What drives the cost of a click

Google Ads works like an auction. Each time someone searches, businesses bidding on that search compete for the ad spots, and you only pay when someone clicks your ad.

Your trade is the biggest factor. Urgent, high-value work attracts more advertisers, so clicks cost more. Location matters too, and prices in the South East tend to be at the higher end.

Quality matters as well. Google rewards ads and landing pages that match what people searched for, so a relevant ad pointing to a clear page can cost less per click than a vague one.

Working back from what a job is worth

Start with what an average job is worth to you, and what share of enquiries you usually win. If a typical job is worth £600 and you win one in three enquiries, each enquiry is worth around £200 to you.

Then think about cost per enquiry. If clicks cost £5 and one in ten visitors gets in touch, each enquiry costs around £50. Against an enquiry worth £200, that's a good return.

Running these numbers before you start stops you guessing, and gives you a clear target to judge your ads against.

Try our Lead Value Calculator to work out what an enquiry is worth to you.

A sensible starting budget

For most trades, we recommend starting at £500 to £1,000 a month. That's enough clicks to get meaningful data and a steady flow of enquiries without risking too much while the campaign is learning.

You can start from £300 a month, but at that level you'll get fewer clicks, so it takes longer to see what's working. It's best suited to small areas or lower-competition trades.

Whatever you start with, give it at least four full weeks before judging. The first couple of weeks are often spent learning which searches and ads work best.

Tracking calls and forms

If you can't see which clicks turned into calls, messages and form enquiries, you can't tell whether your ads are working. Tracking should be set up before you spend anything.

That means tracking calls from your ads and website, form submissions and WhatsApp clicks, so every enquiry is counted back to the ad that brought it in.

Without tracking, budgets get judged on gut feeling, and good campaigns get switched off while bad ones keep running.

Signs your ads are wasting money

Clicks but no enquiries usually means your ads are showing for the wrong searches, or sending people to a page that doesn't make it easy to get in touch.

Check the searches your ads are appearing for. If you see jobs you don't do, areas you don't cover or people looking for DIY advice or work, those clicks are costing you money.

If nobody can tell you how many enquiries your ads brought in last month, or what each one cost, that's a sign in itself.

When to get help

Google Ads is easy to start and easy to waste money on. If you've tried it and couldn't tell what you were getting, or you'd rather spend your time on the tools, getting help usually pays for itself.

A good ads manager will set up tracking first, keep your campaigns focused on the searches that bring in work, and tell you plainly what each enquiry is costing you.

If you'd rather have it done for you, take a look at our Google Ads management.