Google Ads for tradies

The ad shows from the day it goes live, so the clicks start straight away. Enquiries follow the clicks. The first month is spent learning which searches turn into jobs for you, and the numbers usually improve from there.

Two things. The ad spend, paid to Google on your own card, which Australian pricing guides start at $1,000 to $2,000 a month. And the management fee, which on the 2026 Australian market runs about $800 to $2,000 a month for a small account. You get our exact fee on a call, and you sign off the budget before a cent is spent.

It puts your ad in front of people searching for your trade from the first day, and the monthly report shows what each click and call cost. Whether it pays depends on the trade, the area and what happens after the phone rings. Ads only get the person to your door. If calls go unanswered or quotes sit for days, that is the follow-up, not the ads, and we will tell you straight which one it is.

Speed and control. The free side of Google takes months to build, and you cannot turn it up on a quiet week. Ads start this week, run on a budget you set, and stop the moment you are booked out. The usual play is ads now while the free side builds, then wind the ads back once the free listings carry the work.

Yes, same product. Google renamed AdWords to Google Ads on 24 July 2018, and the change was branding only: Google confirmed campaign performance and reporting were not affected. If you have been searching for AdWords management for your trade business, Google Ads management is the current name for exactly that.

The name outgrew the product. When Google announced the change in June 2018, it pointed to ads now running across Search, YouTube, Google Maps and partner websites and apps, no longer just search terms, so AdWords became Google Ads. For tradies the search side still brings the enquiries, and that is the side we manage.

It is a range you bid into, not a fixed price, and it swings by trade and city. From Google's own top-of-page bid figures, an "emergency plumber" click runs about A$13 to A$69, a "roofer near me" click A$7 to A$30, and a "handyman near me" click starts near A$2. The full table by trade and city is in our Google Ads click costs by trade.

No. Google's own list of countries where Local Services Ads run has 11 countries on it, and Australia is not one of them (checked 1 September 2026). If someone pitches you "Google Guaranteed" or Local Services Ads here, they are selling something that does not exist in Australia yet. Regular Google ads, your Google Business Profile and a website that gets found are what work here. More on our advertising for tradies guide.

You can, and plenty of tradies do. The catch is that Google Ads reward constant attention: what you bid, which searches show your ad, which ones you block, and the page the ad lands on all need tending, and a few wrong settings can burn a week of budget on clicks that never call. Paying someone earns its keep when it saves you more in wasted spend and won jobs than it costs, and keeps you on the tools. If your spend is small or you enjoy the tinkering, doing it yourself is fair enough.

Yes, always. We set the account up in your name, and the account, the data and the campaign history stay yours. Some agencies keep it in their own account so you cannot take it when you leave. We do not. If we ever part ways, everything goes with you.

No lock-in. We run your ads month to month and back the work to bring you enquiries. You stay because the phone is ringing, not because a contract has you trapped.