Industry Guide · 16 chapters · first chapter coming soon
Google Ads for Local Businesses: Google's Default Location Setting Reaches Past Your Service Area. Pay Only for People Nearby.
A local business pays for every click, but it can only serve the customers it can reach, and many of them call. A plumber, a roofer, a pest control company and a dentist run the same Google Ads method with very different numbers: what a job is worth, how urgent the search is, how far a customer will travel, and whether anyone picks up the phone. These sixteen chapters build a Google Ads account in the order we build them, using real searches, websites, ads and customer reviews from twelve businesses in one example market, St. Louis. Your numbers will differ. The method works for local businesses anywhere in the US.
An Emergency Plumber and a Dentist Need the Same Google Ads Build. The Value of a Booked Job Changes the Bids.
New account? Chapter 1 comes first. Each chapter uses the setup from the ones before it.
Measure
Count every call, form and booking, then work out what a customer is worth to your business
Count the Calls
Ready-to-Hire Searches First
Cost per Lead vs the Job
Build
Tight ad groups, pages that match the search, bids set by hand, and ads your website backs up
City Pages That Match
Seed With Competitors
Near Me and City Names
Bid by Hand to 30
Ads Your Site Backs Up
Launch
The Google defaults to change before the first click, starting with who sees your ads
Pay Only for People Nearby
Scale
Wider campaigns once Search books jobs, your Business Profile, and AI Max last
Performance Max Later
Demand Gen After Search
Your Business Profile
AI Max Last
Local
Bonus chapters: Local Services Ads, service areas and multiple locations, and answering every call
Bonus: Local Services Ads
Bonus: Service Areas and Locations
Bonus: Answering Every Call
The Rollout, Month by Month
The order matters as much as the campaigns. Each step waits until the one before it has taught Google something.
Isolation and brand
Exact match on the searches you know book jobs, bids set by hand, location set to people in your area, and your business name in a campaign of its own.
Exploration
Broad match with a target CPA once the account logs about 30 quality conversions a month. Busier accounts get there sooner.
Performance Max
The usual pace, not the rule. It waits for about 30 quality conversions a month, held steady.
Demand Gen, Local Services Ads and AI Max
Video once Search books jobs, Local Services Ads as a test next to Search, and AI Max last.
How to Use This Guide
Starting a new account?
Read in order. Tracking calls comes before the first keyword.
Chapter 01 →More than one location or town?
Read the service area chapter before you split campaigns.
Chapter 15 →Real local examples
Examples come from twelve businesses in one example market, St. Louis, described as we found them. Your numbers will differ; the method is the same.
Chapter 05 →Google Ads for Local Businesses
Google Bills the Click Whether Anyone Answers. A Missed Call Is a Job Someone Else Books.
We've run paid ads for 25+ years and seen just about every way a budget goes sideways. Get on the phone with someone who does this every day. Bring your questions, your numbers and your skepticism. You'll hang up knowing what we'd do, whether you hire us or not.
Or see how our Google Ads management works.