Someone typing "gutter cleaning near me" is not browsing. They have a problem today and they are picking somebody in the next ten minutes. Google Ads is how you are in that list.
Meta interrupts people. Google answers them. That one difference changes everything about how the campaign gets built and what a lead is worth.
Nobody searches "emergency roof repair" out of curiosity. These leads close at a much higher rate than social, which is why a more expensive click is often still the cheaper customer.
Not when they might be interested. When they are typing it. For urgent services that timing is worth more than any amount of brand awareness.
Search ads are text. If your work is not photogenic or you have no decent images yet, Google gets you running while we sort creative out for Meta later.
Only so many people search for your service in your area each month. Once you own that, Google is maxed. That is when Meta becomes the growth lever rather than the other way around.
Most of the money in a Google account is saved, not spent. Here is where.
The terms people actually type when they are ready to hire, separated from the ones they type when they are researching how to do it themselves.
The unglamorous part that saves the most money. Blocking "free", "diy", "salary", "how to", and the hundred other terms that burn budget on people who will never buy.
Tight groups so the ad matches the search. A person searching one service should not land on a generic ad about everything you do.
Set to your real drive time, and set to people located in the area rather than merely interested in it. That second setting is a default that wastes a lot of money.
Multiple headlines per group plus call, location, and sitelink extensions so your ad takes up more of the screen than the guy above you.
Half of local search leads call instead of filling in a form. If calls are not tracked you are blind to most of what is working.
Wired up before launch so Google can optimize toward booked jobs instead of clicks. Without it you are paying for traffic and calling it marketing.
Every week we read what people actually typed to trigger your ad. That is where new negatives and new opportunities both come from.
Four things quietly drain most local accounts. All four are fixable and all four get checked weekly.
Google will happily show your plumbing ad to someone searching plumbing school. Left alone this is usually the single biggest source of waste.
Fixed with negatives and match typesThe default targeting includes people merely showing interest in your area. That means someone three states away planning a trip can click your ad.
They searched one specific thing and landed on a page about everything. They leave. You paid for that click either way.
Without it Google optimizes toward whatever gets clicks, not whatever gets you jobs. It will confidently spend your whole budget on the wrong thing.
If you are already running Google Ads, these four are worth checking tonight whether you ever work with us or not. Most accounts we look at have at least two of them wrong.
Same honesty as everywhere else on this site.
Some services have almost no search volume in a given area. If the searches are not there, no amount of budget invents them. Meta is the answer instead.
In some niches the top of the page is owned by companies with budgets you cannot match. We would rather tell you that than take your money to lose slowly.
Search leads call. If your phone rings out to voicemail during work hours, Google Ads will be an expensive way to fill a voicemail box.
Google clicks cost more than Meta clicks and always will. If cost per click is the number you care about you will hate this. Cost per booked job is the number that matters.
Per click, almost always yes. Per booked job, often no. Search traffic converts at a much higher rate because the person already decided they need the service. Judging the two platforms on click cost is comparing the wrong number.
It helps a lot but it is not mandatory on day one. If your existing site has a clear service page with a form and a visible phone number, we can run to it. If it is a slow homepage with a contact link buried in the menu, we are paying for clicks that bounce.
It is a separate Google product that sits above regular search ads and charges per lead instead of per click. It requires background checks and licensing verification. For some niches it is genuinely worth doing alongside search. We will tell you if yours is one of them.
Yes, and they work well together once your budget supports both. Google catches the people ready now, Meta creates demand and retargets the ones who did not book. Starting both at once on a small budget usually starves them, so most people start with one.
Yours, same as Meta. You own the account, you pay Google directly, and you keep the conversion history if we ever stop working together. Account history has real value and it should not be held over you.
Book the call and we will look at the actual search volume in your area before either of us commits to anything.
