Google Ads that actually pay their way.
A senior operator running your Search, Shopping and Performance Max around your margins - not vanity clicks. Tracking verified end to end, wasted spend cut weekly, and reporting in plain English. Flat-fee brackets, published upfront.
Ecommerce · Retail · Healthcare · Local business · Melbourne & across Australia
Sample readout - every account gets one, in plain English.
Sound familiar?
Most accounts arrive here in the same state. If more than two of these sound like yours, the problem isn't the platform.
You pay an unpublished percentage of spend - the invoice creeps with every dollar, whether it works or not.
Nobody has verified conversion tracking. Every decision in the account is a guess dressed as data.
Ad spend off the leash - no pacing, no caps, no one watching where it went.
You get a report, not an explanation. Charts, no answers.
Performance Max on autopilot, quietly eating budget nobody can account for.
The senior person pitched the work. Someone you've never met is doing it.
The whole account, actually managed.
No mystery retainer. This is the work, named. Every item below is done by the same senior operator, every week.
Account & campaign builds
Search, Shopping and Performance Max structured around your margins and objectives - not around what's easy to report. Every campaign maps to a commercial outcome.
Conversion tracking, verified
GA4, enhanced conversions and tag setup checked end to end before budget moves. If the data lies, everything downstream lies with it.
We track everything. It's in the breed.
Weekly, hands-on control
Search terms pruned, negatives added, bids and budgets adjusted against real results. Not set-and-forget, not quarterly check-ins.
Like a dog with a bone - we don't let go until the number moves.
Keyword & query strategy
Capturing the demand that already exists for what you sell - and cutting the queries that look busy but never buy.
Landing page alignment
Ads land on pages that keep the ad's promise. Where the page is the leak, you'll hear it straight, with the fix.
Plain-English reporting
A weekly Trail Report: what worked, what needs fixing, what's next. Tied to cost per lead and revenue - never vanity metrics.
"We read the terrain before we spend. The audit finds the weakest constraint in the account - then we fix that first, because everything else compounds from it."
The SED method · Terrain → Constraint → Navigate
From sign-on to unleashed.
Terrain
Weeks 1–2. Full account audit, tracking verified end to end, wasted spend identified. No budget moves until the data is trustworthy.
Build
Weeks 2–4. Restructure around your margins. Campaigns, keywords and copy rebuilt to a clear objective each.
Refine
Months 1–3. Weekly optimisation against real conversions. Losers cut, winners fed. Cost per lead starts settling.
Unleashed
Month 3+. Proven structure scales. Budget follows evidence, new demand gets opened up, and the results compound.
Plenty of agencies bark. Here's the work.
"A genuine business mindset. Conversations aren't about vanity metrics - they're about real return on investment."
"Sam brought structure and clarity to our advertising, and focused on how activity translated into real enquiries."
"He looks at the entire ecosystem - every channel works together rather than in isolation."
A working dog, not a show dog.
Show dogs are groomed for the pitch. Working dogs move the herd. Here's what that means in practice.
| Typical agency | SE DigitalThe difference | |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | Junior account manager across 15–30 accounts | The senior operator you hired. Every week. |
| Pricing | % of spend - the invoice creeps with every dollar | Published flat brackets. Steps with workload, not spend. |
| Tracking | Assumed working. Rarely verified. | Verified end to end before budget moves. |
| Reporting | A dashboard export and a monthly call | Weekly Trail Report in plain English. |
| Contracts | 12-month lock-in | No lock-in. Love us and leave us. |
| Your account | Held in the agency's manager account | Yours. Always. Clean handover anytime. |
Priced to grow with you.
One flat fee for your spend bracket - published here, not discovered on an invoice. Reasonable when you're starting out. Reflective of the work when you scale.
The fee steps when the workload steps - it never creeps with every dollar. As you grow, SED's share of total budget shrinks: from ~40% at entry to under 10% at scale. Media spend stays in your own account, fully transparent.
Month-to-month. No lock-in. 3-month recommended runway because the work compounds.
| Monthly media spend | Management fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $2.5k | $1,000 /mo |
| $2.5k – $5k | $1,500 /mo |
| $5k – $10k | $2,000 /mo |
| $10k – $20k | $2,800 /mo |
| $20k – $40k | $3,200 /mo |
| $40k+ | Scoped |
- ·+ $750/mo per additional channel
- ·Media billed direct to your account (recommended minimum $2,500/mo)
- ·10% loyalty discount after 12 months
- ·AUD, excl. GST · No lock-in
"I spent a decade defending ad budgets in the boardroom before I managed them for anyone else. I know what these numbers have to answer for - because I've sat on your side of the table."
- Sam Hayes · Founder, SE Digital · Head of the pack
No leash. No lock-in.
Tell us where the account stands. You'll get a straight read on what's leaking, what's worth fixing, and whether we're the right fit - before anything is signed.
- ✓No obligation
- ✓Senior eyes only
- ✓Read-only access
- ✓Accounts stay yours
sam@sedigital.com.au · Melbourne, Australia
FAQ
Do you charge a percentage of ad spend?+
No - the fee is a flat amount within published spend brackets. As your budget grows, the fee steps up with the workload, but it never creeps with every dollar the way a percentage does - and you see the bracket before you commit. Above roughly $20k a month, that difference is worth thousands against a typical 10–15% agency.
What happens when my spend crosses a bracket?+
The fee steps to the new bracket from the following month - and it's a conversation first, never a surprise line on an invoice. The brackets are published, so you can see the step coming and decide whether the scale-up earns it.
Who actually works on my account?+
Sam. Not a junior, not a rotating pod, not an offshore queue. The person you speak to is the person in the account every week.
Do I own my Google Ads account?+
Yes, always. The account, the data and the history stay in your name. If you ever leave, everything goes with you - including a clean handover.
Is there a lock-in contract?+
No. Engagements run on a 3-month recommended runway because that's how long the work takes to compound, but nothing is locked. Love us and leave us.
How quickly will I see results?+
Tracking and structure get fixed in the first weeks, so decisions are made on real data almost immediately. Meaningful movement in cost per lead or return typically shows over the first 1-3 months, then compounds.
What budget do I need for Google Ads to work?+
Enough to generate real conversion data in your market - and that number is different for a Melbourne trade business and a national ecommerce store. That's exactly what the first conversation works out. If Google Ads is the wrong channel for your budget, you'll be told that plainly.
A note on the results we share+
Information on this page is general in nature and does not constitute professional, financial or legal advice. While SE Digital applies industry experience, data and proven frameworks in its work, business results depend on numerous factors outside our control - market conditions, competition, pricing, operational execution and customer behaviour. All metrics, benchmarks, projections or case studies presented are illustrative only and should not be interpreted as guarantees of future results. Clients remain responsible for their own commercial decisions and implementation.