How to Run Google Ads for Builders

Before you spend a dollar: track every lead to a contract

When each job is large and leads are few, one wrong lead costs a lot and one right lead pays for a season. So you need to know exactly where each one came from and what happened to it.

A conversion is the action you want after a click. For a builder, that is a phone call or a quote request form.

1. In Google Ads, open Goals, then Conversions, and create a new conversion action.
2. Add one for calls from your ads and one for calls from your website. Set a minimum call length. Suppliers and subcontractors looking for work will call the number too.
3. Add one for your quote form, counted when it is sent.
4. Mark those primary, which means bidding uses them. Mark everything else secondary.
5. Make a test call and send a test form. Check both appear in Google Ads within a day.

Then keep a lead list, and take it seriously. For each lead, note: was it a real project you could quote, did you meet them, did you send a proposal, did they sign, and what was the contract worth? The inquiry that comes in this month might not sign for six months. Marking it won when it does matters more than any click count. Once you have enough of them, upload the quoted and signed leads to Google Ads so bidding can learn what a real project looks like.

Account settings that stop waste

Set these three before you write an ad.

1. Search only. In campaign settings, open Networks. Untick Search Partners and untick the Display Network. You want your ad on Google Search when someone types "home addition contractor near me".
2. People in your area. Open Locations and add the cities or zip codes you build in. In Location options, choose "Presence: people in or regularly in your included locations". The default also reaches people only interested in your area.
3. Auto-apply off. Open Recommendations, find Auto-apply, and turn every box off. Otherwise Google can add keywords and change your bidding.

Think hard about the area. A build means months of daily travel, inspections and deliveries. Pick the towns where you already have jobs to show and permits you know how to get.

Set the ad schedule to hours when someone answers. Someone planning a second story is not in a rush, but they do notice who called back the same day.

How to run Google Ads for builders with one kind of build per ad group

An ad group is a set of keywords that share the same ads. Each kind of build gets its own ad group and its own landing page.

The usual mistake is one ad group with every construction word, sending everyone to the home page. A person searching "adu builder" then sees an ad about custom homes.

Build ad groups only for the work you want this year. If you have stopped taking custom homes, don't advertise them. With a small budget, start with one or two kinds of build and do them properly.

Keywords: what an owner ready to build types

A keyword is the phrase you give Google. A search term is what the person typed. You pay for the search term.

Ready-to-hire searches name the build and a word that means a company:

• home addition contractor near me
• second story addition builder
• adu builder in your city
• custom home builder near me
• general contractor for home addition

The words builder, contractor, company and near me are the signs of someone hiring. The words plans, ideas, cost per square foot and permit are the signs of someone researching.

Match types set how loosely Google matches:

• Exact match shows your ad for that search or one with the same meaning.
• Phrase match shows your ad when the search includes the meaning of your phrase, with other words around it.
• Broad match shows your ad for anything Google considers related. For "builder", that includes website builders, resume builders and job ads. Leave it alone.

Start with phrase and exact. When a search term leads to a real proposal, add it as an exact match keyword in the right ad group.

Searches to block from day one

A negative keyword is a search you block. The word "builder" is used for a lot of things that are not construction. Add these at the account level before the first click:

• Job seekers: jobs, hiring, salary, careers, apprenticeship, laborer.
• Students: course, degree, school, training, license exam.
• Drawing it themselves: plans, free, template, blueprint, design software, ideas.
• Checking up on someone: reviews, complaints, lawsuit.
• City questions: permit, permit application, zoning, code.
• Other meanings of builder: website, resume, app, pc, deck builder game, lego.
• Suppliers: lumber, materials, supply, rental.
• Other builders' names, including the large national home builders.

One caution: "reviews" will also block someone searching for reviews of builders in general. Most owners accept that. If you'd rather not, block "complaints" and watch "reviews" in the search terms.

Add each as a phrase match negative, trimmed to the core word. Block "apprenticeship", not "carpentry apprenticeship near me".

Then check the search terms. Every day or two for the first two weeks, then weekly:

1. Open the search terms report under Insights and reports.
2. Sort by cost, highest first.
3. Ask: is this someone who could sign a contract with me?
4. If not, block the core word. Block jobs you don't take, such as commercial or roofing.

Writing the ads

A responsive search ad takes up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and Google mixes them. Fill in as many as you can.

• Say the build: "Home Additions", "Second-Story Additions", "ADU Builder".
• Say the area: your city or county.
• Say why you: licensed and insured, design and build under one roof, fixed-price contracts, years building locally. Only what is true.
• Filter in the ad: "For Owners Ready to Build" puts off people who are browsing.
• End with the next step: "Book a site visit."

Add the extras, which Google calls assets:

• Call asset: your number on the ad.
• Sitelinks: at least four, such as "Finished Projects", "Additions", "Our Process" and "Request a Quote".
• Callouts: short phrases such as "Licensed and Insured", "Fixed-Price Contracts" or "Design and Build".
• Image assets: photos of finished jobs, where Google offers them.

The landing page: one kind of build per page

A person about to spend this much reads the page properly. Build one per ad group.

• The headline matches the search: "Second-Story Additions in" your city.
• The phone number is at the top and starts a call when tapped.
• A quote form near the top. Ask more than a plumber would: name, phone, address or zip code of the property, the kind of project, when they want to start, and a rough budget range. Extra questions put off the dreamers and help you decide who to call first.
• Photos of your finished jobs of that exact kind. Not stock pictures.
• Real reviews, with the kind of project named if you can.
• Your process in a few steps: site visit, design, fixed quote, build.
• Your license and insurance.
• No menu and no links away.
• It reads well on a phone and loads fast, even with large photos.

Google scores how well keyword, ad and page match. A closer match earns a higher score, and a higher score means a lower price for the same spot.

Budget and bidding when leads are few

Start from your own numbers. How many jobs do you want from ads this year? How many proposals does it take to sign one, and how many leads to reach a proposal? That gives you leads per month. Multiply by what you can afford per lead, given what a job is worth. Then fund it for a season, not a month.

1. Conversions from the start. With tracking working, start on Maximize Conversions, so Google bids toward calls and forms. Give it three weeks before you judge it.
2. If a new account won't spend. A new account may stall. Switch to Maximize Clicks with a cap on the bid per click, then move back to Maximize Conversions once leads arrive.
3. A target cost per lead. After about 30 conversions in 30 days, you can set a target cost per lead, which Google calls Target CPA, 15 to 20 percent above what leads have cost. Lower it a little each month while leads hold.

Be honest about stage three. Many builders never get 30 conversions in a month, and that is fine. Stay on Maximize Conversions, keep the account clean, and don't bid by hand. And don't change bids or budgets on a week of data. In this trade a week may hold two leads.

Your weekly and monthly routine

Every week:

• Check the search terms and block the junk.
• Add searches that led to proposals as exact match keywords.
• Update every open lead: met, proposal sent, signed, lost.
• Call new leads the same day.

Every month:

• Look at cost per lead and cost per proposal for each ad group. Look at cost per signed job over the last six months, not the last one.
• Pause an ad group that spends and never reaches a proposal.
• Make a test call and send a test form to confirm tracking works.
• Add photos of newly finished jobs to the pages.
• Review the budget against your crew's schedule.

Seasons and timing for builders

People plan a build long before the ground is broken.

• Winter and the new year: planning season. Owners research and collect quotes for a spring or summer start. This is when to be visible.
• Spring: the rush to start. Leads now may be for work later in the year.
• Summer: building season. If you are fully booked, lower the budget and say your next opening on the page.
• Fall: owners who want to be under roof before winter, and early planners for next year.

Because of the long gap between inquiry and contract, advertise for the work you want six months from now. If next spring looks empty, the time to raise the budget is this fall.

Or have software do all of this

That is how to run Google Ads for builders by hand: track every lead through to a contract, lock the settings, keep each kind of build in its own ad group with its own page, block junk every week, and let the bidding step up as data comes in. It works, and it takes steady attention over many months.

If you'd rather spend that time on site, Local Service Ads AI does these steps for you every day. Nothing changes without your OK unless you tell it to go ahead. See Google Ads for builders.