Upper Missouri River Guides – Montana River Trips & Fishing Adventures
Overview
Upper Missouri River Guides offers guided river trips, fishing excursions, and multi-day float adventures along Montana’s historic Upper Missouri River (uppermissouri.com). To attract more travelers during peak season, they turned to Google Ads.
The Challenge
Before working with us, Upper Missouri River Guides had experimented with ads but struggled to get results. Their campaigns weren’t converting, much of the spend was wasted on irrelevant searches, and with a limited monthly budget, it was difficult to compete with larger operators.
They needed a partner who could:
Make their small ad budget generate real leads.
Eliminate wasted clicks and focus only on high-intent travelers.
Drive seasonal bookings without overspending.
The Approach
When we took over campaign management, we focused on efficiency and intent:
Rebuilt campaigns to target only the highest-value keywords.
Added negative keywords to cut irrelevant traffic.
Optimized ad copy and extensions to highlight unique offerings like “Guided Missouri River Trips” and “Montana Fly Fishing Adventures.”
Prioritized spend toward searches with strong booking intent.
Set up proper conversion tracking to measure real ROI.
Key Tactics
Campaign restructuring to tighten keyword targeting.
Testing ad headlines to boost engagement.
Audience and geographic refinements to maximize impact.
The Results
The results were immediate and clear:
8.78% CTR across campaigns, well above travel & tourism benchmarks.
Achieved on a low monthly ad spend, proving efficiency matters more than budget size.
Increased volume of qualified leads and inquiries during peak season.
Ads performed so well they drove consistent bookings, turning ads from a “waste of money” into a core growth channel.
Takeaway
Upper Missouri River Guides shows that even with a small ad budget, a strategic and optimized approach can deliver results that outperform industry standards. With a lean structure, strong targeting, and ongoing optimization, Google Ads became a reliable way to fill their tours and trips.
