Your Google Ads report looks great. That's the problem
Low cost per conversion, high conversion rate, a percentage with an arrow next to it. Now ask a different question: how many of those people already knew your restaurant existed?
Two searches, two very different customers
Someone typing your restaurant's name into Google already knows you. They want your phone number, your menu, or your opening hours. They would have found you anyway, because your map listing sits directly above the ad they clicked.
Someone typing sushi kraków is choosing between you and eight competitors.
Only the second person is a new customer. But the first one makes your report beautiful, because your own name is the cheapest, best converting keyword you will ever buy. Perfect relevance, low cost per click, high conversion rate. People who already decided to order.
How bad it gets
A real Kraków restaurant, two Julys apart. Same account, restructured in between.
| July 2025 | July 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Spend on own name | 1,320 zł | 477 zł |
| Share of conversions from own name | 73% | 53% |
| New customers found | 85 | 718 |
| Cost per new customer | 3.87 zł | 3.62 zł |
In 2025, nearly three quarters of everything the account "achieved" was people who already knew where to go.
And some of that traffic wasn't even real. One campaign delivered 1,696 clicks on the restaurant's own name and produced 2 orders. Ten groszy per click, 45% click through rate. That is the signature of Search Partners, a setting that shows your ads on non-Google websites. Cheap clicks, gorgeous reports, nobody eating.
The same keyword running through a properly built campaign converted at 51% in the same month.
Check your own account in five minutes
- Google Ads → Campaigns → Insights and reports → Search terms
- Date range: last month
- Type your restaurant's name into the search box above the table
- Look at the Cost total
Compare it to your total monthly spend. Under 20% is normal, since some brand coverage is worth having so competitors can't bid on your name. Over 30% and you are mostly buying customers you already had. In the account above it was 55%.
What fixing it actually looks like
Three campaigns got switched off. That was 55% of the monthly budget, and the owner thought it was madness.
The money moved to people searching sushi kraków, sushi near me, sushi ruczaj. Strangers. New customers went from 85 a month to 718, and each one cost slightly less than before.
Three questions worth asking your agency
What percentage of my conversions come from people searching my restaurant's name? If they don't know offhand, they haven't opened the search terms report.
Are Search Partners switched on? See the 1,696 clicks above.
What exactly counts as a conversion? "Viewed the menu" and "placed an order" are not the same event. If they are counted the same, your growth number is fiction.
Any agency actively managing your account answers all three in under a minute.
The full breakdown is in the Nova Sushi case study.
Related
See also: Google Ads agency Kraków, restaurant marketing Kraków.
Common questions
Is it ever worth advertising on your own name?
In a small way, yes. If booking portals or competitors bid on your name, a brand campaign defends traffic that is already yours. The problem starts when it eats half the budget and props up the whole report.
What are Search Partners?
A campaign setting that shows your ads on websites outside Google. Useful in some industries, but in hospitality it usually produces cheap clicks and no guests. Worth checking whether it is on by default.
How do I know my conversions are counted properly?
Open Goals → Conversions and look at what is actually being counted. If "menu opened" carries the same value as a booking or an order, every number in the report is inflated.
Want this run on your own account?
A free audit gives you the same numbers for your own venue, with no obligation.
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