Google Ads in Cork, split between the city and the county.
Cork city is the most expensive search market outside Dublin and west Cork is among the cheapest in Munster. Running them in one campaign averages two markets that share nothing but a county name.
It is also where most Cork accounts quietly lose money — the county clicks look cheap, they drag the average down, and the city campaign never gets the budget it needs to compete.
How we run Google Ads in Cork
Two markets, run as two accounts' worth of thinking.
City and county separated
Different budgets, different bids, frequently different offers. This is the first thing we do on a Cork account.
Suburb targeting in the city
Ballincollig, Carrigaline, Douglas and Midleton behave differently and are worth separating where volume allows.
Negative keywords, aggressively
Cork's broad terms attract a great deal of irrelevant traffic, particularly around tourism and the university.
Call tracking
Most enquiries are calls. Without tracking them the optimisation is learning from the smaller half of your data.
Landing pages per service
Not the homepage. In a market this expensive, a mismatched landing page is money set on fire.
Cork city bidding is genuinely competitive
Established Cork firms bid hard and have been doing it for years, so the cheap clicks people expect from outside Dublin are not there.
The answer is tighter targeting and better conversion rather than higher bids. A site converting at five per cent instead of two changes the economics far more than a bid increase will.
West Cork is a different opportunity
If you genuinely serve west Cork, clicks there are a fraction of city prices and competition is thin.
The catch is distance — the work has to be worth the drive. We will ask that question before building the campaign rather than after.
Cork areas we target
Campaigns are split between the city and the county, because they have different competition, different click prices and different customers.
- Cork city
- Ballincollig
- Carrigaline
- Midleton
- Mallow
- Bandon
- Fermoy
- Youghal
- Cobh
- Clonakilty
- Kinsale
- Macroom
What it costs
€1,500 a month for one advertising channel fully managed, all social run and every lead followed up. €2,500 adds the second channel and a new website. Month to month, no setup fee, and ad spend is paid by you directly to the platforms from your own account.
Straight answers.
The city is, by national standards. West Cork is not, and mixing them in one campaign hides both facts.
No. It is the most common and most costly mistake on Cork accounts.
On conversion rather than bids. Established firms will outbid you; a site that converts twice as well beats them anyway.
If you genuinely travel there, yes, and it is cheap. If you do not, the distance costs more than the work is worth.
No. €1,500 a month regardless of spend, paid directly to Google from your own account.
You do, always.
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 Cork 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.