Google Ads management with the landing page and tracking handled too

Google's bidding works from the conversions you feed it, so I set those up before any budget is spent. Form submissions fire a conversion through Google Tag Manager. Phone calls are tracked two ways. Calls from the ad itself are counted by Google. Calls from the landing page go through a forwarding number or a tool such as CallRail. Each lead also lands in your CRM with its source attached.

Inherited accounts often count the wrong things. I find page views recorded as conversions, the same form counted twice, or a thank-you page anyone can reload. The numbers look healthy while the phone stays quiet. I strip tracking back to real leads: a submitted form, a call over a set length, a booked appointment. Where your CRM records which leads became jobs, that data can go back to Google Ads as offline conversions.

Google Ads for local services fails most often on search terms. A plumber bidding on a broad keyword pays for clicks from people looking for plumbing jobs, courses, supplies and do-it-yourself videos. The specialist on my team builds a negative keyword list before launch, covering jobs, free, training, parts and similar intent. They then read the search terms report every week and add to it.

Structure matters as much. Each service gets its own ad group with closely related keywords, so the ad can name the exact service searched. Location targeting is switched from the default, which includes people merely interested in your area, to people actually in it. Search partners and display expansion are turned off on search campaigns unless there is a reason to keep them. Auto-applied recommendations are reviewed and mostly disabled, since they tend to widen spend.

Sending paid clicks to a home page wastes them. A landing page for Google Ads repeats the ad's promise in its headline and shows the service area. It carries proof such as reviews and photos of real work. It offers one action: call or fill in a short form. I build it to load fast on mobile, since a person with a burst pipe is searching from a phone. The phone number stays tappable at the top.

You pay the ad budget directly to Google on your own card, in an account you own. The management fee is separate and starts at $299 per month. In the first month you provide account access, your service list, your service area and any past campaign history. Expect the first few weeks to be data gathering. Choose this over Meta ads when people already search for what you sell. Meta suits offers people need to see before they want them.