We all know how effective PPC can be for B2C audiences (in the right hands).

But when deal cycles are longer, intent is harder to gauge, and conversions are rarely immediate, how well can PPC efforts hold up for lead gen B2B audiences - especially when ad platforms aren’t really built with complex buying journeys in mind?

Spoiler: Very well - but only if you know what you’re doing.

Despite investing considerable time and budget, many B2B marketers are frequently left scratching their heads over a flood of unqualified leads and bloated CPLs. 

In order to create a guide on how to approach high-intent B2B lead gen campaigns that don’t blow the budget, we spoke to a B2B performance marketing expert with a proven track record.

Sofia Akritidou is the founder of ThinkWise Digital, where she helps high-profile B2B clients get results from their paid media efforts across sectors including SaaS, fintech, real estate, and nonprofits. 

From keyword intent to CRM integration and everything in between, we got Sofia’s key takeaways on the differences between B2B and B2C advertising, how to filter out unqualified leads, B2B lead gen red flags to look out for, and a whole lot more. 

Watch the full session with Sofia here, or keep reading for our summary of the 9 common mistakes in PPC lead gen campaigns.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro
2:07 - How Sofia became a B2B specialist
3:16 - What makes B2B Lead Gen different to B2C?
6:15 - Generating qualified leads from PPC
9:19 - Examples of key lead gen mistakes
10:43 - How to filter out unqualified leads
12:40 - Predicting when campaigns will bring poor leads
15:03 - Keyword intent classification tips
17:24 - Gated vs. Ungated content in B2B
20:00 - Moving prospects through the funnel
21:36 - Optimizing campaigns for qualified leads
24:01 - Which KPIs should you pay attention to?
25:17 - Lead Scoring advice
28:08 - LinkedIn Lead Gen campaign tips
32:05 - Final thoughts / outro

1. Misaligning keyword intent with landing pages

“It’s crucial to have that alignment of keyword intent and landing page.”

One of the most pervasive issues in B2B PPC is a mismatch between keyword intent and the landing page experience. 

For example, directing users searching for “CRM integration guide” to a page asking them to book a demo will almost certainly result in a bounce.

Solution:

Sofia recommends classifying keywords into three distinct intent categories:

• Informational: e.g. “How to manage a sales pipeline”
• Comparative: e.g. “Best CRM for fintech”
• Transactional: e.g. “Buy CRM tool for fintech”

Each category should map to a purpose-built landing page:

• Informational → ungated blog content, guides, or gated white papers
• Comparative → side-by-side product comparisons or solution highlights
• Transactional → high-converting pages with demos or direct CTAs

From a platform perspective, ensuring that your keyword grouping and match types align with these intents allows better budget control and more personalized messaging. Informational searchers respond to value-first content; transactional users need reassurance, social proof, and frictionless paths to conversion.

Making the most of tools like Google’s Search Console, SEMrush, or Ahrefs can help classify search queries more accurately by intent. Pair this with behavior analytics tools like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity to see how users actually interact with your landing pages post-click.

2. Chasing volume over quality

Equating high lead volume with campaign success in PPC lead gen is like judging the success of a restaurant by how many people walk through the doors, instead of how many people actually come in to eat.

No matter how fancy your menu looks, or how enticing your sign above the door is - it’s all fruitless if everyone who walks through your door is allergic to the food you’re making, and doesn’t buy anything. 

Lead volume is often a short-sighted metric that can result in CRMs flooded with junk leads and wasted ad spend.

Sofia highlighted a scenario where a display campaign was driving an exceptionally high number of form fills - but nearly 90% of those were spam or irrelevant leads.

“If the numbers seem too good to be true, they probably are.”

Why does this happen? Most ad platforms optimize toward the easiest conversion goal set - often “form submission” - without context on what a qualified lead looks like. 

If a business doesn’t integrate offline conversion tracking or define exactly what success looks like, it’s just fueling the algorithm with misleading signals.

Solution:

• Feed back CRM outcomes into Google Ads using Offline Conversion Tracking or Enhanced Conversions for Leads
• Shift your KPIs from Cost Per Lead (CPL) to Cost Per Opportunity (CPO) or even Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Use negative lead scoring to penalize job seekers, students, and other unqualified segments

Ultimately, quality > quantity. Be brave enough to pause campaigns that look great on the surface but don’t contribute to revenue. Don’t be distracted by vanity metrics - growth lies in hard truths.

3. Failing to distinguish between MQLs and SQLs

“Make sure there’s a clear distinction between MQLs and SQLs… and solid agreement between marketing and sales.”

Aligning marketing and sales around shared definitions of what makes a lead truly qualified often flies under the radar. Too often, marketing teams pat themselves on the back for hitting MQL targets, while sales dismiss those leads as irrelevant.

Here’s how you bridge the gap:

Set MQL & SQL Criteria Like:

• Company size (e.g. 50+ employees)
• Industry fit (e.g. B2B SaaS or fintech)
• Job title (e.g. decision-makers, not interns)
• Engagement level (e.g. multiple page visits or gated content downloads)

Once established, plug these definitions into your lead scoring model and CRM workflows. And don’t stop there - maintain regular check-ins between marketing and sales to ensure the criteria evolve with your product, market, or customer feedback.

Don’t underestimate the power of CRM integration with ad platforms, either. Tools such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho CRM can push closed-won revenue data back into Google Ads, allowing for optimization not just on clicks or leads, but on pipeline value.

“You need to be tracking pipeline and closed deals - not just conversions.”

4. Not addressing website-level issues

“The real solution can be on your website, not just in the ad platform.”

Sofia emphasized that some of the most effective optimizations don’t require touching the ad platform at all. 

Instead, poor website design or user experience often explains why unqualified leads flood in.

In one example, she worked with a company offering outsourced customer support. The campaign was driving conversions - but it turned out that the majority of submissions were from job seekers, not prospective clients.

Sofia’s solution:

• She introduced a separate contact form specifically for job applicants
• Then added directional text next to the main form guiding job seekers to the appropriate channel (email or dedicated link)
• Afterwards, she created audience and keyword exclusions to filter out job-seeking intent in campaigns

This solution drastically reduced spam leads and improved the relevance of incoming contacts.

In short, examine whether your website’s form design and navigation are guiding users correctly - or sending them down the wrong funnel.

5. Underestimating the importance of lead scoring

“You need to know how many demo requests actually become deals.”

Lead scoring isn’t just about organizing contacts - it’s a fundamental part of B2B campaign optimization.

Assigning accurate values to different lead types can help determine how much budget to allocate to various campaigns or keyword groups. For instance, a gated guide download might be worth significantly less than a booked demo, even though both show as conversions in the platform.

Make use of Google Ads’ conversion value calculator, where inputs like form-to-meeting rate, opportunity rate, and average deal value can give you a dollar amount to assign to each lead type. But in order to use this effectively, you need the right data - making close collaboration with sales teams essential.

Sofia noted that lead scoring must evolve over time. As more data flows into your CRM, you can refine how much weight each action carries. This means you continue optimizing for actions that lead to actual pipeline results, not just early-stage engagement.

6. Ignoring post-download nurture flows

“Avoid gated content if there’s no valuable offer and no plan to nurture.”

Sofia warned against launching gated content campaigns without a solid follow-up strategy. B2B buyers rarely convert on first touch - so what happens after they download your whitepaper or benchmark report is crucial.

A multi-touch nurturing sequence can work wonders to keep B2B buyers engaged:

• Email drip campaigns tailored to the content downloaded
• Sales outreach if the lead meets SQL criteria
• Display or LinkedIn retargeting to reinforce the value proposition

Even a well-timed phone call can be surprisingly effective if the product is complex and high-value. 

The key is not to let leads sit idle in your CRM. Whether it's a webinar sign-up or a research report download, the nurturing journey must be intentional and timely.

“Just collecting emails in your CRM helps no one - unless there’s a plan to nurture those leads.”

7. Poor use of negative keywords & audiences

“Add lots of exclusions. Job seekers were tanking the campaign.”

Negative targeting is one of the most powerful, underused tools in B2B advertising. Sofia recounted how a client’s campaign was swamped by job seeker traffic because they hadn’t excluded employment-related search terms.

Sofia's Strategy:

• Keyword exclusions: Filter out terms like “jobs,” “careers,” “employment,” “internships”
• Audience exclusions: Remove users who visited your Careers page or job-related URLs
• Retargeting filters: Exclude visitors from job pages to prevent irrelevant remarketing

Sofia stressed that campaign efficiency isn’t just about attracting the right people - it’s also about actively repelling the wrong ones. Budget spent on misaligned traffic pollutes your data and depletes ROI.

To take this further, consider creating dedicated job-related ad campaigns (if hiring is also a goal), and keep them completely separate from lead generation campaigns. This way, messaging, landing pages, and audience signals stay aligned.

8. Overlooking CRM integration

“Avoid native platform metrics. Focus on what’s actually driving revenue.”

Without integrating your CRM with paid media platforms like Google Ads or LinkedIn, you're flying completely blind. 

While platform-level metrics like clicks and conversions are useful, they don't tell the full story about actual sales outcomes.

Implementing tools such as Google Ads Offline Conversion Tracking or HubSpot’s Google Ads integration to sync lead lifecycle stages with campaign performance can allow you to trace conversions all the way back to:

• Specific campaigns
• Individual keywords
• Targeted audiences

In one of her case examples, Sofia explained how CRM integration revealed that a campaign generating the highest number of conversions actually drove zero revenue. Meanwhile, a more modest campaign was responsible for multiple deals.

“Platforms will optimize based on the data you feed them - so make sure you're giving them revenue data, not just surface-level conversions.”

By syncing closed-won data back into your ad platform, you teach the algorithm what truly matters: leads that convert into revenue.

9. Misusing LinkedIn Ads

“LinkedIn is amazing - but expensive. So don’t get it wrong.”

LinkedIn Ads offer unparalleled B2B targeting capabilities, but Sofia cautions that it's not a platform you want to enter blindly. Because CPMs are high, experimentation and message testing are critical to justifying the investment.

She shared that webinars consistently outperformed other gated assets, especially when promoted via Sponsored Content. Content that resonates deeply with a niche audience - such as fintech benchmarks or original research - tends to drive better engagement.

Sofia also noted recent changes in LinkedIn's algorithm, which appears to be favoring Sponsored Content more heavily than before. Now might be a smart time to test LinkedIn again if you've been hesitant in the past.

Key LinkedIn Ads tips:

• Implement the LinkedIn Insight Tag for proper conversion tracking
• Use layered targeting (e.g. job function + industry + company size)
• A/B test ad formats: image, video, carousel, and single text ads
• Avoid pitching demos cold - warm the audience with value-first content

“LinkedIn is still a social platform. If you go in asking for a sale, you’ll likely get ignored.”

TL;DR - Treat LinkedIn like a long-term relationship-building tool, not a direct response channel. If used strategically, it can pay off significantly.

Final thoughts

To reiterate our point at the top of this page:

Yes, B2B PPC Lead Gen can work. And when you avoid the mistakes outlined above, it can be a game changer for your pipeline.

Once you connect intent, targeting, messaging, and pipeline in a feedback loop that’s continually optimized for quality - there’s nothing stopping you from running incredibly successful B2B PPC campaigns.

To reiterate one piece of advice from Sofia:

“You need to be tracking pipeline and closed deals - not just conversions.”

Keep the nine pitfalls above in mind when creating B2B lead gen campaigns, and you’ll be building a solid foundation for sustainable pipeline growth.

Next steps:

• Listen to The Paid Media Lab for more actionable insights from leading performance marketers
• Follow Sofia on LinkedIn - and check out ThinkWise Digital if you’re looking for a more hands-on approach to B2B campaign optimization
• Get a free 14-day traffic audit to uncover any hidden inefficiencies in your paid media efforts