This will also fix Smart Bidding, which is currently optimizing for a bloated conversion signal.

Critical #2

Demand Gen Campaign Burning $18+/Day with Zero Conversions

The "Demand Gen - 2026-07-10" campaign launched recently and has spent $17.93 with only 2 clicks on 1,251 impressions. CTR is 0.16%, CPC is $8.97, and there are zero conversions. This is YouTube/Discovery inventory, which historically performs poorly for lead gen in this vertical.

Fix: Pause immediately. Demand Gen is wrong for a CGM lead gen campaign unless it is retargeting website visitors with video content. The budget is better allocated to the Search campaign which has only 10% impression share.

Critical #3

Search Campaign Capturing Only 10% of Available Impressions

The Search campaign has a search impression share of just 9.99%, meaning 90% of relevant searches never see STJ's ads. PMax General NEW SITE has 13.5% and PMax General #2 has 16.3%. At a $120/day budget, the Search campaign is severely budget-constrained despite being the highest-intent campaign.

Fix: Increase Search campaign budget from $120/day to $180-200/day by reallocating from Demand Gen and/or the old PMax General (which is paused but has $20/day budget sitting idle).

Warning #1

Search Terms Leaking: Coupon/Discount/Free Seekers

Despite "coupon" being in the shared negative list, search terms show active spending on discount-related queries that indicate non-qualifying traffic:

  • "libre 3 discount card" - 4 clicks, $32.07 spent
  • "dexcom coupon" - 10 clicks, $37.59 spent (status: EXCLUDED, but still spending)
  • "free dexcom g7 sensor" - 8 clicks, $47.36 spent (status: EXCLUDED, but still spending)
  • "libre 3 plus" - 11 clicks, $32.17 spent, only 1 conversion
  • "dexcom g7 price" type queries leaking through broad match

Fix: The negative keywords are all EXACT match. Change critical negatives like "free", "coupon", "discount", "price", "cheap" to PHRASE match so they catch variants. Add "discount card", "savings card", "free sample", "rebate" as phrase negatives.

Warning #2

Negative Keywords Set as EXACT Match Only (Ineffective)

The shared negative keyword list ("Master Negative Keyword List") has 36 keywords, all in EXACT match. This means "coupon" blocks the exact word "coupon" but NOT "dexcom coupon", "libre coupon code", etc. The Search campaign also has its own negatives (comparison, review, sell, tutorial, cost, coupons, free sample, etc.) set as BROAD, which is correct, but the shared list is not.

Shared List Keywords (all EXACT): free, career, coupon, reviews, ideas, cheap, hiring, news, complaints, tips, guide, customer service, blog, salary, youtube, repair, stock, tutorial, phone number, how does it work, ebay, walmart, near me, directions, address, what is, explained, training, application, definition, lawsuit, headquarters, wiki, vs, competitor, manual

Fix: Convert all shared negatives to PHRASE match. "walmart", "near me", "ebay" as exact are useless; nobody searches just "walmart" and triggers a CGM ad. They search "freestyle libre walmart" which the exact match will NOT block.

Warning #3

Two PMax Campaigns Competing Against Each Other

"PMax | General | NEW SITE" ($250/day) and "PMax | General #2" ($200/day) are both ENABLED and running simultaneously with the same Maximize Conversions strategy. They are likely competing for the same audience pools, driving up CPCs and fragmenting the algorithm's learning.

  • PMax NEW SITE: $6,213 spend, 2,237 clicks, 365 conv, $17.04 CPA
  • PMax #2: $5,939 spend, 1,653 clicks, 223 conv, $26.60 CPA

PMax #2 has 56% higher CPA than PMax NEW SITE. Unless they serve different asset groups or audiences, consolidation should be tested.

Warning #4

Geo Targeting: Still Only Excluding North Dakota

Per the previous deep dive (April 2026), STJ was generating "Bad Ineligible State" leads from states where patients don't qualify. The geo targeting still shows: All US minus only North Dakota. If there are additional states where STJ cannot serve patients, those should be excluded to avoid wasted spend.

03

Google Ads Campaign Breakdown

Campaign Type Budget/Day Spend Clicks Impr. Conv. CPA CTR CPC
PMax | General | NEW SITE PMax $250 $6,213 2,237 41,800 365 $17.04 5.35% $2.78
PMax | General #2 PMax $200 $5,939 1,653 27,241 223 $26.60 6.07% $3.59
Search | Website Form Submission Search $120 $5,421 1,315 24,161 245 $22.15 5.44% $4.12
PMax | General (old, paused) PMax $20 $37 13 638 3 $14.93 2.04% $2.87
Demand Gen - 2026-07-10 Demand Gen TBD $18 2 1,251 0 N/A 0.16% $8.97
Key Insight: The Search campaign has the highest CPC ($4.12) but delivers the highest-intent traffic. Its 10% impression share means massive headroom. PMax NEW SITE is the volume driver but its 365 conversions are inflated by multi-counting. The real comparison will only be possible after fixing conversion tracking.
04

Search Keyword Performance

Keyword Match Ad Group Clicks Impr. CTR CPC Conv. CPA
glucose monitor covered by insurance Broad General CGM 387 5,942 6.51% $4.22 67 $24.34
how to get freestyle libre Broad FreeStyle Libre 3 279 4,438 6.29% $4.21 48 $24.47
dexcom g7 Broad Dexcom G7 273 5,903 4.62% $4.12 59 $18.97
diabetic medical supplies Phrase Main Ad group 126 1,777 7.09% $4.81 30 $20.18
freestyle libre 3 sensor Broad FreeStyle Libre 3 61 2,835 2.15% $3.84 14 $16.48
how to get a continuous glucose monitor Broad General CGM 21 267 7.87% $4.27 4 $22.42
continuous glucose monitoring Broad General CGM 5 344 1.45% $3.27 1 $16.36
Winner: "dexcom g7" has the lowest CPA at $18.97 and "freestyle libre 3 sensor" at $16.48. Consider adding more product-specific keywords like "dexcom g7 prescription", "freestyle libre 3 no cost", "cgm for type 1 diabetes" to capture high-intent branded product searches.
05

Search Term Analysis (Top Spend)

Search Term Status Clicks Spend Conv. CTR
freestyle libre 3 Added 54 $213.92 14 2.03%
free dexcom g7 sensor Excluded 8 $47.36 2 12.5%
freestyle libre 3 sensor Added 6 $42.82 1 3.30%
dexcom coupon Excluded 10 $37.59 2 9.52%
libre 3 plus Added 11 $32.17 1 1.79%
libre 3 discount card None 4 $32.07 2 8.33%
dexcom g7 Added 20 $50.99 3 1.53%
continuous glucose monitor covered by insurance Added 5 $29.52 2 16.97%
Problem

Excluded Terms Still Spending Money

"free dexcom g7 sensor" and "dexcom coupon" are both marked as EXCLUDED but still accumulated $84.95 in spend during this period. This happens because PMax campaigns ignore campaign-level negatives and can only be controlled via account-level negative keyword lists. If these negatives are only at the Search campaign level, PMax is still showing for them.

06

Device Performance

Device Spend % of Spend Clicks Conv. CPA CTR CPC
Mobile $15,469 88.5% 4,599 734 $21.07 6.18% $3.36
Desktop $1,847 10.6% 537 82 $22.52 3.06% $3.44
Tablet $268 1.5% 70 17 $15.77 2.47% $3.83
Observation: 88.5% of spend goes to Mobile, which makes sense for a healthcare lead gen targeting older adults. Tablet has the best CPA at $15.77 but only gets 1.5% of spend. Desktop CTR (3.06%) is notably lower than Mobile (6.18%). The device mix looks reasonable for this audience; no major changes recommended here.
07

Day of Week Performance (Google Ads)

Day Spend Clicks Conv. CPA CTR
Sunday $2,605 734 135 $19.30 5.65%
Monday $2,326 658 100 $23.26 5.25%
Tuesday $2,198 643 92 $23.89 5.26%
Wednesday $2,840 804 162 $17.53 5.58%
Thursday $2,797 797 130 $21.51 5.60%
Friday $2,628 743 103 $25.51 5.77%
Saturday $2,234 641 113 $19.77 5.66%
Best Day: Wednesday ($17.53 CPA). Worst Day: Friday ($25.51 CPA, 45% worse). Consider adding ad schedule bid modifiers: +15-20% Wednesday, -15-20% Friday. However, note these CPAs use the inflated conversion numbers, so re-evaluate after fixing conversion tracking.
08

Search Ad Group Breakdown

Ad Group Clicks Impressions CTR CPC Conv. CPA Spend
General CGM 413 6,553 6.30% $4.18 72 $23.90 $1,725
FreeStyle Libre 3 374 8,495 4.40% $4.15 70 $22.10 $1,551
Dexcom G7 297 6,265 4.74% $4.06 63 $19.02 $1,205
Main Ad group 231 2,848 8.11% $4.07 39 $24.10 $940
Key Finding: All four Search ad groups perform within a narrow CPA range ($19-24). "Main Ad group" has the highest CTR (8.11%), suggesting its keyword "diabetic medical supplies" has strong intent match. "Dexcom G7" has the lowest CPA ($19.02). Consider expanding the Dexcom G7 ad group with additional keywords like "dexcom g7 prescription", "how to get dexcom covered", "dexcom g7 for medicare".
09

Meta Ads Campaign Breakdown

Campaign Spend Clicks Impr. Purchases Leads CPA CTR CPC
General | Sales Campaign V3 $335 747 21,506 43 8 $6.56 3.47% $0.45
HMO Match | [Look Alike] $331 366 9,846 27 0 $12.25 3.72% $0.90
Just Turned of Age | [Suggestion] $338 308 8,281 22 0 $15.38 3.72% $1.10
Bad DOB Match | [Suggestion] $332 384 9,824 20 0 $16.60 3.91% $0.86
HMO Match | [No Suggestion] $340 154 6,477 8 0 $42.47 2.38% $2.21
Meta Issue #1

"HMO Match | No Suggestion" Has 3x Higher CPA Than Average

This campaign has the worst metrics across the board: lowest CTR (2.38%), highest CPC ($2.21), and only 8 conversions at $42.47 each. Every other campaign averages $6-$17 CPA. This campaign should be paused and its $7/day budget reallocated to the General V3 campaign which is the clear winner at $6.56 CPA.

Meta Observation

Campaign Architecture: Custom Audience Segments

The Meta campaigns are structured around CRM audience segments (Bad DOB, HMO, Just Turned of Age) uploaded as custom audiences. All use Advantage+ Audience OFF, age 60-65, excluding North Dakota, optimizing for PURCHASE events on the Meta Pixel. This is a solid structure for a healthcare lead gen campaign.

  • General V3: Open targeting with Advantage+ ON (ages 18-65). The algorithm has room to find the best audience. Performs best.
  • Segment campaigns: Tight custom audiences with Advantage+ OFF. Higher CPAs but more targeted.
  • All campaigns use LOWEST_COST_WITHOUT_CAP (no bid caps or ROAS targets).
Opportunity

10 Paused Meta Campaigns Available for Reactivation Testing

There are 10+ paused campaigns including: Denied By Patient Match [Look Alike], Denied By Patient Match [Suggestion], P Match [Suggestion], No Contact Match [Suggestion], Just Turned of Age [Look Alike], P Match [Look Alike], No Contact Match [Look Alike], HMO Match [Suggestion]. Some of these may have been paused prematurely. Consider reactivating the Look Alike versions one at a time since they use Lookalike audiences which could reach new qualified prospects.

10

Conversion Action Audit

Conversion Action Type Category Primary? Issue
CGM_Form_Submission GA4 Custom Purchase YES Keep as only primary
fb_thank_you_page GA4 Custom Add to Cart YES Duplicate of form submission
sweetspot___form_submission_thank_you_pa GA4 Custom Add to Cart YES Duplicate of form submission
l_p_form_submitted GA4 Custom Add to Cart YES Duplicate of form submission
Call from Website #new Website Call Contact YES Keep as primary (unique signal)
Calls from ads Ad Call Phone Call Lead YES Keep as primary (unique signal)
Calls from ads (1) Ad Call Phone Call Lead YES DUPLICATE of Calls from ads
Zoho CRM Lead Qualification Upload Clicks Qualified Lead YES Consider secondary (downstream)
Zoho CRM Leads/Contacts Upload Clicks Signup YES Overlaps with form submission
Recommendation: Keep only 3 primary conversion actions: (1) CGM_Form_Submission, (2) Call from Website #new, (3) Calls from ads. Set everything else to secondary/observe. This alone could reduce reported conversions by 50-60% and give Smart Bidding an accurate signal to optimize against.
11

Negative Keyword Gaps

Based on search term analysis and competitor research, these terms should be added as negative keywords (PHRASE match) to block irrelevant traffic:

Missing Negative Keywords to Add

  • Type 2 / Non-Insulin: "type 2 diabetes", "metformin", "ozempic", "non insulin", "insulin pump"
  • Discount/Coupon Seekers: "discount card", "savings card", "rebate", "promo code", "free trial"
  • Retail/Purchase: "amazon", "walmart", "costco", "walgreens", "cvs", "buy online", "price"
  • DIY/Technical: "how to use", "setup", "instructions", "manual", "troubleshooting", "error"
  • Jobs/Careers: "jobs", "career", "salary", "hiring" (partially covered but as EXACT only)
  • Competitor Brands: "medtronic", "abbott", "stelo", "lingo"

Existing Negatives (Correct, Keep)

  • comparison, review, sell, tutorial, cost, coupons, free sample, receiver, costco, alternative, video, app, accuracy, compatible, adhesive, sensor covers, case, phone, patch, warranty, trade-in, sell used, refurbish, etc.
  • Problem: Many of these are campaign-level only on Search. PMax ignores campaign-level negatives. These need to be in the shared negative keyword list OR applied as account-level negatives to affect PMax.
12

Prioritized Action Plan

1

Fix Conversion Tracking (Estimated Impact: Huge)

Set CGM_Form_Submission + Website Calls + Ad Calls as the ONLY 3 primary conversions. Make fb_thank_you_page, sweetspot form, l_p_form_submitted, Calls from ads (1), Zoho CRM Leads/Contacts all secondary. Zoho CRM Lead Qualification can stay primary IF it represents a unique downstream signal. This will reduce reported conversions by 50-60% but give Smart Bidding an accurate optimization target. Expect a 2-3 week learning period afterward.

2

Pause Demand Gen Campaign Immediately

$18 spent with 0 conversions, 0.16% CTR. Demand Gen (YouTube/Discovery) is not the right channel for CGM lead gen. Reallocate that daily budget to the Search campaign.

3

Increase Search Campaign Budget from $120 to $200/day

Search has only 10% impression share, meaning we are missing 90% of relevant searches. This is the highest-intent traffic. Source the extra $80/day from Demand Gen + old PMax General budget ($20/day) + potential reduction of PMax #2.

4

Fix Negative Keyword Match Types (Shared List)

Convert all 36 shared negative keywords from EXACT to PHRASE match. "walmart" as exact is useless; "freestyle libre walmart" won't be blocked. Add the missing negatives identified in Section 11 (type 2, discount card, savings card, amazon, metformin, ozempic, etc.).

5

Evaluate PMax #2 vs PMax NEW SITE Consolidation

PMax #2 has 56% higher CPA ($26.60 vs $17.04). If both campaigns target overlapping audiences, they are cannibaling each other. Consider pausing PMax #2 for 2 weeks and giving its $200/day to PMax NEW SITE (or Search). Monitor if consolidated performance improves.

6

Meta: Pause HMO Match [No Suggestion], Reallocate Budget

$42.47 CPA (3.2x worse than the General campaign). Redistribute its $7/day to the General V3 campaign which is crushing it at $6.56 CPA. Also consider testing reactivation of one paused Lookalike campaign.

7

Add New Keywords to Search Campaign

The Search campaign has strong ad groups but limited keyword coverage. Add: "dexcom g7 prescription", "freestyle libre 3 covered by insurance", "free cgm for medicare", "cgm for type 1 diabetes", "continuous glucose monitor no cost", "how to get a cgm with insurance", "dexcom g7 for seniors". These target high-intent, insurance-related searches.

8

Review Geo Targeting: Add More State Exclusions

Currently only North Dakota is excluded across both Google and Meta. If STJ cannot service patients in other states, those need to be excluded to prevent "Bad Ineligible State" leads. Check with the client for the full list of ineligible states.

9

Implement Day-of-Week Bid Modifiers (After Conv Fix)

Wednesday is 45% more efficient than Friday. After fixing conversion tracking and waiting 3-4 weeks for clean data, apply: Wednesday +15%, Thursday +10%, Friday -15%, Monday -10%. This only applies to the Search campaign (PMax does not support bid modifiers).

10

Test Meta Lookalike Campaign Reactivation

10 paused campaigns include Lookalike audience variants. Test reactivating "HMO Match [Lookalike]" or "No Contact Match [Lookalike]" one at a time at $5/day to see if they can scale efficiently. The Look Alike versions use 1% Lookalike audiences which could unlock new qualified prospects.

13

Progress Since April 2026 Deep Dive

Fixed

Dedicated Search Campaign Now Live

In April, the account was 100% PMax with no Search campaigns. Now "Search | Website Form Submission" is running at $120/day with 4 well-structured ad groups (General CGM, FreeStyle Libre 3, Dexcom G7, Main). This was action item #1 from April.

Fixed

PMax NEW SITE Performing Well

In April, "PMax NEW SITE" was burning $266 with 65% YouTube spend and 0 conversions. The new "PMax | General | NEW SITE" has $250/day budget and is the top performer at $17.04 CPA. Major improvement.

Partially Fixed

Conversion Tracking: Some Progress

In April there were 5 primary conversion actions. Now there are 8-9 primary actions. Zoho CRM integrations were added (good for downstream tracking), but they should be set as secondary, not primary. The core double-counting problem persists.

Not Fixed

Geo Targeting Still Only Excludes ND

April recommended tightening geo to eligible states only. Still all US minus North Dakota. Need client confirmation on which additional states to exclude.