Google Ads specialist · Sri Lanka and UK accounts
Most wasted ad spend is visible in one report.
The search terms report shows what people actually typed before Google charged you. Nearly every underperforming account in Sri Lanka has money leaking there in plain sight, and nobody has looked in months.
Clicks are easy to buy. Enquiries are the job.
An account can look healthy on the surface and still be losing money. High impressions, a respectable click-through rate, a cost per click that seems reasonable, and almost no enquiries arriving in the inbox. When that happens the cause is nearly always one of three things, and all three are fixable.
The first is match type. Broad match with no negative keyword list lets Google spend your budget on anything loosely related to your business, including people looking for jobs, definitions or free alternatives. The second is measurement. A great many Sri Lankan accounts count a page visit or a button hover as a conversion, which means Google is optimising towards the wrong behaviour and the reported numbers are fiction. The third is the landing page, where a campaign about airport transfers sends everyone to a homepage and asks them to find their own way.
The audit checks these in order, because fixing the landing page while tracking is broken tells you nothing about whether the change helped.
What gets managed
Campaign types are chosen by what the account can support, not by what is newest in the interface.
Search campaigns
The foundation of almost every account. Tightly grouped keywords, deliberate match types, an actively maintained negative list, and ad copy written for the search rather than for the brand.
Performance Max
Useful once search data already shows what converts. Run with asset group discipline and brand exclusions so it does not simply harvest traffic you would have won for free.
Remarketing and display
Audience lists built from real site behaviour rather than all visitors, with frequency capped so returning customers are reminded instead of followed around the internet.
Conversion tracking
GA4 and Google Tag Manager set up so form submissions, WhatsApp clicks and calls are recorded as distinct events, with gclid passed through to the enquiry.
Shopping campaigns
Merchant Center feed setup and product data cleanup for WooCommerce and Shopify stores, where feed quality decides performance more than bidding does.
Account rescue
Taking over an account built by someone else. Structure review, waste analysis, tracking verification, and an honest answer on whether to rebuild or repair.
Two things that are non-negotiable here
You own the account. It is created under your billing with you as admin, permanently. If we stop working together, the account, its conversion history and its learning stay with you. Accounts locked inside an agency manager account are common locally and they are how clients get held hostage.
Management is a flat fee, not a percentage of spend. Charging a percentage means the agency earns more by spending more of your money, which is precisely the wrong incentive when the correct advice is often to spend less.
Four accounts, reported honestly
Straight from Google Ads. Two report in dollars and two in pounds because they run in different markets. Client names withheld.
| Account | Period | Clicks | Conversions | Cost / conv. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel, USD | Sep 2023 | 9,330 | 618.7 | $20.9K spent, $2.24 avg. CPC |
| Travel, USD | Sep 2023 | 2,980 | 423.8 | $15.20 |
| UK, GBP | Sep 2023 | 9,370 | 267.9 | £48.69 |
| UK, GBP | Jul–Oct 2025 | 1,110 | 72.0 | £19.82 |
The range from £19.82 to £48.69 is deliberate. Same method, same person, wildly different sectors. Anyone quoting you a cost per lead before seeing your account is guessing, and the guess is usually optimistic.
What a Sri Lankan budget realistically buys
Rough guidance so you can decide whether to start at all. These are ad spend figures paid to Google, separate from management.
| Situation | Monthly ad spend | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Local service business, Sri Lanka only | LKR 40,000–80,000 | Enough conversion volume to optimise within about 60 days on a focused keyword set. |
| Below that threshold | Under LKR 40,000 | Possible, but expect a narrow keyword list, slower learning and limited scope to test. |
| E-commerce with a product feed | LKR 80,000–200,000 | Shopping plus search, where profitability depends heavily on margin per product. |
| Targeting UK or European searchers | Considerably higher | Clicks in these markets cost multiples of local rates. Budget accordingly or target narrowly. |
Figures are planning guidance based on typical Sri Lankan account performance, not a quotation. Actual costs vary by industry competition.
What management costs
Published because nobody else in this market publishes it. These are management fees. They are separate from the ad spend you pay Google directly, which is covered further down.
Setup or rebuild
One-off
LKR 40,000
one time, from
- Account structure built from scratch
- Keyword and negative research
- GA4 and Tag Manager conversion setup
- Ad copy and extensions
- Landing page recommendations
Most common
Ongoing management
LKR 40,000
per month, from
- Weekly search terms review
- Bid, budget and negative management
- Ad copy testing
- Monthly report with cost per enquiry
- Direct WhatsApp access
- No lock-in, 30 days' notice
Larger accounts
Multi-campaign or international
LKR 75,000+
per month, from
- Shopping or Performance Max included
- UK, EU or Australian targeting
- Multiple campaign types managed
- Merchant Center feed management
- Fortnightly reporting
- SEO run alongside if wanted
Management fees only. Ad spend is paid by you directly to Google and is not included above.
How the first ninety days run
Audit and access
Read-only access to the existing account, GA4 and Search Console. The audit covers waste, structure, tracking accuracy and whether the historical data is worth preserving.
Fix measurement
Conversion actions rebuilt so an enquiry counts once and a page view counts as nothing. This happens before any bidding changes, because everything after depends on it.
Restructure and launch
Keywords regrouped by intent, negatives applied, ad copy rewritten to match the search, and landing pages pointed at the right page instead of the homepage.
Optimise on enquiries
Weekly search term review, bid and budget adjustment, and creative testing. Reporting shows cost per enquiry by keyword, which is the only number that settles arguments.
Questions before you spend anything
How much should I spend on Google Ads in Sri Lanka?
For a local service business targeting Sri Lanka, a meaningful test usually needs LKR 40,000 to 80,000 per month in ad spend for at least 60 days. Below that, there is rarely enough conversion data to optimise on. Targeting UK or European searchers costs considerably more per click, so budgets there start higher.
What is your Google Ads management fee?
Management is a flat monthly fee scoped to account size, not a percentage of spend. A percentage fee rewards the agency for spending more of your money, which is the wrong incentive. Ad spend is paid by you directly to Google so you keep ownership of the account.
What do you charge to manage Google Ads?
A flat monthly fee based on account size, not a percentage of spend. Setup or rebuild work is quoted separately as a one-off. Ad spend goes directly from you to Google, so management cost and media cost stay visible as separate lines.
Will I own my Google Ads account?
Yes. The account is created under your own billing and you keep admin access permanently. If the engagement ends, the account, its history and its conversion data stay with you. Accounts built inside an agency MCC that you cannot take with you are common in Sri Lanka and worth avoiding.
Why are my Google Ads getting clicks but no enquiries?
The usual causes are broad match keywords pulling irrelevant search terms, conversion tracking that counts page views instead of real enquiries, and landing pages that ask for too much too early. The account audit checks all three, starting with the search terms report because that is where wasted spend is most visible.
Do you run Performance Max campaigns?
Yes, though not as a default. Performance Max hides most placement and search term data, so it works best once a search campaign has already established which keywords convert. Starting a new account on Performance Max alone usually means paying to learn things a search campaign would have told you cheaply.
Can you fix an account another agency built?
That is a common starting point. The audit covers account structure, search term waste, conversion tracking accuracy, and whether historical data is worth keeping. Sometimes a rebuild is right, but existing conversion history has real value and is not discarded lightly.
Free Google Ads account audit
Send read-only access and you get a written review of where the budget is going and what to change first. No obligation, and no pressure to switch management.
If you have no account yet, the audit becomes a setup plan instead: keywords worth targeting, a realistic starting budget, and what to fix on the site before launching.
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