Is Google Ads Worth It for Contractors?

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How do I work out whether it would pay?

Start from the job, not the click. Take what a sold job is worth to you and how many of your estimates close, and work back to what a lead can cost and still pay.

Put your own job value and close rate in. If a sold job still leaves money after the ad spend and the fee, Search can pay.

If it does not, no account structure will fix it.

When is Google Ads not worth it?

• Under about $2,000 a month of ad spend. Clicks cost what they cost in your county, and a thin budget buys too few of them for the account to learn which searches turn into jobs. At that number, Local Services and your Business Profile go further.
• Mostly small jobs. A $300 repair call and a $12,000 replacement often cost about the same per click. An account that only sells the small job rarely pays.
• Commercial-led work. Property managers and general contractors do not search the way homeowners do, and Local Services is built for homeowners.
• An area with little search volume. In a rural county the searches may not exist to buy, whatever the budget.
• Nobody answers the phone. Home service leads call, and a lead that reaches voicemail usually calls the next company. What moves your result most is how fast you call back.

Why do so many contractors say Google Ads didn't work?

Usually because of how the account was built, not because of Google. The patterns I see most when I look at an account a contractor has given up on:

• A phrase-match keyword with the city name buying competitors' brand searches.
• Small jobs and big jobs in one ad group, so the budget goes to the cheaper job.
• Search campaigns also running on the Display network, so budget goes to banner ads.
• Conversion tracking counting page views, so the account looks cheap and optimises toward nothing.

One of my own accounts, Charlotte Premier Roofing, reported $20.06 a lead that turned out to be page views. Re-counted on calls and forms only, a real lead cost $265.64. The case study.

What should I try before Google Search ads?

Local Services, if your trade is on it. It is usually the cheapest lead a home service business can buy, and I set it up for every client either way. It runs out, because Google controls how many leads it sends, but it is the right first step. Google Ads or Local Services.

How do I find out for my trade and county?

That is what the estimate call is for. I look at what searches for your trade cost in your county, what a lead should cost, and what a sold job costs at your close rate. If the numbers don't work for your market or your margins, I'll say so on the call instead of taking the money.