28 September 2026 · 7 min read · Oscar Markham
Where an estate agency's Google Ads budget disappears
Estate agency is among the worst sectors in Ireland for wasted search spend, because the overwhelming majority of property searches are made by buyers and renters looking for a house, while the agency actually needs vendors and landlords. On a default campaign you pay for all of it at the same rate.
Buyer and renter searches are the bulk of it
'Houses for sale in Naas', 'apartments to rent Galway', 'property for sale near me' — enormous volume, and almost none of it is a vendor.
Some of it is worth having if you want listing traffic. Most agencies do not need it, because the portals already supply buyers, and it will eat a small budget entirely.
This is the decision to make consciously. Letting it happen by default is how an agency concludes Google Ads does not work.
Block the research and reference searches
Price register lookups, property tax queries, stamp duty calculators, planning searches and house price index questions all carry property words and none of them are a client.
- price register, property price register, ppr, sold prices
- lpt, property tax, stamp duty, calculator, valuation calculator free
- planning permission, planning search, land registry, folio
- house price index, market report, statistics
Jobs, courses and licensing
'Estate agent jobs', 'auctioneering course', 'PSRA licence application', 'how to become an estate agent'. Steady volume, zero value.
The licensing terms are the ones agencies miss, because they look professionally relevant.
- jobs, vacancy, hiring, trainee, negotiator job, salary, commission rate
- course, qualification, licence, license, psra application, ipav, scsi
Free valuation tools are a trap in both directions
'Free online house valuation', 'instant valuation' and 'what is my house worth calculator' look perfect and frequently are not — a large share want a number, not an agent, and will never convert.
If you run an instant valuation tool deliberately as a lead magnet, these terms are exactly right. If you do not, they will fill your account with people who bounce the moment a phone number is requested.
What is actually worth bidding on
The vendor and landlord terms, which are far lower volume and far higher value.
'Estate agents [town]', 'sell my house [town]', 'house valuation [town]', 'letting agents [town]', 'property management [town]'. These people are choosing a firm, which is the only search that becomes an instruction.
- sell my house / sell my home + town
- estate agents / auctioneers + town
- house valuation / property valuation + town
- letting agents / property management + town
- probate sale, selling inherited property
Then read your search terms report
The lists above are a starting point. The real answer is in the report showing what people actually typed, and most agencies have never opened it.
Weekly for the first month, monthly after. On an inherited agency account it is almost always the largest single saving available, and it usually pays for the work in the first fortnight.
Written by Oscar Markham, founder of Dublin Growth Digital. We run lead generation for Irish estate agents and trades, reported every Friday in enquiries and booked work.