Google Ads for plumbers
Top of Google on day one.
SEO compounds, but it takes months. Ads buy you visibility the moment they switch on, which makes them the right tool for emergency work, quiet weeks and territory you have not earned yet. The booked jobs build from there.
Illustration. The shape matters more than the numbers: emergency plumbing searches spike after people get home and find the problem. If your ads stop at 5pm you are missing the expensive half of the day.
Do Google Ads work for plumbers?
Google Ads put a plumber at the top of the page the day they switch on, which suits emergency work, quiet seasons and new suburbs. They are wasted if calls go to voicemail, if you are already booked out, or if the budget is too small to buy meaningful clicks in your town.
Management fee, never a percentage of your spend.
Your budget goes to Google, not through me. You see every cent.
Wasted spend reviewed and cut, not left to run.
The ad account stays in your name if you leave.
The fee structure matters
A percentage of spend pays me to waste your money.
Plenty of agencies charge a percentage of your ad budget. Think about what that rewards. If I take fifteen percent of whatever you spend, then every time I talk you into raising your budget I get a pay rise, and every time I trim wasted spend I take a pay cut. The incentive points the wrong way and nobody mentions it.
So it is a flat monthly fee here, and your budget is paid straight to Google on your own card. I never touch the money. If I cut your wasted spend in half, my fee does not change, which is the only arrangement where cutting it is unambiguously the right thing for me to do.
It also means you can see exactly what you paid Google and exactly what you paid me, on two separate invoices, and judge each on its own.
Ads buy you visibility on day one. They do not buy you booked jobs on day one. Clicks arrive immediately, enquiries follow within a fortnight or so, and the account gets better as it learns. Anyone promising you a full diary by Friday is guessing.
Where the money leaks
Four ways a plumber's ad account burns cash.
These are the things I check every week. They are also the things an account left on autopilot never gets checked for.
Paying for searches you cannot serve
Without negative keywords you pay for plumbing courses, plumbing supplies, plumber jobs, DIY guides and people hunting for a part number. Every one of those is a real click, charged at emergency plumber rates, from somebody who was never going to book you.
A radius far wider than you will drive
Default targeting is generous. If you will not drive forty minutes for a blocked drain, you should not be paying for clicks from forty minutes away. Tightening the radius usually lifts results immediately because the budget concentrates where you actually work.
Ads running when nobody answers
If the phone goes to voicemail after five, ads running at nine at night are buying somebody else's callback. Either the schedule matches who picks up, or the after hours line is genuinely staffed. Both are fine. Paying for calls nobody answers is not.
Sending every click to the home page
Somebody who searched blocked drain Fishponds should land on a page about blocked drains, not a homepage listing everything you do. Matching the landing page to the search is usually the single biggest lift available in a plumber's account, and it costs nothing in extra budget.
When ads are the wrong answer
I will tell you to keep your money.
Ads amplify whatever is already happening. If calls go to voicemail, ads buy you more missed calls. If you are already booked out six weeks, ads buy you enquiries you will have to turn down and people who will be annoyed with you. If your budget is so small it cannot buy meaningful clicks in your town, it will not get a fair test.
In any of those cases I would rather put the money into SEO and the profile, where it compounds, and come back to ads when the phone is actually being answered.
Emergency work, quiet season, a new suburb, or a service you want more of.
Unanswered phones, full diary, or a budget too small for your market.
You get told which before you pay anything.
FAQs
Questions about ads.
Budget questions especially. Ask them early, they are the ones that matter.
How much budget do I need?
It depends entirely on your town and how many plumbers are bidding in it. Emergency plumbing clicks are among the more expensive local clicks there are, and a city with six competing plumbers costs very differently to a town with one. I will give you a realistic floor for your area on the first call rather than a number off a page.
Is the ad budget included in your fee?
No, and that is deliberate. You pay Google directly on your own card so you can see every cent that goes out. My fee is separate and flat, so it does not move when your spend does.
What happens to the account if I stop?
It stays yours, in your name, with all its history. I get removed as a manager. An account with a year of learning in it has real value, and handing it back is not a favour, it was always your property.
Should I do ads or SEO?
If you need work now, ads. If you want to stop paying for every click eventually, SEO. Most plumbers who can afford both should run ads while the SEO builds, then let the ad budget come down as the unpaid rankings take over. If you can only afford one, tell me which problem you have and I will tell you which to pick.
Do you use Local Services Ads?
Where they are available and worth it, yes. They work differently to standard search ads and the qualification process takes time, so it is a conversation about your market rather than a blanket yes. In New Zealand the availability is limited, so for most plumbers here it is standard search ads doing the work.
Other services
The rest of what moves the needle.
Most plumbers need two or three of these, not all five. I will tell you which on the first call.
Get started
Find out what a click costs in your town.
Ad costs vary enormously by area and by how many plumbers are bidding. Tell me where you work and I will give you a realistic floor before you commit to anything.