Money on the jobs you want
Your spend leans towards the work you want more of, whether that's urgent callouts or bigger quoted jobs.
Why it matters: a budget left to find its own way usually ends up on whatever is cheapest to click, not what pays.
Industries / Tradies / Google Ads
Google Ads for tradies that fill the diary.
Google Ads management for plumbers, electricians, builders and other Australian trades. We build campaigns around the jobs you actually want, show them only in the suburbs you'll drive to, and show you which search each call came from.
Why search ads suit trades
The customer is already looking for you.
A letterbox flyer or a social post reaches people who weren't thinking about a sparky today. A search ad only appears once someone has typed the problem into Google: a hot water system that's gone cold, a safety switch that keeps tripping. They want it sorted, and you only pay when they tap through to you.
Some tradies still call it AdWords. Google changed the name to Google Ads in 2018, but the auction underneath works the same way. What has grown is how much Google will automate for you, and its default settings are tuned to spend a budget rather than to book the work you'd choose.
Ads are one piece of a bigger plan. Our guide to marketing for tradies shows how they sit alongside your website, your Google Business Profile and your reviews.
Mock-up for illustration only, not a real client listing.
Where tradie ad budgets leak.
The six we check first- One budget shared by every service, so the money slides towards cheap clicks rather than the jobs that pay best
- Ads reaching people well outside the area you actually work in
- Clicks from people researching wages, apprenticeships or how to fix it themselves
- Ads running at midnight while the phone rings through to voicemail
- Every visitor dropped on the homepage to hunt for the right service
- No way of telling which ads led to a phone call, let alone a paid job
What your Google Ads account is built to do
Around the jobs you wantYour suburbs, nobody else's
Your ads reach people in the areas you service, not the far side of the city you'd rather not drive to.
Why it matters: a click from someone you can't get to is money gone.
Hours that match the phone
Your ads are working when you can answer, and quiet when you can't, including overnight if you take emergency work.
Why it matters: a call that rings out is a job handed to the next tradie on the page.
The wrong people kept out
Job hunters, apprentices and do-it-yourselfers stay off your budget for as long as the account runs.
Why it matters: every dollar they don't spend is a dollar left for someone who could hire you.
A page that fits the job
People land on a page about the job they searched for, with your number, licence and service area easy to find.
Why it matters: the same clicks turn into more calls when nobody has to go digging.
Every job traced back
Calls, quote requests and bookings are traced to the ads that produced them, and you see it in plain English each month.
Why it matters: budget follows the ads that bring in paying work, not a hunch.
Different trades need different campaigns
Urgent jobs and planned jobsPlumbers
Most of the value sits in urgent work. The account leans towards people who need someone out today and are ready to ring the first plumber they trust.
- Blocked drains and burst pipes
- No hot water
- Leak detection
Electricians
Usually both halves at once: faults that need an answer tonight, plus bigger jobs that get quoted and compared over a week or two.
- Power faults and callouts
- Switchboard upgrades
- Solar and electric vehicle (EV) charger installs
Builders
No one types "urgent granny flat" at 2am. Search volume is thin but a single job can be worth months of callouts, so the campaigns target people collecting quotes and comparing builders.
- Renovations and extensions
- New homes and granny flats
- Decks and outdoor rooms
What about Local Services Ads?
This is Google's pay-per-lead product: listings with a "Google Guaranteed" badge where you're billed for each lead (a call or message) instead of each click. Google's own list of countries where they run doesn't include Australia, so if someone offers to sell you that badge here, ask exactly what the product is.
Overseas, the format is being merged into Performance Max, which means an Australian version, if one ever comes, may look quite different. Until then, well-built search campaigns and a strong Google Business Profile are what's actually on offer, and that's what we set up.
What decides the cost of a click
A live auction, every searchYour trade and the job
Urgent and high-value jobs draw more bidders. A bigger job can justify a dearer click, as long as the numbers still work.
Your area and the season
More local bidders push prices up, and demand swings with the weather: air-con installs in a heatwave, roof repairs after hail.
How relevant the ad is
An ad that mirrors the search, landing on a page that answers it, is something Google rewards, so a relevant ad can cost less than a vague one in the same spot.
How well the page converts
The figure that counts is cost per booked job. A page that turns more clicks into calls lowers it without touching the bid.
Who you let in
Every blocked irrelevant search is money that goes to someone who could actually hire you.
What a job is worth
The spend is worked back from how many jobs you need and what landing one is worth to you.
We don't publish a price or a budget figure, because the right number rests on your location, your competition and how the account is built. Your free marketing review finishes with a recommendation made for your business.
Paid and organic together
Ads bring calls in now. SEO builds underneath.
Ads can have you showing soon after Google approves them, and they vanish the moment the budget runs out. Search engine optimisation (SEO) earns map and organic positions that keep producing calls you don't pay for per click, though it's slow going and there's no switch to flip.
Run side by side, what the ads learn about which searches lead to calls helps decide where the organic effort goes first. Our page on SEO for tradies covers that side, and websites for tradies covers the pages both depend on.
An electrical contractor, month one.
Website, ads and profile togetherEvery job used to come from word of mouth. We rebuilt their website, launched Google and Meta ad campaigns and sorted out their Google Business Profile.
25+Leads in the first month
$13.32Cost per click
+939%Unique website visitors
One client, with the website, ads and profile work running at the same time, so these aren't ads-only numbers. Read the full case study →
Keep reading
The whole plan
Marketing for tradies
How ads, search, your website and your brand fit together for a trade business.
Read the guide →Our servicePaid ads
Google, Meta and the rest of our paid advertising work, for trades and beyond.
See paid ads →Who we work withAll industries
Trades, law firms, accountants and consumer brands we build marketing for.
Browse industries →Trade by trade: marketing for electricians, plumbers and roofers, plus our guide to getting more electrician leads.
Google Ads for tradies: your questions
Is Google Ads worth it for tradies?
For jobs people search for, it's usually the most direct channel there is, because your ad shows up at the moment someone needs the work done. Visual trades like landscaping or renovations often add social ads too, and your reviews decide whether a searcher rings you once they see you. Which blend suits you comes down to how your customers go looking.
How much should a tradie spend on Google Ads?
There's no honest one-size figure. Your location, the number of rivals bidding on the same jobs and the way the account is built all move it. We begin with how many jobs you're after and the most a single job is worth paying for, and the free marketing review ends with a real recommendation for your business.
How soon will the phone start ringing?
Once Google approves the ads and tracking is firing, they can appear straight away, so enquiries may start early. The first stretch is for learning which searches ring, which suburbs bring good jobs and which searches to block, so expect plenty of adjustments at the start.
Do I need a new website before running Google Ads?
Not always, but you need a relevant page to send people to. If your site has nothing on the job you're advertising, loads slowly on a phone or hides the number, the ads will have a hard time. Often a small set of focused landing pages does the job.
What if competitors click on my ads?
It's a fair worry in a small local market. Google's systems screen out many invalid clicks before you're billed, and refund others it spots afterwards as invalid click credits. We keep an eye on click patterns, block sources that look suspicious, and confirm those credits really do land on your invoice.
Who owns the Google Ads account?
Your business does. We're added as managers, so if we ever part ways the account, its full history and all its data remain yours. There's no lock-in contract either: it's monthly, with a 30-day notice period.
Can you run Facebook and Instagram ads as well?
Yes. Meta ads suit trades with work worth showing off, like landscaping, renovations and painting, and they reach people before they start searching. We plan them alongside Google so the budget goes where the jobs come from.
