Brand-term CTR
45.6%
nearly 1 in 2 searches clicked
- Services
- Safari Zones
- Safari Marketing Agency Botswana
- Safari Marketing Agency Kenya
- Safari Marketing Agency Malawi
- Safari Marketing Agency Namibia
- Safari Marketing Agency Rwanda
- Safari Marketing Agency South Africa
- Safari Marketing Agency Tanzania
- Safari Marketing Agency Uganda
- Safari Marketing Agency Zambia
- Safari Marketing Agency Zimbabwe
Google Search Ads
Lead Generation
🇦🇺 Australia · 🇸🇬 Singapore · 🇺🇸 USA
Mar–Aug 2025
Google Ads Case StudyShadows
of Africa
A safari specialist selling premium East & Southern Africa trips to three of the world's most competitive outbound markets. We turned paid search into a predictable lead engine — 4,040 qualified inquiries at €48.35 each, with cost falling every quarter.
0
Search leadsAll campaigns, all-time
€0
Cost per leadvs €70+ common in the niche
0%
Conversion rateIndustry benchmark 2–3%
0/10
Branded Quality ScoreThe maximum Google gives
The Client
A specialist in a crowded market
Shadows of Africa builds curated, expert-guided safaris across iconic wildlife destinations — the Masai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Amboseli and Zanzibar. Their travellers are high-value and international, and they book big-ticket, considered trips.
That's exactly what makes paid search hard. "Africa safari" is one of the most expensive travel categories on Google, and Shadows of Africa was bidding in it across three time zones at once: Australia, Singapore and the USA. The brief to Markethix was simple to say and difficult to do — generate qualified safari inquiries, profitably, in all three.
We ran Google Search as the primary lead engine, with Display and Performance Max in support, on a Maximize Conversions strategy — then optimised relentlessly, month over month, from March to August 2025.
Campaign at a glance
ClientShadows of Africa
Websiteshadowsofafrica.com
DestinationsEast & Southern Africa
Signature tripsBespoke safaris · Masai Mara
MarketsAustralia · Singapore · USA
ObjectiveQualified safari leads
Bid strategyMaximize Conversions
NetworksSearch · Display · P-Max
PeriodMarch – August 2025
The Results
Six months, measured in leads
Every figure below is pulled straight from the live Google Ads account. Search carried the account; Display and Performance Max played awareness and remarketing roles around it.
0
Search conversions
from 82,045 clicks & 1.07M impressions
€0
Search cost per lead
across all search campaigns
0%
Average conversion rate
60–150% above the 2–3% norm
€0
Total managed spend
all networks · €49.40 blended CPA
0
Total conversions
Search + Display + Performance Max
€0
Branded cost per lead
47% cheaper than the account average
The Trajectory
The account got cheaper as it grew
The hardest thing in paid search is scaling volume without scaling cost. Over six months clicks climbed and cost per lead fell in the same breath. Pick a metric to trace its path.
Conversions / month
▲+71%
4984
Cost per lead
▼−29%
€80.57€57.34
Cost per click
▼−33%
€3.57€2.40
Click volume / month
▲+80%
1,1132,007
The Proof
Straight from the account
No dashboards were rebuilt for this page. These are the official month-end screenshots pulled directly from Google Ads — the same numbers charted above. Click any month to enlarge.
Three Markets
One account, three very different games
Australia brought the volume, Singapore brought the efficiency, and the USA quietly became the biggest opportunity in the account. Switch between them.
Highest volume · 58% of all leads
1,559
Conversions
€50.22
Cost per lead
€78,269
Spend
€2.63
Cost per click
Australia is the engine. The highest-volume market in the account, delivering 58% of all leads at a proven ~€50 CPA — and still budget-capped at "Limited" status.
Under the Hood
Where every euro went to work
Search took 97% of spend because search converted. Inside search, a deliberate match-type mix let broad match discover new demand while phrase match carried the volume.
Network mix
Share of the €201,831 total spend
Match-type strategy
Cost per lead by match type — broad match was the most efficient
10
/ 10
Quality Score
The Signature Win
A perfect 10 on the brand term
"shadow of africa" · USA · Broad
Fewer than 5% of all Google Ads keywords ever hit a 10/10 Quality Score. Shadows of Africa's brand term did — proof that the ads, the keywords and the landing page were in perfect alignment. Nearly half of everyone who searched the brand clicked, and they converted at a fraction of the account's cost.
Branded leads
€25.79
cost per lead · 47% below account avg
Keyword Intelligence
The terms that pulled their weight
The workhorses of the account, ranked by conversions. Search, sort any column, or filter — brand terms are flagged. Quality Score is colour-coded from weak to perfect.
| Keyword ▲▼ | Market ▲▼ | Conv. ▼ | Spend (€) ▲▼ | CPA (€) ▲▼ | CTR ▲▼ | QS ▲▼ |
|---|
QS shown where Google reported a score. Keyword-level figures cover Apr–Aug 2025.
The Road Ahead
A proven account, built to scale
The infrastructure works — the opportunity is in scaling to match it. Here's the prioritised plan we put in front of the client. Filter by urgency.
The budget restructure
Current daily spend vs. our recommendation — roughly 60% more leads at maintained or improved CPA.
Current / dayRecommended / day
Current total: €158/day
Recommended: €250/day
Projected uplift: ~60% more leads
"With €22 a day, the USA already generates ~55 leads a month at €56.95 CPA. At €65 a day, the maths points to 160+ USA leads a month at the same cost — paid back through bookings within weeks."
The Bottom Line
The foundations are proven. The ceiling isn't.
A 10/10 branded Quality Score, a 4.92% conversion rate and CPCs that fell every quarter say the same thing: this account is healthy and well-optimised. With budget scaling, negative-keyword hygiene and a Great Migration seasonal push, Shadows of Africa is set up for 50–80% growth in monthly qualified leads — without giving up efficiency.
Outstanding brand health. A perfect Quality Score achieved by under 5% of keywords.
Efficiency at scale. Clicks up 80% while spend held flat — genuine efficiency, not just budget.
Discovery that works. Broad match found the cheapest leads in the account at €45.93 CPA.
A/B tests that won. July–August variants beat their controls across multiple markets.
Your next guest is searching right now
Markethix runs 360° marketing for safari tourism and tour operators — the same paid-search playbook that built this account is available to yours. Let's find the leads your budget is leaving on the table.
Schedule a 30-minute strategy callResults shown are from a live Shadows of Africa Google Ads account, March–August 2025.
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