Google Ads built for how heating and cooling actually sells.

Short version: HVAC clicks are expensive, about $9.30 to $9.68 on average for heating and air in recent benchmarks (LocaliQ), so an account has to know which clicks turn into booked jobs. Ours is built around that: repair and replacement are kept apart, ads only show to people in your service area, Local Services runs alongside Search, and the budget moves toward whichever brings the lowest cost per booked job.

What HVAC clicks cost on Google

Google's own Keyword Planner shows what advertisers paid to appear at the top of the page for the searches HVAC shops live on:

Source: Google Keyword Planner, United States, pulled November 2026. Bid ranges are what advertisers paid to show at the top of the page.

The surprise is at the bottom of the table. A replacement or heat pump install is the bigger job, yet its clicks cost less than an emergency repair call. Someone with a dead AC in July calls the first ad they see, so shops bid hardest for that click. That is why replacement gets its own campaign and budget, instead of fighting for scraps inside a repair campaign.

How we structure an HVAC account

• Repair and replacement never share an ad group. A $300 repair and a $10,000 system are different searches with different ads and landing pages, with negatives between them so they don't compete.
• One campaign until the data supports more. Below about $3,000 a month, one well-built Search campaign learns faster than several thin ones. We split by service or for a 24/7 emergency schedule once spend and data justify it.
• Only people in your service area. We set location targeting to people physically in the area you serve, not Google's default, which also shows ads to people merely interested in it.
• Display and Search Partners off. They're tested later, only with enough conversions to judge them, and kept only if they hold up.
• Calls tracked as leads. Most HVAC leads are phone calls. Ads carry a call button, and calls from ads are counted through Google's call reporting.

Searches we keep you from paying for

The weekly review reads every search that triggered your ads. These are the usual leaks in HVAC accounts:

Some searches are judgment calls. "ac unit prices" can be a replacement buyer or a bargain hunter, and that kind of term is exactly where the three AI reviewers disagree and a person decides.

Seasons, not guesses

Demand swings with the weather. Across these searches, July brings 1.9 times the volume of April, and "ac repair" bottoms out in December while "furnace repair" takes over. Budgets shift toward cooling in summer, heating in winter, and replacement and maintenance in the shoulder months. Short weather events, like a heat wave, get a temporary bid adjustment. We change bid targets in small steps, never more than 15% at a time, so Google's bidding isn't knocked back into learning.

Local Services Ads alongside Search

Local Services Ads put your business at the top with the Google Verified badge, and you pay per lead. Two recent changes matter for HVAC:

• Google now charges for unanswered calls during business hours when the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds (Google); trade press dates the change to October 1, 2026 (PPC Land). We check that your listed hours match when someone actually answers before Local Services goes live.
• The old Google Guaranteed badge became Google Verified in October 2025, and the money-back guarantee was dropped (Search Engine Roundtable).

We start most HVAC shops with roughly 30% of budget on Local Services and 70% on Search, then move it toward whichever produces the lower cost per booked job. Our Local Services Ads guide covers lead pricing, credits and the 2026 move into Google Ads.

How bidding grows with your data

The count comes from real, qualified leads only. That is why the lead ledger matters: Google's bidding can only be as good as what it is told.

Related

Read how we run Google Ads, see the other industries we serve, or get a free audit of your HVAC account.