ILS vs. Google Ads: when each one actually wins
The question is not which one is better. It is which renter each one reaches, what a lease from each one costs, and how to keep them from billing you twice for the same person.
What each channel is actually for
An Internet Listing Service (ILS) is a marketplace. A renter opens it already knowing the market and the budget, and the site shows them every community that pays to be there, side by side. You pay a flat monthly fee for the listing whether it produces two leads or two hundred, and the same lead is usually sent to several of your competitors at the same time.
Google Ads is capture. A renter types a submarket, an amenity, or your community’s name, and the ad sends them to your website, where the only community to tour is yours. You pay per click, the budget moves as fast as you can change it, and the cost of a lease scales with how well the account is built.
What a lease costs from each
The best public benchmark comes from REACH by RentCafe’s national study of 1,533 multifamily property websites. Across every source it measured, the average cost per lease was $588. The ILS-specific figure in the same study was $607. For comparison, the 25-community portfolio in our case study runs at roughly $188 per lease on direct search, using the same study’s 15.44% lead-to-lease rate.
| Channel | Cost per lease | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Internet Listing Service | ~$607 | REACH by RentCafe, national benchmark |
| All sources, industry average | ~$588 | REACH by RentCafe, national benchmark |
| Specialized multifamily Google Ads | ~$188 | Jamesday case study, 25 communities, 12 months |
Swipe sideways to see the full table →
Cost per lease is total channel cost divided by signed leases. Your number will vary by market, price point, and how the account is built.
When the ILS wins
- A brand-new community with no search demand yet. Nobody can search for a name they have never heard. Until the signs, the press, and the first residents create that demand, the marketplace is where the renter is.
- Markets where renters start on a listing site. In some metros the ILS is the default first stop. Not being there is invisible in a way no ad budget fixes.
- Out-of-market relocations. A renter moving from another city compares neighborhoods before communities, and the ILS is built for that comparison.
- When you need volume this month and can afford the lead cost. A lease-up carrying dozens of vacant units can justify paying more per lead because every week of delay costs real rent.
When Google Ads wins
- Your own name. Listing sites routinely run ads on community names. A brand campaign in your own account costs very little and keeps a renter who searched for you from landing on a page that shows three competitors next to you.
- Submarket searches with intent. “Two bedroom near the medical district” is a renter who is ready to tour. Direct search sends that person to your floor plans, not to a comparison grid.
- Stabilized communities replacing turnover. At 94% or better you need a handful of leases a month, not a flood of leads. Exact-match search on the terms that already convert is far cheaper than a flat listing fee sized for a lease-up.
- Remarketing. The renter who visited your site and did not book a tour is the cheapest lease you will ever close, and only your own ad account can reach them.
How to run both without paying twice
- Give each channel its job. ILS for awareness among renters who do not know you; direct search for capture among renters who do. Judge each by that job.
- Defend the brand. Run a brand campaign from the first day the community has a name, so a renter who found you on the ILS and then searched for you lands on your site.
- Measure with one denominator. Signed leases from your property management system, by source. Cost per lead flatters the ILS because it produces many leads; cost per lease tells you what each one is worth.
- Size the ILS package to the phase. Premium placement during lease-up, the base listing once stabilized, and revisit it at every renewal.
- Move budget, not vendors. Month-to-month ad management and an ILS package you can step down mean the mix follows occupancy instead of the contract year.
The short version
Fund the ILS when the renter does not know you yet. Fund direct search the moment they might. Judge both by cost per signed lease, and defend your own name in your own account so the listing site is not the one collecting it.
Questions we hear about this
Can we cut the ILS once Google Ads is running?+
Sometimes, but not on day one and not on a hunch. Run both for a full leasing cycle, attribute signed leases to each channel from your property management system, and compare cost per lease, not cost per lead. Communities with strong brand search and a stabilized rent roll often can step down to a cheaper ILS package. A lease-up in a market where renters start on a listing site usually cannot.
Should a lease-up use both from the start?+
Yes, in most markets. The ILS creates awareness among renters who do not know the community exists yet, and direct search captures the ones who start looking for it by name once the signs go up. The mistake is funding only one and judging it by the other channel’s job.
How do we compare them fairly?+
Use the same denominator: signed leases from the PMS, not leads. Count the ILS subscription and the ad spend plus management fee as the cost of each channel. Give the ILS credit for renters who found you there and then searched your name, or you will overcount direct search.
30 minutes, your accounts, your properties.
Bring one community's ad account. We'll show you where spend is leaking and what we'd do in the first 30 days. You keep the findings either way.
The person on this call is the person in your ads account. Cameron Day, owner.