Google Ads for local services — the leaky-bucket audit
Nine out of ten accounts we open are haemorrhaging budget in the same five places.
Before we touch bids, keywords, or copy, we run a fifteen-minute audit of every new Google Ads account. The same problems appear constantly. Here they are, in order of budget impact.
1. Broad match without a negative keyword list
Google's broad match in 2026 is aggressive. A campaign targeting 'emergency plumber Melbourne' will show for 'plumbing apprenticeship Melbourne', 'plumber salary', and occasionally something stranger. Without a negative keyword list built from Search Terms data, you're funding Google's education.
Fix: pull 90 days of Search Terms data, add any non-converting intent as negatives, and check weekly for the first month.
2. Search Partners enabled
Search Partners includes Google-owned properties and third-party search sites. For most local service accounts, Search Partners converts at a fraction of the rate of Google Search, at the same CPC. The toggle to disable it is in campaign settings.
3. Display Network expansion
'Search with Display Select' is on by default in some campaign types. Display traffic looks like search traffic in the summary but has almost no purchase intent. It's cheap per click because it's cheap for a reason.
4. Conversion tracking not configured
We've opened accounts spending $4,000/month with zero conversion tracking. Smart Bidding—which Google pushes heavily—is useless without conversion data. It will optimise for the proxy signal it has (clicks, impressions) which is not what you want to optimise for.
“You cannot optimise what you don't measure. That's not a quote, it's just true.”
5. Geographic targeting too wide
A Melbourne tradie targeting 'Victoria' instead of 'Melbourne metro' is paying Melbourne CPCs for Ballarat enquiries they won't convert. Tighten to the actual service radius. Then check the Location Report to confirm impressions are coming from where you think.
The fix order
Stop the bleeding before optimising for growth. In order: fix conversion tracking → disable Search Partners → check Display Network → tighten geo → build negative keyword list. Only then look at bids and creative.