Most contractors who try Google Ads burn through $5K, get a handful of tire-kicker leads, and quit. The problem isn't Google — it's that they ran the campaign like an e-commerce store instead of a high-ticket service business. Here's how we structure ads that consistently return 4-8× on spend.
Campaign structure for service businesses
Separate campaigns by intent: emergency, replacement, repair, and brand. Each gets its own budget, bidding strategy, and landing page. Mixing them is the #1 reason ad accounts underperform — you can't optimize for both a $400 repair and a $40K replacement in the same campaign.
Negative keywords are the whole game
Build a 200+ word negative keyword list before you spend a dollar. Block 'jobs', 'salary', 'DIY', 'how to', 'free', and every competitor name you don't want to bid on. Review search terms weekly and add new negatives — most accounts waste 30-50% of budget on irrelevant clicks.
Landing pages, not your homepage
Every ad group needs a dedicated landing page that matches the ad copy exactly. One offer, one CTA, social proof above the fold, mobile-first design, and a form with no more than 4 fields. Sending paid traffic to your homepage cuts conversion rates by 60%+.
Bidding, budgets, and the dashboard you actually need
Start on manual CPC, switch to Maximize Conversions only after 30 conversions, and only consider tCPA after 50. Track cost per booked job, not cost per lead — your CRM data is the source of truth, not Google Ads.
- →One campaign per intent type. Never mix them.
- →Spend the first week building negative keywords, not optimizing bids.
- →Dedicated landing pages always beat the homepage.
- →The right metric is cost per booked job, not CPL.