Industry Guide · 2 of 16 chapters published
Google Ads for Restoration Companies: The Complete Guide to Winning More Water Damage Jobs
A water damage call comes from someone standing in a wet room: a burst pipe, a leaking water heater, a ceiling that let go. They want a company that answers and shows up fast, and the insurance claim often pays weeks after the job starts. National franchise locations and lead sellers chase the same searches. These sixteen chapters build a Google Ads account in the order we build them, using real searches, websites, ads and reviews from water damage restoration companies in one example market, the Sacramento area. Your numbers will differ. The method works for a restoration company anywhere in the US.
Homeowners Describe the Leak, Not the Service. Build the Account Around the Jobs That Get Booked.
New account? Chapter 1 comes first. Each chapter uses the setup from the ones before it.
Measure
Count every call, form and chat, then send the booked job and its value back to Google before the insurance check arrives
A Restoration Job's Insurance Check Often Comes Weeks Later. Conversion Tracking Should Count the Booked Job.
"Water Damage Restoration Near Me" Gets 165,000 Searches a Month. Restoration Marketing Starts There.
What One Job Is Worth
Build
A page for water, mold and fire, exact match on the searches you know, bids set by hand, and ads that promise an arrival time
A Page for Water, Mold and Fire
One Search, Six Versions
Exact Match, Then Leak Searches
Hand Bids on Emergency Searches
Promise the Arrival Time
Launch
The Google defaults to change before the first click, and an ad schedule that matches the hours someone answers
Settings and Overnight Hours
Scale
Performance Max after 30 booked jobs a month, Demand Gen video, Local Services Ads as a test, and AI Max last
Performance Max After 30 Jobs
Video for What to Do First
Local Services Ads and Maps
AI Max With Prices Blocked
Restoration
Bonus chapters: what ads can say about insurance, mold as its own campaign, and lead sellers that pose as local companies
Bonus: Insurance Searches
Bonus: Mold Remediation
Bonus: Lead Sellers
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 searches like "water damage restoration near me" and your service and town names, bids set by hand, and your company name in a campaign of its own. Mold gets its own ad groups and page.
Exploration
Broad match with a target CPA once the account logs about 30 booked jobs a month, to find the ways homeowners describe the leak. That is the usual pace, not the rule; busier accounts get there sooner.
Performance Max
The usual pace again. It waits until about 30 booked jobs a month hold steady and job values flow back to Google, with careers and other off-topic pages excluded.
Demand Gen, Local Services Ads and AI Max
Demand Gen once the budget can carry at least 10 times your target CPA, Local Services Ads as a test beside Search once phones are covered around the clock, and AI Max last.
How to Use This Guide
Starting a new account?
Read in order. Sending booked jobs back to Google comes before the first keyword.
Chapter 01 →Do mold work?
Read the keyword chapters, then the bonus chapter on mold searches and the state licenses that govern what you can advertise.
Chapter 15 →One example market
Examples come from independent and franchise restoration companies around Sacramento, described as we found them. Your numbers will differ; the method is the same.
Chapter 05 →Google Ads for Restoration Companies
A Water Damage Call Nobody Answers Goes to the Next Company on the Page.
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.