This senior living operator's Google Ads account was not being actively managed by its agency. I took it over, put the operator in control of its ad accounts and website, and on the same budget cut cost per lead from $52.50 to $32.21 while monthly leads rose about 2.5x.
A multi-location senior living operator brought me in this April to take over its Google Ads account. Ten locations, memory care and assisted living, one goal: more tour requests without a bigger budget. The account sat with an outside agency that was not actively managing it. It was producing leads, but at a price that made every extra move-in expensive, and the operator did not have real control of its own ad accounts or website. Same budget, a completely different way of running it. Here is what changed.
In Q1 the account spent about $19,600 and produced 374 leads, or $52.50 each. Every location ran on a single legacy search campaign. Performance Max tests in three markets had spent $1,913 for 14 leads, roughly $137 apiece.
The numbers were not a disaster, and that was the problem. Nobody was actively managing the account. Nobody was looking at each location on its own terms, so a few strong markets were covering for the weak ones.
This was not only a campaign fix. When I started, the operator did not have full control of its own assets. I helped them take over control and ownership of their website and their ad accounts, so those assets belong to the business and not to a vendor. That is what white glove means to me: one senior person owning the account, the reporting and the results, then handing the keys back to the client.
Cost per lead by month:
April looked like the old account because it was still the old account, partly. By May the new campaigns had enough data to work with, and cost per lead dropped $15 in a month. July ticked up slightly while lead volume hit its highest point yet: 369 leads.
Average cost per lead, April through July, compared with Q1:
Two locations have not turned yet. Menasha and Wauwatosa are both still above their Q1 cost per lead ($77 and $75, against $60 and $65). That is where the work is now.
The budget stayed fixed, so I sequenced the work around it and took on a different task each billing cycle. Every step fit inside what they were already spending.
A blended average hides most of what is going on, and an account nobody is watching hides even more. The fix here was not a bigger budget. It was hands-on management: treating ten locations as ten small businesses, managing each one against its own numbers, and putting the operator back in control of its own accounts.
If you are not sure your agency is actively managing your account, or who really owns your ad accounts and website, a Full-Funnel Audit is the fastest way to find out where the money is going.
Data: Google Ads, January 1 to July 31, 2026, all 10 locations. Spend and cost per lead include Google ad credits used in June and July. Net of credits, July cost per lead was $24.79.
Book a free 20-minute growth chat. I’ll point you to your quickest win, no pressure.