Solved: Google Ads Clicks From Outside Target Area

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on the situation you described with your Google Ads campaign for your mobile car detailing business.

Getting clicks and calls from outside your service area and from people looking for cheap washes when you offer a luxury service is frustrating, mate. It's literally burning money, like you said, and it's a really common problem for local service businesses when they first start with paid advertising.

You've gotta fix teh geo-targeting first...

The absolute first thing you need to nail is your geographic targeting. Google Ads is powerful but it can be a bit fiddly if you don't get the settings just right. You mentioned people clicking from the next state over, which tells me the primary location setting isn't precise enough, or more likely, the 'Location options' are set incorrectly.

When you set up your campaign, you specify the locations you want to target, right? So you'd put in [City Name]. That's step one. But there's another crucial setting below that called 'Location options' or sometimes it's under 'Targeting settings' depending on the interface you're using.

By default, Google often sets this to 'Presence or Interest: People in, regularly in, or who've shown interest in your targeted locations'. See that last bit? "or who've shown interest in". That's the killer for a local business. It means someone in the next state could search for "luxury car wash [City Name]" and Google will show them your ad because they showed 'interest' in your targeted location. That's useless for a mobile service that only operates within the city limits.

You absolutely need to change this setting to 'Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations'. This tells Google only to show your ads to people whose devices indicate they are physically located within or frequently visit your designated city. This should immediately cut out most of those out-of-state clicks and calls.

It sounds simple, but honestly, this is one of the most overlooked settings and causes so much wasted spend for local businesses. It's like putting signs up for your business only in the area you serve, you wouldn't put them two towns over would you? Well, the default Google setting is kind of like that unless you change it.

Now, filtering out the cheap leads...

Okay, fixing the location is step one, but you're also getting calls from people asking for budget washes. This is where your keywords and, crucially, negative keywords come into play.

You're targeting good terms like "mobile car detailing [City Name]" and "luxury car wash at home". That's a solid start for reaching the *type* of service you offer. But the problem is, people searching for "mobile car detailing" might include those looking for the absolute cheapest wash they can find, not your high-end service.

This is where negative keywords are your best friend. You need to build a comprehensive list of terms that signal someone is *not* your ideal customer. These are words or phrases that, when included in a user's search query, will prevent your ad from showing. Think about all the ways someone might search for a cheap wash, or a basic wash, or mention brands you wouldn't typically detail, or terms related to DIY.

Your negative keyword list should probably include things like:
-> cheap
-> low cost
-> affordable
-> budget
-> discount
-> voucher
-> coupon
-> basic
-> standard
-> quick wash
-> express
-> diy
-> how to
-> free
-> $20 wash (or any specific low price mentioned)
-> beaters (since you mentioned you don't do them)
-> maybe specific non-luxury car brands if they are frequently included in low-end searches in your area, though be careful with this one not to exclude potential high-end clients who might also own a 'less luxury' car.

You need to add these to your campaign or ad group as negative keywords. You can start with a list you brainstorm, but it's vital to regularly check the 'Search Terms Report' in Google Ads. This report shows you the actual searches people typed into Google that triggered your ads. Go through this report weekly, looking for irrelevant search queries that led to clicks, and add new negative keywords based on what you find.

For instance, if you see searches like "cheapest mobile detail near me" or "how to wash my own BMW", you'd add "cheapest", "how to", and maybe "wash my own" as negatives. This ongoing process of refining your negative keyword list is absolutely crucial for reducing wasted ad spend and improving the quality of your leads.

Also, consider your keyword match types, like you briefly touched on. Using 'phrase match' ("mobile car detailing [City Name]") or 'exact match' `[luxury car wash at home]` gives you more control than 'broad match'. Broad match can show your ad for a wide range of related searches, including irrelevant ones. Phrase match keeps the words in order but allows for words before or after. Exact match is just that specific phrase. Start more restrictively and expand if needed, rather than starting broad and bleeding money.

Is your website making it clear you're luxury?

While targeting fixes are key, sometimes the problem also lies on the receiving end – your website or landing page. Even if you get the click from the right person, if your website doesn't immediately convey that you offer a luxury, high-end service, they might assume you're a standard mobile wash and call asking for prices that don't match your offering.

Think about it from the user's perspective. They click an ad for "luxury car wash". What do they see on your landing page? Does it look premium? Are there high-quality photos of you detailing luxury vehicles? Is the language used on the site positioning you as a premium service provider? Is there any indication of pricing, even a "starting from" range, or does it require them to call blind? Offering a quote request form or a clear description of your luxury packages can help pre-qualify leads before they even pick up the phone.

If the website looks basic, or doesn't clearly communicate the luxury aspect and potentially the higher price point associated with it, you might get leads who weren't filtered out by keywords but filter themselves out (or waste your time calling) once they realise it's not a budget service. We've seen this with clients where the website was letting down the ad campaigns; fixing the site can dramatically improve conversion rates and lead quality.

For a service business like yours, the goal of the website isn't just to inform, it's to convert a visitor into a qualified lead (someone who contacts you knowing you're a luxury service). Make it easy to understand what you offer, who it's for, why it's premium, and how they can book or get a quote. Maybe add photos of the types of cars you work on, testimonials specifically mentioning the high-quality service, or details about the premium products you use.

Look beyond just clicks and calls...

You mentioned feeling like you're burning money based on clicks. It's important to shift your focus slightly to the cost per *qualified lead* or ideally, cost per *booking*. A cheap click or call that never turns into a paying customer is more expensive than a slightly more expensive click that results in a high-value booking.

For local services, the cost per lead can vary quite a bit depending on how competitive your area is and the specific service. We've seen costs as low as £5 per lead for something like home cleaning, but for an HVAC company in a competitive area, it's closer to $60 per lead. Your goal should be to lower the cost of a *relevant* lead that has the potential to become a high-paying customer, not just lower the cost of a random click or call.

Once you fix your geographic targeting and implement a strong negative keyword list, you should see the quality of the people clicking and calling improve significantly. Monitor your search terms report religiously, track not just calls but ideally form submissions or quote requests through your website, and see how many of these actually turn into qualified leads you want to work with.

It takes time and tuning...

Paid advertising, especially on platforms like Google Ads, isn't a "set it and forget it" thing. It requires ongoing attention, optimisation, and testing. You'll need to continuously refine your negative keyword lists based on the search terms report, test different ad copy to see what resonates best with the luxury market, potentially test different keyword match types, and continuously evaluate the quality of the leads you're getting.

Getting teh right people in the door with paid ads, especially for a niche service like luxury car detailing, is a process of elimination and refinement. You target who you think is right, block who you know is wrong (with negatives), and refine based on the data you see coming in.

Here’s a quick overview of the key actions I’d recommend based on what you’ve described:

Implementing and optimising all of these layers – geo-targeting, negative keywords, positive keywords, ad copy, and website experience – is what makes the difference between burning money and generating profitable leads. It can feel overwhelming when you're doing it yourself and just want to get bookings.

Trying to figure out exactly why certain searches triggered your ads, or why leads aren't converting once they hit the site, takes specific experience looking at ad account data. Getting the mix right for a local service, especially a niche like luxury detailing, requires digging into the numbers and making informed adjustments constantly. It's not just about clicks, it's about the *right* clicks and converting them efficiently.

This is where having someone with deep expertise in paid advertising, who understands how to set up and optimise campaigns specifically for lead generation in local service niches, can really help accelerate your results and save you a ton of wasted spend and frustration. Navigating all these settings and reports effectively takes time and practice.

If you'd like a more in-depth look at your specific account and website, we're happy to book in a free consultation to discuss your goals and how we might be able to help you get the right kind of customers through Google Ads.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh