Most Brisbane business owners are being sold a lie by 'churn-and-burn' agencies: that more traffic equals more revenue. It doesn’t. In 2026, traffic is a vanity metric. If you are a plumber in Chermside, a lawyer in the CBD, or an emergency locksmith, you don’t need a 'user journey' through a slow-loading website. You need a phone call.
Google Ads Call-Only campaigns (now officially called Call Ads) are the most underutilised weapon in the local marketing arsenal. Why? Because they cut out the middleman—your website. If your mobile site takes more than three seconds to load, you’ve already lost the lead. By using Call Ads, you bypass the technical debt of your website and go straight to the conversion.
Here is how to stop burning cash on useless clicks and start generating actual talk time.
1. The 'Business Hours' Hard Rule
This is where most amateurs fail. They set up a Call-Only campaign and let it run 24/7. Unless you have a dedicated after-hours reception team, running Call Ads at 10 PM is lighting money on fire.If the phone rings and nobody answers, Google still charges you the full CPC (Cost Per Click), and you’ve just paid to annoy a potential customer. In the Australian market, where labour costs are high, you cannot afford missed leads. Tighten your ad scheduling to match your actual desk hours. If you aren't there to pick up by the third ring, turn the ads off.
2. Stop Chasing Broad Keywords
If you are bidding on generic terms like "plumbing" or "legal advice," you are competing with national brands with million-dollar budgets. You will lose.Call Ads work best for high-intent, emergency, or high-friction services. Focus on "near me" keywords and specific service-plus-location modifiers. However, don't just dump a massive list of terms into the account. You need to understand that negative keyword strategies are your primary defense against irrelevant spend. If you aren't excluding "jobs," "training," and "salary," you’re paying for job seekers to call your sales line.
3. The 'Call Verification' Trap
Google’s default setting often counts a 'conversion' as soon as someone clicks the 'Call' button. This is a garbage metric. A click on the button does not mean the call was connected or that it lasted longer than two seconds.To get real data, you must use Google Forwarding Numbers and set a minimum call duration (usually 60–90 seconds) as your conversion action. This tells Google’s AI to find people who actually talk to you, not just people who accidentally click an ad while scrolling. When you optimise for audience signals that represent real human interaction, the algorithm starts working for you, not against you.
4. Write Headlines That Discourage the Wrong People
Most ad copy is too vague. For a Call-Only ad, your headline needs to be a filter, not just a hook.Instead of: "Best Electrician in Brisbane" Use: "Emergency Electrician - $0 Call Out Fee - Call Now"
Be explicit about what happens when they click. If you don't offer free quotes, don't imply it. Use your ad extensions (Callouts and Structured Snippets) to list your specific service areas like 'Indooroopilly', 'North Lakes', or 'Logan'. This ensures that when the phone rings, it’s a qualified lead ready to book, not someone looking for information you don't provide.
5. Bid Aggressively for Top Position
In a standard search campaign, being in position 2 or 3 is often more cost-effective. In Call-Only, if you aren't in the top spot, you basically don't exist. On a mobile device, the first Call Ad takes up a massive amount of screen real estate.Because you aren't paying for website maintenance or landing page optimisations for these specific leads, you can afford to pay a premium CPC. Shift your mindset from managing lean budgets across 1,000 keywords to dominating the 10 keywords that actually make your phone ring.
Summary Checklist for Quick Wins:
1. Set a Call Duration Threshold: Don't count clicks; count conversations over 60 seconds. 2. Ad Schedule Alignment: Match your bidding exactly to your office hours. 3. Location Targeting: Use 'Presence' only, not 'Interest', to ensure you’re only talking to people actually in Brisbane/QLD. 4. The CTA is King: Your headline must start with an action verb like "Call," "Speak to," or "Talk."Stop treating Google Ads like a traffic generator and start treating it like a digital switchboard. If your agency is still talking about 'Click-Through Rates' and not 'Cost Per Answered Call', it’s time to move on.
Ready to make your phone actually ring? Contact Local Marketing Group today and let’s stop the waste.