For South African Consulting Engineers
Google Ads
for Engineering Firms
We run Google Ads for engineering firms with each discipline built on its own — structural, civil, and mechanical and electrical — and with the enormous student, bursary and job-seeker volume around the word “engineering” removed first. Custom pricing. No lock-in. You keep your own account.
Google Ads Certified · In Google Ads since 2020 · One specialist, not an account manager
Documented Client Accounts
Four client accounts our founder personally managed, two American and two South African. None of them is an engineering account, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The closest is a South African prefab building supplier, which faces the same mix of low-intent building searches. Judge the method, then read the numbers on the results page.
What You Get
Google Ads for engineers,
run by one specialist.
Small sign-offs and large projects need different accounts, and they get them. You deal with Vogien and Tumaini directly, every time.
A campaign per discipline
Structural, civil and building services have different clients, fees and competitors. Pooled, the cheapest discipline sets the bid for all of them.
Small jobs kept apart
Homeowner sign-offs and crack inspections are fast and plentiful. They get their own campaign so they don’t drain the budget meant for project work.
Students and bursaries blocked
Degrees, bursaries, ECSA registration and vacancy searches are negated before launch. Without this, you are advertising a consultancy to school leavers.
Measured at the right length
Project enquiries close over months, often through quotes and panels. We track proposals and appointments, and judge the account over that window.
You own everything
Your Google Ads account, your billing, your data. Leave whenever you like and the full history stays with you.
One firm per area
We won’t take a competing firm in your area and discipline. Two firms in the same auction only raise each other’s costs.
Built For Engineering Firms
Four kinds of engineering work.
Four different campaigns.
“Engineering” is not one keyword. A crack inspection and a civil design package share nothing but the word.
01 · Highest volume
Residential sign-offs & inspections
Rational designs, beam and truss sign-offs, crack and structural inspections for homeowners and builders. Clear intent, quick decisions, and often the door to bigger work.
02 · Core fees
Structural design
New buildings, alterations and commercial structures, usually through an architect or developer. Fewer searches, higher value, judged on appointments.
03 · Long cycle
Civil & infrastructure
Roads, stormwater, township services and bulk infrastructure. Low search volume, long procurement, and a campaign built for patience rather than weekly lead counts.
04 · Specialist
Mechanical & building services
HVAC design, fire, electrical and wet services for buildings. A technical buyer searching precise terms, with far less competition than broad engineering keywords.
Stop Paying For These
The searches that look like
engineering work and are not.
This is where most of the budget actually goes. Blocked from day one.
People studying engineering
engineering bursary · civil engineering degree · engineering courses · N6 engineering
People who want a job
engineering jobs · engineer salary · graduate engineer · engineering internship
People registering, not hiring
ECSA registration · Pr Eng requirements · SAIMechE · candidate engineer
People after the wrong kind of engineer
car engineer · software engineer · sound engineer · engineering drawing app
Your free audit shows you exactly which of these your current account is paying for, in rands, from your own search terms report.
Worth Knowing
Why the small jobs
need their own budget.
Homeowner searches for a structural engineer to sign off a beam, inspect a crack or approve plans are the most plentiful enquiries in the discipline. They convert fast and pay modestly. Left in the same campaign as project work, they soak up the budget, because Google finds them easiest to win.
Project work behaves the opposite way. Fewer searches, higher fees, and a decision that runs through a quote, a panel or a tender. Judged on a 30-day lead count it looks like a failure while it is quietly working, so it is measured on proposals, over a longer window.
If you work closely with architects and builders, the demand around you looks similar — see how we build Google Ads for architects and construction companies, and check what Google Ads costs in South Africa before setting a budget.
Pricing
Custom pricing.
Cancel any time.
Your pricing is custom. After a free audit and a conversation about your goals, we scope a management fee around how much you want to invest — separate from your ad spend, which stays in your own account, on your own card, and we never touch it. No lock-in and no notice period.
Want numbers for your business? Try the Google Ads cost calculator: it opens pre-set for engineering firms.
Questions
What engineering firms ask us.
Does Google Ads work for consulting engineers?
For the right work, yes. Homeowner sign-offs and inspections are searched constantly and convert well. Project and civil work is thinner and slower, but a few good enquiries a year can justify the spend. The audit shows what demand exists for your disciplines in your area.
Most of our work comes through tenders. Is there any point?
Tenders won’t come through search ads, and we won’t pretend they will. Private clients, developers, architects and homeowners do search, and that is the work the account is built to win alongside your tender pipeline.
How much should a firm spend?
Enough to stay visible for your main disciplines in your area, with small residential work capped so it can’t take everything. The Google Ads cost calculator gives a starting range for engineering firms, and the audit narrows it.
Should we advertise the small residential jobs at all?
Usually yes, in their own campaign with its own budget. They bring in steady fees and often lead to larger work. The mistake is letting them share a budget with project work, where they win every time.
Will you work with another firm in our area?
No. Two firms bidding in the same auction only raise each other’s costs.
Are we locked in?
No. Month to month, cancel any time, and the account and its data stay yours.
Related Trades
Other trades we build campaigns for.
Google Ads for architects
New homes, alterations, plan approvals and commercial work, with students and free-plan hunters blocked.
Google Ads for construction companies
Renovations, extensions, paving and commercial builds, with tender hunters removed.
Google Ads for accountants
Monthly clients, tax, compliance and advisory, with SARS and eFiling traffic blocked.
Areas we cover include George, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Gqeberha, Bloemfontein, East London, Kimberley. See every area or every industry.
Free Audit
Find out what a real project
enquiry costs you.
Send your details and Vogien will go through your Google Ads for engineering firms personally — how much went to students and bursary searches, whether small sign-offs are eating the project budget, and whether the bidding is being taught what a proposal looks like. Straight answer either way, or get in touch another way.
Request your free audit
For engineering firms specifically.