Meet Dave. Dave runs a mid-sized solar installation company in Fortitude Valley. Last year, Dave was spending $4,000 a month on Google Ads. He was getting plenty of 'traffic', but his sales team was frustrated. They were spending hours chasing 'tyre-kickers' who just wanted free advice or lived outside his service area.
Dave wasn’t failing at Google Ads; he was failing at Lead Quality.
In the Australian market, where cost-per-click (CPC) prices in industries like trade services, legal, and real estate are some of the highest in the world, you cannot afford to just 'buy clicks'. You need to build a lead generation engine. Here is how we turned Dave’s campaign around, and how you can do the same for your Brisbane business.
Step 1: Define the 'Value' of the Lead, Not the Click
Most business owners look at their Google Ads dashboard and see a $15 cost-per-lead (CPL) and think they are winning. But if only 1 in 10 of those leads picks up the phone, your actual cost-per-acquisition is sky-high.
To fix this, you must stop treating every click as equal. Start by teaching the machine exactly what your ideal customer looks like. Instead of targeting broad terms like 'solar panels', we shifted Dave’s focus to 'commercial solar installation Brisbane'. This narrowed the field to high-intent users ready to invest.
Step 2: The 'Negative' Strategy (Saving Your Budget)
One of the biggest mistakes we see in Queensland SME accounts is 'geographic leakage'. If you’re a plumber in Chermside, why are you paying for clicks from Gold Coast residents?
Beyond geography, you need to aggressively filter out non-buyers. We implemented a negative keyword pivot for Dave, stripping out terms like 'jobs', 'DIY', 'repairs', and 'cheap'. By telling Google what we didn't want, we saved 22% of his monthly budget in the first 30 days. That money was immediately reallocated to high-converting evening slots when homeowners were actually sitting down to make decisions.
Step 3: Use Lead Form Assets for Frictionless Conversion
In 2026, user friction is the enemy of ROI. Mobile users in Australia have notoriously short attention spans. If your website takes three seconds to load, you’ve lost them.
We introduced Google Lead Form Assets. These allow a potential customer to submit their details directly within the search result, without ever visiting your website. For Dave’s solar business, this was a game-changer. We asked three qualifying questions in the form: 1. Is your roof tile or tin? 2. Is your monthly bill over $300? 3. Are you the property owner?
By adding these hurdles, we reduced lead volume slightly but increased the conversion rate of those leads into actual sales by 40%.
Step 4: Master the Art of the Phone Call
For many Australian service businesses, a phone call is worth five web forms. A person calling is usually in 'problem-solving mode' right now. We shifted a portion of the budget into 'Call-Only' ads during business hours.
If you want to grow, you have to scale high-intent phone leads rather than just collecting email addresses that go to a 'no-reply' inbox. We set up conversion tracking to only count calls that lasted longer than 60 seconds—ensuring we were only paying for real conversations, not wrong numbers.
Step 5: The Post-Click Experience
If you do send traffic to your site, don't send it to your homepage. Send it to a dedicated landing page that mirrors the ad's promise. If the ad says 'Brisbane’s Best Commercial Solar', the landing page should feature Brisbane landmarks, local testimonials from Eagle Farm or Milton, and a clear, bold call to action.
Your 30-Day Action Plan:
1. Audit your 'Search Terms' report: Find five words that resulted in clicks but zero sales and add them as negative keywords. 2. Check your location settings: Ensure you aren't bidding on 'interested in' your location, but rather 'people regularly in' your target suburbs. 3. Test a Lead Form Asset: Set one up this week and compare the lead quality to your website forms.Conclusion
Lead generation in Google Ads isn't about who spends the most; it's about who is the most surgical with their data. By filtering out the noise and focusing on high-intent signals, you can transform your marketing from a monthly expense into a predictable revenue driver.
Ready to stop guessing and start growing your Brisbane business? Contact the experts at Local Marketing Group today and let’s build your lead engine together.