Short answer
For most venues, Google Ads works best as tightly targeted Search campaigns on high-intent searches (functions, group bookings, cuisine plus suburb), a low-cost brand campaign, and location assets linked to your Business Profile, all measured against tracked bookings and enquiries rather than clicks.
Which campaigns to run
Search: your workhorse
Search ads show when someone types exactly what they want. For hospitality the gold is in specific, high-value searches: "work Christmas party venue Perth", "birthday dinner Subiaco", "private dining Northbridge". These people have a plan and a date. Keep match types tight and build a negative keyword list from day one, so you are not paying for "jobs", "recipes" or "free".
Brand: cheap insurance
Bidding on your own name is usually inexpensive and stops competitors and booking platforms taking clicks you already earned.
Performance Max: once tracking is solid
Performance Max runs across Search, Maps, YouTube, Display and Gmail from one budget. It relies on conversion data to learn, so it performs best when your booking tracking is accurate. We usually run it alongside controlled Search campaigns, not instead of them.
Maps and local
Link your Google Business Profile so location assets show your address and directions. A complete, active profile also lifts your free local visibility.
Tracking comes before optimising
The most common problem we find in audits is not bad ads. It is campaigns optimising toward the wrong thing, such as page views or button clicks, because bookings were never tracked. Set up GA4 and the Google Tag properly, track completed bookings and enquiries, turn on enhanced conversions, and import offline results from your booking system where possible. Until then, any optimisation is guesswork.
Five common mistakes
- Sending ad clicks to the homepage instead of a page built for that offer.
- Leaving broad match running without a negative keyword list.
- Judging success on clicks or click-through rate instead of bookings.
- Setting a radius far wider than people will realistically travel.
- Letting the account run untouched for months. Search terms need weekly review.
If you want a second set of eyes on your account, our free audit covers Google Ads and tracking, or see how we run Google Ads management.