Sydney has the highest cost per click in Australia across most commercial categories. That makes the difference between competent and careless ad management larger here than anywhere else — the same budget can produce three times the enquiries or none at all, depending on how tightly it is run.
Where Sydney ad budgets get wasted
The waste is rarely in the bidding. It is in everything around it.
- Broad match without negative keywords, which burns budget on irrelevant searches
- Sending all traffic to the homepage instead of a matched landing page
- No conversion tracking, so nobody knows which campaigns produce customers
- Bidding on brand terms competitors are not bidding on
- Running ads in locations you do not actually service
Landing pages matter more than bids in expensive markets
If a click costs forty dollars, a landing page converting at two percent means two thousand dollars per enquiry. The same page at six percent means under seven hundred. Improving conversion is almost always cheaper than increasing budget, and in Sydney the maths is brutal enough that this is where the work should start.
What we do differently
We set up conversion tracking before spending anything, so the first dollar is measured. We build landing pages matched to ad groups rather than pointing everything at the homepage. And we will tell you if your average customer value does not support Sydney click prices — some businesses genuinely should not be in this auction.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Google Ads cost in Sydney?
Higher than anywhere else in Australia. Legal, insurance, trades and medical run particularly expensive. What matters is cost per enquiry against your customer value, not cost per click.
What is a realistic Sydney ad budget?
Enough to generate meaningful click volume at your cost per click, which in a high-CPC category is considerably more than in a cheap one.
Do you charge a percentage of ad spend?
Percentage models create an incentive to increase your spend. We would rather be paid for the work than for spending your money.
Should I run ads or do SEO in Sydney?
Often both — ads for immediate enquiries while SEO builds, since Sydney organic rankings take a long time.
Related services
Worth reading: What is marketing automation?, What is a good conversion rate?, What is a landing page?
Get in touch
Tell us what you sell and what a customer is worth to you. We will tell you honestly whether this is the right channel.