Most owners pick a round Google Ads budget, then ask whether it’s enough. Turn the question around. Set your budget from your trade’s real cost per click and the number of jobs you need, not from a round number, because one emergency plumbing click can cost more than $49 while a mechanic click costs under $3. Google Ads cost comes down to two numbers you can check before you spend a dollar.
Key takeaways
- Estimated click prices run from under $3 to over $49 across the ten trades below.
- $500 a month buys about 10 emergency plumbing clicks, or about 171 mechanic clicks.
- Google can spend up to twice your average daily budget on a given day, but no more than 30.4 times it across the month.
- Budget for jobs, then count jobs, not clicks.
What does a Google Ads click cost in my trade?
There’s no Google Ads pricing list. Every click is priced at auction. These are estimated average costs per click from Google’s keyword data for Australia, late 2026. Real prices move with suburb, time of day and how many competitors are bidding.
Search term | Est. cost per click | Clicks $500 a month buys |
|---|---|---|
emergency plumber | $49.32 | about 10 |
plumber near me | $37.93 | about 13 |
family lawyer | $27.90 | about 18 |
electrician near me | $26.13 | about 19 |
removalists | $21.10 | about 24 |
air conditioning installation | $15.60 | about 32 |
pest control | $13.77 | about 36 |
towing service | $9.70 | about 52 |
tax accountant | $8.11 | about 62 |
mechanic near me | $2.92 | about 171 |
Estimated average cost per click, Google keyword data for Australia, late 2026. Clicks rounded.
The top row costs about 17 times the bottom row. Same $500, very different months.
Plumbers can see how click prices shift between cities in our plumber cost per click comparison. Towing and HVAC owners have their own breakdowns: Google Ads for towing companies and Google Ads for HVAC companies.
Why did Google charge me more than my daily budget?
Because your daily budget is an average. Google’s help page on average daily budgets says: “On a given day, your campaign might spend up to twice your average daily budget”. The real limit sits at month level: “At the end of the month, you will have spent no more than 30.4 times your average daily budget.”
In plain numbers, $500 a month works out to an average daily budget of about $16.45 ($500 ÷ 30.4). On a busy day, Google can spend up to about $32.89. Over the month it evens out. A $30 day is normal, so check the monthly total before you call it overspend.
How do I work out a budget that can win a job?
Work backwards from the job, not forwards from the budget.
- Job value. What’s an average job worth to you, after materials?
- Cost per click. Use your trade’s row above, or your own account’s numbers.
- Clicks per enquiry. How many clicks it takes to get one real call or form.
- Enquiries per job. How many enquiries you need to win one job.
Multiply steps 2, 3 and 4 and you have the click cost of one job. Compare it with step 1.
A hypothetical worked example. Take a hypothetical electrician paying the $26.13 average click above. Assume 1 in 10 clicks becomes an enquiry and 1 in 3 enquiries becomes a job. Both rates are made up for this example; they aren’t benchmarks.
- Clicks per job: 10 × 3 = 30
- Click cost per job: 30 × $26.13 = $783.90
- What $500 buys: about 19 clicks, so less than one job a month on these rates
- Budget for four jobs a month: 120 clicks × $26.13 = $3,135.60
If an average job is worth $1,500 to that electrician, $784 a job can pay. If it’s worth $400, Google Ads doesn’t pay at that click price on these rates.
Is a small budget ever worth it?
Yes, in the right trade. Many owners believe a small budget can’t compete in metro trades. Others say one or two jobs a month pays for the whole spend. We side with the maths: a budget works when it buys enough clicks at your click price to land a job.
The doubters have a fair point at the top of the table. Ten to thirteen plumbing clicks a month is too few to learn from. At the bottom of the table, $500 buys about 171 mechanic clicks, which is plenty to test with.
For trades at the top, it can make more sense to narrow the ads to your highest-value searches and build organic reach alongside them, such as SEO for plumbers.
Count jobs, not clicks
A tap on your map listing or your call button is a click, and nothing more yet. A lead is a call long enough to talk about a job, or a form with a real address. Track those, then track which ones turned into paid work.
For firms, the click lands on your website, so the page has to finish the job. At about $28 a click for a family lawyer search, that’s where law firm web design earns its keep.
The bottom line
Budget for jobs, not round numbers
Set your Google Ads budget from your trade’s cost per click and the jobs you need. $500 a month is a decent test for a mechanic and about ten chances for an emergency plumber. Expect some days to run up to double your daily average, check the month instead, and judge the spend on paid jobs.
Want a budget built from your trade's numbers?
We’re a Google Partner, and we run Google Ads for our own business and for clients, with hands-on management and mostly conversion-focused bidding. See how our Google Ads marketing works. Month-to-month. No lock-in contracts.
Important FAQs
How much does Google Ads cost per month?
You set it. What it buys depends on your click price: $500 is about 10 emergency plumbing clicks or about 171 mechanic clicks.
Why did Google Ads charge me more than my daily budget?
On a given day, Google can spend up to twice your average daily budget. Across the month, it won’t spend more than 30.4 times that average.
Is $500 a month enough for Google Ads?
It can be in a low-cost trade, where it buys enough clicks to test properly. At $38 to $49 a click, it buys 10 to 13 clicks, a thin test. Run the job maths above first.
