- Split campaigns by intent. Urgent service and planned projects behave differently.
- The search terms report is where budget is won or lost. Read it every week.
- One page per job, matching the ad, beats sending everyone to your homepage.
- Count booked estimates and calls as the result, not clicks.
Structure by intent, then by job
Someone searching “AC not cooling” at 9 p.m. wants a truck tonight. Someone searching “cost to replace HVAC system” is planning. Put both in one campaign and the budget follows the more frequent, cheaper searches.
Build separate campaigns for urgent service and for planned projects, with ad groups for each job inside them: replacement, repair, a specific install. Add a small campaign on your own business name, so a competitor’s ad isn’t the first thing people see when they look you up.
Keywords: match types, search terms, negatives
Start with phrase and exact match on the jobs you want. Broad match can find searches you’d never think of, and plenty you don’t want, so add it later and watch it closely.
Read the search terms report every week. It shows what people actually typed. Add negatives for DIY, jobs and careers, parts, and services you don’t offer. That one habit decides more of the budget than any bid setting.
Location: where homeowners are, not what they’re curious about
Set the target area to the zip codes or radius your crews actually cover. In the location options, target people in or regularly in your area rather than people showing interest in it, or you’ll pay for clicks from out-of-town researchers.
If one part of your area brings better jobs, give it its own campaign so you can budget for it separately.
Ads and offer: answer the search
The ad should echo what they searched and say what happens next. “Roof replacement in [city]. See typical price ranges and book an estimate online” does more than a slogan about quality and service.
Use the extra space Google gives you: links to specific project pages, your phone number, your service area. Say what makes the estimate worth booking, like a written scope or a price range up front, but only if you actually do it.
Landing: one page per job
Send each ad group to a page about that job, using the words the homeowner searched. The page should show your real work, a price range or what drives the price, a few qualifying questions, and a way to book.
A homepage makes the homeowner hunt. Every extra click is a chance to hit back and try the next result.
Measurement: count what you’d pay for
Clicks and click-through rate tell you whether the ad is relevant. They don’t tell you whether it paid. Tie every campaign to booked estimates, then to signed work.
- Booked estimates from the page, counted as conversions
- Calls from the ad and the page, counted somewhere you can see them
- Cost per booked estimate by campaign and ad group
- Signed jobs traced back to the campaign, and the keyword where possible
