Google Ads is a deep and complex topic for most marketers, let alone busy leasing teams. We’ve distilled the essentials down here so you can make confident, practical decisions about your PPC spend. Looking for more hands-on guidance? Head over to our Apartment Advertising page to learn more about our Google Ads services. If you like what you see, grab a time on our calendar.
Because that’s where the search starts.
When someone begins apartment hunting, they open a search engine and type things like “apartments near me” or “apartments in [city].”
Sure, you’ll see the big Internet Listing Services like Apartments.com and Zillow in the results, but if you want to be seen first, before prospects get lost in endless listings comparing your property images against the competition, Google Ads gets you top of mind first. That early visibility can help get you onto their shortlist while they’re still forming it.
Google Ads tend to deliver the strongest ROI for communities with 50+ units. At that scale, three things click: you have ongoing inventory to market, enough lead volume to optimize meaningfully, and the operational capacity (leasing team/CRM) to capture and work the demand.
They’re a particularly good fit when:
Sub-50 unit properties can still use Google Ads—usually as short, seasonal bursts tied to turnover or a specific floor plan—but the math is tighter. For most smaller buildings, SEO, reputation, and referral programs often carry more weight until inventory or goals justify a steadier ad cadence.
How do Google Ads Work?
When someone searches (e.g., “apartments near me”), Google runs a split-second auction between you and other people bidding on that term. Your ad competes based on Ad Rank, which is your bid plus quality signals like expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing-page experience. If your ad closely matches the query and the page delivers what the apartment hunter wants (i.e. an apartment) + a quality user experience, you can win top placement without being the highest bidder.
You control who sees you with keywords, location, geography radius, and schedule. How much you spend with a daily budget and a bidding goal like Maximize Conversions or Target CPA. What shows to prospective renters through headlines, descriptions, and ad assets.
Conversions are tracked via tags or CRM integrations so you can see which clicks become real leads. From there, you iterate: refine queries, adjust bids, refresh creative, and keep what’s driving qualified tours and leases.
For more information about how Google Ads works, check out our Guide to Google Ads for Apartments & Multifamily Complexes.
Performance Max runs a single campaign across Google’s inventory—Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps—and uses your conversion goals, creative assets (images, logos, headlines, descriptions), and audience signals to find renters wherever they’re browsing. You don’t pick keywords the same way; instead, you feed P-Max strong visuals, audience signals, search themes, and clean conversion tracking, and it optimizes toward your goal. For apartments, that means high-impact photography and clear “book a tour/apply” conversions.
Search ads are the text results you see at the top of Google after a query like “apartments near me.” They’re labeled “Sponsored” and built from responsive components: rotating headlines (e.g., “2BR in Midtown • Pet-Friendly • Move-In Specials”), descriptions that expand on the value, and assets like sitelinks (“Floor Plans,” “Schedule a Tour”), a call button, location/map info, and even a lead form if you enable it. On mobile, these stack vertically; on desktop, they sit above the organic results, often with multiple sitelinks showing.
Display ads are visual banners you’ll see across websites and apps. For apartments, these pull in your photos (exteriors, amenities, interiors) with short copy and a logo. Sizes adapt automatically, so crisp, professionally shot images make a noticeable difference.
YouTube ads are short video spots that appear before or between videos. Think quick lifestyle cuts—amenities, neighborhood shots, model walkthroughs—with a simple on-screen CTA like “Book a Tour.”
Gmail and Discover placements look like native tiles or expandable promos inside the Gmail Promotions tab or the Google Discover feed. These use your images, logo, and a concise headline to spark curiosity and bring renters back to your site.
Maps can surface your community with ads when someone searches location-based terms; these show your name, rating, and directions—handy for “near me” intent.
Performance Max campaigns take your best images, logos, headlines, descriptions, and videos and automatically assembles ads across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
It comes down to intent.
Social media, radio, and TV can cast a wide net, but you’re catching a lot of people who aren’t necessarily shopping for apartments, along with the ones who are. This can be a good thing if you’re trying to keep awareness of your community higher long-term, but for quick gains, you want ad types that intercept current apartment hunters.
With Google Ads, you’re meeting renters as they are searching, exactly when they’re trying to find a place to live, and you’re sending them to your website, not an ILS page that feels like all the other listings.
While ILS promotion can help drive lead volume pretty efficiently, we’ve found that leads from these platforms are harder to convert, shop longer, and are usually not as bought in on a community as those who have gone through the website and explored your unique offerings without the distraction of a hundred other properties at their fingertips.
Short answer: they’re as expensive, or as efficient, as your goals, market, and management make them. The nice thing about Google Ads is the flexibility. You set the budget, you decide how aggressively to show up, and you can throttle spend up or down as leasing needs change. If you’re in lease-up and need momentum fast, you might push harder for a few months.
There are many levers you can pull in Google to calibrate a lower spend campaign too. You can tighten the geo-radius to the neighborhoods that convert, schedule ads to run when prospects actually call, and push unit types you need to move. What really decides cost is the outcome you’re buying. A month of vacancy on a few units can dwarf ad spend.
Bottom line: Google Ads don’t have to be expensive. They’re flexible. Set smart guardrails, keep creative sharp, test weekly, and shift budgets to what’s working. That’s how you turn ads from a cost into a lever.
It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish and where you’re marketing.
If you’re in lease-up and need to build momentum in a larger market, you might allocate a couple of thousand dollars a month.
If you’re stabilized and just need a consistent presence, a few hundred a month can keep you in the game.
Market costs matter, too. New York City is a very different landscape compared to Sacramento or Austin. Budgets are going to depend on factors like population size and competitor activity.
The smartest way to start is to have an expert look at search volume, competition, and your unit's needs. They should be able to recommend a starting point you can scale as cost-per-lead and lead quality come into focus.
If you’re interested in understanding the best place to start for your community, reach out to Lease Engine. We’d be happy to assess your needs and make some recommendations.
On average, our apartment campaigns generate about 70 qualified leads per property per month. Your exact number flexes with market competitiveness and budget, and the simplest way to forecast is:
Leads per month ≈ Monthly budget ÷ Cost per lead (CPL)
Here are the CPL benchmarks we use for planning:
A few quick illustrations:
If you’re in a tier-1 metro with a lighter budget, expect results below the 70-lead average; if you’re in a lighter-competition market—or you’re pushing spend during lease-up with strong creative and clear conversion tracking—you can land above it. Two factors move the needle most: how many renters are actively searching this month (seasonality, unit mix) and how well your page converts (fast load, clear “Book a Tour”/“Call Now,” simple form). Our goal is to calibrate those levers to get the most efficiency possible.
Let’s break it into two parts: what a lead costs and what a lease costs.
First, your cost per lead (CPL). We can refer to the benchmarks above: low-competition markets are often around $20 CPL, mid around $40, and high competition closer to $70+ when campaigns and landing pages are dialed in.
Now, the info everyone really wants: cost per lease. That will be your CPL translated through your lead-to-lease rate (the percentage of leads that become signed leases).
Cost per lease ≈ CPL ÷ lead-to-lease rate
A few conversational yardsticks:
That’s the clean math. Real life nudges things up or down. Fast follow-up from leasing, clear “Book a Tour” CTAs, quick pages, and strong photos usually pull costs down. Slow response times, clunky forms, or thin landing content usually push costs up—even if your media buying is solid.
For Performance Max, Display, and YouTube, nothing beats strong photography.
High-impact imagery is the single best upgrade you can make to your marketing toolkit because it travels everywhere and immediately elevates your brand above the noise.
For Search, keep your keywords aligned with how renters actually talk, and pepper in some unique selling propositions of your property.
Most search ads sound the same; yours should lead with a distinctive promise. Think specific amenities, location advantages, or lifestyle benefits, so you earn the click. If you’re running a promotion, adding that into the mix is another great option.
Win the click with clarity and uniqueness, follow it up with great photography and an easy-to-navigate website, and you’ve got a great shot at winning the tour.
Measurement is nuanced because every property’s lead management looks a little different. If your systems connect with Google Analytics or Google Ads, great—you can track conversions directly. Tools like Knock, LeadSimple, and Entrata can capture sources pretty reliably, when the website infrastructure is set up correctly.
In a perfect world, you’re judging campaigns by attributable leases first, then qualified leads, then on-site engagement, and finally raw traffic. When you can’t get a clean line from click to lease, we can use website engagement as a proxy. Activities like tours scheduled, form starts, phone calls, and time on key pages can help you steer budget toward what’s actually moving the needle.
The big one is treating Google Ads like a “set it and forget it” Platform.
Google Ads are not a crock-pot. If you leave campaigns on autopilot—especially with a low-touch provider—performance drifts and spend stops matching outcomes. Search behavior shifts. Markets change. Your account needs regular attention. That means revisiting keywords as language evolves, following seasonal and market trends, and running real A/B tests on copy, landing page content, promotions, and even micro-geography inside your city.
Staying active in the account, or hiring someone who will, is what keeps results aligned with your goals.
Have a question we didn’t cover? Let us know and we’ll tackle it—if it’s a good one, we’ll even add it here.
If you’re ready to launch or tune your campaigns, book a discovery call and we’ll build a clear path to qualified leads and signed leases.
