Google Ads for Tradies

Do Google Ads work for tradies?

Yes, when the campaign is built around specific jobs, shows only in the suburbs you’ll drive to, and runs when someone can answer the phone. Google Ads put you above the Maps results for searches like “emergency electrician” or “hot water system replacement”, and you only pay when someone clicks. Most failed tradie campaigns fail on setup, not on the channel.

Google Ads suit three situations well:

• New businesses with few reviews, who won’t rank in Maps for months.
• Quiet periods, such as aircon techs between summers or roofers after a dry spell.
• New job types or areas you want to test before investing in SEO pages.

They’re weaker when the job is low value and the click is expensive, or when you’re already booked out. If calls go to voicemail, you’re paying for the click and giving the job to the next tradie on the list. Fix call handling before spending more.

Can Australian tradies use Local Services Ads or Google Guaranteed?

No. As of October 2026, Local Services Ads, the pay-per-lead format that carries the Google Guaranteed badge, isn’t offered in Australia. Google’s Local Services help centre only has country versions for Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, and Google’s Australian Local Services Ads product page returns ‘page not found’ while its UK and Canadian pages are live.

This matters because plenty of tradie marketing articles, written from US guides, tell you to “get Google Guaranteed”. If someone offers to set it up for your Australian business, ask them to show you the sign-up screen. What Australian tradies can use instead:

Option	How you pay	Available in Australia	Notes for tradies
Local Services Ads (Google Guaranteed)	Per lead	No	US, Canada, UK and parts of Europe only
Search campaigns	Per click	Yes	The core for tradies: you choose the jobs, suburbs and hours
Call assets on Search ads	Per click or call	Yes	A tap-to-call button under your ad, the main action on mobile
Location assets	Per click	Yes	Links your Business Profile so your business details from Maps can show with the ad
Performance Max	Per click or impression	Yes	Can spend across YouTube, Display and Maps; harder to control for small trade budgets

Google says all advertisers will eventually need to complete advertiser verification, and some details, such as your organisation’s contact information and where your ads ran, appear publicly in its Ads Transparency Center. Verify under your business name and keep those details current.

How much does a click cost for each trade?

It depends heavily on the trade and the urgency. On Google’s Keyword Planner averages for Australia over the past 12 months, “blocked drain plumber” averages $61.31 a click while “landscaper near me” averages $4.81. Urgent jobs where the customer calls the first ad cost the most, because every plumber in the city wants that call.

Search term (Australia)	Monthly searches	Average cost per click	Spend for ~100 clicks a month
blocked drain plumber	1,600	$61.31	about $6,100
emergency plumber	3,600	$49.32	about $4,900
plumber near me	49,500	$37.93	about $3,800
emergency electrician	2,400	$29.42	about $2,900
electrician near me	40,500	$26.13	about $2,600
roof repairs	5,400	$24.66	about $2,500
switchboard upgrade	880	$21.30	about $2,100
hot water system replacement	2,900	$21.14	about $2,100
aircon repair	18,100	$18.55	about $1,900
roofer near me	5,400	$17.63	about $1,800
bathroom renovation	18,100	$11.07	about $1,100
concreter near me	9,900	$7.80	about $800
landscaper near me	2,400	$4.81	about $500

Source: Google Ads Keyword Planner data for Australia, October 2025 to September 2026, pulled in October 2026. These are averages across all advertisers nationally. Your real cost depends on competition in your area, your ad quality, your bids and the hours you run.

About 100 clicks a month on your main job is a useful floor. At a 10–20% enquiry rate, that’s 10–20 enquiries, enough to tell whether the campaign is working. Spread a small budget across ten job types and you’ll get a handful of clicks each and learn nothing.

Seasonality changes the numbers too. Searches for “aircon repair” in Australia hit 49,500 in January 2026 and fell to 6,600 by September. A cooling tech running the same budget all year is overpaying in winter and under-spending when the phones should be ringing.

What’s the real cost per job from Google Ads?

Cost per job is your click cost divided by two rates: how many clicks become enquiries, and how many enquiries you win. A $25 click with a 15% enquiry rate and a 50% win rate costs about $333 per booked job. That’s the number to compare with your profit per job, not the cost per click.

Here’s the maths on real Australian click costs, with hypothetical conversion rates for illustration:

Search term	Average CPC	Assumed clicks that enquire	Assumed enquiries won	Cost per booked job
blocked drain plumber	$61.31	20%	60%	about $511
emergency electrician	$29.42	20%	60%	about $245
roof leak repair	$23.44	15%	50%	about $313
aircon repair	$18.55	15%	50%	about $247
switchboard upgrade	$21.30	10%	40%	about $533
bathroom renovation	$11.07	8%	20%	about $692

The conversion rates are assumptions, not benchmarks. Yours could be far better or worse, which is why tracking matters.

What the table shows: a $500 cost per job can be a bargain or a loss. A blocked drain that turns into CCTV inspection and pipe relining work is worth far more than the first callout. A bathroom renovation, a much bigger job, can carry a high cost per job. A small callout can’t. Before you set a budget, write down your average gross profit per job type, then run this sum.

The two rates you control most are the enquiry rate and the win rate. A landing page with a click-to-call button, real job photos and a clear service area lifts the first. Answering the phone in three rings and quoting fast lifts the second.

How do tradies stop wasting money on Google Ads?

Most wasted tradie ad spend comes from four settings: broad keywords without negatives, location targeting that includes people outside your area, ads running when nobody answers, and no conversion tracking. Fix those four and the same budget usually goes noticeably further.

• Negative keywords. Block “jobs”, “apprentice”, “apprenticeship”, “salary”, “course”, “TAFE”, “how to”, “DIY”, “parts” and supplier names. Check the search terms report weekly for the first month.
• Location setting. Google’s default targets people in your area and people who’ve shown interest in it. Switch to “Presence” so you only pay for people in or regularly in your service area, then exclude suburbs you won’t drive to.
• Ad schedule. If you don’t do after-hours work, don’t run ads after hours. If you do, route calls to whoever is on call, and price after-hours searches accordingly.
• Conversion tracking. Track calls from ads, calls from the website and quote forms. Without it, Google’s bidding optimises for clicks, not jobs.
• Landing pages. Send “switchboard upgrade” clicks to your switchboard page, not your homepage. Put your licence number on it: QBCC licensees in Queensland, for example, must show licence details in all advertising, and the QBCC lists websites among the examples.
• Match the ad to the job. “Licensed plumber, blocked drains cleared today, upfront pricing” beats “Quality plumbing services you can trust”.

We’ll show you any of these in your own account during the free audit.

How much does Google Ads management cost for tradies?

Typical Australian market ranges for Google Ads management are $500–$1,500 per month, with ad spend paid directly to Google on top. Some managers charge 10–20% of spend instead. A single-trade, single-area account sits at the lower end; multiple trades, regions or lots of job types sit higher.

Item	Typical Australian market range
Google Ads management, single trade and area	$500–$1,000 per month
Google Ads management, multiple trades or regions	$1,000–$1,500 per month
Percentage-of-spend model	10–20% of monthly ad spend
Ad spend (paid to Google)	Set by you; see the click cost table above

Whoever manages it, the account should be in your name, with your payment details and your admin access, so the history and data stay with you if you change managers. Work with us is month-to-month, with no lock-in.

Ads stop when spend stops, so most tradies run them alongside SEO for tradies and a well-run Google Business Profile. For how ads fit with lead platforms and referrals, see marketing for tradies, and for the full management service see Google Ads management.

Want to see what your trade’s clicks cost in your area, and where your current account leaks? Get a free Google Ads and SEO audit.