Google Ads for plumbers: budgets, the campaigns that work, and the ones that burn cash
What a plumbing lead really costs on Google, how to split budget between Local Services Ads and Search, and the settings that stop you paying for tire kickers.
Google Ads is the only channel where a homeowner with water on the floor finds you in the next 90 seconds. It is also the fastest way to spend $3,000 on clicks from people looking up how to fix a running toilet themselves. The difference between those two outcomes is about nine settings.
This guide assumes you answer the phone. If you do not, ads make your problem more expensive, not smaller. Fix answering first with the missed calls guide.
Start with Local Services Ads, not Search
Local Services Ads sit above everything else on a plumbing search, show a Google Guaranteed badge, and charge per lead instead of per click. In most US metros a plumbing LSA lead runs $35 to $90, and you can dispute leads that were wrong number, out of area, or a job you do not do. Google credits a good share of legitimate disputes.
Getting in takes a background check on the business and the owner, proof of your license, and a general liability certificate. Budget two to three weeks for approval. Once live, LSA rank is driven mostly by review count and rating, responsiveness, and how fast you answer. That is another reason review velocity pays twice: only 23.1% of plumbing companies have passed 100 reviews, and in the LSA auction that count is visible right on the ad.
Set your LSA weekly budget at roughly five leads a week to start. A one-truck shop at $60 a lead is $300 a week, and if you close half of them at your average ticket the math is obvious inside a month.
Then Search, and only on the terms that call
Run a separate Search campaign with tight match types. Exact and phrase only. Broad match on "plumber" will hand you "plumber salary", "plumber school", and "plumbers putty" at $12 a click.
Build three ad groups and keep them apart because their value is not the same:
- Emergency: emergency plumber, burst pipe repair, no hot water, water leak repair. Clicks run $15 to $45 in metros. Cost per call lands around $60 to $150. Worth every dollar if you can be there in two hours.
- Named jobs: water heater replacement, tankless installation, sewer line repair, repipe cost, drain cleaning. Clicks $8 to $25, cost per lead $45 to $110, and the ticket is much larger.
- Brand: your own company name. Cheap, high intent, and it stops competitors from buying your name for $3 a click.
Add a negative keyword list on day one and put at least these in it: jobs, salary, apprentice, school, training, free, DIY, how to, parts, supply, wholesale, union, near me cheap, snake rental.
Budget, schedule and the tracking that proves it
For a one to three truck shop, $1,500 to $3,000 a month across LSA and Search is a real test. Under $800 you will not gather enough data to judge anything. Split it roughly 60% LSA and 40% Search at the start, then move money toward whichever produces booked jobs, not toward whichever produces cheaper clicks.
Set the ad schedule to your answering hours unless you truly run nights. 25.6% of plumbers claim 24-hour availability; far fewer answer at 3 a.m. Paying $40 for a 3 a.m. click that goes to voicemail is the single most common way plumbing accounts lose money.
Turn on call tracking and call recording. Use call-only ads or call assets so the click dials you directly, and count a conversion only when the call lasts longer than 60 seconds. Then actually listen to ten calls a week. Half of the accounts we look at are producing plenty of calls and losing them at the phone.
What wastes money
Performance Max as your first campaign. It spends fastest and explains least, and for a service business with one location it usually finds cheap Display clicks. Start with LSA and Search, add PMax after 90 days if you have budget left.
Display and YouTube for emergency work. Nobody watching a video decides to have their sewer scoped.
Broad match with Smart Bidding on a new account. There is no conversion history for the algorithm to learn from, so it optimizes toward noise for the first month.
Sending every ad to your home page. Send emergency traffic to a page about emergency plumbing with tap-to-call at the top, and water heater traffic to a water heater page with a price range on it. The website essentials guide covers what those pages need.
Reading the numbers after 30 days
Look at four things and ignore the rest. Cost per call. Percentage of calls that booked. Cost per booked job. Revenue per booked job. If cost per booked job is under 12% of your average ticket, scale the budget 20% and look again in two weeks. If it is over 25%, the problem is usually the phone or the keyword list, not the bid.
Check the search terms report weekly for the first two months. Every account collects garbage terms, and 20 minutes of negatives a week is the highest paid work in the account.
Frequently asked
Can I run Google Ads myself? Yes, if you will spend an hour a week in the search terms report. If you will not, the account drifts and quietly doubles your cost per lead over a quarter.
Do I need a website to run LSA? Not strictly, but leads convert better when they can check you out, and 28.7% of plumbers have no site listed at all. Median reviews for plumbers with a site is 39 against 6 without.
How long before it works? LSA can produce a lead the first week. Search needs 30 days and about 50 clicks per ad group before the data means anything.
Google Ads and Local Services Ads are both in the free 14-day trial. We build the account in your name and you keep it either way. Text or call (385) 832-6175.