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Learn Google Ads
The long version: how the auction works, what moves your ad spend, how we set a budget with you, and what the weekly report shows.
30-minute call, so you’re never rushed.
In 30 seconds
- Google Ads is an auction: you pay per click, and relevance counts as much as your bid.
- Ad spend is separate from the $1,000 a month management fee and stays in your own account.
- A budget is set with you on the strategy call, never sold as a package.
How Google Ads works
Google Ads is an auction. Every time somebody types a search, Google runs a quick auction between the advertisers whose keywords, location and schedule match.
The winner is not simply the highest bidder: your position depends on your bid, how relevant your ad and landing page are to that search, and what Google expects the click to be worth.
You pay per click, not per impression. Your ad can appear hundreds of times in a day and cost nothing until somebody clicks.
That is why the click price on its own never decides anything: what matters is what the click turns into.
- Search results: your text ad sits above the regular listings
- Local searches: ads can also show on Maps and in the local pack
- Your daily budget caps what a day can spend, and your bid caps what you will pay for a click
What moves your ad spend
Ad spend is what you pay Google for the clicks, and it is separate from the management fee. The same service costs different amounts in different places. Five things move the number:
- Industry: a pizzeria search and a personal injury lawyer search do not cost the same, because the value of the job is different
- Competition: how many other advertisers want that same search
- Location radius: a tight service area spends less than one covering three cities
- Cost per click: what Google charges for the clicks you decide are worth buying
- Your goals: how many leads a week you want, and what a lead is worth to you
Cost per click, in plain numbers
Click prices in Ontario are not one number. A search for a pizzeria on a busy street can cost a couple of dollars, while a search for a dental implant, a personal injury lawyer, or a custom kitchen renovation can cost twenty or more.
The difference is how much the job is worth and how many advertisers are chasing it, not how good your business is.
That is why we look up your actual keywords in your actual service area before suggesting a number, instead of quoting a flat figure that would be wrong for half our clients.
How we set your budget on the strategy call
We do not sell a package budget. A figure that fits a pizzeria would be wrong for a clinic, which is why the number gets set with you rather than before we have met you.
On the call we look at your real keywords in your real service area, what an average customer is worth to you, how far you are willing to travel for a job, and how many leads a week you want from search.
Then we start lean on the searches closest to buying, watch what a booked job costs, and add budget to whatever produces work.
The number that decides it
The figure that decides whether a campaign works is your cost per customer, not your cost per click: if an average customer is worth $80 to you, a lead costs $20, and half your leads turn into customers, you paid $40 to earn $80.
Conversion tracking
A campaign you cannot measure is a campaign you cannot improve. Before anything spends a dollar we wire tracking on the actions that matter to your business: a phone call, a form submission, a completed booking, or a new patient.
Every lead is then credited to the exact search that produced it, so the weekly report can show which searches brought calls and which brought nothing but cost.
- Call tracking that forwards to the line your team already answers
- Form and thank-you page tracking on your own site
- Bookings from your calendar or booking system, recorded as leads
- Where your team can close the loop, the outcome of the lead, so the report shows cost per booked job rather than cost per call
Good to know
Whatever we recommend, the ad spend stays separate from the $1,000 a month management fee and is paid directly to Google inside your own account. You can change the budget whenever you want, including down in a slow season, and our fee does not change with it.
Getting started
One free 15-minute call is usually enough to say whether Google Ads is worth your money. If it is, campaigns are live in 7 days, the fee is a flat $1,000 a month plus tax, and there is no contract: you can stop at the end of any month.
In depth
The longer version
The detail behind the page above, for anyone weighing the decision properly.
Keep reading
Book a free 15-min call
Tell us what you sell and where your customers come from. One call is usually enough to say whether Google Ads is worth your money, and there is nothing to sign.
Pick a time that suits you.
Fifteen minutes, no pitch, and a straight answer on whether we can help.
30-minute call, so you’re never rushed.
Ask within 7 days of payment and we refund your first month’s management fee, no questions asked. Ad spend paid to Google is not refundable. If you paid by credit card, the 2.9% processing fee is deducted.
Quick inquiry
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