Winning on and off the court: How Royal Basketball School Increased Leads by 23% with Google Ads

Royal Basketball School is a youth basketball academy based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 2010, the school offers year-round basketball training programs for boys and girls aged 4 to 14. With a strong focus on skill development, discipline, and teamwork, Royal Basketball School combines athletic training with personal growth in a supportive, structured environment.

The academy operates across multiple locations in the Greater Los Angeles area, including West LA, Encino, Tarzana, Calabasas, and Beverly Hills. Their programs range from beginner-level classes to advanced training, holiday camps, private coaching, and league play. With professional coaches and a proven teaching system, Royal Basketball School has become a trusted name among families looking to build confidence, leadership, and basketball fundamentals in young athletes.

Goals and Challenges

Royal Basketball School had strong brand recognition in the Los Angeles area and a proven track record of success with in-person training programs. However, as the business expanded across new locations and launched seasonal offerings like summer camps, their digital advertising setup struggled to keep up.

The main goal was to increase lead volume and program sign-ups for both ongoing basketball classes and seasonal programs, especially summer camps. They also wanted to reduce manual work, improve budget efficiency, and better understand what campaigns and locations were driving real results.

Key challenges included:

• Unstructured Google Ads Account
  Their previous campaign setup lacked clarity. Multiple campaigns overlapped, there was no consistent naming convention, and keyword match types were mixed within ad groups. This made optimization difficult and reduced overall account performance.
• Lack of Audience Strategy
  Campaigns relied heavily on broad targeting without proper segmentation. As a result, ads weren’t always reaching the right audience — such as parents of children aged 4–14 in specific neighborhoods.
• Missed Seasonal Opportunities
  There was no structured strategy in place for promoting limited-time programs like summer camps. These programs have a short window for enrollment, so missing the peak search period directly impacted conversions.
• Underutilized Branded Search
  Royal Basketball School had strong direct search interest, but they weren’t fully protecting or optimizing their branded terms. This allowed competitors to appear higher in search results, and valuable traffic was being lost.
• No Segmented Location Targeting
  With training offered in multiple locations like Glendale, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Los Angeles, it was critical to understand and adjust bidding by area. Without localized campaign targeting, it was hard to see where leads were coming from or where budgets were most effective.
• Conversion Tracking Gaps
  Some of the key conversion actions — like call ads and sign-up forms — were not being tracked properly. This made it difficult to evaluate campaign performance and allocate budget effectively.

The school didn’t need to increase spend — they needed a better system for organizing their ads, targeting their audience, tracking conversions, and promoting their programs at the right time.

What We Did

To improve performance and drive more conversions from high-intent users, we launched a full Google Ads account restructure along with new campaigns for seasonal promotions and brand protection.

1. Account Restructure by Class Type

‍We rebuilt the campaign structure around Royal Basketball School’s most popular offerings — such as rookie, essential, and general classes — and removed overlapping keywords and poorly performing ad groups. This helped improve quality scores and reduce cost per conversion.

2. Summer Camp Promotion Strategy

‍We launched a dedicated summer campaign with seasonal messaging and adjusted bidding to focus on key months with higher search interest. This included using CPA-focused bidding strategies and tailored landing pages, especially for areas like Glendale and Los Angeles.

3. Audience Segmentation and Testing

‍We tested different audience segments including in-market sports & fitness interests, parents with school-age children, and geo-specific lookalikes. This helped us identify which groups were more likely to convert and allowed us to shift budget accordingly.

4. Conversion Tracking and Call Ads

‍We optimized the setup for call tracking, contact form fills, and sign-ups to better measure performance across campaigns. We also increased focus on mobile call ads to drive fast engagement with parents looking for local programs.

Results

Total conversions: 1,300
(▲23% YoY from 1,050)

Cost per conversion: $26.02
(▲61% vs. previous $16.11, explained by increased lead volume and summer competition)

Top conversion actions:
Contact Form: 398
Call Ads: 384 (▲92%)
Sign-Up Forms: 230 (▲67%)

Conclusion

Through smart restructuring, targeted seasonal promotions, and testing of new audience segments, we helped Royal Basketball School increase sign-ups and inbound leads across all locations. The campaigns not only boosted visibility but delivered high engagement through mobile-first strategies like call ads and branded search protection.

The success of this campaign shows how local service businesses like Royal Basketball School can get more from their Google Ads budget by focusing on structure, seasonality, and audience intent.

Want similar results for your local service business? Book a free consultation with the Hamila Agency team and let’s build a campaign strategy that brings in more leads — where and when they matter most.