Glossary
Lead Generation
Lead Generation is the marketing process of attracting and capturing prospective customer interest with the goal of nurturing those prospects into paying clients. In digital advertising, lead generation typically involves driving traffic to a landing page where users submit contact information — name, email, phone number — in exchange for something of value such as a free consultation, estimate, quote, or downloadable resource. Lead generation is the dominant objective for service businesses (legal, home services, healthcare, real estate, B2B) where the immediate advertising conversion is a lead rather than a direct purchase. Key performance metrics include Cost Per Lead (CPL), conversion rate, and lead-to-customer rate — the percentage of leads that ultimately become revenue-generating clients. Google Ads supports lead generation through Search campaigns, Local Service Ads (which charge per lead rather than per click), and Performance Max with lead form extensions. Effective lead generation requires tight alignment between ad creative, landing page messaging, and follow-up speed — leads contacted promptly after submission convert at significantly higher rates than those contacted hours later.