Google Ads for Financial Planners: A Compliance-Safe Playbook

Most financial planners we talk to are stuck between two bad options with Google Ads: not running them at all because compliance feels like a minefield, or running them so watered-down and vague ("Speak to an adviser today!") that nobody clicks because there's nothing to click for. Neither one brings in clients. We love 💖 working with advice practices because the compliance constraint is actually a creative constraint — and constraints make you a sharper marketer, not a weaker one. This is the playbook we use to build campaigns that are specific enough to convert and careful enough to survive an audit.

What most financial planners get wrong

The pattern we see over and over is fear-driven vagueness. An adviser (or their compliance officer) gets nervous about ASIC's regulatory guidance on misleading conduct, so every ad gets sanded down until it says nothing at all. Meanwhile the practice down the road is running specific, useful, fully compliant ads and winning the click. The other common failure is the opposite problem — ads that get so excited about "grow your wealth" or "maximise your returns" that they wander straight into promissory territory. Both mistakes come from treating compliance as a copywriting problem instead of a structural one.

• Writing one generic ad for every client type instead of matching the angle to who's actually searching
• Sending paid traffic to the homepage instead of a page built for that specific search intent
• Using urgency or return-based language ("don't miss out," "grow faster") that reads as a promise
• Skipping negative keywords, so budget leaks to job seekers, students and DIY researchers
• Launching without a compliance sign-off step, so nobody catches the risky line before it's live

Here's how that plays out differently depending on who a practice actually serves — because "financial advice" is not one audience, and treating it like one is where most campaigns fall flat.

How to actually set this up

Start with Search campaigns only — skip Performance Max and Display until you've got a track record, because both give Google's algorithm more creative freedom than you want in a regulated category, and you lose visibility over exactly where your brand shows up. Build one campaign per client segment if your practice serves more than one, with ad groups split by specific service or life stage inside each. Every ad group needs its own landing page — not the homepage — with the general advice warning, your AFSL details and any required risk statements clearly visible, ideally above the fold. Set up call tracking and form-fill conversion tracking from day one; without it you're optimising blind. Add sitelink extensions for "Our Advice Process," "Meet the Team" and "Fees" — these build trust before the click and reduce bounce. Finally, build a two-step review into your workflow: marketing drafts, compliance signs off, before anything goes live.

• Don't use Dynamic Keyword Insertion in headlines — it can pull in a search term that turns your ad into an accidental promise
• Don't run the same landing page for every ad group — intent mismatch tanks both quality score and conversions
• Don't skip the search terms report — check it weekly to catch odd queries before they burn budget
• Don't treat compliance sign-off as a one-time thing — recheck copy whenever ASIC guidance updates
• Don't forget mobile call extensions — pre-retiree and SMSF audiences especially prefer to call

Frequently asked questions

Can financial planners legally run Google Ads in Australia?

Yes. There's no blanket restriction — the requirement is that your advertising complies with ASIC's guidance on misleading or deceptive conduct and your AFSL's own compliance obligations, which generally means avoiding return promises, keeping language general in nature, and including required disclosures where relevant.

Do I need sign-off from my compliance officer for every ad?

You should treat it that way, yes. There's no formal ASIC pre-approval process for individual ads, but the responsibility for what goes live sits with your AFSL, not your marketing agency. We can help structure and draft compliant copy, but final sign-off needs to come from whoever holds that compliance responsibility internally — that's a limitation worth being upfront about.

Should I use Performance Max instead of Search campaigns?

We'd start with Search only. Performance Max gives Google's algorithm control over placements, audiences and even some creative decisions, which is harder to audit in a regulated industry. It may be worth testing later once you have solid Search data and tightly controlled assets, but it's not where we'd recommend starting.

How much budget do I need to see results?

There's no honest fixed number we can give you — financial services keywords tend to be competitive, which usually means higher cost-per-click than most other industries, and results depend heavily on your location, service niche and landing page quality. Start with a budget you can sustain for at least 4–6 weeks of testing before judging performance, rather than picking a number based on someone else's results.

Keep reading 🤍

• How to Market a Financial Advice Business
• Google Ads for Law Firms: A Practical Playbook
• How Financial Planners and Accountants Can Use AI Without Breaching Client Confidentiality