Solved: Shifting from Performance Max to Search Ads Strategy?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your Google Ads setup for your construction company. It's a common question, that PMax vs Search one, and it's good you're asking it. A lot of people just let things run without questioning if it's the right approach.

I'll lay out my honest take on it based on what we see work for other service-based businesses.

I'd say you'll want to focus on intent...

Right, first things first. The biggest difference between a Search campaign and a Performance Max campaign comes down to one thing: user intent. This is probably the most important concept in all of paid advertising, and it's especially true for a business like yours.

When someone goes to Google and types in "construction company in [Your Town]" or "loft conversion builders near me", they have a clear and immediate need. They are actively looking for a solution. This is what we call 'active demand'. They've raised their hand and said "I need help now". This is the absolute best kind of traffic you can get. It's warm, qualified, and ready to convert into a lead or a phone call. Your Search and Call ads are designed to capture exactly this intent.

Performance Max, on the other hand, is a bit of a different beast. It's what Google calls a "black box" solution. You give it some assets (text, images, videos), a budget, and a goal, and it goes off and tries to find you customers across all of Google's channels. That means Search, yes, but also YouTube, Display (banner ads on other websites), Gmail, and Discover. The problem here is that a huge chunk of that inventory is not based on active search intent. It's showing ads to people who Google's algorithm thinks might be interested in construction services at some point. They could be watching a DIY video on YouTube or browsing a home design blog. They aren't actively looking for a builder right now.

For a construction company, this can mean a lot of wasted spend. You're paying for clicks from people who are just curious, not from people who need a quote for a big project. We've seen it before where PMax spends a load of money on Display placements that get loads of clicks but generate zero actual leads. It's just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks a lot of the time, and for a service business that relies on high-quality leads, that's a risky game. To be honest, I'd probably recomend pausing the PMax campaigns and putting all that budget into your Search and Call campaigns. You'll get more bang for your buck by focusing purely on people who are actively searching for what you do.

One other thing to be wary of with PMax is that it loves to take credit for your brand searches. If someone searches for your company name, PMax will often show an ad and count that as a conversion, making its performance look much better than it actually is. In reality, that customer was probably going to find you anyway. By sticking to Search, you have much more controll and transparency over where your money is actually going.

We'll need to look at your Search campaign structure...

Okay, so if we're going to double down on Search, we need to make sure it's set up properly to do the heavy lifting. A well-structured Search account is the foundation of any successful lead generation effort for a service business. It isn't just about turning it on, it needs to be built right from the ground up.

Your Keyword Strategy
This is the absolute heart of your Search campaign. You need to get inside the head of your ideal customer and think about what they would type into Google when they need you. You want to be targeting what we call 'high-intent' keywords. These are phrases that show someone is looking to hire, not just learn.

You should do some proper keyword research, but here's a few ideas to get you started, you'd want to group these into themes:

• -> General Local: "construction company near me", "building contractors [Your City]", "local builders", "reliable construction firm"
• -> Service Specific: "house extensions [Your Town]", "loft conversion specialists", "new build homes contractor", "commercial property refurbishment", "kitchen renovation builders"
• -> Problem/Urgency Specific: "emergency structural repair", "foundation repair company", "roofing contractor" (if you do that)

Just as important is your list of 'negative keywords'. These are the terms you don't want to show up for. It stops you wasting money on irrelevant clicks. You'd want to add terms like "jobs", "careers", "salary", "training", "course", "DIY", "how to", "free", "ideas". You're selling a professional service, not providing educational content or job listings, so every click on those terms is wasted money.

Ad Group Structure
Don't just lump all your keywords into one ad group. You should structure your campaigns logically. A good way to do this is to have a seperate campaign for each main service category (e.g., 'Extensions', 'New Builds', 'Renovations'). Within each campaign, you'd then have tightly-themed ad groups. For example, in your 'Extensions' campaign, you might have ad groups for "side return extensions", "two-storey extensions", and so on. This allows you to write super-relevant ads for each specific search, which Google loves. It boosts your Quality Score, which means you can often pay less per click than your competitors.

Compelling Ad Copy & Extensions
Your ad is your 3-second sales pitch. It needs to be direct and compelling. It should speak to the searcher's needs and tell them why they should click on your ad instead of the nine others on the page. Mention key selling points: "25+ Years Experience", "Fully Insured & Certified", "Free, No-Obligation Quotes", "Local Family-Run Firm".

Ad Extensions are also massively important and so many businesses don't use them properly. They make your ad bigger, give customers more information, and more reasons to click.

• -> Call Extensions: This is non-negotiable. It puts your phone number directly in the ad. You're running a Call Ad, which is great, but you should have call extensions on all your regular search ads too. Make sure you schedule them to only show when you can actually answer the phone. There's nothing worse for a potential customer than calling a number from an ad and getting a voicemail.
• -> Location Extensions: Shows your address and adds a map pin. This builds huge trust for a local service business.
• -> Sitelinks: Links to specific pages on your site, like 'Our Projects', 'Testimonials', 'Contact Us', 'Commercial Services'.
• -> Callouts & Structured Snippets: These let you highlight key features like "Free Quotes", "Guaranteed Work", or list the specific types of services you offer.

By getting this structure right, you create a highly relevant and efficient system that connects the right searcher, with the right keyword, to the right ad, and then sends them to the right page on your website. That's the formula for high-quality leads.

You probably should look at your website's job...

This is a point that gets missed all the time. You can have the best, most perfectly optimised ad campaign in the world, but if it sends people to a website that doesn't work, you're just burning cash. Your website has one job: to turn a visitor into a lead. All your ad spend depends on it working properly.

Have a look at your site with a critical eye. When a potential customer lands on your homepage, is it immediately obvious what you do, where you do it, and what they should do next? A few things to consider:

• -> A Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): What is the single most important action you want someone to take? Is it to call you? Or to fill out a "Request a Quote" form? This should be the most prominent thing on the page. Use big, clear buttons. Don't make people hunt for your contact details. A callback widget can work really well too, letting people enter their number for you to call them back when you're free.
• -> Build Trust Instantly: A construction project is a huge investment. People are nervous about choosing the wrong company. Your website needs to scream "professional, reliable, and trustworthy". Trust badges are great for this. Are you members of any trade bodies like the FMB or NFB? Put their logos on your site. Do you have good reviews on Google, Checkatrade, or other platforms? Showcase them.
• -> Show, Don't Just Tell: A portfolio of your past work is probably the most powerful selling tool you have. High-quality photos (and even videos) of completed projects are essential. Before and after shots are fantastic. This proves you can deliver the goods.
• -> Professional Copy: The words on your site matter. It's not just a list of services. It's sales copy. It should be persuasive, professional, and free from spelling or grammar mistakes. It needs to address the potential customer's pains and aspirations, and position your company as the perfect solution. Sometimes getting a professional copywriter in for a day can make a massive difference to your conversion rate.

Think of your ad spend as the cost to get a potential customer to walk into your digital showroom (your website). If the showroom is messy, the lights are off, and there's no one there to help them, they're just going to walk straight back out. Every lead you lose because of a poor website makes your advertising more expensive.

You'll need to get your head around the costs...

It's important to be realistic about costs. Lead generation for competitive services like construction isn't cheap, but the return on investment can be huge because of the high value of each project. You asked for honest answers, so here it is.

Based on our experience with other service businesses, you're likely looking at a cost per lead (CPL) somewhere in the £30 - £70 range, maybe even higher in a very competitive area like London. For instance, we're currently running a campaign for an HVAC company in a competitive market, and they're seeing a CPL of around £60. On the other end, we've run campaigns for home cleaning services where the CPL was closer to £5, but that's a much lower-value, higher-volume service. Construction is a high-ticket item, so the cost to acquire a lead reflects that.

The key isn't to focus solely on the CPL, but on the return on ad spend (ROAS). You need to work backwards. If you land one average-sized project, how much revenue does that bring in? How much of that is profit? Let's say you close 1 in every 10 leads you get from Google Ads. If your CPL is £50, that means it costs you £500 in ad spend to secure one new project. If that project is worth £20,000, that's a fantastic return. You've spent £500 to make £20,000.

Here's a quick, rough table to show how you can think about the numbers. These are just ilustrative figures, but the logic is what's important:

As you can see, even with what might seem like a high cost per lead, the potential return is enormous. You just need to have the systems in place to track it properly so you know your numbers.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

That's a lot to take in, I know. It's not as simple as just flicking a switch. To make it clearer, here is the main advice I have for you laid out as an actionable plan. This is what we would focus on first.

Implementing all of this properly is a significant amount of work, but it's what seperates the campaigns that just spend money from the ones that become a reliable and profitable engine for new business.

Getting it right involves constant monitoring and tweaking – adjusting bids, testing new ad copy, adding negative keywords, analysing search term reports. It's a specialist job, and it can be a real headache to manage on top of actually running a construction business.

This is where working with an expert can make a huge difference. We can take this entire proces off your hands, from the initial strategy and restructuring to the ongoing daily management and optimisation, ensuring your advertising budget is working as hard as possible to grow your business.

If you'd like to go through your account in more detail and get a proper strategy mapped out, we offer a free initial consultation where we can review everything together on a call. It's a great way to get a clear picture of the opportunities you might be missing.

Hope that helps give you some clarity!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh