What Google Ads Costs a Cairns Business in 2026

I pulled three months of data from the Google Ads accounts I manage for local businesses, July to September 2026. Owners ask me what ads will cost them more than anything else, and most of the published answers are national averages that bear little resemblance to this market.

Four accounts went into the numbers. They’re in different industries, and I’ve left out anything that would identify them. A fifth account recorded too few enquiries over the period to work with, so it isn’t included.

What a click costs

Average cost per click across the four ranged from under $1 to just under $7.

Most of that spread comes down to competition. Where several local businesses bid on the same searches, the price climbs. Where one or two do, clicks stay cheap even on strong terms.

For a trade I don’t have a client in, Google’s Keyword Planner puts “plumber cairns” at about 1,600 searches a month, with an estimated cost around $9 a click. “Emergency plumber cairns” sits closer to $11. Those are Google’s estimates rather than what anyone paid. They still suggest plumbing clicks in Cairns would cost more than any account I’m running now.

What a month costs

Monthly ad spend across the four ran from about $280 to about $2,340. These are regional budgets, and every one of them produces enquiries.

On top of ad spend sits management. Mine starts at $500 +GST a month for a single campaign. You pay Google directly for the clicks, and I don’t take a cut of that.

So a plumber starting with $1,000 a month in clicks at Keyword Planner prices buys roughly 110 clicks. With management, that’s about $1,500 a month before GST.

What an enquiry costs

Counting only phone calls and form submissions, cost per enquiry ranged from about $16 to about $135. I left out clicks on email links and phone numbers, because a click on a phone number doesn’t tell you anyone rang.

The share of clicks that turned into an enquiry ranged from under 2% to over 20%. The cheapest enquiries came from an account where people search because something has just gone wrong and they need it sorted today. The dearest came from a service people research for days before they make contact.

Apply that range to the plumbing example and 110 clicks could produce anywhere from two enquiries to twenty-odd. Emergency plumbing should sit toward the better end, since the searcher has a problem right now. I don’t run a plumbing account, though, so that’s my judgement. A couple of months of real data would settle it either way.

Where the money leaks

The search terms report shows the searches your ads appeared on, and it’s where waste turns up first. In a trade account that usually means people looking for apprenticeships, DIY fixes, a suburb you don’t service, or a competitor by name. Each one is a paid click from someone who was never going to book. The fix is adding them as negative keywords, and it’s a weekly job.

The bigger leak is tracking. If calls from the ad aren’t recorded, Google has no idea which clicks led to work. It ends up chasing whatever it can measure, which is often the cheapest click rather than the best one. Without call and form tracking, none of the numbers above could be worked out at all.

How I’d budget a first go

For a Cairns trade trying Google Ads, I’d plan on three months. I’d set ad spend high enough for at least 100 clicks a month at your trade’s going rate, then judge the result on cost per enquiry against what a typical job is worth to you. An $80 enquiry is cheap if the job is worth $2,000 and expensive if it’s worth $150.

That last comparison is the one most owners have never been shown for their own account. It’s where I start with any Google Ads management client, before changing a single bid.