If you’re a plumber, electrician, locksmith, roofer or gas engineer, you don’t need clicks. You need your phone to ring with jobs in your area, at times you can answer.
That’s a different goal from most of the Google Ads advice online, which is written for online shops. This guide to Google Ads for tradesmen is for UK trades who want ads to bring in real work, based on campaigns I’ve run for locksmiths, garages, cleaners and other local services.
Google Ads for tradesmen starts with the job, not the keyword
Before building anything, sort your work into two piles.
Urgent jobs are things like a burst pipe, a lockout, no hot water or a power cut. People search in a panic and call the first business that looks reliable.
Planned jobs include a new boiler, a rewire, a spare key or a bathroom refit. People compare, read reviews and fill in forms.
These need different campaigns, different bids and different ads. Mixing them is one of the most common mistakes I see. With my London car locksmith client, emergency lockouts and planned key programming ran as separate campaigns. The urgent one got the highest bids and call-focused ads. The planned one ran weekdays at lower bids.
Target where you can actually get to
Don’t target the whole of London because you’d “go anywhere for the right job”. Target the area you can reach quickly and profitably. If you need to, bid lower on the edges.
Set location targeting to people actually in your area rather than the default option, which can include people simply interested in it. Then check the locations report after a couple of weeks to see where clicks really come from.
Only run ads when you can answer
This is the single biggest money-saver in Google Ads for tradesmen. A missed call from a paid ad is money spent for nothing, and that customer has already rung the next number.
Compare your call log with your ad schedule. If you’re a one-person business and you’re on a job until 6pm, maybe the emergency campaign should be lighter during the day and stronger in the evening when you’re free. If you don’t take night work, switch the ads off at night.
Make calling the easiest thing on the screen
Add call assets to your ads so people can ring straight from Google. On mobile, that’s often how most of your leads arrive.
Your landing page should do the same: phone number at the top, tap-to-call button, and a short form for people who’d rather not ring. Show your area, your trade body memberships, real reviews and real photos of your van and your work.
Write ads that sound like a local business
Generic ads lose to specific ones. Compare “Professional Plumbing Services, Call Today” with “Local Plumber in Croydon, Typically There in 45 Mins, No Call-Out Fee”.
The second one answers what a stressed customer actually wants to know. For trades competing against national call centres and lead resellers, saying you’re local and not a call centre wins clicks. That line did a lot of work in the locksmith campaign.
Add your own: one line on an ad line that won more calls for a trade client.
Count real calls only
If Google counts every three-second call and every spam call as a conversion, it will hunt for more of them. Count calls that last a meaningful length, track form fills that actually send, and block known spam numbers. I explain this in how to stop spam leads from Google Ads. Google covers the setup in its guide to conversion measurement.
What to budget
Budgets for Google Ads for tradesmen depend on your trade. Urgent trade searches are competitive, so clicks aren’t cheap. The locksmith campaign averaged around £5.48 a click, but with a 16.08% conversion rate each lead cost £34.10, comfortably below the value of a typical job. An independent garage in Leeds got 500 leads at £36.38 each.
Work backwards from what a job is worth to you. My guide to Google Ads costs in the UK has the simple maths.
Look at Local Services Ads too
Where Google offers Local Services Ads for your trade and area, they’re worth a look. They appear at the very top of results and you pay per lead rather than per click. They don’t replace a good Search campaign, but they can sit alongside one.
Keep an eye on the junk
Trade searches attract a lot of people you don’t want: apprentices looking for work, DIYers looking for how-to videos, people after “free quotes” for jobs you don’t do. A solid negative keyword list keeps them out. See my guide to negative keywords.
Want a hand with Google Ads for tradesmen?
I work with trades and local service businesses across the UK. If you want to know whether your current ads are bringing in jobs or just clicks, book a free Google Ads audit. You can also see how a cleaning company got 1,580 leads.
FAQs
Is Google Ads for tradesmen worth it for a one-person business? It can be, as long as you only run ads when you can take the work and you track real calls.
Should I use Google Ads or rely on my Google Business Profile? Use both. Your profile helps you show in the map results for free; ads put you at the top when you need work now.