Google Ads Guide: Get More Local Service Customers

I understand you're looking for ways to get more customers for your local service business. Many business owners I've worked with face a similar challenge – the unpredictable feast or famine cycle. You might have tried various marketing efforts, from flyers to social media posts, and found them inconsistent. The truth is, it's often not a customer problem, but a system problem. When done properly, paid advertising can be that system, acting like a tap you can turn on to predictably generate leads. While many get it wrong, waste money, and conclude "it doesn't work," I can assure you it does, if you know how to use it effectively.

Let me walk you through exactly how to think about and use paid ads to get more customers for your local service business. I'll share straightforward advice based on what actually gets results, without any fluff or jargon.

So, where should I even start? Facebook or Google?

This is the first question everyone asks, and getting it wrong is the fastest way to burn through your budget with nothing to show for it. The answer is almost always the same for local services: you start with Google.

Think about it. When someone's boiler breaks in the middle of winter, or they've got a burst pipe flooding their kitchen, they don't scroll through Instagram hoping to stumble upon an ad for a plumber. They grab their phone and type "emergency plumber near me" into Google. They have an urgent problem, and they are actively, right now, looking for someone to solve it. This is called search intent, and it's gold for service businesses. Google Ads, specifically Google Search Ads, let you put your business right at the top of the results page at the exact moment someone is looking for you. For a local service business, there is no more powerful place to be. I've seen this approach work effectively for many local service businesses. For instance, I remember working with an HVAC company that saw great results with Google Search Ads, and I've also seen it benefit other service providers like home cleaning companies.

Facebook (or Meta) ads are different. They work by interruption. You're showing your ad to people while they're looking at pictures of their grandkids or arguing about politics. They aren't actively looking for your service. Can it work? Yes, sometimes. For more visual, "nice-to-have" services like bathroom remodeling or custom kitchen wrapping, you can create demand by showing people beautiful before-and-after photos. But even then, the leads are often lower quality. People might click out of curiosity, not urgent need. So you get a lot of tyre-kickers. For most service businesses, especially those that solve an urgent need, starting with Facebook is like trying to sell umbrellas on a sunny day. It's just not the right time or place. Many business owners ask if social media ads work for home services, and while the answer is nuanced, they shouldn't be your first port of call for urgent needs.

So, the rule is simple: capture existing demand before you try to create new demand. Start with Google.

Okay, Google it is. But what are Local Services Ads?

Right, so even within Google, you've got a couple of main options. You have traditional Google Ads (sometimes called PPC or Pay-Per-Click) and then you have Google Local Services Ads (LSAs). You've probably seen them without realising it.

Local Services Ads (LSAs) are the boxes that often appear right at the very top of Google, above the regular ads and search results. They show a company's name, phone number, rating, and a "Google Guaranteed" or "Google Screened" badge. Here's why they are so good for many local trades:

-> You pay per lead, not per click. With normal Google Ads, you pay every time someone clicks on your ad, whether they call you or not. With LSAs, you only pay when a legitimate customer actually calls or messages you through the ad. This is a massive advantage.

-> The "Google Guaranteed" badge builds instant trust. To get this, you have to go through a background check process with Google. It tells potential customers that Google has vetted you, which makes them much more likely to call you instead of some random company further down the page.

-> They are simpler to manage. There are no keywords to pick or ads to write. You set your budget, your service area, and the types of jobs you do, and Google handles the rest.

However, LSAs aren't available for every single industry. They're typically focused on core home services like plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, carpet cleaning, and even junk removal. You also have less control over them compared to traditional ads, and sometimes you might find you can't list a very specific service you offer. This is a common question I see, where business owners wonder about the difference between Google Ads vs Local Service Ads for their business.

Traditional Google Search Ads are the text ads that appear below the LSAs. These give you much more control. You choose the exact keywords you want to target, you write the ad copy yourself, and you can send people to any page on your website you want. This is powerful if you offer a niche service that isn't covered by LSAs, or if you want to be more agressive with your marketing. For example, if you're a specialist welding business or a new kitchen wrapping company, you'll almost certainly need to use traditional search ads.

For most eligible businesses, the best strategy is to run both. LSAs will often give you the cheapest, most consistent leads, while traditional Search Ads allow you to capture extra demand and go after more specific, high-value jobs.

Before you spend a single quid, you have to fix your website

I can't stress this enough. You can have the best ads in the world, but if they send people to a rubbish website, you are just setting fire to your money. Your website is your digital storefront, and if it looks untrustworthy or is confusing to use, people will leave in seconds. I've seen countless campaigns fail because the business owner didn't want to invest in their website first.

Your website only has one job: to convince a visitor to contact you. That's it. It's not an art gallery. Here's what it needs:

-> A massive, obvious phone number. It should be at the top right of every single page. On a mobile phone, it should be a "click-to-call" button that's always visible.

-> A clear, simple "Call to Action" (CTA). This is the main thing you want them to do. Use buttons that say "Get a Free Quote", "Schedule Service Now", or "Call Us 24/7". Don't be vague with "Contact Us" or "Learn More". Tell them what to do.

-> Trust signals. People are nervous about hiring trades they don't know. You need to make them feel safe. This means showing:

• Real customer reviews and testimonials.
• Logos of any associations you're a member of (e.g., Gas Safe Register).
• "Licensed & Insured" mentioned clearly.
• Photos of your actual team and your vans, not stock photos. Show you're a real, local business.

-> It must be fast and easy to use on a mobile phone. Over half your visitors will be on their phones. If they have to pinch and zoom to read your text, they're gone.

-> Professional copy. The words on your site matter. It should be persuasive and focus on the customer's problems, not just list your services. Some professional copy can go a long way to convincing people to pick up the phone.

Honestly, take a hard look at your website right now. Does it tick these boxes? If not, fix it before you even think about ads. A small investment here will pay for itself a hundred times over with a better conversion rate, meaning more leads from the same ad spend. A poor website is often the reason people struggle to generate leads in the first place.

How much will this actually cost me?

This is the million-dollar question, isn't it? The honest answer is: it depends. The cost per lead (CPL) varies wildly based on your industry, your location, and how much competition there is.

From my experience, here are some real-world ballpark figures. I'm currently running a campaign for an HVAC company in a competitive area, and they are seeing costs of around £50-£60 per lead from Google Ads. That sounds high, but a new boiler installation is worth thousands, so it's incredibly profitable for them. At the other end, I've run ads for childcare services where signups were about £10 each, and a campaign for a home cleaning company that got leads for just £5. This is why it's so important to know your numbers and understand how to track your return on investment.

A good starting budget for ad spend is usually around £1,000 - £2,000 per month. This is enough to get a decent amount of data and see what's working without breaking the bank. You can calculate a rough starting point like this:

(Number of new jobs you want per month) x (How many leads it takes to get one job) x (Your estimated Cost Per Lead) = Your Monthly Ad Spend

For example, if you want 10 new jobs, you close 1 in 4 leads, and your estimated CPL is £40:

10 jobs x 4 leads/job x £40/lead = £1,600 per month.

Remember, cost per lead isn't the most important metric. Profit is. A £60 lead that turns into a £3,000 job is much better than a £10 lead that turns into a £100 job. Don't get fixated on getting the cheapest leads; focus on getting the most profitable jobs. This is a hurdle many service businesses, from local plumbing services to home inspectors, need to overcome.

How to set up a Google campaign that actually works

Alright, let's get into the nuts and bolts. Setting up a campaign that doesn't just waste money requires a bit of thought. Here's a simplified process I'd follow.

1. Structure Your Campaigns Logically
Don't just dump all your services into one campaign. If you're a plumber, you should have seperate campaigns for "Emergency Plumbing", "Boiler Repair", and "Bathroom Installations". Why? Because someone searching for an emergency repair needs a completely different ad and landing page than someone planning a new bathroom. Seperating them lets you tailor your message perfectly to what the searcher wants.

2. Nail Your Keyword Research
This is the foundation of your entire campaign. You need to think like your customer. What words would they actually type into Google? -> Focus on high-intent keywords. These are phrases that show someone is ready to buy, not just research. They often include words like "near me", "quote", "cost", "company", "service", or a specific town/city name. -> For example, a good keyword is "emergency electrician in Manchester". A bad, broad keyword is "electrical wiring". The first person needs help now; the second could be a student doing homework. -> Make a list for each of your services. For example, for a landscaping business, you'd have keywords like "garden design quote", "lawn care service near me", and "patio installers [Your Town]".

3. Write Ads That Get Clicked
Your ad is competing with several others on the page. It needs to stand out and speak directly to the searcher's problem. -> Your headline should match their search as closely as possible. If they searched "junk removal quote", your headline should say "Junk Removal Quotes". -> Include your key selling points in the description. "24/7 Service", "Free Estimates", "Family-Owned for 20 Years", "5-Star Rated". -> Use ad extensions. These let you add extra info to your ad, like your phone number (a must-have!), location, and links to other pages on your site. They make your ad bigger and more useful.

4. Use a Dedicated Landing Page
Don't just send everyone to your homepage. If someone clicks an ad for "Boiler Repair", send them to a page that is ONLY about boiler repair. This page should repeat the offer from the ad, show testimonials related to boiler repairs, and have a clear call to action to book a repair. This relevance increases your conversion rate massively. A mismatch here is a common reason people find they're struggling to create effective ads.

5. TRACK EVERYTHING.
You must have conversion tracking set up. This means tracking both phone calls from the ads/website and contact form submissions. If you don't track these, you have absolutely no idea which keywords and ads are making your phone ring and which are just wasting your money. You're flying completely blind. This is non-negotiable.

What if my ads are running but not working?

This happens. It's rare to get it perfect on day one. The key is to look at the data to diagnose the problem. Here’s a simple troubleshooting guide:

Problem: I'm not getting many clicks.
This is usually a low Click-Through Rate (CTR). -> Possible Cause 1: Your ads are boring or irrelevant. Are they generic? Do they speak to a specific pain point? Re-write them to be more compelling. -> Possible Cause 2: Your keywords are too broad. You might be showing up for searches that aren't a good fit. Review your search terms report in Google Ads to see what people are actually typing and add irrelevant terms as "negative keywords" to stop wasting money on them. -> Possible Cause 3: You're not bidding enough. Your ads might be showing at the bottom of the page where no one sees them.

Problem: I'm getting clicks, but no one is calling or filling out my form.
This is almost always a website or landing page problem. -> Possible Cause 1: Your website is untrustworthy or confusing. Go back to the website section above. Is your phone number hard to find? Is it slow to load? Does it look unprofessional? -> Possible Cause 2: A message mismatch. Does your landing page talk about the same service that your ad promised? If your ad says "50% Off First Clean" but your website doesn't mention it, people will feel misled and leave. -> Possible Cause 3: Your targeting is wrong. The clicks you're getting might be from people who can't actually use your service (e.g., they're outside your service area) or who were looking for something else. Check your location targeting and your search terms report.

Problem: The leads I'm getting are low quality.
This often happens when people try to use Facebook ads for services with high search intent. For example, I've seen chiropractors get lots of cheap leads from Facebook, but find that these Facebook leads don't convert because the people weren't actively seeking treatment. -> Possible Cause: Your targeting is too broad or on the wrong platform. You might need to be more specific with your keywords on Google (e.g., target "commercial furniture cleaning" instead of just "cleaning"). Or, it might confirm that you need to shift your budget from Facebook to Google, where the intent is higher. Many business owners, such as those in auto detailing or plumbing, find that Meta ads don't yield the service calls they expect for this very reason.

Your Final Action Plan

We've covered a lot of ground. It can feel overwhelming, but getting a predictable stream of new customers is achievable if you follow a logical system. It’s the key to improving profitability and efficiency across the board. Here is the main advice I have for you, boiled down into a simple plan:

Why you might want to consider getting expert help

As you can see, there's more to it than just boosting a post on Facebook or throwing some money at Google. Doing this properly is a skill, and it takes time to learn and even more time to manage effectively every single day. As a business owner, your time is best spent running your business and managing your teams, not becoming a part-time digital marketer.

This is where hiring an expert can make a huge difference. It's not about the cost; it's about the value and the speed. An experienced paid advertising consultant or agency has done this hundreds of times. I know what works for a furniture cleaning business versus an electrician. I can get your campaigns set up correctly from the start, avoiding the costly mistakes most people make. I can analyse the data and make ongoing optimisations to continually improve your results and lower your costs per job.

Think of it as hiring a specialist tradesperson. You could try to fix your own plumbing, but you hire a plumber because they'll do it faster, better, and without causing a flood. It's the same with ads. Getting professional help means you get a predictable system for growth, managed by someone whose entire job is to make it profitable for you. Ultimately, the question isn't just how to generate leads, but how to do so profitably and at scale, which often requires a dedicated expert.

If you're serious about growing your service business and want to see how a professional approach to paid advertising could work for you, I offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. I can review what you're currently doing, look at your website, and give you some honest, actionable advice you can take away and use. Hope this helps!