How to Use Google Ads to Buy Cheaper Clicks Than Your Competitors

Authored by: Blake Smith

Most Google Ads accounts are built around the same playbook:

Target the biggest commercial keywords, increase bids and hope conversion rates justify the cost.

That approach works until every competitor starts doing the same thing.

Once that happens, CPCs rise quickly and many businesses end up paying premium prices for traffic that is often broader and less qualified than expected.

One of the more effective strategies I’ve used as an SEO and Google Ads consultant is shifting away from broad keyword dependency and instead building campaigns around highly specific landing page variants paired with Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).

When structured properly, this approach can generate cheaper search traffic while still maintaining strong commercial intent.

Why Broad Keyword Campaigns Become Expensive

Many advertisers build campaigns around obvious commercial searches:

• payroll software
• HR software
• CRM platform
• SEO agency
• accounting software

The issue is simple.

These searches attract the highest concentration of advertisers. Once competitors start optimising toward conversions or impression share, the auction environment becomes extremely aggressive.

That usually leads to:

Problem	Result
Multiple advertisers targeting identical keywords	Higher CPCs
Broad search intent	Lower relevance
Generic landing pages	Reduced Quality Scores
Conversion-focused bidding wars	Rising acquisition costs
Limited long-tail coverage	Missed opportunities

In many industries, businesses are effectively competing for the exact same traffic pool.

The solution is not always increasing budget.

Often, it is increasing contextual relevance.

The Shift: Build Landing Pages Around Real Search Context

One of the biggest improvements I’ve seen comes from expanding landing pages beyond broad product categories.

Instead of relying only on a generic “payroll software” page, the strategy focuses on creating variants around:

• industries
• suburbs or cities
• operational problems
• workforce structures
• compliance scenarios
• business models

Examples include:

• payroll software for hospitality venues
• workforce management software for pharmacies
• rostering software for medical clinics
• payroll software in Newcastle
• HR software for construction businesses

This works because users rarely search in generic category language once operational complexity increases.

A healthcare business managing certifications and penalties searches differently from a hospitality venue handling split shifts and casual staff.

The closer the landing page matches the real-world context behind the search, the stronger the relevance signals become.

Why Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) Become Powerful Here

Most advertisers either ignore DSA campaigns entirely or use them poorly.

The reason is usually the same:

Their websites are too generic.

Dynamic Search Ads work by allowing Google to crawl your website and match searches dynamically to the most relevant landing page.

If every page says roughly the same thing, Google has limited contextual depth to work with.

But once a site contains highly differentiated landing pages, DSA campaigns become much more effective.

For example, someone searching:

“best payroll software for pharmacy penalties”

may trigger a pharmacy-specific page rather than a generic payroll page.

That changes the auction dynamic significantly.

Why These Searches Often Cost Less

Long-tail operational searches typically have:

• fewer direct competitors
• lower bidding pressure
• stronger landing page relevance
• clearer operational intent

That combination often produces cheaper clicks than broader campaigns competing for high-volume commercial keywords.

This is one reason DSA campaigns paired with strong landing page segmentation can outperform traditional keyword-only structures.

The Bidding Strategy Most Advertisers Miss

A lot of advertisers immediately move toward:

• Maximise Conversions
• Target CPA
• Target ROAS

Those strategies can work well once enough conversion data exists.

But during expansion phases or search discovery phases, I often prefer:

Maximise Clicks + strict maximum CPC limits

The CPC cap is critical.

Without it, Google may aggressively enter expensive auctions to chase click volume.

With a defined bid ceiling in place, Google is forced to prioritise lower-cost opportunities where relevance is strong enough to compete efficiently.

That changes how your campaigns participate in the auction.

Instead of fighting for the most expensive commercial searches, the algorithm starts finding:

• lower-cost long-tail searches
• fragmented operational queries
• geographically specific intent
• niche commercial variations

In practice, this often results in significantly lower CPCs without completely sacrificing commercial quality.

What Actually Influences the Google Ads Auction

One of the biggest misconceptions in paid search is that the highest bidder always wins.

Google’s auction also factors in:

Auction Factor	Why It Matters
Landing page relevance	Better alignment improves competitiveness
Expected click-through rate	Higher engagement lowers effective costs
Ad relevance	Stronger contextual matching improves ranking
Search intent alignment	Reduces wasted impressions
Historical performance	Strong engagement builds efficiency over time

This means a highly relevant niche landing page can sometimes outperform broader competitors despite lower bids.

I’ve seen this repeatedly in SaaS and professional services campaigns where competitors over-focus on broad commercial keywords while ignoring fragmented long-tail demand.

One Unexpected Benefit: Better SEO and Content Insights

One of the more valuable side effects of this strategy is the search intent data itself.

Traditional keyword campaigns compress user intent into short phrases.

DSA campaigns tied to segmented landing pages often reveal much more detailed operational searches.

Examples include:

• how to manage split shifts under Awards
• payroll software for multiple pay conditions
• reducing payroll corrections from timesheet errors
• HR systems for certification tracking

Those searches often become valuable inputs for:

• SEO strategy
• landing page copy
• blog content
• sales messaging
• email campaigns

In several campaigns I’ve worked on, the paid search query data directly improved organic content performance because it reflected how prospects naturally described their operational problems.

This aligns closely with broader shifts happening in search behaviour as users increasingly search conversationally through AI-driven systems and long-form prompts.

Google itself has discussed the evolution of search intent and automation in resources like Google Ads Dynamic Search Ads documentation and its broader guidance around Quality Score and ad relevance.

The Biggest Mistake Businesses Make

The strategy only works when landing pages are genuinely differentiated.

Thin location pages with duplicated text rarely perform well long-term.

The landing page needs to reflect actual operational context.

That means:

• industry-specific terminology
• realistic use cases
• compliance considerations
• workflow challenges
• staffing structures
• local context where relevant

The goal is not simply creating more pages.

The goal is creating more relevant entry points into the search ecosystem.

Final Thoughts

As Google Ads becomes more competitive, many businesses assume success comes from increasing spend.

Often, the bigger advantage comes from competing in auctions others overlook.

By combining:

• segmented landing pages
• Dynamic Search Ads
• Maximise Clicks bidding
• strict CPC controls
• strong contextual relevance

businesses can often uncover cheaper, commercially relevant traffic pools that broader campaigns miss entirely.

The advertisers generating efficient growth are not always the ones bidding the highest.

They are often the ones building relevance at a level competitors never bothered to structure properly.

Author Bio: Blake Smith, Founder, Performance Agency