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For most home services companies, Google gives you three ways to show up when someone searches “AC repair near me” or “emergency plumber”: Local Services Ads (pay per lead, shown at the top of many service searches), Search ads (pay per click, sent to your website or phone), and your free Google Business Profile listing on Google Maps. They work best together, and each one needs a different setup.
Before you spend anything, see where you already stand. Check your Google Maps ranking for free with Keyword Boost: if you already show up well on Maps for your main services, your ad budget can focus on the gaps instead of paying for searches you’d win anyway.
What’s the difference between Local Services Ads and Search ads?
Local Services Ads (LSA) are Google’s lead ads for service businesses. According to Google’s Local Services Ads getting-started guide, leads come in as phone calls and messages sent through your ad, you pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer, and the ad unit appears prominently in Search results when people look for your services in the areas you choose. Eligible businesses go through Google’s screening to earn the Google Verified badge.
Search ads are the classic text ads in Google Search. You choose the keywords, write the ads, set the areas you serve and pay when someone clicks. The click can go to a landing page on your site or straight to a call.
The practical differences:
- What you pay for: LSA charges per lead; Search charges per click, whether or not the click turns into a call.
- How much control you have: Search lets you pick keywords, write ad copy, set bids and exclude searches you don’t want. LSA gives you much less control: you pick service types and areas, and Google matches you to searches.
- What you need first: LSA needs you to pass Google’s checks (such as licensing, reviews and billing, depending on your category). Search ads can start as soon as your account, tracking and landing page are ready.
- Where the lead goes: LSA leads land in Google’s lead inbox. Search leads land on your own website or phone line, which you control.
Which should a home services company start with?
There’s no single right answer, but here’s how we’d think about it:
- Start with LSA if your category is eligible in your area, you can pass the checks, and you answer the phone fast. Google’s guide notes that if you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected, so a missed-call problem gets expensive quickly.
- Start with Search ads if you want full control over which services and searches you pay for, you have a landing page that converts, or LSA isn’t available for your category or area.
- Run both once one is working. They appear in different spots on the results page, and Search ads let you cover services or keywords LSA doesn’t match well.
Whichever you choose, your website matters. A slow or unclear landing page wastes Search clicks. Run a free Site Fix check on the page you’ll send ad traffic to and fix the top issues first.
Where does Google Maps fit in?
Your Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows in the map pack and on Google Maps. It isn’t an ad, and you can’t pay Google for a better organic Maps position. But it affects your ads in two ways:
- It’s the free half of the page. On many local searches the map pack sits right below or near the ads. If you rank well there, some customers will call you without you paying for a click or lead.
- It’s your reputation. Reviews on your profile are what many people check before they call, whether they found you through an ad or not.
That’s why we suggest checking your Maps position before deciding how much to put into ads. If you’re not in the map pack for your core services, our guide on why an HVAC company isn’t in the Google map pack walks through the usual causes, and how to check your Google Maps ranking shows how to get a number you can trust.
How should you set up Search ads for home services?
If you’re running Search ads, these settings make the biggest difference for local service businesses.
Target only the areas you actually serve
Google’s guide to location targeting explains that ads can show to people who are physically in your area or who have shown interest in it. For a plumber or roofer who can only take jobs in a set service area, review the advanced location option and choose people in or regularly in your target locations, so you don’t pay for clicks from people who searched your city from somewhere else and can’t hire you. Set your targeting by the ZIP codes or radius you really cover.
Build a negative keyword list from day one
Negative keywords stop your ads from showing for searches that will never become jobs. Google’s negative keywords guide explains that you can add them at the campaign or account level, and that you need to add synonyms and singular or plural versions yourself.
Common negatives for home services include:
- Job seekers: jobs, careers, hiring, salary, apprenticeship, training, school.
- DIY searches: how to, DIY, diagram, manual, parts, tools (unless you sell parts).
- Wrong services: if you don’t do commercial work, “commercial”; if you don’t install, “installation”.
- Wrong intent: free, cheap (test this one carefully), reviews of other brands, and competitor names you don’t want to bid on.
Check your search terms report every week in the first months and keep adding to the list.
Track calls, not just clicks
For most home services businesses the phone call is the conversion. Google’s website call tracking setup guide explains how a Google forwarding number can replace your number on your site, and how you can set a minimum call length so short calls don’t count as conversions. Without this, you can’t tell which keywords bring real calls, and any automated bidding will optimise for the wrong thing.
Split campaigns by service
Put AC repair, furnace installation and duct cleaning (or drain cleaning, water heaters and repiping) in separate campaigns or ad groups. Each service has a different value per job, and splitting them lets you put more budget behind the work you actually want.
How much should a home services company spend on Google Ads?
Your ad budget and any management fee are two separate costs. The budget goes to Google; a fee, if you hire help, goes to whoever runs the account. Keep them apart when you compare options.
We can’t give you an honest universal number, because cost per click and cost per lead vary a lot by service, city, season and competition. What we’d suggest instead:
- Work backwards from a job. Decide what one booked job is worth to you and what you could afford to pay to win it. That gives you a ceiling for cost per lead.
- Start with enough budget to learn. A budget too small to get a steady flow of clicks will take a long time to show you which keywords work.
- Put most of it behind your highest-value service rather than spreading it thinly across everything.
- Review weekly, decide monthly. Check search terms and call recordings or lead notes weekly, and change budgets based on booked jobs rather than clicks.
If you’d rather have a team run it, our Google Ads and Meta ads packages list what’s included and the recommended ad budget for each plan, with the ad money paid straight to Google rather than to us. You can also compare everything on our pricing page.
What are the most common mistakes?
- Sending ads to the home page. A page built for one service, with a clear call button and your service area, usually converts better.
- No call tracking. You end up judging ads by clicks, which don’t pay the bills.
- Missing calls. Paid leads that go to voicemail are wasted spend, and with LSA they can hurt your ad ranking.
- Ignoring the search terms report. Without regular negative keywords, budgets drift to DIY and job searches.
- Treating ads and Maps as separate. A weak Google Business Profile with few reviews makes every ad click less likely to turn into a call.
If you’d like a second opinion on your wider online presence, request a free audit and we’ll email you a plain-English list of priorities. No calls needed.