Melbourne · Search Engine Marketing done right

SEM Agency Melbourne. Stop Wasting Ad Spend.

Click. Convert. Scale.

Search engine marketing puts your business in front of people actively searching for what you sell. We build and manage paid search campaigns across Google, Bing and YouTube, structured around leads, sales and measurable return on ad spend.

No vanity metrics. No wasted budget. Just campaigns built to turn clicks into customers.

Combined team experience
$9M+
In ad spend managed
350K+
Conversions tracked
12+ Yrs
In paid search management
20+
Countries reached
90%
Best CPA reduction to date
Our approach

Every Click Backed by Strategy

Paid search is not a set and forget machine. Behind every campaign that actually makes money is a strategy, a structure and someone watching it daily. These are the four pillars we manage on every SEM account.

Campaign strategy

Before a single dollar is spent, we map your goals, margins and audience to a campaign structure built to hit them. That means choosing the right platforms, the right campaign types and the right bid strategies for your specific market. No copy paste templates. Every account is architected around what you need to win.

Keyword targeting

We chase the searches that convert, not the ones that burn budget. Tight match types, ruthless negative keyword lists and a focus on buyer intent across Google and Bing mean you pay for clicks that can actually become customers.

Ad Copy and creative

The ad is your first impression and we make it count. We write and continuously test headlines, descriptions and creative across search, shopping and video formats. The goal is always the same: attract the right clicks, lift quality scores and lower what you pay per conversion.

Continuous optimisation

SEM is never finished. We monitor performance daily across every active platform, cut what wastes money and double down on what works. Bid adjustments, budget reallocation and targeting refinements are driven by real data, not hunches. Your results keep improving instead of drifting.

How we work

How We Run SEM Campaigns That Actually Convert

You're trusting us with your budget, so there are no black boxes. This is the exact six step process we run on every paid search engagement. From the first audit through to the optimisation loop that never stops.

1

Audit and discovery

We analyse your current paid search accounts, competitors and market before spending a dollar. If you're running campaigns on Google, Bing or both, we review everything. You can't fix what you haven't measured.

2

Strategy and structure

We build campaign architecture around your goals, budget and audience. So spend flows to the right places from day one.

3

Ad Copy and Creative

We write and test ads that attract the right clicks across search, shopping and video formats. Lifting relevance and lowering cost per conversion.

4

Tracking Setup

We set up accurate conversion tracking so every lead and sale is accounted for. If it isn't measured, it isn't managed.

5

Launch and Monitor

We launch across selected platforms and monitor daily, adjusting bids and budgets against real performance data. Never on autopilot.

6

Optimise and Scale

We cut what wastes money, scale what works and report transparently on performance. The loop never stops.

Services

Search Engine Marketing Services We Offer

Whether you need search ads, shopping campaigns, video, remarketing or a full account rebuild across platforms, here is everything we run. Pick the pieces you need or hand us the whole paid search operation and we will manage it end to end.

Search ads (Google and Bing)

Get in front of people the moment they search for what you sell. High intent text ads across Google and Microsoft Bing, tuned for clicks that convert. We manage keyword targeting, match types and bid strategies across both platforms so you pay for buyers, not browsers.

  • Keyword and intent research
  • Campaign and ad group structure
  • Ad copywriting and testing
  • Bid and budget management

Shopping campaigns

For eCommerce, Shopping is where the money is. We optimise product feeds and run campaigns across Google Shopping and Microsoft Shopping so the right products reach the right buyers at the right time.

  • Merchant Center and Microsoft Merchant setup
  • Product feed optimisation
  • Performance Max and Standard Shopping
  • ROAS focused bidding

Remarketing and retargeting

Most people do not convert on the first visit. We bring them back with remarketing across Google and Bing display networks that stays relevant without wasting budget on people who were never going to buy.

  • Audience segmentation
  • Display, video and search remarketing
  • Dynamic product retargeting
  • Frequency and spend caps

SEM audits

A forensic review of your existing paid search accounts, across every platform you are running. What is working, what is bleeding money and exactly what to fix first. The report is yours to keep whether you work with us or not.

  • Account structure review across platforms
  • Wasted spend analysis
  • Competitor benchmarking
  • Prioritised action plan

Conversion Tracking

If you can not measure it, you are flying blind. We set up tracking across Google Ads, Bing UET, GA4 and your CRM so every lead, call and sale is attributed to the campaign, keyword and ad that drove it.

  • Google Tag, GA4 and Bing UET setup
  • Call and form tracking
  • eCommerce and value tracking
  • Cross platform attribution

Landing Page Optimisation

The best ad in the world fails on a bad landing page. We optimise or build pages that turn your paid clicks into conversions, regardless of which platform sent them. Because we run both ads and design in house, the page and the campaign stay aligned from click to conversion.

  • Conversion rate audit
  • Page speed and mobile UX
  • A/B testing
  • Built with our web design team
Why us

Why Melbourne Businesses Trust Elev8d

Handing over your ad budget takes trust and the Google Ads world is full of operators who don't earn it. Here's how we're built differently, where it matters most: your money and your account.

No Lock-In Contracts

If our campaigns aren't performing, you should be free to leave. We work month to month, results keep you with us, not paperwork. It keeps us honest and keeps us sharp.

You Own Your Ad Account

We never hold accounts hostage. Your Google Ads account, your Bing account, your data, your campaigns. Always in your name, always under your control. If we part ways, you keep everything.

Transparent Reporting, Plain English

No vanity metrics, no inflated numbers. We report on what actually matters, cost per lead, conversion rate and return on ad spend. In language you don't need a marketing degree to read.

We Will Tell You if Paid Search Is Not Right

If paid search is not the right move for your business, we will tell you before taking your money. Even if that means pointing you toward SEO or telling you to fix your website first. We would rather give the honest answer than sell you a campaign that will not pay off.

The difference

Elev8d vs. The Typical SEM Agency

There are a lot of dodgy operators in the paid search space and most of them look fine until you read the fine print. Here is an honest side by side of how we run things versus the typical agency.

 
Elev8d YOU, SORTED
Typical agency
Account ownership
You own all accounts, always
Agency controlled
Budget transparency
You see every dollar
Opaque fee structure
Contracts
Month to month
12 month lock-in
Reporting
Plain English ROAS and CPL
Vanity impressions
Optimisation
Weekly, hands-on
Set and forget
Who runs it
Senior team
Juniors or automated
Honesty
Tell you if ads aren't right
Sell you whatever you'll pay for
Better together

SEM and SEO: Why the Best Results Come From Both

Paid and organic search aren't rivals, they're a team. Run them together and each one makes the other stronger, covering the whole results page and feeding off each other's data.

Paid · SEM

Immediate visibility

Turn on traffic today.

  • Top of the page from day one
  • Instant, testable conversion data
  • Full control over spend and targeting
+
Organic · SEO

Long term authority

Compounds for years.

  • Traffic that keeps paying off
  • Lower cost per lead over time
  • Trust that paid alone can't buy

Run both and you own the whole page

SEM data tells us which keywords and ad copy convert and that feeds straight into a sharper SEO strategy. Dominating both the ads and the organic results for the same search dramatically lifts click through and keeps competitors out. Because we run both in-house, your paid and organic work together instead of competing.

Honest guidance

Is Search Engine Marketing the Right Investment for Your Business?

We are not for everyone and that is the point. Here is an honest read on whether SEM is the right channel and whether we are the right team, so you can decide before you pick up the phone.

Good fit

  • You want every dollar of ad spend tracked to a lead, sale or measurable outcome.
  • You care about cost per lead, conversion rate and return on ad spend, not impressions.
  • You are open to improving landing pages and conversion tracking alongside the campaigns.
  • You want a structured, multi platform paid search strategy, not random keyword testing.

Not the right fit

  • You want cheap clicks with no conversion strategy behind them.
  • You do not want tracking installed properly.
  • You expect paid search to fix a weak offer or a poor website overnight.
  • You only want traffic numbers, not measurable business outcomes.
Who we help

SEM for Melbourne Businesses

We have run paid search campaigns across dozens of industries. These are the sectors we know best, where we understand the buyers, the margins and the auction dynamics that decide who wins.

Straight answers

What Search Engine Marketing Actually Costs (No Hidden Fees)

Paid search has two costs people constantly confuse: our management fee (what you pay us to run the campaigns) and your ad spend (what goes to the platforms for clicks). Here is how both work, clearly separated, before you ever pick up the phone.

Your ad spend goes directly to the platforms. We do not take a cut.

Unlike many agencies, we never charge a percentage of your ad budget. You pay Google and Microsoft directly for clicks and you pay us a flat management fee. That means our incentive is your results, not your spend going up.

Starter

Small business

$800 to $1,000/mo
Management fee
+ $3,000 to $5,000/mo
Recommended ad spend, paid directly to platform
  • Paid search campaign setup and management
  • Conversion tracking
  • Monthly plain English reporting
Growth MOST POPULAR

Scaling business

$1,000 to $1,500/mo
Management fee
+ $5,000 to $15,000/mo
Recommended ad spend, paid directly to platform
  • Search, Shopping and Remarketing
  • Landing page optimisation
  • Weekly optimisation and reporting
  • No lock-in contract
Scale

High volume and eCommerce

$1,500+/mo
Management fee
+ $15,000+/mo
Recommended ad spend, paid directly to platform
  • Full funnel paid search across platforms
  • Performance Max and feed management
  • Dedicated senior strategist
  • Advanced ROAS and value bidding

No percentage of ad spend. No lock-in contracts. The right management fee and budget depend on your industry, competition and goals. We scope it honestly after a discovery call.

Get a Custom Quote

Ready to Stop Guessing and Start Converting?

Not sure your paid search campaigns are working as hard as they should? Let us take a look. Free, no obligation SEM audit, no sales pressure.

Get a Free Campaign Audit
Questions

Questions About SEM?

Paid search comes with a lot of jargon and a lot of bad operators. Here are straight answers to what Melbourne business owners ask us most about Google Ads, no spin.

SEM (search engine marketing) means paying to appear at the top of search results. You bid on keywords across platforms like Google and Bing, pay per click and get visibility immediately. The moment you stop paying, you disappear. SEO (search engine optimisation) earns your place in the organic results underneath the ads. It takes months to build but once you are ranking, you do not pay per click and the traffic compounds over time.

Think of SEM as renting visibility and SEO as building equity. Most businesses get the best results running both together: paid search for immediate lead flow while SEO Melbourne builds the long term pipeline. As organic rankings grow, you can reduce ad spend on the terms you already rank for and reinvest that budget into new campaigns or platforms. If you are not sure which channel deserves your budget first, our PPC vs SEO cost comparison tool shows how the numbers stack up for your industry.
We manage campaigns across every major paid search platform. Google Ads is where the majority of search volume sits in Australia, so it is the foundation of most SEM strategies. We also run Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads), which reaches a smaller but often cheaper and higher converting audience, particularly in B2B and professional services. YouTube Ads are managed through the Google Ads platform and we use them for video prospecting, remarketing and brand awareness campaigns where video outperforms static formats.

The platform mix depends entirely on your business. A local tradesperson in Melbourne probably only needs Google. An ecommerce brand selling nationally might see strong returns adding Bing Shopping. A B2B SaaS company might get its best cost per lead from Microsoft Ads because a lot of corporate professionals browse on Edge and Bing at work. We recommend the mix that makes commercial sense, not the one that generates the most management fees.
There are two separate costs. Our management fee covers strategy, setup, optimisation and reporting. That typically runs $800 to $1,500+ a month depending on the number of platforms and campaign complexity. Your ad spend goes directly to the platforms, we never touch it and we never take a percentage.

For ad spend, we usually recommend starting with at least $3,000 a month so there is enough click volume to gather data and optimise. Going below that in competitive Melbourne industries means your budget runs out before you have learned what works. A $600 a month budget might buy you two to four clicks a day at $5 to $10 per click and that is not enough data to make meaningful decisions.

The right number depends on your industry, keyword competition and what a customer is worth. A tradie targeting one suburb needs a very different budget than an ecommerce store targeting all of Australia. Our Google Ads budget estimator gives you a realistic starting figure by industry and location. For the full pricing breakdown, see our how much Google Ads cost.
Faster than SEO. Paid search campaigns can drive traffic and leads the day they go live. But "live" and "optimised" are two very different things. The first one to two weeks are about gathering data: which keywords get clicks, which ones get conversions and which ones waste money. By week three to four we start cutting the waste, reallocating budget to what converts and tightening targeting.

Most campaigns hit their stride after four to eight weeks. By month two or three you should have a clear picture of your cost per lead, your best performing campaigns and where the real opportunities are. The ramp up is similar across Google and Bing, though Bing campaigns can sometimes stabilise faster due to lower competition. Anyone promising perfect ROI on day one is overselling. Our Google Ads first 30 days guide walks through exactly what to expect week by week.
Yes, always, across every platform. We set up and manage everything in your own Google Ads account, your own Microsoft Advertising account and any other platform we run. Under your email, with your billing details. That means your conversion history, audience data, quality scores and every campaign we build belongs to you.

If we ever part ways, you keep everything and can hand it to another agency or manage it yourself without starting from scratch. This matters more than most people realise. An agency that sets up campaigns under their own master account can hold your data hostage if you leave. You would be starting again from zero, losing months of learning and optimisation history across every platform. We think agencies that operate this way are a major red flag and we refuse to do it.
No. We work month to month and you can leave whenever you like. No exit fees, no minimum terms, no penalties. We believe lock in contracts exist to protect agencies that stop delivering, not to protect clients. When you know you can walk away any time, it forces us to keep earning your business every single month.

That is the way it should be. If our campaigns are not performing and we can not fix them, you should not be stuck paying for it. This applies regardless of which platforms we are running or how many campaigns are active.
It can be hugely worth it if the maths works. The question is not "can I afford SEM" but "can I afford the cost per lead my industry demands and still make a profit?" For high intent searches like "emergency plumber Melbourne" or "family lawyer CBD," paid search puts you in front of people who are ready to hire right now. If your average job is worth $2,000 and your cost per lead is $80, the numbers stack up fast.

Where it does not work is when margins are too thin, the website does not convert or the budget is too low to get enough data. We will not take your money if the numbers do not add up. That honesty assessment is part of every audit we do. Some industries also see better cost per lead on Bing than Google because there is less competition for the same searches, which is worth testing if you are budget conscious. We break this down with real examples in our guide on is Google Ads worth it for small business.
You get a monthly report in plain English covering the metrics that actually matter: cost per lead, conversion rate, return on ad spend and cost per acquisition. Broken out by platform, campaign and channel so you can see exactly where results are coming from. We also cover what we changed, what we tested, what we are planning next and where the budget went. No vanity metrics, no 50 page PDFs designed to look impressive and say nothing.

Impressions and click through rate are fine for context, but if your agency leads with those numbers and can not tell you what it costs to get a paying customer, they are not measuring what matters. You also get direct access to every ad account at all times so you can verify everything yourself. If you want to understand what "good" looks like, our ROAS calculator lets you benchmark your return against industry averages.
It depends on how well your current pages convert. If you have a strong service page with a clear headline, a visible phone number, a form above the fold and genuine trust signals like reviews, it can work fine as a landing page. If your homepage is a generic "welcome to our business" page with six different menu options and no clear call to action, you will burn ad spend sending paid traffic there.

The best ad in the world still fails on a weak page. This is true whether the click comes from Google, Bing or YouTube. We assess conversion readiness during every audit and tell you honestly which way to go. If a dedicated landing page would improve results, our web design Melbourne team can build or optimise one as part of the engagement. The goal is matching what the searcher wanted with a page that makes it easy to take the next step.
We adjust. Fast. We do not wait for a monthly review to notice something is off. We check performance weekly across every active platform and make changes on the fly: pausing keywords that waste money, adjusting bids, tightening targeting, testing new ad copy and reallocating budget to what converts.

If something is fundamentally wrong with the strategy, the targeting or the landing page, we will tell you and change course rather than quietly spend your money while hoping things improve. Sometimes a campaign underperforming on Google picks up when tested on Bing or vice versa. Sometimes the issue is the landing page, not the ads. SEM is not a set and forget channel. It needs active, ongoing management to perform. That is what the management fee covers. Not just setup, but the constant optimisation that separates a campaign that bleeds money from one that compounds. And because you are month to month, if we can not get it right, you are free to walk.
Ask what they charge and how. Percentage of ad spend means their incentive is your budget going up, not your results improving. Flat fee is fairer because it aligns the agency's interests with yours. Ask who does the work. If the pitch comes from a senior strategist but your account gets handed to a junior, that is a warning sign. Ask what happens if you leave. Your accounts, your data, your campaigns and your conversion history should be yours across every platform, always.

Ask how they report. If the answer is a 50 page PDF full of impressions and click through rates with no mention of cost per lead or return on ad spend, they are not measuring what matters. Ask which platforms they manage and whether they recommend based on your business or default everything to Google because it is all they know. And ask if they will tell you when SEM is not the right channel. An agency that takes every client's money regardless of fit is optimising for their revenue, not yours. Our Google Ads audit scorecard checks your current setup in a few minutes if you want a quick read before speaking to anyone.
The main types across platforms are Search (text ads that show when someone searches your keywords), Shopping (product listings with images and prices for ecommerce), Display (banner ads across partner websites and apps), Video (YouTube ads and video placements), Remarketing (ads that follow people who already visited your site) and Performance Max (an AI driven campaign type in Google Ads that runs across all Google channels automatically).

For most Melbourne service businesses, Search is where you start on both Google and Bing because it targets people actively looking for what you offer. Display and Remarketing layer on once you have conversion data. Shopping is essential for ecommerce and runs on both Google and Microsoft platforms. Performance Max can work well but needs volume and clean data to optimise properly. Video through YouTube adds reach when brand awareness or visual storytelling matters. We recommend the mix that matches your goals and budget rather than running every campaign type because we can. Our Search ads vs Display ads vs Performance Max breaks down when each type makes sense.
Different tools for different jobs. SEM catches people who are already searching for what you sell. They have typed "emergency plumber Melbourne" or "accountant near me" into Google or Bing, which means they are ready to act. Paid social advertising on Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn puts you in front of people who fit your audience profile but are not actively looking. They are scrolling, not searching.

For urgent, high intent services, paid search usually wins on cost per lead and conversion speed. For brand awareness, visual products, audience building or offers that need explaining, social can be stronger. Most businesses that can afford both should run both because they serve different parts of the funnel. We manage both in house, so your paid search and paid social work together instead of pulling in different directions. Our Google Ads vs Facebook Ads runs the numbers side by side with real Australian examples.
Yes and it is one of the first things we do before a single ad goes live on any platform. Without proper conversion tracking, you have no idea which clicks are turning into phone calls, form submissions or sales. You are essentially spending money in the dark.

We set up conversion tracking across Google Ads (Google Tag and GA4), Microsoft Advertising (UET tag), configure call tracking and make sure every lead source is measured end to end regardless of which platform drove the click. We also verify that tracking is firing correctly and not double counting or missing events, which is more common than you would think. Cross platform attribution matters because a prospect might click a Google ad, leave, then return through a Bing ad and convert. If your tracking does not account for that, you are making budget decisions on incomplete data. Our Google Ads conversion tracking setup covers what is needed and why it matters.
You can. Google makes it easy to set up a basic campaign in 15 minutes and Microsoft Advertising can import your Google campaigns in a few clicks. The problem is that the default settings on both platforms are designed to maximise your spending, not your results. Broad match keywords, auto applied recommendations, automatically expanded targeting and "smart" suggestions all sound helpful but routinely waste 30% to 50% of budget for accounts that are not actively managed.

If you have the time to learn keyword match types, negative keyword management, conversion tracking, bid strategy, ad copy testing and landing page optimisation across multiple platforms, you can absolutely run it yourself. We have built free SEM tools to help you check your setup and estimate your budget. Where an agency earns its fee is in the ongoing optimisation: knowing which settings to turn off on day one, catching wasted spend before it compounds and pulling the levers that turn a break even campaign into a profitable one across every platform you are running.
Ask three questions. First, can they tell you your cost per lead across every platform and how it is trending month over month? If they can not, they are not tracking what matters. Second, are they making changes to your campaigns every week or just checking in once a month? Paid search needs active management. Search terms shift, competitors change bids and what worked last month might waste money this month. Third, do you have full access to all your ad accounts and can you see exactly what is being done? If you are relying entirely on their reports with no way to verify, that is a problem. A good SEM agency is transparent about the work, honest about the results and willing to explain anything you do not understand. They should also be managing more than just Google. If your agency has never mentioned Bing or tested another platform, they might be leaving cheaper conversions on the table. Our ad spend waste estimator gives you a quick read on how much of your current budget might be going to waste.
It depends entirely on your industry and what a customer is worth to you. A lawyer paying $150 per lead that converts into a $10,000 case has excellent ROI. A cafe paying $150 per lead for a $15 lunch booking does not. In Melbourne, service businesses typically see cost per lead anywhere between $20 and $200 depending on competition, keyword intent and how well the campaigns and landing pages are built. Bing often delivers 20% to 30% lower CPLs than Google in less competitive categories, which is why we test both where the audience exists.

The real question is not "is my CPL low" but "is my CPL profitable?" If you are paying $80 per lead, closing one in three and making $5,000 per job, that is a cost of acquisition of $240 against $5,000 in revenue. That is strong regardless of which platform drove the click. We scope this out during the audit so you know what a realistic cost per lead looks like in your market before you commit. Our Google Ads cost per lead by industry gives you Australian benchmarks to compare against.
Negative keywords stop your ads from showing for searches that waste your money. They work the same way across Google and Bing. Without them, a Melbourne plumber bidding on "plumber" might pay for clicks from people searching "plumber salary," "plumber apprenticeship" or "free plumbing advice." None of those people are hiring a plumber. A lawyer bidding on "family lawyer" might show up for "family lawyer salary" or "how to become a family lawyer." Every irrelevant click costs you money and tells the platform your ad is relevant to those searches, making the problem worse over time.

We build a negative keyword list before your first ad goes live on any platform and update it weekly based on the actual search terms triggering your ads. On Google, you can review search terms in the interface. On Bing, the process is similar but the search term reports often surface different irrelevant queries because the audience behaves differently. It is one of the single biggest levers for cutting wasted spend and improving cost per lead across all paid search channels. Our Google Ads negative keywords guide covers how to build and maintain yours.
From the blog

Latest SEM and Google Ads Articles

Straight talking guides on search engine marketing, Google Ads and paid search strategy. Written for business owners, not other marketers. No jargon, just what actually makes paid search pay off.

Google Ads for accountants and financial services
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Google Ads for accountants and financial services

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Google Ads for dentists and healthcare: patient acquisition that actually works

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How to scale Google Ads without blowing your budget
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How to scale Google Ads without blowing your budget

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Let's talk

Let’s Talk About What SEM Can Do for Your Business

Tell us where you’re at and we’ll come back with a straight, no obligation read on your SEM and Google Ads setup. What’s working, what’s wasting money and what we’d do differently. Free audit, no lock-in.

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