sixtysteps.co
View

Pest control ads in Sydney, by opportunity

A Google Ads click for a pest controller in Sydney costs A$22.47 at the median (12,868 searches a month, pulled October 2026, Google Ads via DataForSEO). No margin is published for pest controllers here, so the payback figures need your own. No niche clears the Quick cash, Big tickets or Client book tests on these numbers, so the plan below works niche by niche.

The 10-second read
Worked example: treatment values are from published sources; call and booking rates are US averages. Put in your own numbers below.

No margin is published for pest controllers here, so the payback figures need your own.

Dot colour: a niche pays back within the US benchmark call rate (green), needs up to twice that call rate (amber), or needs more than twice that call rate (red); a red niche only reads "needs repeat work or a bigger treatment" when its break-even call rate is over 100%. Teal means no urgent-intent benchmark exists for this niche, so compare the break-even rate with your own call rate instead.

Fresh
Pulled 2026-10-12. Next refresh January 2027.
Prices complete
12 of 12 keywords have a Google price.
Volumes jumpy
10 of 12 keywords flagged volatile. Read totals as ranges.
Keywords tracked
12 keywords tracked; 0 have no Google price.
The niches

Where the money is, by niche

No niche clears a payback test on these numbers, so every niche is shown together. Figures use Sydney click prices and the treatment rates in the plan below; change the rates there and these update.

Every niche Put in your rates
No niche clears the payback tests yet
General pest control, Pest inspection, Termite inspection, Termite treatment, Cockroach ant and spider treatment, Pre-purchase pest inspection, Emergency and urgent pest control
Searches a month12,407, 96% of all core keywords
Figures for General pest control, the strongest here
General pest control A$23.25 (strongest) · Pest inspection A$19.51 · Termite inspection A$49.00 · Termite treatment A$34.88 · Cockroach ant and spider treatment A$11.41 · Pre-purchase pest inspection A$16.59 · Emergency and urgent pest control A$13.77
General pest control: Not proven on these numbers · None confidence (margin: None)
Pest inspection: Not proven on these numbers · None confidence (margin: None)
Termite inspection: Not proven on these numbers · None confidence (margin: None)
Termite treatment: Not proven on these numbers · None confidence (margin: None)
Cockroach ant and spider treatment: Not proven on these numbers · None confidence (margin: None)
Pre-purchase pest inspection: Not proven on these numbers · None confidence (margin: None)
Emergency and urgent pest control: No price source yet: put in yours · None confidence (treatment value: None)
Cost per click · High confidenceA$23.25
Typical treatmentA$295
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
Fits if you can put in your own treatment value, call rate and margin.
Needs your own numbers in the plan below.
Plan Every niche
Shared pool
General and near me: 462 searches a month (4% of all core keywords), A$22.47 a click (A$22.47 is the typical cost per click across all pest controller keywords)
Most of these searches don't say what the treatment is, so your ad copy and landing page decide which segment they land in. 29.0% of all pest controller searches here say 'near me', so your Google Business Profile carries as much weight as the ad.
Plan a segment

Every niche: General pest control

No niche clears the payback tests yet. General pest control covers 'pest control' and 'pest control near me': 9,683 searches a month at A$23.25 a click.

Niche to plan
Treatment rates for General pest control

What A$1,000 a month buys in Every niche (worked example)

0.0 clicks0.0 calls0.0 treatments

Enter a budget and the treatment rates to see what this segment buys.

Keywords in Every niche

pest control5,950 a month, A$22.47
General pest control. Close to the typical click here.
pest control near me3,733 a month, A$24.50
General pest control. Close to the typical click here.
termite inspection1,247 a month, A$49.00
Termite inspection. Above the typical click here.
termite treatment846 a month, A$34.88
Termite treatment. Above the typical click here.
pest inspection257 a month, A$19.51
Pest inspection. Close to the typical click here.
spider control138 a month, A$17.30
Cockroach ant and spider treatment. Below the typical click here.
emergency pest control92 a month, A$22.83
Emergency and urgent pest control. Close to the typical click here.
pre-purchase pest inspection62 a month, A$25.64
Pre-purchase pest inspection. Close to the typical click here.
cockroach treatment50 a month, A$28.63
Cockroach ant and spider treatment. Above the typical click here.
ant treatment32 a month, A$5.65
Cockroach ant and spider treatment. Below the typical click here.

The shared pool keywords, 'rodent control', can feed any segment. See the full keyword table.

Compare

Every niche, grouped by segment

Tap Plan on a niche to plan it. Use Sort to re-order. Green pays back within the US benchmark call rate, amber needs up to twice that, red needs more.

Sort
General pest controlNot proven on these numbers
Searches a month9,683
Cost per clickA$23.25
Typical treatmentA$295
ConfidenceNone
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
Termite inspectionNot proven on these numbers
Searches a month1,247
Cost per clickA$49.00
Typical treatmentA$330
ConfidenceNone
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
Termite treatmentNot proven on these numbers
Searches a month846
Cost per clickA$34.88
Typical treatmentA$3,850
ConfidenceNone
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
Pest inspectionNot proven on these numbers
Searches a month257
Cost per clickA$19.51
Typical treatmentA$460
ConfidenceNone
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
Cockroach ant and spider treatmentNot proven on these numbers
Searches a month220
Cost per clickA$11.41
Typical treatmentA$255
ConfidenceNone
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
Emergency and urgent pest controlNo price source yet: put in yours
Searches a month92
Cost per clickA$13.77
Typical treatmentput in yours
ConfidenceNone
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
Pre-purchase pest inspectionNot proven on these numbers
Searches a month62
Cost per clickA$16.59
Typical treatmentA$330
ConfidenceNone
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
all nichesShared pool (no single treatment value)
Searches a month0
Cost per clickA$22.47
Typical treatmentput in yours
ConfidenceNone
Click cost per treatmentput in yours
Profit on the treatmentput in yours
Pays back ifput in yours
Google data+
Searches and click prices, Sydney, pulled 2026-10-12.
Published price guides+
Typical treatment sizes from published Australian sources: general pest control, pest inspection, termite inspection, termite treatment, cockroach ant and spider treatment and pre-purchase pest inspection (retrieved October 2026). No price source yet for emergency and urgent pest control and all niches: put in yours.
US benchmarks+
8.05% of pest controller clicks convert (US benchmark, LocaliQ 2026); 42% of calls book (US benchmark, ServiceTitan). No Australian equivalent published.
Assumptions+
NicheTreatment value (default)Clicks that callCalls that bookMargin per extra treatmentRepeatConfidence
General pest controlA$2958.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)42% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate for trades)put in yoursput in yoursNone
Pest inspectionA$4608.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)42% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate for trades)put in yoursput in yoursNone
Termite inspectionA$3308.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)42% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate for trades)put in yoursput in yoursNone
Termite treatmentA$3,8508.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement); not urgent-intent-specific, put in your own call rate42% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate for trades)put in yoursput in yoursNone
Cockroach ant and spider treatmentA$2558.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)42% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate for trades)put in yoursput in yoursNone
Pre-purchase pest inspectionA$3308.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)42% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate for trades)put in yoursput in yoursNone
Emergency and urgent pest controlput in yours8.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement); not urgent-intent-specific, put in your own call rate42% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate for trades)put in yoursput in yoursNone
all nichesput in yours8.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)42% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate for trades)put in yoursput in yoursNone
Clicks to a treatment = clicks that call x calls that book. Every figure above is editable in the plan; repeat treatments per customer are left blank, put in yours.
Keywords

Keyword table

Two keywords carry more than half of the searches. Each keyword is tagged with the segment its niche belongs to; the shared pool can feed any of them. Google rounds search volumes and estimates prices; treat small differences as noise. "Top-of-page bid, low to high" is Google Ads' own estimate of what you would need to bid to show near the top of the results page, not a price anyone has paid.

Type
12 of 12 keywords, 13,537 searches a month
Sort
pest controlNot proven on these numbers
General pest control. Close to the typical click here.
Searches a month5,950
Cost per click (A$)A$22.47
Cost per click (US$)US$15.99
Competition index65
TypeGeneric
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$8.77 to A$23.72
pest control near meNot proven on these numbers
General pest control. Close to the typical click here.
Searches a month3,733
Cost per click (A$)A$24.50
Cost per click (US$)US$17.43
Competition index71
TypeNear me
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$10.48 to A$26.30
termite inspectionNot proven on these numbers
Termite inspection. Above the typical click here.
Searches a month1,247
Cost per click (A$)A$49.00
Cost per click (US$)US$34.86
Competition index35
TypeService
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$10.25 to A$58.66
termite treatmentNot proven on these numbers
Termite treatment. Above the typical click here.
Searches a month846
Cost per click (A$)A$34.88
Cost per click (US$)US$24.82
Competition index99
TypeUrgent
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$8.56 to A$59.00
fumigationShared pool
General search, mixed intent. Close to the typical click here.
Searches a month668
Cost per click (A$)A$19.99
Cost per click (US$)US$14.22
Competition indexno data
TypeAdjacent
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
rodent controlShared pool
General search, mixed intent. Below the typical click here.
Searches a month462
Cost per click (A$)A$16.74
Cost per click (US$)US$11.91
Competition index50
TypeService
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$5.14 to A$15.53
pest inspectionNot proven on these numbers
Pest inspection. Close to the typical click here.
Searches a month257
Cost per click (A$)A$19.51
Cost per click (US$)US$13.88
Competition index68
TypeService
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$7.39 to A$38.33
spider controlNot proven on these numbers
Cockroach ant and spider treatment. Below the typical click here.
Searches a month138
Cost per click (A$)A$17.30
Cost per click (US$)US$12.31
Competition index39
TypeService
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$6.25 to A$14.00
emergency pest controlNo price source yet
Emergency and urgent pest control. Close to the typical click here.
Searches a month92
Cost per click (A$)A$22.83
Cost per click (US$)US$16.24
Competition index58
TypeUrgent
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$5.35 to A$22.18
pre-purchase pest inspectionNot proven on these numbers
Pre-purchase pest inspection. Close to the typical click here.
Searches a month62
Cost per click (A$)A$25.64
Cost per click (US$)US$18.24
Competition index74
TypeService
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$8.64 to A$24.54
cockroach treatmentNot proven on these numbers
Cockroach ant and spider treatment. Above the typical click here.
Searches a month50
Cost per click (A$)A$28.63
Cost per click (US$)US$20.37
Competition index100
TypeService
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$4.58 to A$30.50
ant treatmentNot proven on these numbers
Cockroach ant and spider treatment. Below the typical click here.
Searches a month32
Cost per click (A$)A$5.65
Cost per click (US$)US$4.02
Competition index83
TypeService
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$2.71 to A$12.10
Market backdrop

The market every segment shares

These numbers don't pick a segment for you. They set the size of the prize and the price of entry for all of them.

Market size
Large
12,868 searches a month, 1st of 25 cities by monthly searches, the most
Momentum
Falling
-23.6% vs prior 12 months
Click cost
Dear
A$22.47 typical, 20th of 25 cities by median cost per click, mid-table
Rivals per head
Crowded
2.28 pest controller businesses per 10,000 people in New South Wales; 7th of 8 states and territories by businesses per 10,000 people, among the three most crowded
Searches per business
Fair
10.0 a month per business (estimate).
Sydney in NSW

Pest control ads across 6 NSW cities

4th of 6 NSW cities by median cost per click, among the three dearest. 1st of 6 NSW cities by monthly searches, the most.

City Cost per click (A$, median) Searches a month Searches per 10,000 people
Sydney A$22.47 12,868 22.8
Central Coast A$18.78 578 16.3
Newcastle A$27.17 506 9.3
Wollongong A$26.20 341 10.6
Albury-Wodonga A$3.29 131 12.8
Wagga Wagga A$5.79 73 12.6

Searches per 10,000 people use each city's own population (ABS 2025). Bold is Sydney.

Where Sydney sits

Pest control ads across the 25 cities

Rockhampton has the dearest clicks (A$36.44) and Albury-Wodonga the cheapest (A$3.29). Sydney is 20th of 25 cities by median cost per click, mid-table, and 1st of 25 cities by monthly searches, the most.

City Cost per click (A$, median) Searches a month Change vs last year
Rockhampton
36
111
+6.4%
Newcastle
27
506
-21.3%
Wollongong
26
341
-13.2%
Brisbane
24
5,568
-21.2%
Melbourne
23
8,038
-18.6%
Sydney
22
12,868
-23.6%
Geelong
22
169
-7.7%
Sunshine Coast
20
460
-17.5%
Gold Coast
19
1,381
-18.0%
Perth
19
3,671
-14.0%
Central Coast
19
578
-12.3%
Adelaide
18
2,050
-13.3%
Townsville
17
315
-3.6%
Cairns
16
233
-3.1%
Mackay
16
123
-11.4%
Hobart
14
149
-31.9%
Bunbury
13
90
-3.6%
Ballarat
12
128
+6.2%
Canberra
12
515
-24.6%
Darwin
12
243
+24.3%
Toowoomba
11
255
-6.7%
Wagga Wagga
5.79
73
-48.8%
Bendigo
5.19
104
-16.7%
Launceston
4.83
77
-4.2%
Albury-Wodonga
3.29
131
-18.2%

Sorted by cost per click, dearest first. The number in each cell is the value and the bar behind it shows its size. Prices from A$10 up are rounded to the dollar; prices under A$10 show cents; a city with no Google price sits at the bottom. Amber bars are falls in change vs last year. A dark dot marks a capital city. Sydney is in bold with darker bars.

Competition

Competition in New South Wales

Business counts and job ads are published by state, not by city, so this section shows New South Wales figures for pest controllers; every NSW city in this set shares them.

Businesses, June 2025
1,957
New entries, FY2025
235
Exits, FY2025
266

Job ads are not shown: no occupation code matches pest controllers closely enough to count their job ads.

Pest controller businesses per 10,000 people
ACT
0.89
Vic
1.21
Tas
1.49
SA
1.63
NT
1.81
WA
1.86
NSW
2.28
Qld
3.35

NSW is 7th of 8 states and territories by businesses per 10,000 people, among the three most crowded.

Estimate: searches per business, Sydney: 10.0 a month (assumes even business density across New South Wales; Sydney holds 65.6% of New South Wales's population).

Demand

Four years of pest controller searches in Sydney

Pest controller searches in Sydney are down 23.6% year on year, averaging 12,868 a month. The last 12 months are in dark blue.

Sep 2022 to Aug 2023
148,820
Sep 2023 to Aug 2024
190,010
Sep 2024 to Aug 2025
202,000
Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
154,410

Total searches in each 12-month block.

Seasons

Seasonality

J F M A M J J A S O N D

January is the peak month, running 32.4% above the average month for pest controller searches in Sydney; July is the quietest, 42.1% below.

Rules

Advertising rules

Sixty Steps found no national advertising code specific to pest controllers; check any licence-display rule with your own state regulator before relying on this page. For general advertising and consumer-law obligations, see the ACCC advertising and selling guide.

FAQ

Questions people ask about pest controller ads in Sydney

What does a Google Ads click cost for a pest controller in Sydney?

A$22.47 a click is the typical (median) cost across all pest controller search terms in Sydney (Google Ads via DataForSEO, pulled 2026-10-12). That is 20th of 25 cities by median cost per click, mid-table.

How many people search for a pest controller in Sydney each month?

12,868 searches a month on average over the last 12 months, down 23.6% year on year (Google Ads via DataForSEO, pulled 2026-10-12).

Which pest controller treatment pays back fastest on Google Ads in Sydney?

No margin is published for pest controllers here, so the payback figures need your own. Put in your own numbers in the planner to see which pays back.

How does Sydney compare with other NSW cities for pest controller ads?

Sydney is 4th of 6 NSW cities by median cost per click, among the three dearest, and 1st of 6 NSW cities by monthly searches, the most (Google Ads via DataForSEO, pulled 2026-10-12).

Where do the numbers on this page come from?

Google Ads search volume and cost per click from DataForSEO (pulled 2026-10-12); treatment values from published Australian sources where one exists; click-to-call and call-to-book rates from US industry benchmarks; business counts from the ABS. Full sources are listed at the bottom of this page.

The wider set

Where this page sits

This is one of 541 pages: 22 services across 25 cities, all listed on the data hub. Every page uses the same keyword method, pull date and formulas, so figures compare directly.

Service
Home services
Pest control in Sydney, this page
Other services in Sydney
Place
Australia, 25 cities
New South Wales, 6 cities in this set
Pest control in the other 24 cities

Business counts and job ads are published by state, so the NSW figures on this page cover the whole state, not just Sydney; search volumes and click prices are pulled for Sydney itself.

The Teardown · Free

Want someone to read your account against these numbers?

A free teardown looks at your last 90 days of Google Ads and tells you what to ask your agency. Or email your benchmark and the figures you typed above come with it; nothing is sent until you press send.

Get a free teardown Email me my benchmark
Opens an email to [email protected] with your numbers filled in; nothing is sent until you press send.
Method

Search terms: a fixed keyword set per service, tagged by intent (service, urgent, generic, near me and adjacent), targeted to each city using Google Ads city-level location codes, not a text match.

Headline monthly searches is the mean of the last 12 months of the core keyword set; the full 48-month series is shown on the chart.

Year-on-year change is total core-keyword searches in the last 12 months against the 12 months before that, for Sydney's own totals (the two most recent 12-month blocks in the demand table).

Headline cost per click is the volume-weighted median of each keyword's mean cost per click over the core set, called "typical cost per click (median)" throughout. The top-of-page bid is shown separately with its own label; the highest single-keyword cost per click is never the headline.

A keyword is flagged Volatile when its 24-month maximum is 2.5 times its minimum or more, or when a single month makes up 40% or more of its 12-month total. Volatile keywords stay in the totals.

Prices convert from Google Ads US dollars to Australian dollars at the US Federal Reserve's H.10 monthly average rate for September 2026 (1 AUD = 0.7115 USD). Ranks compare cost per click (cheapest to dearest) and monthly searches (most to fewest) across the 25 cities with data for this service and across the cities in the same state, and business density (fewest to most) across 8 states and territories; a trend is only stated when the change is 5% or more.

Segments: each niche is tagged by how its own numbers pay back. Quick cash clears its ad cost on the first treatment; Big tickets have the largest profit per treatment in the service; Client book pays back over 12 months of repeat visits. A niche can carry up to two tags, or none ("not proven on these numbers") if neither test clears the bar. A niche with no published price carries "No price source yet" and asks you to put in yours. General and near-me keywords sit in a shared pool.

Confidence: each niche carries a confidence level (High/Medium/Low/None) for its weakest input among search volume, click price, treatment value and margin. High means sourced for this exact city or an official AU figure. Medium means AU-sourced but national or industry-level. Low means a single weak source, an overseas figure or a US benchmark. None means no sourced figure; put in your own.

The modelled figure on this page is "searches per business" in the competition section, which assumes business density is even within a state, so a city's share of state businesses is approximated by its share of state population; it is the only number tagged "(estimate)". The segment cards, niche table and plan are a worked example using example treatment rates you can replace with your own. Every other figure is a direct read from the source cited in the data section.

Data and sources

Next refresh planned January 2027. Download the monthly data as CSV.

DatasetLicence
DataForSEO Google Ads search volume
DataForSEO, retrieved 2026-10-12
DataForSEO Terms of Service (paid API licence)
ABS Counts of Australian Businesses (CABEE)
Australian Bureau of Statistics
CC BY 4.0
ABS Estimated Resident Population
Australian Bureau of Statistics
CC BY 4.0
US Federal Reserve H.10 Foreign Exchange Rates
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Public domain (US government work)

Search data pulled 2026-10-12 from Google Ads via DataForSEO. Prices in A$ at the US Federal Reserve September 2026 average (1 AUD = 0.7115 USD). Method, sources and CSV.

Google Keyword Planner estimates via DataForSEO, not what you'll pay at auction; your own Google Ads account shows your real price.

About this data

Search volumes and click prices are licensed from DataForSEO (Google Ads data) and can't be re-pulled without a paid account. Business counts, job ads and exchange rates are open government data you can download yourself. Published by Sixty Steps, which runs ad accounts for local businesses.

Related: Pest control in Central Coast, Pest control in Newcastle, Pest control in Wollongong, Pest control across Australia.

Privacy · Terms