In this article
The plan is too big on purpose
On 19 October, one search for a software services firm we work with planned 4,085 search phrases.
Each phrase pairs a buyer's problem, in the buyer's own words, with a place where buyers ask for help.
No budget should run all of it. Phrases tied to bigger problems run first. So do places that found good leads before.
A $20 budget, $5.23 spent, 226 queries
The search had a $20.00 budget and spent $5.23. That was $5.08 to search and $0.15 to judge.
| Source | Queries | Posts judged | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad social feed | 94 | 861 | 1 |
| Targeted web search | 54 | 67 | 23 |
| Job listings | 41 | 425 | 28 |
| Professional network posts | 30 | 276 | 17 |
| Tenders | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Funding news | 1 | routed by kind | - |
Those 226 queries found 2,090 posts. 455 were posts already found, matched by their address and not paid for twice. The 1,635 new ones were judged.
When spending reaches the budget, the search stops early and its report says so. Nothing paid for is lost. A half-done search never reads like a verdict on the market.
Read the table before you spend more
The loudest source and the best source are different rows. The full teardown walks through the judging itself.
Funding news ran one query and found nothing new, so it has no judged row. The 23 funding leads kept came from other sources' posts.
Keep rates ran from 1 of 861 on the broad social feed to 23 of 67 on targeted web search. The next budget leans on what worked.
Three questions before you pay for a search
Ask how big the plan is next to the budget, and what decides which part runs.
Ask what happens at the spending limit. The only honest answer is: it stops and says so.
Then price the results, not the work. The cost ladder turns this same search into prices.
Common questions
What happens to the phrases that did not run?
They wait in order for the next search and the next dollar. As buyers' problems change, old phrases drop out. Mach makes a fresh plan each time.
Should I raise the budget to run the whole plan?
Raise it one step at a time. First check that the part that ran kept enough good leads.
Where the numbers come from
Plan, budget, query, post and spend figures from the search's own stored counters. One firm we work closely with. Search of 19 October 2026, exported 20 October 2026.
