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Plumber ads in Rockhampton, by opportunity

A Google Ads click for a plumber in Rockhampton costs A$9.46 at the median (184 searches a month, pulled October 2026, Google Ads via DataForSEO). Hot water pays back fastest, needing about 0.7% of clicks to call against the 8.05% US benchmark. Plumber searches here split into one opportunity that pays back: Big tickets, plus a shared pool of general searches. See if it fits your cash and capacity, then plan it.

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

Big tickets pays back most easily here, needing about 0.7% of clicks to call.

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 job" 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 partial
6 of 12 keywords have a Google price.
Volumes steadier
2 of 12 keywords flagged volatile.
Keywords tracked
12 keywords tracked; 6 have no Google price.
The opportunity

Where the money is, by segment

Each segment groups the niches that pay back the same way. Figures use Rockhampton click prices and the job rates in the plan below; change the rates there and these update.

Big tickets Pays back if about 0.7% of clicks call
Fewer, larger jobs
Hot water, Emergency and 24 hour
Searches a month36, 20% of all core keywords
Figures for Hot water, the strongest here
Hot water A$4.28 (strongest) · Emergency and 24 hour A$9.46
Hot water: Big tickets · Low confidence (search volume: Low)
Emergency and 24 hour: Big tickets · Low confidence (click price: Low)
Cost per click · Medium confidenceA$4.28
Typical jobA$1,975
Profit on the job at 69.5% marginA$1,373
Click cost per jobA$124
Pays back if0.7% of clicks call
Fits if you quote well and would rather do fewer, bigger jobs.
Needs a job worth about A$178 to break even, against A$1,975 assumed.
Plan Big tickets
Shared pool
General and near me: 114 searches a month (62% of all core keywords) (A$9.46 is the typical cost per click across all plumber keywords)
Most of these searches don't say what the job is, so your ad copy and landing page decide which segment they land in. 26.2% of all plumber searches here say 'near me', so your Google Business Profile carries as much weight as the ad.
Plan a segment

Big tickets: Hot water

Fewer, larger jobs. Hot water covers 'hot water system repair' and 'hot water system replacement': 17 searches a month at A$4.28 a click.

Niche to plan
Job rates for Hot water

What A$1,000 a month buys in Big tickets (worked example)

Each square is 10 clicks. 233.6 clicks18.8 calls8.1 jobs
Clicks a month
233.6
Calls
18.8
Jobs
8.1
Click cost per job
A$124
Profit per job at 69.5% margin
A$1,373
Pays back if
0.7% of clicks call

A$1,000 at A$4.28 a click buys about 233.6 clicks a month, 649.0% of the 36 searches a month in Big tickets.

That is more of Big tickets than one advertiser usually wins; expect the price per click to climb. Put the rest into the shared pool with Big tickets ad copy.

Each job costs A$124 in clicks and earns A$1,373 gross profit at 69.5% margin; it pays back if about 0.7% of clicks call (US average 8.05%).

Put in your repeat rate and repeat client value to see what repeat work adds.

To break even on the first job it needs to be worth about A$178, against A$1,975 assumed.

Keywords in Big tickets

hot water system replacement9 a month, A$7.66
Hot water. Below the typical click here.
24 hour plumber8 a month, A$4.96
Emergency and 24 hour. Below the typical click here.
hot water system repair8 a month, no price
Hot water. No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.
emergency plumber7 a month, no price
Emergency and 24 hour. No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.
burst pipe4 a month, no price
Emergency and 24 hour. No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.

The shared pool keywords, 'plumber' and 'plumber near me', 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
Emergency and 24 hourBig tickets
Searches a month19
Cost per clickA$9.46
Typical jobA$1,045
ConfidenceLow
Click cost per jobA$273
Profit on the jobA$726
Pays back if3%
Hot waterBig tickets
Searches a month17
Cost per clickA$4.28
Typical jobA$1,975
ConfidenceLow
Click cost per jobA$124
Profit on the jobA$1,373
Pays back if0.7%
Small fixes (taps, toilets)Not proven on these numbers
Searches a month14
Cost per clickA$9.46
Typical jobA$221
ConfidenceLow
Click cost per jobA$273
Profit on the jobA$153
Pays back if14.3%
Blocked drainsNot proven on these numbers
Searches a month13
Cost per clickA$9.46
Typical jobA$350
ConfidenceLow
Click cost per jobA$273
Profit on the jobA$243
Pays back if9%
GasNot proven on these numbers
Searches a month8
Cost per clickA$9.46
Typical jobA$319
ConfidenceLow
Click cost per jobA$273
Profit on the jobA$222
Pays back if9.9%
Google data+
Searches and click prices, Rockhampton, pulled 2026-10-12.
Published price guides+
Typical job sizes from published Australian sources: hot water, gas, blocked drains, emergency and 24 hour and small fixes (taps, toilets) (retrieved October 2026).
US benchmarks+
8.05% of plumber clicks convert (US benchmark, LocaliQ 2026); 43% of calls book (US benchmark, ServiceTitan). No Australian equivalent published.
Assumptions+
NicheJob value (default)Clicks that callCalls that bookMargin per extra jobRepeatConfidence
Hot waterA$1,9758.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)43% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate data (trade breakdown))69.5% (ATO Small Business Benchmarks - Plumbing services)put in yoursLow
GasA$3198.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)43% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate data (trade breakdown))69.5% (ATO Small Business Benchmarks - Plumbing services)put in yoursLow
Blocked drainsA$3508.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)43% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate data (trade breakdown))69.5% (ATO Small Business Benchmarks - Plumbing services)put in yoursLow
Emergency and 24 hourA$1,0458.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement); not urgent-intent-specific, put in your own call rate43% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate data (trade breakdown))69.5% (ATO Small Business Benchmarks - Plumbing services)put in yoursLow
Small fixes (taps, toilets)A$2218.05% (LocaliQ 2026 Search Advertising Benchmarks - Home & Home Improvement)43% (ServiceTitan - Typical call-booking rate data (trade breakdown))69.5% (ATO Small Business Benchmarks - Plumbing services)put in yoursLow
Clicks to a job = clicks that call x calls that book. Every figure above is editable in the plan; repeat jobs 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, 185 searches a month
Sort
plumberShared pool
General search, mixed intent. Close to the typical click here.
Searches a month66
Cost per click (A$)A$9.46
Cost per click (US$)US$6.73
Competition index29
TypeGeneric
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$4.93 to A$18.24
plumber near meShared pool
General search, mixed intent. Below the typical click here.
Searches a month48
Cost per click (A$)A$7.01
Cost per click (US$)US$4.99
Competition index46
TypeNear me
VolatileYes
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$3.58 to A$8.83
hot water system replacementBig tickets
Hot water. Below the typical click here.
Searches a month9
Cost per click (A$)A$7.66
Cost per click (US$)US$5.45
Competition index91
TypeService
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highA$2.52 to A$6.04
leaking tap repairNot proven on these numbers
Small fixes (taps, toilets). No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.
Searches a month9
Cost per click (A$)no data
Cost per click (US$)no data
Competition index0
TypeService
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
24 hour plumberBig tickets
Emergency and 24 hour. Below the typical click here.
Searches a month8
Cost per click (A$)A$4.96
Cost per click (US$)US$3.53
Competition index57
TypeUrgent
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
gas plumberNot proven on these numbers
Gas. Above the typical click here.
Searches a month8
Cost per click (A$)A$19.23
Cost per click (US$)US$13.68
Competition index40
TypeService
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
hot water system repairBig tickets
Hot water. No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.
Searches a month8
Cost per click (A$)no data
Cost per click (US$)no data
Competition index57
TypeService
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
blocked drain plumberNot proven on these numbers
Blocked drains. No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.
Searches a month7
Cost per click (A$)no data
Cost per click (US$)no data
Competition index0
TypeService
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
emergency plumberBig tickets
Emergency and 24 hour. No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.
Searches a month7
Cost per click (A$)no data
Cost per click (US$)no data
Competition index14
TypeUrgent
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
blocked drainNot proven on these numbers
Blocked drains. No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.
Searches a month6
Cost per click (A$)no data
Cost per click (US$)no data
Competition index43
TypeService
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
toilet repairNot proven on these numbers
Small fixes (taps, toilets). Above the typical click here.
Searches a month5
Cost per click (A$)A$55.08
Cost per click (US$)US$39.19
Competition index0
TypeService
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
burst pipeBig tickets
Emergency and 24 hour. No price from Google; cap it and read your own cost per click.
Searches a month4
Cost per click (A$)no data
Cost per click (US$)no data
Competition indexno data
TypeUrgent
VolatileNo
Top-of-page bid, low to highno data
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
Small
184 searches a month, 23rd of 25 cities by monthly searches, among the three fewest
Momentum
Falling
-9.8% vs prior 12 months; job ads +4.6%
Click cost
Cheap
A$9.46 typical, 5th of 25 cities by median cost per click, mid-table
Rivals per head
Crowded
20.11 plumber businesses per 10,000 people in Queensland; 6th of 8 states and territories by businesses per 10,000 people, among the three most crowded
Searches per business
Thin
1.1 a month per business (estimate).
Rockhampton in Qld

Plumber ads across 8 Qld cities

2nd of 8 QLD cities by median cost per click, among the three cheapest. 8th of 8 QLD cities by monthly searches, the fewest.

City Cost per click (A$, median) Searches a month Searches per 10,000 people
Brisbane A$54.67 10,911 38.5
Gold Coast A$54.41 2,894 38.0
Sunshine Coast A$59.18 901 21.2
Townsville A$29.47 578 30.3
Cairns A$10.29 531 32.3
Toowoomba A$21.01 400 26.0
Mackay A$9.19 272 30.3
Rockhampton A$9.46 184 22.0

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

Where Rockhampton sits

Plumber ads across the 25 cities

Sydney has the dearest clicks (A$64.23) and Launceston the cheapest (A$6.09). Rockhampton is 5th of 25 cities by median cost per click, mid-table, and 23rd of 25 cities by monthly searches, among the three fewest.

City Cost per click (A$, median) Searches a month Change vs last year
Sydney
64
20,322
-26.3%
Wollongong
60
743
+2.8%
Sunshine Coast
59
901
-19.3%
Newcastle
57
1,065
-10.9%
Geelong
57
526
-24.1%
Brisbane
55
10,911
-23.7%
Gold Coast
54
2,894
-17.7%
Central Coast
51
1,174
-4.7%
Adelaide
50
5,866
-14.8%
Melbourne
49
21,330
-19.2%
Canberra
47
1,292
-18.9%
Perth
37
9,594
-14.6%
Townsville
29
578
-15.0%
Bunbury
27
176
-15.9%
Darwin
21
297
-11.7%
Toowoomba
21
400
-10.6%
Bendigo
14
216
+9.3%
Ballarat
13
248
-16.8%
Wagga Wagga
11
137
-4.7%
Cairns
10
531
-12.5%
Rockhampton
9.46
184
-9.8%
Mackay
9.19
272
+6.2%
Hobart
9.08
498
-15.6%
Albury-Wodonga
9.02
192
-53.5%
Launceston
6.09
232
+9.4%

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. Rockhampton is in bold with darker bars.

Competition

Competition in Queensland

Business counts and job ads are published by state, not by city, so this section shows Queensland figures for plumbers; every Qld city in this set shares them.

Businesses, June 2025
11,400
New entries, FY2025
1,462
Exits, FY2025
1,308
Opposite directions, year on year
+4.6% job ads
-9.8% searches

Plumber job ads in Qld and plumber searches in Rockhampton, each against the year before.

Plumber businesses per 10,000 people
ACT
15.83
Tas
18.10
NT
18.48
SA
18.88
WA
19.58
Qld
20.11
NSW
24.25
Vic
25.66

Qld is 6th of 8 states and territories by businesses per 10,000 people, among the three most crowded.

Estimate: searches per business, Rockhampton: 1.1 a month (assumes even business density across Queensland; Rockhampton holds 1.5% of Queensland's population).

Demand

Four years of plumber searches in Rockhampton

Plumber searches in Rockhampton are down 9.8% year on year, averaging 184 a month. The last 12 months are in dark blue.

Sep 2022 to Aug 2023
2,260
Sep 2023 to Aug 2024
2,670
Sep 2024 to Aug 2025
2,450
Sep 2025 to Aug 2026
2,210

Total searches in each 12-month block.

Seasons

Seasonality

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

May is the peak month, running 16.4% above the average month for plumber searches in Rockhampton; September is the quietest, 18.7% below.

Rules

Advertising rules

Sixty Steps found no national advertising code specific to plumbers; 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 plumber ads in Rockhampton

What does a Google Ads click cost for a plumber in Rockhampton?

A$9.46 a click is the typical (median) cost across all plumber search terms in Rockhampton (Google Ads via DataForSEO, pulled 2026-10-12). That is 5th of 25 cities by median cost per click, mid-table.

How many people search for a plumber in Rockhampton each month?

184 searches a month on average over the last 12 months, down 9.8% year on year (Google Ads via DataForSEO, pulled 2026-10-12).

Which plumber job pays back fastest on Google Ads in Rockhampton?

Hot water, which pays back if about 0.7% of clicks call, against the 8.05% US benchmark (LocaliQ 2026); the job value used is A$1,975 (What's The Damage - Hot Water System Cost Canberra).

How does Rockhampton compare with other Qld cities for plumber ads?

Rockhampton is 2nd of 8 QLD cities by median cost per click, among the three cheapest, and 8th of 8 QLD cities by monthly searches, the fewest (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); job 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
Trades
Plumber in Rockhampton, this page
Other services in Rockhampton
Place
Australia, 25 cities
Queensland, 8 cities in this set
Plumber in the other 24 cities

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

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Method

Search terms: a fixed keyword set per service, tagged by intent (urgent, service, generic and near me), 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 Rockhampton'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 job; Big tickets have the largest profit per job 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, job 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 job 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
JSA Internet Vacancy Index, ANZSCO 3341
Jobs and Skills Australia
CC BY 4.0 International
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: Plumber in Brisbane, Plumber in Gold Coast, Plumber in Sunshine Coast, Plumber across Australia.

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