Solved: Google Ads Advice for a Junk Removal Company

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I'd be happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience running these sorts of campaigns. It's good you're looking at Google Ads, for a local service like yours, it's pretty much the best place to start. But it's easy to waste a lot of money if you don't get the foundations right from the get go.

I'll lay out my thoughts for you below. This isnt going to be generic advice, but a look at how I'd approach this if you were a client of ours. I'll be direct, because that's what's most helpful.

You need to be where your customers are looking...

First things first, let's talk about where to spend your money. You mentioned Google Ads, and you're spot on there. For a service like junk removal, your customers have an immediate, often urgent, problem. Their garage is overflowing, they're moving house tomorrow, or they've just finished a renovation and are staring at a pile of rubble. They aren't scrolling through Facebook or Instagram hoping to stumble upon a solution. They're actively going to Google and typing in things like "junk removal near me" or "get rid of old sofa".

This is what we call 'active intent'. You want to be there at the exact moment they're looking for help. That's why Google is your battleground. Trying to use social media for this kind of service is like trying to sell umbrellas in the desert. You might find a buyer eventually, but you'll waste a ton of effort and cash finding them. Your customers are on Google, so thats where you need to be.

Now, onto your question about PPC vs. PPL. It's a good one, and it shows you're thinking about this the right way. Let's break them down.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click): This is what most people mean when they say "Google Ads". You run standard Search Ads. You bid on keywords (the phrases people type into Google), and when someone clicks your ad, you pay a fee. It could be £2, it could be £15, it depends on the competition for that keyword. The good thing is you have immense control. You choose the exact keywords, you write the ad copy, you decide which page on your website they land on, you can schedule ads to the hour. The bad thing is you pay for the click, regardless of whether that person calls you or not. If your website is confusing or untrustworthy, you can pay for hundreds of clicks and get zero business. It's powerful, but the risk is all on you.

PPL (Pay-Per-Lead): This is what Google's "Local Service Ads" (LSAs) offer. You've probably seen them at the very top of Google, with a green "Google Guaranteed" checkmark. To get on there, you have to go through a screening process with Google, including background checks and providing proof of insurance. Once you're approved, Google shows your business profile when people in your area search for your services. The brilliant part is you only pay when a legitimate customer calls or messages you directly through the ad. You don't pay for clicks or views. It's much lower risk, and that "Google Guaranteed" badge builds a massive amount of trust instantly. The downside? You have very little control. You can't write custom ad copy or choose specific keywords. Google just shows your profile based on the service categories you select. You also can't direct them to a specific landing page; they just see your LSA profile.

So, which one to choose? My honest advice is to do both. Start the application for Local Service Ads immediately, as the verification can take a bit of time. While that's processing, you can get a standard PPC Search campaign up and running. The LSAs will give you a steady stream of high-trust, lower-risk leads. The standard Search Ads will give you more volume, more control, and the ability to target specific, high-value jobs like "office clearance" or "estate cleanout" that might not be covered as well by the broader LSA categories. Running them together gives you the best of both worlds and lets you dominate the top of the search results page.

I'd say you need to define your customer by their nightmare...

This might sound a bit dramatic, but it's the most important shift in thinking you can make. Most businesses define their customer with vague demographics. For you, that might be "homeowners, aged 30-60, within a 15-mile radius". Tbh, that's completely useless. It tells you nothing about why they need you, and the 'why' is everything.

You need to forget demographics and focus on the problem state—the 'nightmare' they're currently living through. Your ideal customer isn't a demographic; they are a person in a specific, urgent, and often expensive or stressful situation. Your ads and your website need to speak directly to that pain.

Let's think about who these people actually are:

• -> The Stressed Mover: They're selling their house or ending a tenancy. They have a deadline looming. The removal company won't take the junk in the shed. They are time-poor and stressed out. Their nightmare is not getting the house cleared in time and facing fees or delaying a sale. They're searching for "last minute junk removal" or "end of tenancy clearance". They need speed and reliability.
• -> The Overwhelmed Inheritor: This person is dealing with a deceased relative's home. It's an emotional and monumental task. They're not just clearing junk; they're sorting through a lifetime of memories. Their nightmare is the sheer scale of the task and the emotional weight of it all. They're searching for "house clearance after death" or "bereavement clearance". They need a service that is compassionate, discreet, and trustworthy.
• -> The Garage Reclaimer: They've been meaning to clear out the garage for years. They can't park their car in it anymore. It's a source of constant, low-level stress and arguments. Their nightmare is another weekend wasted trying to tackle it themselves, making multiple trips to the tip. They're searching for "garage clearance" or "get rid of old junk". They need an easy, all-in-one solution.
• -> The Post-Reno Cleaner: They've just had a new kitchen or bathroom fitted, or built an extension. They're left with a pile of rubble, old plasterboard, and packaging. The builders have gone. Their nightmare is living on a building site. They are searching for "builder's waste removal" or "renovation debris collection". They need a robust service that can handle heavy, messy materials.

When you start thinking like this, your whole approach changes. You're no longer just a "junk removal company". You're a problem solver. You sell peace of mind, you sell reclaimed space, you sell the end of a stressful project. This understanding is the fuel for creating ads that actually work.

You probably should write ads that speak directly to their pain...

Now that you know who you're talking to and what their specific nightmare is, you can write ads that they can't ignore. Most of your competitors' ads are probably terrible. They'll say something generic and forgettable like:

"Junk Removal Services | We Are The Best In [Your Town] | Call For A Quote"

This is lazy and it doesn't connect with anyone. It doesn't acknowledge their problem. You can do so much better by using a simple framework: Problem-Agitate-Solve.

Problem: State their nightmare in the headline.
Agitate: Remind them why it's so frustrating in the description.
Solve: Present your service as the fast, easy solution.

Let's write a few examples for the personas we just discussed:

Ad for 'The Stressed Mover':

Headline 1: End Of Tenancy Clearance
Headline 2: Need It Gone Fast? Call Us
Headline 3: Same-Day Service Available
Description: Don't risk your deposit. We'll clear everything the movers left behind. Furniture, rubbish, garden waste. Fully licensed & insured for your peace of mind. Get a free, instant quote online.

Ad for 'The Garage Reclaimer':

Headline 1: Reclaim Your Garage Space
Headline 2: Full Garage Clearance Service
Headline 3: Park Your Car Inside Again
Description: Tired of the clutter? From old tools to broken furniture, we'll load and haul it all away. No more weekend trips to the tip. Call our friendly local team today for a fast quote.

See the difference? These ads show empathy. They prove you understand the specific situation. This builds instant rapport and makes them far more likely to click on your ad over a competitor's.

Beyond the copy itself, you need to use Ad Extensions. These are extra snippets of information that make your ad bigger, more informative, and more likely to be clicked. They are free to add and can massively improve performance. You must use them.

• -> Sitelink Extensions: These are extra links to specific pages on your site. You could have links for "House Clearances", "Office Clearances", "Garden Waste", and "Pricing". This helps pre-qualify the clicker.
• -> Callout Extensions: Short, punchy benefits. "Fully Licensed & Insured", "Same-Day Service", "Free No-Obligation Quotes", "We Recycle 95% Of Waste".
• -> Call Extension: This adds your phone number directly to the ad. On mobile, it becomes a 'click-to-call' button. This is probably the most important extension for a service like yours. You absolutely need this.
• -> Location Extension: This shows your business address and adds your business to a map, proving you are genuinely local. This builds huge trust.

A great ad isn't just clever copy; it's a well-structured machine designed to give the searcher all the information and confidence they need to take the next step.

We'll need to look at your website...

This is where so many businesses fall down. You can have the best ads in the world, but if they lead to a slow, confusing, or untrustworthy website, you are literally burning money. Your website's only job is to convert a visitor from your ad into a lead (a phone call or a form submission) as quickly and easily as possible.

Think about your customer again. They are stressed, on their mobile phone, and need a quick solution. They do not have the patience for a website that is slow to load or hard to navigate. You have about three seconds to convince them they're in the right place.

So what does a good junk removal website look like? It's all about making the 'offer'—the free quote—the path of least resistance. Forget fancy animations or long paragraphs about your company history. Focus on these things:

• -> A Massive, Unmissable Phone Number: It should be at the very top of every single page. On mobile, it must be a 'click-to-call' button. Many of your best leads will just want to call you immediately. Don't make them hunt for the number.
• -> A Simple Quote Form: Don't ask for their life story. All you need is Name, Phone Number, Postcode, and a small box for "What do you need removing?". That's it. A long, complicated form is a huge conversion killer.
• -> Trust Signals Above the Fold: "Above the fold" is what's visible without scrolling. Here, you need to show them they can trust you. Display your "Google Guaranteed" badge (if you have LSA), your star rating from Google reviews, a "Licensed Waste Carrier" logo, and the logos of any local associations you're a member of.
• -> Real Photos: Absolutely no stock photos. Get clear pictures of your actual truck (make sure it's clean!), you and your team in uniform (looking friendly!), and before/after shots of jobs you've done. This shows you're a real, professional operation.
• -> Clear, Simple Copy: The headline on your landing page should match the promise in your ad. If the ad said "Garage Clearance Service", the headline should say "The Easiest Way to Clear Your Garage". Reassure them, then immediately direct them to call or fill out the form.

Your website is your digital handshake. It needs to be firm, confident, and trustworthy. Anything less and your ad spend is wasted.

You'll need to understand the real numbers...

Okay, let's talk about the money. How much should you spend, and what should you expect? To answer that, you first need to know what a customer is actually worth to you. This is called Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). It's a simple calculation that will change how you think about your advertising costs.

Let's do a hypothetical calculation for your business:

Average Revenue Per Job: What's the average price of a single job? Let's say it's £200.
Gross Margin: After fuel, tip fees, and other direct costs, what's your profit? Let's say it's 50%, so £100 profit per job.
Repeat/Referral Factor: Will a good customer use you again or refer a friend? Maybe 1 in 4 do over the next couple of years. Let's add a conservative £50 to the value for that potential. So your total LTV is £150 in profit.

Now you know that a single new customer is worth £150 in profit to your business. This number is your guide. It tells you how much you can afford to spend to get that customer.

So, what about the cost per lead (CPL)? From my experience with service businesses, it can vary wildly. I remember one campaign we worked on for a home cleaning company that got leads for £5 each. On the other hand, we're currently running a campaign for an HVAC company in a very competitive city, and their leads are costing around $60 (£48). For junk removal, I'd expect you to be somewhere in the £15-£40 range per lead, depending on your area's competetiveness.

Let's use an average CPL of £30. And let's say you're good on the phone and can convert 1 in every 3 leads into a paying job. Your calculation for Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is: 3 leads x £30/lead = £90 to acquire one customer.

Is this good? Well, your CAC is £90 and your LTV is £150. You're making £60 profit on every new customer you get from ads. That's a profitable system. Suddenly, paying £30 for a phone call doesn't seem so expensive, does it? It's an investment in profitable growth. This is the math that lets you scale confidently instead of just worrying about cheap leads.

For a starting budget, I usually reccomend around £1,000 - £2,000 a month. This gives you enough data to work with. At a £30 CPL, £1,500 gets you 50 leads. If you convert 1 in 3, that's ~16 new jobs. At an average job value of £200, that's £3,200 in revenue from £1,500 in spend. The numbers work.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a lot to take in. To make it simpler, here is a table summarising the exact strategy I would recomend to get you started on the right foot.

Following this plan will put you miles ahead of most of your competition. It shifts the focus from just 'running ads' to building a predictable system for generating customers.

It's a lot to manage, I know. Getting the setup right, tracking conversions properly, constantly testing ad copy, and managing bids is a full-time job in itself. It’s easy to make small, costly mistakes that drain your budget with little to show for it. This is why many businesses decide to work with an expert.

An experienced hand can get this entire system built and optimised far quicker, avoiding those initial costly mistakes and getting you to profitability faster. We do this all day, every day, for businesses just like yours.

If you'd like to have a chat about it, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can talk through your specific situation and give you some more tailored advice. It might be helpful to have a second pair of expert eyes on this before you start spending.

Whatever you decide, I hope this detailed breakdown has been genuinely helpful and gives you a much clearer path forward.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh