Most Google Ads accounts we look at are not underperforming because of bidding. They are underperforming because the traffic lands on a page that was never built to convert it. You can spend a long time optimising a campaign that is pointing at the wrong destination.
That is the angle we bring to paid search: we came to it from building the pages the clicks arrive on, so we tend to look at the whole path rather than just the account.
Where most Melbourne accounts leak money
- Broad match without negatives – the fastest way to fund Google’s experiments with your budget
- One landing page for every ad group – if the ad says “emergency plumber” and the page says “welcome to our website”, the click is wasted
- No conversion tracking, or tracking that fires on the wrong event – if the account optimises toward the wrong signal it will get very good at producing the wrong outcome
- Bidding on your own brand unnecessarily – sometimes justified, often just paying for clicks you would have had free
- Ignoring search terms reports – the actual queries triggering your ads are rarely the ones you think
How we run it
Tightly themed ad groups, each pointing at a page built for that specific intent. Conversion tracking verified before spend starts, not after. Search terms reviewed regularly and negatives added. Budget concentrated on the terms that produce enquiries rather than spread thin across everything that mentions your industry.
We are also willing to tell you when paid search is the wrong call. If your local organic position is winnable at low difficulty, that traffic is free and durable – paid makes more sense once the easy organic ground is taken, or when you need volume faster than SEO can deliver.
Paid and organic together
The two work better run as one plan. The keyword research that informs your local SEO is the same research that tells you which paid terms are worth bidding on, and CPC data reveals commercial intent that search volume alone hides. A term with a $10 cost per click has buyers behind it; a term with none usually does not.
Common questions
How much should I spend on Google Ads?
Enough to gather meaningful data in a reasonable time, which depends on your cost per click. A budget too small to generate conversions will not tell you anything except that it was too small.
How long before Google Ads works?
Faster than SEO – days to weeks rather than months. But the first few weeks are largely learning, so judging it too early usually means switching things off just as they start working.
Is Google Ads better than SEO?
Different tools. Ads buy immediate visibility and stop the moment you stop paying. SEO compounds slowly and keeps working. Most businesses need both, in different proportions at different stages.
Talk it through
Tell us what you are running now and we will come back within one business day. Our core work is website design and local SEO – paid search usually works best alongside both.
Related services
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Useful reading: Do you need a blog for SEO?, Why is my website not ranking?, How do I speed up my website?
Also serving: Web design Canberra, Web design Gold Coast, Where we work.
See also: Google Ads Sydney, Google Ads Brisbane, Google Ads for tradies.
Worth reading: What lead generation costs, What is marketing automation?, How to rank higher on Google Business Profile