Industry · Plumbers & HVAC
Google Ads for Plumbers & HVAC
We've audited home-services accounts across plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and roofing. The high-revenue accounts and the budget-bonfire accounts run the exact same Google Ads platform — the difference is whether they've fixed these five mistakes.
By Stephen Theall
1. Not enrolled in Local Service Ads
Local Service Ads (the green 'Google Guaranteed' listings above the regular paid ads) are the single biggest opportunity miss for home services contractors. LSA leads are pay-per-lead instead of pay-per-click, the badge builds trust, and the listing sits above paid Search. Well-run accounts now spend 40-60% of their budget on LSA. Many established contractors are still Search-only, getting outbid above the fold every search.
Fix
Apply for LSA enrollment — Google verifies your license, insurance, and runs background checks. Once approved, run LSA alongside Search. Start at Google's recommended weekly budget; raise +10-20% if lead volume is light. Respond to LSA leads fast — Google penalizes slow responders in the auction.
2. No phone-call conversion tracking
Emergency plumbing and HVAC live or die on phone calls. The owner sees five form fills, dismisses Google Ads as 'not working,' and never realizes the forty after-hours calls from ad clicks went straight to dispatch without ever showing up in the platform. Single most common waste pattern in the trades.
Fix
Track ad-click calls with Google's call forwarding number (60-second minimum duration). Track website calls with dynamic number insertion (CallRail, ServiceTitan integrations). Make both count as conversions. Now Smart Bidding has signal and you can see real ROI.
3. Targeting the whole metro with no bid modifiers
A Houston-area plumber bidding evenly across all 100+ ZIPs is paying premium CPCs for clicks from areas the trucks won't drive to. Even small markets have this problem — you cover Broussard and Youngsville, but you're paying for clicks from Opelousas because nobody set the geo right. Easy fix, often ignored.
Fix
Set the geo to your actual service radius (typically 15-30 minutes for emergency dispatch, 30-60 for project work). Add bid adjustments boosting your 5-mile core +30-50%. Exclude outer-edge ZIPs where the drive time kills profitability. Re-run quarterly as routes shift.
4. Broad match keywords without aggressive negatives
'Plumber' on broad match matches 'plumber salary,' 'plumbing courses,' 'plumber's putty Home Depot,' 'plumbing apprenticeship,' 'plumber jokes.' Vacuums budget. Same for 'AC repair' matching 'how to fix AC' DIY content. We've seen accounts burn 30-50% of monthly spend on this category of leakage before anyone noticed.
Fix
Run a search terms report monthly. Add negatives aggressively: 'jobs,' 'salary,' 'school,' 'course,' 'apprenticeship,' 'DIY,' 'how to,' 'Lowes,' 'Home Depot,' 'supplies,' 'reviews,' 'commercials,' 'memes.' Use phrase or exact match instead of broad for tight-budget accounts. Build a shared negative list across campaigns.
5. Performance Max on emergency dispatch trades
Performance Max looks attractive — 'Google does the work.' For emergency plumbing and HVAC, it routinely matches against research-intent searches ('how to fix garbage disposal,' 'AC making noise reasons') that don't convert. The audit trail is opaque, so you can't see what's wasting money. Auto-targeting wanders into 30-40% waste with no easy way to see it.
Fix
Stick with Search campaigns for emergency dispatch. Reserve Performance Max for project-trade work (roofing, remodel, fencing) where the longer consideration cycle benefits from PMax's cross-channel touch. Always pair PMax with account-level negative keyword lists and aggressive asset group segmentation.
Why home services is one of the best fits for Google Ads
Emergency demand + local geography + high job value = the textbook Google Ads use case. A burst pipe at 11 PM is a $400-2,000 job, and the customer is searching their phone right now. That’s a $50-100 cost-per-lead you’ll happily pay because the close rate on emergencies is 50-70% and the job pays for the lead 10x over. The accounts that win are the ones that don’t waste any of the budget that should be funding those high-intent moments.
The benchmark numbers
WordStream 2024 data puts home services at a ~10% conversion rate, $6.50 average CPC, and ~$60 CPA. Practitioner data on LSA consistently shows 30-40% lower CPL than Search in the same market. Emergency plumbing typically $30-100 CPL. Roofing $50-150. Restoration $80-250. If your numbers are 50%+ above these ranges, one of the five mistakes above is the likely cause.
Seasonality eats accounts that don’t plan for it
HVAC peaks June-August and again December-February. Plumbing spikes during cold snaps and around holiday cooking weekends. Roofing surges after storms. Running the same daily budget in November that you used in August means your peak-season ads cap out by 10 AM and your off-season ads under-spend. Set monthly budget adjustments or use Google Ads’ seasonality adjustments in Smart Bidding to forecast the spikes.
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Owns a Red Wing Shoes store in Lafayette, Louisiana. Built InspectMyAds.com to audit his own Google Ads first.