Google Ads can put a service offer in front of people searching for it. Whether that is worth paying for depends on the work you want, your capacity, the page they reach, and what happens after they contact you.
Use the checks below before approving a campaign. They are Radiarc’s planning framework, not a guarantee of campaign performance.
Start with one service and a real response plan
Write a one-sentence brief: “We want more [specific work] in [service area], and [person] will handle new requests during [hours].” If you cannot complete it, resolve those details before spending.
- Service fit: identify jobs you accept and jobs you do not want.
- Capacity: confirm that you can assess and deliver the additional work.
- Response: name an owner and backup for calls and forms.
- Destination: provide a working page about that particular service.
- Measurement: distinguish a form submission from a qualified lead and a booked job.
An HVAC replacement offer needs different content and scheduling expectations from an emergency repair offer. Do not advertise availability your team cannot provide.
Work backward from an affordable acquisition cost
Decide how much you can spend to acquire one job after considering direct costs, overhead, and the profit you need to retain. Then estimate your close rate using comparable, qualified leads.
Illustrative calculation, not a benchmarkIf you choose a total acquisition budget of $400 per booked job and 25% of qualified leads become jobs, the budget is $100 per qualified lead: $400 × 0.25.
That $100 must cover the costs included in your acquisition budget. If management fees and other acquisition expenses allocate $20 to each qualified lead, $80 remains for advertising in this example. Actual fees and volumes will differ. Do not substitute revenue for profit or assume an unfamiliar campaign will match an old close rate.
A zero-job month cannot produce a useful cost-per-job ratio. Record the spend and outcomes, then assess the longer sales cycle instead of declaring success from clicks.
Match the search, ad, and destination
Google recommends choosing a landing page that matches the ad and keywords. A water-heater installation ad should lead to content about that service, with coverage, relevant proof, and a working request option. See Google’s landing-page guidance.
For local service campaigns, review the location options rather than assuming a selected city excludes everyone elsewhere. Google documents a presence-based option for people likely in or regularly in targeted locations. It is not a perfect location guarantee. Review actual lead addresses too. See Google’s location-targeting guidance.
Agree on the report before launch
Ask for a scorecard with ad spend, management fees, unique leads, qualified leads, estimates, booked jobs, and reasons leads were rejected. Define “qualified” together: correct service, serviceable location, and a real potential job, for example.
A phone-button click is not proof that a conversation happened. Duplicate submissions should not become two opportunities. Mark unknown sources as unknown rather than guessing.
Google supports qualified and converted lead goals using later-stage information. That requires a configured and tested data flow; a conversion tag alone does not establish job outcomes. See Google’s lead-goal documentation.
Choose what to fix before increasing spend
| Observed problem | Next investigation |
|---|---|
| Wrong jobs or locations | Search terms, targeting, ad wording, and page coverage. |
| Valid leads go unanswered | Call handling, notifications, ownership, and backup coverage. |
| Estimates do not become jobs | Service fit, proposal process, pricing, and follow-up. |
| You cannot connect leads to outcomes | Tracking and recordkeeping before budget expansion. |
Agree on a review date and spending limit in advance. Continue, adjust, or pause based on lead quality and business outcomes, allowing for the actual time it takes your jobs to close.
