Google Ads in Carlow, drawn on a radius rather than a boundary.
Carlow is small enough that a campaign targeted at the county will struggle to spend a sensible budget. There simply are not enough searches inside the boundary on a given day.
The answer is to target a driving radius instead, which for most Carlow businesses includes Athy, Castledermot, Graiguenamanagh, Bagenalstown's Kilkenny side and a good deal of north Wexford.
Target a radius, not Carlow
Setting a campaign to County Carlow is the most common mistake we see here, and it caps your volume at whatever the smallest county but one can supply.
A radius around your actual location, sized to how far you will drive, reaches the same customers plus a considerable number the county setting excludes — at no extra cost per click.
The M9 brings traffic that is not yours
A great many people pass through Carlow on the motorway without stopping, and depending on your targeting settings you can end up advertising to them.
The location settings that control this are left on their defaults in almost every account we inherit. Changing them takes minutes and removes a source of waste nobody notices.
Where the budget ceiling sits
Even with a sensible radius, Carlow plus its surrounds supplies a finite number of relevant searches.
Past that point Google spends the surplus widening your reach to people who will not travel. If spend rises and booked jobs do not, that is what is happening, and the money is better moved to paid social.
Carlow areas we target
Campaigns are drawn on a realistic driving radius, which for most Carlow businesses crosses into Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois and Wexford.
- Carlow town
- Tullow
- Bagenalstown
- Leighlinbridge
- Hacketstown
- Borris
- Rathvilly
- Myshall
- Ballon
- Fenagh
- Clonegal
- Palatine
What it costs
€1,500 a month covers management regardless of what you spend. There is no percentage of ad spend, no setup fee and no contract beyond the month you are in. Ad spend goes directly to Google from your own account, which stays yours.
Straight answers.
No — target a radius. The county setting caps your volume at what a very small county can supply and excludes towns just over the line.
The default location settings can pick up people passing through on the M9. Changing them takes minutes and removes waste nobody notices.
Less than in a city. Once you are capturing the available searches, more budget widens reach rather than finding customers.
No. Light competition and low click prices throughout.
No. €1,500 a month covers management regardless of what you spend, and the ad spend goes directly to Google from your own account.
You do. We work inside your account and you keep it, with all its history, if we ever part company.
Talk to someone who will tell you if it is not worth doing.
Ask for the free growth audit and we will check where you appear in Carlow search results, who is outranking you, and what your website does to visitors when they land. Back within 24 hours as a PDF, with no call attached.