Google Ads for High-Intent Leads in New Zealand

Facebook creates demand. Google captures it. The two channels do completely different jobs, and if you can only run one to begin with, the right answer depends on whether people already search for what you sell. For urgent, problem-driven work — leaks, outages, storm damage, breakdowns — Google is almost always where the best money is.

Keywords chosen for intent, not volume

Big search volumes are a trap. "Roofing" gets thousands of searches a month in New Zealand and most of them are students, competitors and people looking for DIY guides. "Roof replacement quote Wellington" gets a fraction of the traffic and converts many times better. We build accounts around the phrases that carry commercial intent: quote, cost, near me, emergency, installer, replacement, plus your suburb names.

Just as important is what we exclude. A negative keyword list is the single most underrated part of a Google account. Jobs, courses, DIY, free, salary, wholesale, second hand — every wasted click removed is budget put back into a click that can become a customer. We review search terms weekly and keep pruning.

Landing pages that match the search

Sending every ad to your homepage is the most common and most expensive mistake we see. If somebody searches for a switchboard upgrade, they should land on a page about switchboard upgrades, with pricing guidance, real photos of your work, and a form above the fold. Matching the page to the query lifts conversion rates and also lifts your Quality Score, which means Google charges you less per click for the same position.

Conversion tracking done properly

Before we spend anything we make sure calls, form submissions and click-to-text are all tracked as conversions, with call extensions and call reporting switched on. Trades businesses get most of their enquiries by phone, so an account that only tracks form fills will look like it is failing when it is actually working. Once tracking is honest, Smart Bidding has something real to optimise towards and performance usually steps up within a few weeks.

Local visibility beyond the ads

We also tidy up the free assets that affect paid performance: your Google Business Profile, service areas, categories, photos and review flow. A profile with 60 recent reviews and current photos converts far more of the same clicks than a neglected one, and it feeds local service placements too.

What a typical engagement looks like

• Week one: account build or audit, tracking, negatives, landing page fixes.
• Weeks two to four: search term review, bid strategy tuning, ad copy testing.
• Ongoing: monthly reporting on leads, cost per lead and revenue — not impressions.

We work month to month, we do not resell your budget, and you keep ownership of the Google Ads account for good. If you already have an account running, we are happy to audit it and tell you honestly whether it needs rebuilding or just a tune-up.