digital — paid advertising
Google Ads, run like it's your money.
Search is where a customer with a problem meets a business with a solution — and where an unfenced account quietly buys the wrong clicks all month. We run Google Ads for trade and industrial services with tight structure, tracked calls and reporting that answers the only question that matters: what did an enquiry cost, and was it worth winning.
where the money leaks
Most wasted spend is structural.
Loose match types
A keyword is a suggestion, not a fence — left near defaults, Google buys searches that merely resemble your work: the wrong trade, the DIY researcher, the student. Tightening match is the first repair, and it's usually overdue.
The wrong map
Clicks from suburbs you'd never drive to, or from the whole state because nobody drew the line. Location settings and bid adjustments should mirror where you actually take jobs — and be checked against where enquiries really come from.
Invisible phone calls
Trade customers ring. An account graded only on form fills under-reports reality, then gets optimised in the wrong direction. If calls aren't tracked as conversions, the algorithm is learning from a fiction.
what we actually do
Fences, tracking, receipts.
Structure & fences
Campaigns organised by service and intent, match types chosen deliberately, and a negative keyword list that grows every week from the search terms report — the standing record of everything you don't do.
Calls counted properly
Call tracking on the traffic the ads produce, call extensions on the ads themselves, and conversion definitions that mean a real conversation happened — not a two-second misdial.
Reporting joined to jobs
Cost per enquiry by campaign, the search terms your budget actually bought, and — where your job ledger allows it — enquiries followed through to quotes and won work. The measurement practice builds that spine.
how it runs
The discipline is the deliverable.
01 — Tracking before spend
Conversion tracking is built and tested before budgets move. Spending first and measuring later is how accounts learn the wrong lessons permanently.
02 — Build the fences
Structure, match types, locations, schedules, first negative lists. The account starts smaller than you'd expect, on the searches closest to money.
03 — The weekly read
Search terms reviewed on a schedule, negatives added, bids and budgets adjusted against enquiry cost. An account nobody reads isn't managed — whatever the invoice says.
04 — The monthly answer
A short report in plain terms: enquiries, what they cost, what changed and why. Scale what the numbers defend; cut what they convict.
due diligence
Three questions for whoever runs your ads.
"When were the search terms last read?"
The answer should be a date within the last week or two, with negatives added to show for it. Silence here explains most underperforming accounts.
"What exactly counts as a conversion?"
If the answer includes page views, button hovers or every call regardless of length, your results are inflated and your optimisation is aimed at the wrong target.
"Who owns the account?"
The only right answer is you — your login, your billing, your history. An agency that keeps the account is keeping your data as a leaving tax.
the honest bit
When ads are the right tool — and when they're not.
Right tool: you need work now, you're entering a new area where nobody knows you, or a seasonal window is open and the slower channels haven't caught up. Ads are rented visibility — instant, and gone the day the spend stops.
Wrong tool: the diary is already full, the website can't convert the clicks it gets, or margins can't survive the auction in your category. We'll say so before taking a management fee — and where the map or a different channel fits better, we'll point there instead.
straight answers
Asked often.
How much should a trade business spend on Google Ads?
There's no honest universal number — click prices are set by auction in your trade and your suburbs. The working method: start with a budget you can afford to learn with, measure cost per enquiry against your margins, then scale what the numbers defend. Anyone quoting a "typical" spend before seeing your market is guessing.
Do you lock clients into a management contract?
No. The account is yours, in your own Google Ads login, and every change we make is visible in its history. If we stop working together you keep the account, the data and the negative keyword lists. Leaving should be easy — the work being good is the retention strategy.
Can you guarantee results?
No, and nobody honestly can — the auction, your competitors and your market move constantly. What we do guarantee: tracked calls and forms, search term reviews on a schedule, and reporting in cost per enquiry rather than clicks.