In November, a homeowner reads a tip sheet about frozen pipes and forgets it. In January, she searches "water heater leaking" while a towel soaks up a puddle in the garage. An hour later the puddle has reached the drywall, and she types "water damage restoration near me." Google can show your ad at every one of those moments. Only the last search is likely to end with a crew in her driveway today.
That is the whole idea of this chapter. A restoration company doesn't need to be everywhere a homeowner searches. It needs to be first where the homeowner is ready to hire, and then, once the account is booking jobs, it can reach back to earlier moments.
Every marketing plan has stages, from people who haven't thought about you yet to people who already know your name. Google Ads works the same way, with one important twist: a new account should buy the stages in reverse. Buy the searches nearest a signed work authorization, show they turn a profit, and spend on the earlier moments after that.
The search counts in this chapter are nationwide monthly averages that Keyword Planner gave us for this guide. The bids are Google's estimated range for the top of the page. Your own market will be smaller and priced differently, but the order of the stages holds anywhere.
A Search for "How to Prevent Frozen Pipes" Won't Book a Restoration Job This Week.
The earliest stage is the homeowner who isn't thinking about water damage at all. They search for prevention and products. "How to prevent frozen pipes" draws about 18,100 searches a month. "Sump pump" draws about 135,000, many of them likely shoppers comparing pumps. "Water leak detector" draws about 22,200.
Those numbers look tempting next to a local restoration market. The bids tell you what advertisers think they're worth: the top-of-page estimate for "how to prevent frozen pipes" runs from two cents to 43 cents. Few people hire a restoration crew from that search, and advertisers bid as if they know it.
What ads at this stage are for: getting known. A homeowner who saw your short video about shutting off the main valve may remember your name in January. That is real, and it is slow, and it belongs later in the rollout, through YouTube and Demand Gen. It is not where a new account spends its first dollar.
"Water Heater Leaking" Gets 14,800 Searches a Month. The Search Doesn't Say Whether Anything Got Wet.
Next comes the homeowner with a problem in front of them. They describe what broke, not what they need. "Water heater leaking" draws about 14,800 searches a month. "Flooded basement" sits near 5,400, "water stain on ceiling" and "toilet overflow" about 3,600 each, and "burst pipe" about 2,400.
These searches are closer to money, and the bids show it. The top-of-page estimate for "flooded basement" reaches about $74, and "water heater leaking" reaches about $56.
The trouble is that a problem search hides the need. A leaking water heater might need a plumber and a new tank, with a dry floor. It might need a plumber and an extraction crew. It might need a bucket. A ceiling stain might be a roof, a bathroom upstairs, or an old leak that dried months ago. You pay for the click either way.
What ads at this stage are for: earning interest from the share of searchers whose problem has already turned into water damage. That works best once the account knows which searches book jobs. Chapter 6 covers how broad match finds these problem searches after launch, along with the negative keywords that keep the plumbing-only ones out.
A Homeowner Asking Whether Insurance Covers Water Damage Hasn't Picked a Restoration Company Yet.
The third stage is the homeowner who knows they have water damage and is working out what to do about it. They compare costs, check their policy and look at doing it themselves.
"Flood cleanup near me" draws about 1,900 searches a month. "Does homeowners insurance cover water damage" draws about 1,600. "Water extraction near me" and "how to dry wet carpet" draw about 1,000 each, and "water damage restoration cost" about 720.
That list mixes people about to hire with people trying not to. "Water extraction near me" is close to a call. "How to dry wet carpet" is someone hoping a box fan will do. The insurance question is someone who will call soon, but who wants to know the money side first.
What ads at this stage are for: helping the homeowner choose. The ad itself matters less than the page behind it. A page that says plainly how insurance usually works on a water claim, what drives the price, and what happens on the first visit wins this homeowner over a competitor whose site only says "call now." Some of these searches are worth bidding on at launch, especially the "near me" ones. The research questions mostly wait.
A Homeowner Who Types "Water Mitigation Near Me" Is Ready to Hire. Bids for That Click Run Up to $112.
The fourth stage is the one that pays the bills. The homeowner knows the name of the service and wants someone to do it, usually today.
Nationwide, about 165,000 searches a month type "water damage restoration near me," and Google puts the top-of-page price between roughly $18 and $106. "Water damage restoration" draws about 90,500. "Water damage repair near me" draws about 33,100. "Water mitigation near me" draws about 22,200, and its top-of-page estimate reaches about $112.
The biggest searches and the highest bids sit at the same stage, and that isn't an accident. Advertisers bid most where searches turn into jobs most often. One small search shows it best. Only about 1,300 people a month type "emergency water damage," yet Google's top-of-page estimate for it reaches $300.
What ads at this stage are for: getting the call. This is where a new restoration account starts. Pick the handful of searches that name the service in your area, put them in exact match, set bids by hand (Chapter 7) and send them to a page built for that search, not your home page.
Homeowners Search "Servpro" by Name 90,500 Times a Month. Your Own Company Name Needs a Campaign Too.
At the end of the line, the homeowner has a company in mind and types its name. Nationally, "servpro" draws about 90,500 searches a month, the same as "water damage restoration," and "servpro near me" adds about 12,100.
Those searches belong to SERVPRO. People who type a franchise's name are looking for that franchise, and bidding on competitor names is a separate decision with its own costs. In our method, competitor names are negative keywords in your main campaigns. Chapter 5 covers that list.
Your own company name is different. Put it in a brand campaign of its own from month one. In our experience your own name is among the cheapest clicks in the account, because the person typing it has already chosen you: a neighbor's recommendation, a plumber's referral, a truck they saw on the street, a past customer with a new leak. If you don't show up for your own name, a competitor's ad or a lead seller's can sit above your listing.
What ads at this stage are for: making sure the homeowner who already picked you can reach you in one tap.
Google Sells Clicks at Every Stage of a Water Damage Search. The Searches Closest to Hiring Come First.
Each stage has a Google channel that fits it, and each channel has its own starting point.
- Your company name: a brand campaign on Search, at launch.
- Service searches: from day one, an exact match Search campaign where you set every bid yourself. Isolation is our name for this campaign, not a Google setting: it walls off the few searches you already trust to book jobs.
- Local Services Ads: a test that runs beside Search after launch, never in place of it, once your phones are answered around the clock and your reviews are solid. Chapter 12 covers when and how.
- Problem searches: a broad match Search campaign with a target cost per booked job. We call it the Exploration campaign (also our name): it explores the ways homeowners describe a leak that you never thought to list. It waits until the account logs about 30 booked jobs a month. For most accounts that's two to three months in. Busier accounts get there sooner.
- Cost and coverage searches: Search pages that answer those questions, and later Performance Max, which reaches several Google channels from one campaign. It usually comes six to seven months in, after the account has held about 30 booked jobs a month. Again, bigger accounts move faster.
- Prevention and early awareness: YouTube and Demand Gen. These wait until the account holds about 30 booked jobs a month, like broad match. Demand Gen is also hungry: Google wants its budget to be at least ten times your target cost per booked job. That puts it late in the rollout for most restoration companies.
A bigger budget can add the earlier stages sooner. The order doesn't change. Every stage above the first one depends on the account already knowing what a booked job looks like, and that knowledge only comes from the searches closest to hiring.
If you skipped Chapter 1, go back for it. Every stage after the first is judged on booked jobs, and the account can only see booked jobs if Chapter 1's tracking is in place.
Next: A $100 Click Is Cheap When the Job Behind It Includes the Rebuild.
The service searches that start the account are also the most expensive. Chapter 3 works out what a click is actually worth to a restoration company, from the extraction and drying to the rebuild that often follows, and how to set a budget from those numbers instead of from a guess.
Want the whole plan first? The guide home lists all sixteen chapters.
When we take over a restoration account for Google Ads management, the first campaigns go after service searches and the company's own name, before anything else.
