It depends on three things. Do people actually search for what you sell? Does a new customer bring in clearly more than you'd pay to win them? And does the account measure real enquiries rather than clicks? When all three hold, Google Ads is usually worth it. Most accounts that "didn't work" fell down on one of them.
When Google Ads pays off
- There's search demand. Ads only reach people already searching. If they're searching for you, you're there at the right moment.
- The job is urgent or valuable. An emergency callout or a large job can carry the cost of a click. A small one-off sale often can't.
- You respond quickly. Paid enquiries cool off fast. Businesses that call back the same day win more of them.
- The landing page asks for one thing. A focused page turns the same clicks into more enquiries than a general homepage does.
- You want numbers you can check. Clicks, calls and forms can all be traced back to the search that produced them.
When it wastes money
- The tracking counts the wrong things. If page views or button taps are recorded as leads, the account looks healthy while the phone stays quiet.
- Targeting is too loose. Money spent on searches from people who were never going to hire you is the most common leak we find.
- Clicks land on the homepage. Visitors have to hunt for what they came for, and many don't bother.
- Nobody is watching it. Search terms, costs and competitors shift all the time. An untended account drifts.
- The budget is spread too thin. Stretching one budget across every service and every suburb can leave each with too little to work.
Almost all of that list can be fixed, and it's usually what turns up when we audit an account someone has given up on. See how we handle Google Ads management.
Four numbers to work out before you spend
1. What a customer is worth
Not just the first invoice, but what a typical customer brings in over time, repeat work included. Everything else gets measured against this.
2. How many enquiries become customers
If you win roughly one job for every three quotes, each enquiry is worth about a third of a customer. That sets what you can afford per enquiry.
3. What clicks cost where you are
Google's own keyword planner gives rough click prices for your searches and area. Cities tend to be dearer than regional towns.
4. How many clicks make an enquiry
Your landing page and your offer drive most of this, so a better page is frequently the cheapest fix.
Put the first two together and you have a ceiling: customer value multiplied by your win rate is the most you can pay for an enquiry and still come out ahead. If your real cost per enquiry sits well under that line, ads are probably worth it. If it sits over, something in the account, the page or the offer needs attention before you spend more.
What a rebuilt account did for a law firm
Before we rebuilt it, a boutique Darwin law firm's account had been spending for a long stretch without much return.
A Darwin law firm
- +137%
- Conversion rate lift
- 70
- Monthly enquiries
- $10.21
- Cost per enquiry
- 3.3x
- Google Ads impression share (13.36% to 43.95%)
Measured Jul 1 to Jul 31, 2026. One account in one market, so a guide to what's possible rather than a promise. Read the case study →
Online stores count results in sales rather than enquiries. For that side, see how paid ads carried a multi-location retailer through its quiet season and an omnichannel brand through its peak.
Google Ads or SEO?
Paid search starts once Google approves it and ends the day the money does. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is slower to build but carries on after you stop. We compare the two properly in Google Ads vs SEO, and cover the organic side in is SEO worth it?
How Stackt manages Google Ads
We build and run Google Ads for Australian service businesses and consumer brands: campaign structure, conversion tracking that counts real calls and forms, landing pages built for a single action, and a plain monthly report on cost per enquiry.
Before you commit a dollar, the free marketing review checks the demand in your area, what competitors are paying and whether your numbers support it.
Google Ads questions
How big does a Google Ads budget need to be?
It hinges on your location, your competition and how solidly the account is built. Clicks in capital cities generally cost more than in regional towns, and a well-built account gets far more from the same budget. The free marketing review gives you a figure for your business.
Google Ads didn't work for me last time. Why?
Common causes: tracking that records the wrong actions, targeting loose enough to buy irrelevant searches, and a landing page that doesn't turn visitors into enquiries. Each one is fixable, and none of them means ads can't work for your business.
How quickly can Google Ads bring in enquiries?
Your ads can run from the day Google approves the campaign. How soon enquiries follow depends on your market, budget and landing page, so we don't put a date on that part.
Can I run Google Ads myself?
Plenty of business owners do. The risk is learning on your own budget, since default settings and automated suggestions tend to spend on searches that won't become customers. If you go it alone, get conversion tracking right before anything else.
Is Google Ads better than Facebook ads?
Google catches people at the moment they're looking. Facebook and Instagram put you in front of people before they've started. A service business usually gets more from starting with Google.
What is a good cost per enquiry?
There isn't a universal one. A good cost per enquiry is one that sits comfortably below what an enquiry is worth to you, which is why the four numbers above matter more than any industry average.
Is there a lock-in contract?
Not with us. Stackt works month to month with no minimum term.
