Google Ads for plumbers: what Plotti learned the hard way
Platapode
Plotti thought plumbing would be easy. He's a platypus. Water is practically his department.
He bought a ute, picked up a pipe wrench and started running Google Ads.
By Friday, the phone hadn't stopped ringing.
Google Ads was working. His diary was still empty.
Not every plumbing search is a job
Plotti's first caller wanted to know which tap washer to buy.
He'd already pulled the tap apart and had a bucket underneath it. He just needed some free advice.
There's a big difference between someone searching for a plumber and someone searching for a solution involving a trip to Bunnings.
Without the right keywords, negative keywords and regular search term reviews, your ads can end up talking to people who weren't going to book.
Plotti spent twenty minutes helping a bloke pick a washer.
Hot water and blocked drains aren't the same job
The first cold morning in June, Plotti's phone wouldn't stop ringing.
Half of Sydney had apparently lost its hot water.
Including Plotti.
Hot water repairs, blocked drains and bathroom renovations attract different customers with different priorities.
Grouping everything together makes it harder to control which jobs you get.
Separate your services where it makes sense, particularly the ones you want more of.
You don't need 15 campaigns. You need a structure that reflects the work you actually want.
Google thinks Wollongong is local to your plumbing business
Plotti lives in Hornsby.
His next call was for a blocked drain in Wollongong.
He accepted the job.
He got home at 9pm.
Google's location settings can be surprisingly generous.
Depending on your targeting, ads can reach people outside your service area, including those who've shown an interest in your location.
Check your location options and where enquiries are coming from.
If you only service Sydney's north, there's little point showing up for people in the Illawarra.
Unless you enjoy driving.
Emergency plumbing doesn't wait until morning
At 2am, a pipe burst three streets from Plotti's house.
The homeowner found his ad and called.
Plotti was asleep.
The homeowner called the next plumber.
If you advertise emergency plumbing, someone needs to answer.
Use ad scheduling to run ads when you're available to take calls, and set your call assets to appear during those hours. There's little point showing up for phone enquiries when nobody's around to answer.
A missed emergency call isn't just a missed enquiry. You've just sent that customer to the next plumber.
Forty plumbing calls. Three jobs.
At the end of the month, Plotti opened Google Ads.
Forty phone calls. Not bad.
Then he checked his diary.
Three jobs.
The rest were quick questions and wrong numbers.
Google Ads can track calls, but a call isn't necessarily a customer.
Track which enquiries become actual bookings, and where possible, feed that information back into Google Ads.
More calls aren't always better. Better calls are.
Don't forget your Google Business Profile
Plotti's Google Business Profile said he was open 24 hours.
He wasn't.
People checking out local plumbers often look at reviews, photos and opening hours before calling.
Keep your profile accurate, add genuine photos and ask happy customers for reviews.
Google Ads for plumbers: FAQs
What's the best way to advertise a plumbing business?
It depends on the work you want. For urgent, local jobs, Google Ads and a well-kept Google Business Profile reach people at the moment they search. Planned work also leans on reviews and word of mouth.
Should emergency and general plumbing have separate campaigns?
Often, yes. Emergency searches have different urgency, scheduling and messaging needs. Separate them when there are enough searches to justify it.
Make the phone ring for the right reasons
Plotti eventually realised he didn't need more calls.
He needed fewer tap washer questions, fewer trips to Wollongong and more jobs worth getting out of bed for.
If your Google Ads account is busy without bringing in enough of the right work, it's worth finding out why.
More on Google Ads for tradies.
