Paid search · Local service businesses
Google Ads Management for Local Service Businesses
Most local ad accounts we open are not badly optimised. They are quietly broken in one specific way, and the reports never say so. Conversion tracking that stopped firing after a site update. Targeting set to people interested in your area rather than people in it. Ads pointing at a homepage. Fix those and the same budget buys considerably more work.
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The four leaks we keep finding
None of these is exotic and none of them shows up in the dashboard as a problem. That is exactly why they survive for years.
The conversion never fired, so every report said zero
This is the one we find most often and it is never in the ad account. A phone_call conversion event gets set up correctly, then a theme update or a rebuilt form quietly stops it firing. Nobody is alerted. The reports keep arriving and they keep saying zero. On one client we took over, Google Ads was the largest channel on the site at 428 paid sessions in 90 days, and the service page it pointed at recorded no conversions at all from that spend.
The full write-up, including what did not move →The ads were serving outside the service area
Google's location settings default to people who show interest in your area, not people in it. For a business that only drives 40 minutes, that quietly buys clicks from cities it will never serve. We found this on a live client account, tightened the targeting, and verified the result: zero percent of spend now falls outside the service area. It is a settings change, not a strategy change, and it is worth more than most creative work.
Broad match is spending the budget on the wrong job
A local service business on broad match pays for searches it cannot serve, cannot price, or does not want. Emergency work and planned work have completely different values and get bid identically. The fix is unglamorous: negative keyword lists built from the actual search terms report, and separate campaigns for the jobs that are worth different money.
The ads point at a homepage
The ad promises one specific job. The click lands on a homepage listing eleven services with a contact form at the bottom. Every step between the promise and the phone number is a place to lose the customer. Ads for a specific service need a page about that service, with the number above the fold.
What the work actually is
In this order, because the first step routinely changes what the rest should be.
Audit the account before touching the bids
Conversion tracking verified end to end with a real test call and a real form submission. Location targeting checked against the area you actually serve. Search terms report read line by line. Wasted spend named in dollars. You get this in writing whether or not you hire us afterwards.
Rebuild the campaign around the jobs, not the services
Separate campaigns for the work that is worth different money: emergency versus planned, high-ticket versus routine. Negative keyword lists built from your own search terms data rather than a template. Geographic targeting set to presence, not interest.
Send the click somewhere that converts
Each campaign points at a page about that specific job, with a click-to-call above the fold and the service area named. If the page does not exist we build it, and it earns organic rankings at the same time, which is the part a pure ads agency cannot do for you.
Track calls properly, without wrecking your local SEO
Call tracking numbers are useful and they are also the fastest way to break the name, address and phone consistency that your Map Pack ranking depends on. We keep tracking numbers on ad traffic only and leave your real number everywhere Google reads it for local ranking.
Report in booked work, not impressions
Cost per call, cost per booked job where you can tell us the outcome, and what we changed and why. Impression share is reported and never used as a headline, because an impression outside your service area is a cost, not a result.
Ads and SEO are not alternatives
Ads buy the phone ringing this week. SEO stops you paying for the phone to ring in year three. The two surfaces behave differently and the money sits in different places on each, which we have measured on this shoreline rather than assumed.
If you are weighing the two, start with Google Ads versus SEO for Collingwood trades, then read where the clicks actually go between the Map Pack and organic. Both use real local numbers. And if you are eligible for Local Services Ads, that is a separate decision again: Local Services Ads or Google Ads sets out which one fits which business, including what changed when Google started billing for missed calls on 1 October 2026. And if you are shortlisting firms rather than reading up, how a trade should choose a Google Ads agency in Ontario names five real options, including where we are the wrong answer.
Where ad management sits
Trades Premium, $2,500/mo
Google Ads campaign management is included in Trades Premium and in Custom engagements, layered on top of the SEO work rather than sold against it. Ad spend is separate and is paid directly to Google, never through us.
Not there yet? The free 15-minute audit includes a look at your ad account with no sales call attached, and every plan is month to month. Full breakdown on the pricing page.
Questions we get asked
Do you offer Google Ads management on its own? +
Today it is bundled, not standalone. Google Ads campaign management is included in Trades Premium at $2,500 a month and in Custom engagements. Ad spend is separate and is paid directly to Google, never through us. If you want ads managed without the SEO work around it, say so on the call and we will tell you honestly whether that is a fit rather than selling you a tier you do not need.
Should I run ads or do SEO? +
Both, in that order, for most local service businesses. Ads buy you the phone ringing this week. SEO stops you paying for the phone to ring in year three. The usual sequence is to run ads at your current spend for the first three months while the organic work compounds, then reduce spend as Map Pack position improves. Anybody who tells you to switch one off on day one is selling the one they do.
How much should I spend? +
Enough to buy meaningful data in your category, which for most local trades is a few hundred dollars a month rather than a few thousand. The more useful question is what a booked job is worth to you, because that sets what a click can cost. We work that out with you before the account is touched, and if the numbers do not support ads we will say so.
What about Local Service Ads and the Google Guaranteed badge? +
They are a different product with different economics: you pay per lead rather than per click, and you need to pass a background and licence check. For some trades they outperform standard Google Ads and for others they are not available at all. We will tell you which applies to your category rather than defaulting you into whichever one is easier to bill for.
Who owns the ad account? +
You do. We work inside your account through our manager account, so if you leave, the account, the history and the data stay with you. Any agency that builds campaigns inside an account you cannot access is holding your history hostage, and it is a common enough arrangement that it is worth asking every agency you speak to.
A free check of your ad account
I will verify whether your conversion tracking still fires, whether your targeting is set to presence or interest, and what your search terms report says you are actually paying for. You get the findings in writing, hired or not.
Prefer to talk? (705) 539-0398
