Solved: Google Ads Local Targeting in LA (The Real Customer)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your Google Ads situation in Los Angeles. It’s a really common problem to feel like you’re just throwing money at Google without a clear plan, especially in a massive, competitive market like LA. A lot of businesses struggle with this, so you're not alone.

The good news is that the solution usually isn't about finding some secret button inside the Google Ads dashboard. It's about stepping back and getting the strategy right first. Getting your local targeting effective isn't just about drawing a circle on a map; it's about deeply understanding who you're targeting within that circle and what they need from you in their exact moment of searching. Let's get into how we can fix that for you.

We'll need to look at your Ideal Customer's Nightmare...

Right, let's be brutally honest. "People in Los Angeles" is not a target audience. It’s a geographic area containing millions of people, 99.9% of whom will never need your services, or at least not right now. This is the single biggest mistake I see local businesses make. They define their customer by a location, not by a problem.

To stop burning cash, you have to forget the sterile demographic profile. You must become an expert in your customer's specific, urgent, and often expensive nightmare. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn’t a person; it's a problem state.

Let’s imagine you’re an electrician. Your customer isn't "a homeowner in the 35-55 age bracket living in Santa Monica." Your real customer is "a terrified parent in Santa Monica at 10 PM on a Saturday whose power just cut out, the kids are scared of the dark, and they're worried about the food in the fridge spoiling." That person isn't casually browsing; they are desperately searching for an immediate solution. Their search query, their urgency, and what they need to see on your website are completely different from someone else who might be casually thinking, "I should probably get a quote to install some new garden lights next month."

You need to sit down and map out these "nightmare scenarios":

• What is the trigger? What just happened that forced them to search for you? (e.g., a pipe burst, a fuse blew, they got locked out of their house).
• What is their emotional state? Are they panicking, frustrated, worried about cost, embarrassed?
• What is the real, underlying fear? It's not just a broken boiler; it's the fear of a freezing cold house for their family. It's not just a leak; it's the fear of catastrophic water damage and a huge repair bill.
• What does a "hero" look like to them right now? They need someone fast, reliable, trustworthy, and who can make the problem go away with minimal fuss.

When you define your customer by their pain, every other decision becomes clearer. Your ad copy will speak directly to their fear and offer immediate relief. Your landing page will reassure them you’re the right person for the job. And your keyword strategy will intercept them at their precise moment of need. This is the foundation. Without it, you're just guessing.

This deep understanding allows you to move from generic advertising to something that feels almost personal to the searcher. You're not just another ad in a list; you're the immediate answer to their urgent problem. That's how you win in a competitive local market. Everything starts here, not in the location settings of your campaign.

I'd say you need to master search intent...

Once you understand your customer's nightmare, the next step is to translate that into what they actually type into the Google search bar. People search differently based on where they are in the buying process, and you absolutely must not treat all keywords the same. Lumping them all into one ad group is a recipe for disaster and wasted ad spend. We need to segment them by intent.

For a local service business, search intent generally falls into three main buckets:

1. High Commercial / Emergency Intent:
These are your money keywords. The person searching is in pain and needs a solution right now. They are ready to hire someone. These keywords are often the most expensive to bid on, but they also bring in the most valuable, ready-to-buy leads. Your ad copy for these must scream speed, reliability, and provide an easy way to call you immediately.

• "emergency electrician los angeles"
• "24 hour plumber near me"
• "locked out of car beverly hills"
• "burst pipe repair santa monica"
• "[service] + near me"
• "[service] + [city/neighborhood]"

2. Mid Commercial / Consideration Intent:
These searchers have a problem that isn't on fire (yet). They are in the research and planning phase. They're comparing options, looking for pricing information, and trying to figure out the scope of their project. Bidding on these keywords can be very profitable, as you can capture customers before they hit the emergency stage. Your ads and landing pages for these queries should focus on building trust, showcasing expertise, and offering value, like a free quote or a detailed pricing guide.

• "cost to install air conditioning los angeles"
• "best roofing companies in the valley"
• "how much to rewire a house ca"
• "[service] quotes los angeles"
• "reviews for [competitor name]"

3. Low Commercial / Informational Intent:
These are people looking for DIY solutions or just trying to understand their problem better. Generally, for a local service business with a limited budget, you should avoid bidding on these keywords directly. They are expensive, the searcher is not looking to hire anyone, and you will get a lot of clicks with zero leads. The correct way to capture this audience is through SEO and content marketing (e.g., a blog post on "How to fix a running toilet"), not by paying for clicks.

• "how to unclog a sink"
• "why is my light flickering"
• "DIY patio installation"
• "what does a circuit breaker do"

Your job is to do the keyword research to build out lists for the first two categories. Think of every possible variation. What would you search for if your house was flooding? What would you search for if you were planning a kitchen remodel? Use Google's Keyword Planner, but also just use common sense. This meticulous seperation is what allows you to write incredibly relevant ads that match the searcher's mindset, which leads to higher click-through rates, better Quality Scores, and ultimately, a lower cost per lead.

You probably should structure your campaigns by service and intent...

Now we take our understanding of customer nightmares and search intent and build a logical, scalable structure inside your Google Ads account. The goal is to maintain hyper-relevance from keyword to ad group to ad to landing page. A messy account structure is one of the quickest ways to fail.

Here's a simple but powerful way to structure your account, moving away from the common mistake of having one campaign with dozens of unrelated ad groups.

Campaign Level: Group by Core Service Offering
Each major service you offer should be its own campaign. This gives you ultimate budget control. If you're a plumbing company, you don't want your high-value "Boiler Installation" service to have its budget eaten up by lower-value "Leaky Tap Repair" clicks. You might have campaigns like:

• Campaign 1: Emergency Plumbing Services
• Campaign 2: Boiler Installation & Repair
• Campaign 3: Bathroom Remodeling
• Campaign 4: Drain Unblocking

Ad Group Level: Group by Specific Keyword Theme & Intent
Within each campaign, you'll create ad groups based on tightly-themed keyword groups, often separated by that intent we just discussed. This ensures the ads shown are perfectly matched to the keywords being searched.

Let's take the "Campaign 1: Emergency Plumbing Services" example:

• Ad Group 1: Burst Pipes
  • Keywords: "burst pipe repair la", "emergency pipe leak fix", "water pipe burst help"
  • Ad Copy: "Burst Pipe Emergency in LA? 24/7 Fast Response. Stop Water Damage Now. Call Us."
  • Landing Page: A page specifically about your emergency burst pipe services.
• Ad Group 2: Blocked Toilets
  • Keywords: "emergency toilet unblocking", "blocked toilet plumber near me", "24/7 toilet repair"
  • Ad Copy: "Blocked Toilet in Los Angeles? We'll Unblock it Fast. Available 24/7. Call for Immediate Help."
  • Landing Page: A page about your toilet unblocking services.

And for the "Campaign 2: Boiler Installation & Repair" example:

• Ad Group 1: New Boiler Installation (Consideration Intent)
  • Keywords: "new boiler cost los angeles", "boiler installation quotes ca", "best boilers for home"
  • Ad Copy: "Need a New Boiler in LA? Get a Free, No-Obligation Quote Today. Expert Installation."
  • Landing Page: Your main boiler installation page with testimonials, brand info, and a quote form.
• Ad Group 2: Boiler Repair (Emergency Intent)
  • Keywords: "emergency boiler repair la", "boiler not working help", "24 hour boiler fix"
  • Ad Copy: "Boiler Broken Down? We Fix All Models 24/7 Across LA. Get Your Heating Back On Fast."
  • Landing Page: A page focused on your fast boiler repair service.

This structure might seem like more work upfront, but it pays off massively. It gives you incredible control and clarity. You'll know exactly which services are profitable, which keywords are driving leads, and you can write ads that are so relevant they feel like a direct answer to the searcher's question. This is how professional campaigns are built. It’s methodical, it’s logical, and it works.

You'll need to nail your local targeting settings...

Okay, now we get to the part that you were originally asking about, but you can see why we needed the other pieces in place first. Without a clear ICP and intent-based structure, even the best location settings won't save you. But with that foundation, we can now make sure your ads are only shown to people who can actually become customers. In a sprawling area like Los Angeles, this is absolutely critical.

First, the most important setting in your entire campaign. Inside your campaign settings, under "Locations", you need to open the "Location options" dropdown. You will see two main choices:

• Presence or interest: People in, regularly in, or who've shown interest in your targeted locations (Recommended)
• Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations

Google "recommends" the first option. For a local service business, this recommendation is poison. You MUST select the second option, "Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations". Why? The "interest" setting means Google could show your ad for an LA-based plumber to someone sitting in New York who is planning a trip to LA or just researching something about the city. That's a completely wasted click and wasted money. You only want to show ads to people physically within your service area.

Next, you need to decide how to define your service area. You have a few options:

1. Radius Targeting: This is the simplest. You drop a pin on your business address and say "show ads to everyone within a 20-mile radius". It's easy to set up, but for a city like LA, it can be very inefficient. A 20-mile radius might cover areas you don't want to service (e.g., across difficult terrain or areas known for bad traffic) and miss affluent areas just outside the circle.

2. City/County Targeting: You could just target "Los Angeles" as a city. Again, simple, but LA is huge. This treats someone in Malibu the same as someone in East LA. Do they have the same income levels? The same types of homes? The same value as a customer to you? Probably not.

3. ZIP Code (Postcode) Targeting: This is almost always the best and most strategic option for a large metro area. You can hand-pick the exact ZIP codes you want to service. This allows you to focus your budget on the most profitable neighbourhoods. You can create campaigns that specifically target high-income areas like Beverly Hills (90210) or Santa Monica (90401, 90402) and exclude areas that are less profitable or too far to travel to efficiently. This is a level of granular control that your competitors are probably not using.

Finally, use Location Bid Adjustments. Let's say you've targeted 20 ZIP codes, but you know that customers from two of those ZIP codes (e.g., the most affluent ones) are consistently more profitable. You can tell Google, "I'm willing to bid 25% more when a search comes from someone in 90210". This pushes your ads to the top of the results in your most valuable areas, maximising your chances of capturing the best jobs. This level of strategic targeting is how you go from just "running ads in LA" to dominating the specific local markets that matter most to your bottom line.

Your offer and landing page are probably leaking money...

Let's imagine you get everything we've discussed perfect. You've defined your customer's nightmare, mastered their search intent, built a flawless campaign structure, and nailed your ZIP code targeting. You're now paying, say, $30 for a highly qualified, urgent click from a customer in your ideal neighbourhood. They land on your website... and then what?

This is where most campaigns fail. The ad does its job, but the website fails to convert the click into a call or a form submission. A perfect ad campaign pointing to a weak landing page is like carrying water in a bucket full of holes. You're just pouring your ad budget onto the floor.

You have to be brutally honest about your website experience. Does it immediately answer the user's question and solve their problem? Most local service websites are a mess. They suffer from common, conversion-killing flaws:

• No Clear Call to Action (CTA): What, precisely, do you want the visitor to do? "Contact Us" is not a compelling CTA. For an emergency service, it should be "Call Now for Immediate Help" with a clickable phone number right at the top. For a quote-based service, it should be "Get Your Free Quote in 5 Minutes." Be direct and specific.
• Phone Number is Hidden: For urgent services, the phone number should be the most prominent element on the page, especially on mobile. If they have to hunt for it, they'll just click back and call your competitor.
• Not Mobile-Friendly: The vast majority of urgent local searches happen on a mobile phone. If your site is difficult to navigate on a small screen, you are losing customers. End of story.
• No Trust Signals or Social Proof: Why should a panicked homeowner trust you, a stranger from the internet, to come into their home? Your site needs to be plastered with trust signals:
  • Customer reviews and testimonials (with photos if possible).
  • Logos of any certifications or accreditations (e.g., licensed, bonded, insured).
  • An "About Us" page with photos of you and your actual team (not stock photos!).
  • A local address and phone number to show you're a real, local business.
• A Generic Offer: "Quality service at a fair price" is what everyone says. It means nothing. Your offer needs to be specific. Instead of just "plumbing services", offer a "1-Hour Emergency Response Guarantee" or a "Free Camera Inspection with Any Drain Cleaning Service." Give them a concrete reason to choose you over the three other tabs they have open.

Every click you pay for is an opportunity. Your landing page's only job is to convert that opportunity into a lead. Even a small improvement in your website's conversion rate can have a massive impact on your profitability, as it directly lowers your cost to acquire a customer. Don't let a poor website undo all the hard work you've put into your ads.

Let's talk about the numbers you should expect...

So, what does success actually look like in terms of cost? This is a question with no single answer, but based on my experience running campaigns for similar B2C service businesses, we can establish some realistic benchmarks.

You’re probably looking at a cost per lead (CPL) anywhere from $10 to $60. This is a wide range, and where you fall on that spectrum depends heavily on your industry, the competition in LA, and how well you implement the strategies we've discussed. I remember one campaign we ran for an HVAC company in a very competitive area, and they were seeing a CPL around $60. On the other hand, we’ve run ads for childcare services where the CPL was closer to $10 per signup, and a home cleaning company we worked with achieved an incredible £5 (about $6.50) per lead.

The real question isn't "How low can my CPL go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford to still be very profitable?" To answer that, you need to understand your numbers. You need a basic grasp of your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).

For a local service, it can be calculated simply:

(Average Job Value * Your Gross Margin %) * Average Number of Repeat Jobs = LTV

Let's say your average job is worth $800, your gross margin is 40%, and the average customer calls you for 2 more jobs over the next few years.

LTV = ($800 * 0.40) * 3 = $320 * 3 = $960

In this scenario, each new customer you acquire is worth $960 in gross profit to your business. Now, let's say your sales process is decent and you close 1 out of every 4 qualified leads you get from your ads. This means you can afford to pay up to $240 ($960 / 4) for a single lead and still break even on that customer over their lifetime. A healthy business model would aim to acquire customers for a third of their LTV, meaning you could happily pay up to $80 per lead ($240 / 3) and be building a very profitable business.

Suddenly, that $60 CPL for the HVAC company doesn't seem so expensive, does it? It looks like a great investment. This is the math that frees you from obsessing over cheap clicks and allows you to focus on acquiring high-value customers. You need to know your numbers. Without them, you're flying blind.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below in a table to give you a clear, actionable plan.

As you can see, building a successful local ad campaign is less about being a Google Ads technician and more about being a sharp business strategist who deeply understands their customer. It takes a methodical approach, but when you get these fundamentals right, Google Ads can become an incredibly reliable and scalable engine for growth for your buisness.

This can all be a lot to take on, especially when you're busy running your actual business. This is often where getting some expert help can make a huge difference, not just in getting better results, but in getting them much faster and avoiding costly mistakes along the way.

If you'd like to go through your specific situation in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation consultation where we can look at your account together and map out a precise plan of action. Feel free to book a time that works for you if that sounds helpful.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh