If you're a tradesperson — plumber, electrician, builder, roofer, heating engineer — and you want a steady flow of new enquiries rather than relying on word of mouth and hoping the phone rings, Google Ads is worth understanding properly. It's not a magic button, and it can absolutely waste money if it's set up badly. But when it's structured correctly, it's one of the most powerful lead generation tools available to a trade business.
This guide walks you through how Google Ads actually works for trades, what budget you realistically need, how to measure whether it's working, and what to do in those first few months to avoid the most common and expensive mistakes.
📸 IMAGE PLACEHOLDER Type: AI-generated illustration Prompt: A UK tradesperson (plumber or electrician) in work gear looking at a laptop or tablet showing a Google Ads dashboard with upward-trending graphs and lead notifications. Clean, professional illustration style with SoNick brand colours: Blue #2563EB, Navy #0F1F3D, Amber #F59E0B. Bright, optimistic mood. No photorealism. Alt text suggestion: Tradesperson reviewing Google Ads results on a laptop, representing digital marketing for trade businesses
Is Google Ads right for your trade business?
Before setting up a campaign, it's worth asking a few honest questions. Google Ads works brilliantly for some trades and poorly for others, depending on how the economics stack up.
What's your average job value?
Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model — you pay each time someone clicks your ad, whether or not they become a customer. For trade searches in UK cities, typical cost per click ranges from £3 to £8, depending on the service and how competitive your local market is. At a 10% conversion rate from click to enquiry and a 40% close rate from enquiry to booked job, you might need roughly 25 clicks to win one customer — costing you between £75 and £200 in ad spend per job won.
If your average job is a £150 boiler service, that maths is very tight. If it's a £2,000 bathroom installation or a £4,000 rewire, it works very comfortably.
How quickly do you need results?
A well-built Google Ads campaign can generate enquiries within days of going live. That's the main advantage over SEO, which typically takes six to twelve months to produce meaningful traffic. If you need leads now, paid search is the faster route. Just be aware that the first few weeks are also when you learn what's not working and refine accordingly — it takes time to optimise properly.
Do you have the time (or budget) to manage it?
Google Ads isn't a set-and-forget channel. You'll need to review search terms, add negative keywords, adjust bids, and test ad copy. If you'd rather focus on the job than the marketing, working with a PPC specialist is usually the more cost-effective long-term decision.
How Google Ads works for trades
Google Ads is an auction. Every time someone searches on Google, an auction runs in milliseconds to decide which ads appear and in what order. Your position in that auction depends on two things: your bid (how much you're willing to pay per click) and your Quality Score — Google's rating of how relevant your keyword, ad copy, and landing page are to what the person searched for.
This matters more than most people realise. An advertiser with a lower bid but a high Quality Score can outrank one paying more. Improving your Quality Score from 5 to 8 can reduce your cost per click by 15–25% — a meaningful saving when you're spending £500 or more a month.
Campaign types available to trades
Search campaigns are where most trades should start. Your ads appear at the top of Google when someone types in a service keyword — "emergency plumber Bristol", "boiler installation Leeds", "electrician near me". These are high-intent searches from people actively looking to hire.
Performance Max (PMax) campaigns serve ads across Search, Display, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, and Discover. Google's automation drives them. They can work well once you have enough conversion data to give the algorithm something to learn from, but they're not the right starting point for most trades.
Display campaigns show banner ads across websites in Google's network. Useful for remarketing (showing ads to people who already visited your site) but not effective for cold prospecting of trade services.
For most UK tradespeople, start with Search. Add PMax once you have three to six months of conversion data.
Google Local Services Ads — the most underused option for trades
Before you even think about standard Google Ads, check whether you're eligible for Google Local Services Ads (LSAs). These appear above standard search ads for many trade searches and display a Google Guaranteed badge, which Google only grants after verifying your insurance and running background checks.
LSAs work differently to standard Google Ads: you pay per lead (a phone call or message) rather than per click. For qualifying trades — including plumbers, electricians, heating engineers, and locksmiths — conversion rates from LSA enquiries are consistently higher than from standard search ads, because the Google Guaranteed badge increases trust at first glance.
The verification process takes one to two weeks for most trades. If your trade qualifies, it's worth completing before starting a standard Google Ads campaign. Many tradespeople run both alongside each other.
Setting your budget: realistic figures for UK trades in 2026
One of the most common reasons trade businesses abandon Google Ads is starting with a budget that's too low to generate meaningful data. Here's an honest breakdown.
Minimum viable budget for UK trades: £300 to £500 per month in ad spend. Below this, click volume is too thin to generate consistent enquiries or gather enough data to optimise the campaign.
Recommended starting budget for most trades: £500 to £1,000 per month. At this level, you can run multiple ad groups for different services, test keyword themes, and start seeing patterns in what's working within the first 30 to 60 days.
For competitive trades or larger cities: Budget expectations rise. London campaigns typically cost 15–30% more per click than equivalent campaigns in northern England or the Midlands. Trades like solar installation, heating and HVAC, or specialist electrical work can see CPCs above £8.
A worked example:
You're a plumber in Manchester. Your average job value is £800 and your margin is 40%, so each job generates £320 profit. You're happy to spend up to 25% of profit on acquisition — a maximum cost per customer of £80.
CPC for plumbing keywords in Manchester: roughly £5. Conversion rate from click to enquiry: 10%. Close rate from enquiry to booked job: 40%. That means 25 clicks to win one customer, at a cost of £125.
At £125 per job won, you're slightly over your £80 target — but if you improve your landing page conversion rate or your close rate on enquiries, that cost drops quickly. It's a starting point, not a fixed outcome.
Calculating your return on ad spend (ROAS)
ROAS tells you how much revenue your campaign generates for every pound spent on advertising.
Formula: ROAS = Revenue generated ÷ Ad spend
If you spent £1,000 on Google Ads in a month and that spend generated £5,000 in jobs booked, your ROAS is 5:1 (or 500%). For most trade businesses, a ROAS of 4:1 or above is a solid benchmark once the campaign is optimised.
Track ROAS monthly rather than weekly in the early stages — campaigns need time to gather data and optimise, and week-by-week swings can be misleading.
Setting up your first Google Ads campaign
Getting the account structure right from the start prevents a lot of wasted spend later.
- Create your Google Ads account. Go to ads.google.com and click Start Now. You'll need a business email and your website URL.
- Build separate ad groups for each service. Don't bundle all your keywords into one campaign. A campaign for emergency call-outs, a campaign for boiler installation, and a campaign for boiler servicing will each outperform a single mixed campaign.
- Use specific, high-intent keywords. Target phrases like "emergency plumber Manchester", "boiler installation Leeds", or "electrician quote Sheffield" — not broad terms like "plumber" or "heating". Specific keywords attract people closer to booking.
- Write ad copy that matches the search. If someone searches "emergency boiler repair", your ad should mention emergency boiler repair in the headline — not just your company name.
- Set up conversion tracking before going live. Without this, you're flying blind. Track phone calls, form submissions, and any other actions that represent a genuine lead. If you're unsure how to set this up, this is the one step worth getting professional help with.
- Send clicks to a relevant service page, not your homepage. A visitor who searched "emergency boiler repair" and lands on a homepage with four services and a contact form will leave. A visitor who lands on a page specifically about emergency boiler repair, with a phone number immediately visible, is far more likely to call.
Key metrics to track
Once your campaign is live, keep an eye on these six metrics.
Click-through rate (CTR). The percentage of people who see your ad and click it. For trade search campaigns, a CTR of 4–8% is reasonable. Low CTR usually means your ad copy isn't relevant enough to the keyword.
Cost per click (CPC). What you're paying for each visit to your site. For most UK trade keywords, expect £3 to £8. CPC varies by how competitive your area is and how high your Quality Score is.
Conversion rate. The percentage of clicks that turn into an enquiry (call or form submission). Trade campaigns typically see conversion rates of 8–15% when the landing page is well-matched to the ad. If yours is much lower, look at your landing page first.
Cost per acquisition (CPA). Total ad spend divided by the number of leads generated. This is your cost per enquiry — not per job won. Set a realistic target based on your job values and keep an eye on whether it's trending down as the campaign optimises.
Landing page performance. Use Google Analytics to check bounce rate and time on page for the pages your ads send traffic to. High bounce rate usually signals a mismatch between the ad and the page.
Ad strength. Google's quality rating for your individual ads. Higher ad strength means better performance in auctions. Aim for "Good" or "Excellent" by using varied headlines and descriptions that include your keywords and a clear call to action.
Beginner tips for UK tradespeople
Build your negative keyword list from day one
Negative keywords prevent your ad from showing for searches that will never convert. A plumber running Google Ads without negative keywords will pay for clicks from people searching for plumbing jobs, plumbing courses, DIY guides, and competitor names. Add negatives like: "jobs", "apprenticeship", "DIY", "how to", "course", "training", "cheap" (if cheap jobs aren't your market), and any competitor business names.
Review your search terms report weekly in the first two months. Every irrelevant search that's triggered your ad is a candidate for the negative keyword list.
Block your competitors' names (or consider bidding on them)
Blocking competitor brand names as negative keywords stops your ads from appearing when someone specifically searches for a rival business — those searches are unlikely to convert. Alternatively, bidding on competitor keywords (without using their trademarked name in your ad copy, which isn't allowed) can capture people in comparison mode. Both approaches are legitimate — which one you choose depends on your market.
Target the specific areas you serve
Google's default geographic settings are often too broad. A plumber based in Sheffield whose ads show to searchers in Nottingham or Manchester is burning budget on enquiries they can't fulfil. Set your campaign to target the specific postcodes, towns, or radius you actually cover. For most trades, a 10–20 mile radius around your base is the right starting point.
Use smart bidding, but give it time
Since Google deprecated Enhanced CPC (ECPC) in March 2025, the main options are Manual CPC (full control but time-intensive) and Smart Bidding strategies like Maximise Conversions or Target CPA. For most trades starting out, Maximise Conversions is a sensible choice — but it requires reliable conversion tracking to work properly. Give Smart Bidding at least four weeks of data before drawing conclusions about whether it's performing.
Let the campaign learn before making big changes
The temptation in the first two weeks is to tweak constantly. Resist it. Google's algorithm needs data — typically 30 or more conversions — before it can optimise reliably. Make small adjustments, document what you change and when, and evaluate performance over a full month rather than day by day.
Other advertising options for trades
Google Ads isn't the only way to get in front of potential customers online, and it doesn't have to be your first step.
Facebook and Instagram ads work well for raising awareness and reaching homeowners who aren't actively searching yet — particularly for higher-consideration services like extensions, loft conversions, or landscaping. They're less effective for emergency call-outs.
Local directories and lead generation sites — Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People — can generate enquiries at a lower upfront cost, though competition and lead quality vary. See our post on the best tradespeople recommendation sites for a breakdown.
SEO builds long-term visibility on Google without the ongoing cost per click — but it takes time. A combination of SEO and PPC is often the strongest approach for trade businesses looking for both immediate leads and sustainable growth.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I spend on Google Ads as a tradesperson?
For most UK trade businesses, a starting budget of £500 to £1,000 per month in ad spend gives you enough volume to generate consistent enquiries and enough data to optimise. Below £300 a month, it's very difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about what's working.
How quickly will Google Ads generate leads for my trade?
You can see enquiries within days of a campaign going live, but expect the first four to eight weeks to be a learning phase where you refine keywords, add negatives, and improve the campaign structure. Most well-managed campaigns reach reliable performance within two to three months.
Should I manage Google Ads myself or use an agency?
Self-managing a tightly focused local campaign is achievable if you're willing to invest time in learning the platform. The risk is wasted spend during the learning period. A specialist PPC agency typically costs £299 or more per month but can reduce wasted spend significantly and reach optimised performance faster. For most trades, the management fee pays for itself within the first two or three months.
What's the difference between Google Ads and Google Local Services Ads?
Standard Google Ads charges per click. Local Services Ads (LSAs) charge per lead (a phone call or message from a genuine enquiry). LSAs also carry the Google Guaranteed badge, which increases trust. Qualifying trades — plumbers, electricians, heating engineers, locksmiths — should check their eligibility for LSAs before or alongside running standard Google Ads.
Do I need a specific landing page or can I send ads to my homepage?
A dedicated service page will almost always outperform your homepage for ad traffic. The closer the match between what someone searched for and what they see when they land on your site, the higher your conversion rate and the lower your cost per lead.
Conclusion
Google Ads can be one of the most effective ways to generate trade enquiries — but the difference between a campaign that pays and one that drains your budget comes down to how it's set up and managed. Get the account structure right, use negative keywords from the start, send traffic to relevant landing pages, and track your conversions properly. Do those four things and you're already ahead of the majority of trade campaigns running in the UK right now.
If you'd like a managed PPC campaign without the learning curve, take a look at our PPC packages for trade businesses or get in touch and we'll talk through what's realistic for your budget and area.
