BUILD
Campaigns built around profitable work
Built or rebuilt in your own account.
- Keyword themes by service
- Phrase and exact match to start
- Location targeting on people in your area
- Ad schedules matched to when you answer
GOOGLE ADS MANAGEMENT
Google Ads managementthat pays for enquiries, not clicks.
Search campaigns built around the jobs you actually want, measured on what each enquiry costs you, and run in an account you own. From $350 a week, with your ad spend paid straight to Google. No mark-up, no lock-in.
Management from $350/weekAd spend paid directly to GoogleNo lock-in
Where Sydney ad budgets leak
Most accounts I review aren't broken. They're just paying for the wrong things. These are the usual culprits.
Broad keywords with no negative list."Plumber" on broad match can trigger ads for "plumber salary" and "plumbing apprenticeship". You pay for every one of those clicks.
Location set to "presence or interest".It's Google's default, and it shows your ads to people who've merely shown interest in Sydney, including people overseas. Local businesses usually want people physically in the area.
No conversion tracking, or the wrong kind.If Google counts page views as "conversions", its automated bidding chases page views. It needs to know about calls and form enquiries.
Every ad goes to the homepage.Someone searching "pallet freight Wetherill Park" should land on a page about pallet freight, with a quote form, not a homepage they have to dig through.
Ads running when nobody answers.Paying for clicks at 9pm that ring out to voicemail. Ad scheduling and an after-hours form fix this.
Performance Max as the only campaign.It can put a large share of a small budget into placements you can't see or control. For local services, Search usually comes first.
What's included every week
Google Ads isn't set-and-forget. The difference between a good account and an expensive one is the weekly attention.
MEASURE
Tracking you can trust
So cost per enquiry is a real number.
- Calls from ads and from the website
- Form enquiries in Google Analytics
- Conversions imported into Google Ads
- Checked, not just installed
REFINE
Weekly clean-up
Where most of the savings come from.
- Search terms reviewed every week
- Negative keywords added
- Bids and budget moved to what converts
- Ad copy tested and improved
REPORT
Plain-English reporting
What you spent, what it produced, what's next.
- Enquiries and cost per enquiry
- Which services and suburbs performed
- Landing-page recommendations
- A monthly call with me
Google Ads calculator: what would your budget produce?
Change the numbers to suit your business. The result includes my management fee, so you see the full cost, not just the ad spend.
Paid directly to Google from your account.
Most Australian local-service clicks cost $3 to $10. See the benchmarks below.
A matched landing page with tap-to-call often converts around 8% to 12%.
REVENUE FROM ADS EACH MONTH
$7,000
- Clicks
- 200
- Enquiries
- 20
- Ad cost per enquiry
- $60
- Jobs won
- 7
- Total cost incl. management
- $2,717
- Revenue per $1 spent
- 2.6x
Illustration only. Management shown at the $350/week starting fee (about $1,517 a month). Revenue, not profit.
What do Google Ads clicks cost in Australia in 2026?
Published benchmarks disagree, because they measure different keywords and accounts. Read them as a rough guide, then use your own account data. Here's what the main 2026 sources show.
| Category | Typical Search cost per click (AUD) | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| All Australian service keywords | About $3.80 median | Across 8,400+ Australian service keywords in May 2026, per the DNHQ Australian Click Price Index. Prices rose sharply in the first half of 2026. |
| Home services and trades | $3–$9+ | Emergency and high-value jobs (hot water, electrical, roofing) sit at the top of the range. |
| Construction and industrial | $4–$6 | Fewer searches, but each enquiry is usually worth much more. |
| Removals, storage and freight | $5–$7 | Conversion rates are often good because searchers need a quote now. |
| Legal and finance | $6–$20+ | The most expensive categories. Some personal injury and family law terms cost far more. |
| "Service + Sydney" searches | Much higher | City-name searches cost more than suburb or "near me" searches. DNHQ found Sydney had the highest median of any capital city for these terms. |
The practical lesson: bidding on suburb and specific-service searches ("tree removal Kellyville") is usually cheaper and converts better than broad city terms ("tree removal Sydney").
How much should you spend on Google Ads in Sydney?
Work backwards from what a customer is worth, not from what feels comfortable. Here's the simple maths.
1. What can you afford to pay for an enquiry?
Start with the value of a new customer, then how many enquiries you need to win one. If a customer is worth $2,000 in profit over time and you win one in three enquiries, an enquiry is worth up to about $660 to you. The customer value calculator helps you work out your own number.
2. What will clicks cost?
Cost per click in Sydney varies hugely by category and suburb. Many local-service searches cost a few dollars a click. Emergency trades, legal and finance terms can cost many times that. Google's Keyword Planner gives a rough guide, and the first few weeks of real data give a better one.
3. How many clicks turn into enquiries?
A well-matched landing page with a clear offer might turn roughly one in ten clicks into an enquiry. A homepage with a generic contact form often converts far fewer.
Illustration only: $6 average click ÷ 10% of clicks enquiring = $60 per enquiry.
$1,200 a month in ad spend ÷ $60 = about 20 enquiries a month.
Your real numbers will differ. The point is that the landing page and tracking change the result as much as the budget does.
How I run a campaign
- Define a good job
Margin, type, size and location. We can't target the right enquiries until we've agreed what they look like.
- Fix the destination first
A landing page that matches the search, answers the obvious questions and makes calling or quoting easy. Paid traffic to a weak page is money thrown away.
- Set up tracking before spending
Calls and forms recorded from day one, so we know what's producing enquiries rather than guessing.
- Start tight
Search campaigns only, specific keyword themes, people physically in your service area, and ads shown when someone can answer.
- Cut, refine, then scale
Weekly search-term reviews cut the waste. Budget moves to what converts. We scale only once the cost per enquiry makes sense.
12 things to check in your Google Ads account today
Run through these yourself. If more than three are a "no" or "not sure", your account is very likely wasting money.
- Is conversion tracking counting calls and form enquiries, not page views or time on site?
- Have you looked at the Search terms report in the last month? It shows what people actually typed before clicking your ad.
- Do you have a negative keyword list blocking jobs, training, DIY, free and competitor-brand searches?
- Is location targeting set to "Presence" (people in or regularly in your area), not "Presence or interest"?
- Are you showing ads only where you can actually work? Check the location report for clicks from outside your area.
- Do ads run when someone can answer? Check the time-of-day report against your opening hours.
- Does each ad group send people to a matching page, not your homepage?
- Are Search Partners and the Display Network switched off in your Search campaigns, unless you've tested them?
- Are call assets, location assets and sitelinks set up so your ad takes up more space?
- Is auto-apply for Google's recommendations turned off? Some recommendations raise your spend without asking.
- Is the account and billing in your name, with your agency added as a user?
- Do you know your cost per enquiry and cost per job for last month? If not, nobody can tell you whether it's working.
Want a second pair of eyes? Bring your account to the free Lost-Enquiry Check and I'll go through these with you.
Google Ads or SEO?
Google Ads is a tap
Turn it on and enquiries can start within days. Turn it off and they stop. It's the right choice when you need work now, want to test a new service or area, or when your market is seasonal.
SEO is an asset
Slower to build, but the enquiries don't cost per click and they keep coming. Most businesses do best running both for a while, then shifting budget as organic enquiries grow. See ongoing SEO and website care and local SEO in Western Sydney.
Businesses I run ads for
Mainly established, owner-run businesses across Sydney where one good customer is worth real money.
Transport and logistics
Freight, courier, removals and storage businesses chasing business customers. Transport marketing
Civil and construction
Contractors, plant hire and specialist trades where one project pays for months of ads. Construction marketing
Home and trade services
Gardening, maintenance, cleaning and trades with a defined service area. Tested on my own business first.
Professional and B2B services
Firms selling to other businesses, where lead quality matters more than lead volume.
Not a fit if the business can't take on more work right now, the budget is too small to gather meaningful data, or the offer isn't clear yet. I'll say so on the free call rather than take your money.
Google Ads questions
Does the $350 a week include my ad spend?
No. $350 a week is the management fee. Your ad budget is paid by you directly to Google from an account in your name, so you can see every dollar. I never mark up ad spend or take a percentage of it.
What's the minimum ad budget?
For most Sydney local-service businesses I recommend starting with at least $1,000 a month in ad spend (roughly $250 a week). Below that, a search campaign usually gathers too few clicks and enquiries for either of us to learn what works. In low-competition niches a smaller budget can work, and I'll tell you honestly if yours is too small to be worth managing.
How quickly will Google Ads bring enquiries?
Ads can show within a day or two of launch once Google approves them. The first few weeks are about learning: which searches bring good enquiries and which waste money. Most accounts become noticeably more efficient over the first two to three months as the wasted searches are cut out.
Do you use Performance Max or Display campaigns?
Not as a starting point for local service businesses. Performance Max and Display can spend heavily on placements you can't control. I start with Search campaigns on specific keyword themes, targeting people physically in your service area, and only add other campaign types when the data supports it.
Can you take over my existing Google Ads account?
Yes. I start by reviewing the search terms you've actually paid for, the conversion tracking and the location settings. It's common to find a large share of spend going to irrelevant searches. Keeping your account preserves its history, so I'd rather fix it than start again unless it's beyond repair.
Who owns the Google Ads account?
You do. The account and billing are in your name and I'm added as a manager. If we stop working together, you remove my access and keep everything, including all the data.
Is there a contract or setup fee?
There's no lock-in contract. If your account needs building from scratch or conversion tracking installing, that setup work is quoted up front, in writing, before we start, so there are no surprises on the first invoice.
Do you run Facebook and Instagram ads too?
Yes, where they fit. Google captures people already searching for what you do. Meta ads create demand among people who aren't searching yet, which suits some offers and not others. We'll decide based on your offer and budget, not on selling you more channels.
What's a good cost per lead for Google Ads in Sydney?
It depends entirely on what a customer is worth to you. Published 2026 benchmarks put average cost per lead roughly between $20 and $120 across most local-service categories, higher in legal and finance. A $90 enquiry is cheap if a customer is worth $5,000 and expensive if a job is worth $150. The calculator above helps you work out your own ceiling.
Is Google Ads worth it for a small business?
It is when three things are true: a customer is worth enough to cover the click costs, you have a landing page that turns clicks into enquiries, and you can take on the extra work. If any of those is missing, fix it first, or start with local SEO and your Google Business Profile, which don't cost per click.
Written by Frank Stratford
Founder of Elevate Engine Digital Solutions. More than 30 years in business, sales and marketing, four businesses built and sold, and a Diploma of Social Media Marketing. I still run FM Garden Services in North-West Sydney, where every recommendation on this site is tested before I make it to a client. I test every campaign setting on my own business's ads before recommending it.
Last reviewed . More about Frank · LinkedIn
Find out what your ads are really paying for.
Bring your current account, or just your goals. In 30 minutes I'll show you where the budget is going and what a sensible cost per enquiry looks like for you.