Is Google Ads worth it? Run your numbers.
Nobody can answer this for you with an average. It comes down to four numbers you already know or can find: what a job is worth to you, what a click costs, how many clicks call you, and how many callers you book.
Your month, on these numbers
- Clicks
- 100
- Calls and forms
- 12
- Booked jobs
- 6
- Cost per lead
- $166.42
- Cost per booked job
- $332.83
- Gross profit per job
- $325.00
Not yet on these numbers: you would be about $47.00 a month short on the first visit. Repeat customers or a better booking rate can close that gap.
Break-even cost per click on these numbers: $19.50, before our fee.
Short version: Google Ads is worth it when the gross profit from one booked job is more than it costs to book one. Cost per booked job is your monthly spend divided by the jobs it books. If a job earns you $225 and each booked job costs $150 to win, every job adds $75, before repeat business.
The math in plain words
- Clicks = budget divided by cost per click. At $1,500 and $15 a click, that's 100 clicks.
- Leads = clicks times the share that call or fill a form. This depends on your landing page and whether the ad matched the search.
- Booked jobs = leads times the share you book. This is the number most owners have never measured, and it's usually where the money leaks: missed calls, slow callbacks, no follow-up.
- Worth it = gross profit per job is more than cost per booked job. Gross profit, not revenue. A $450 job at 50% margin earns $225, so that's the most a booked job can cost before you lose money.
What actually moves the answer
Three numbers matter far more than the rest. Cost per click is mostly set by your trade and town; you can see Google's own ranges on our plumbing, HVAC and dental pages. How many clicks become calls is set by your ad and landing page, and by blocking searches that were never going to buy. How many calls you book is set by who answers the phone and how fast. An account can be run perfectly and still lose money if calls go to voicemail.
When Google Ads is not worth it
- The budget is too small to learn. Google's bidding needs conversions to work with. That's why we ask for at least $1,500 a month in ad spend for home services and $1,000 for appointment businesses; below that, a month rarely produces enough booked jobs to judge anything.
- The job earns less than a lead costs. A low-ticket, one-time job with thin margins can lose money on every booking. Repeat customers change that math, so count them if you have them.
- Nobody answers the phone. Paying for a call that rings out is the most expensive mistake in local advertising.
- You can't take more work. If the schedule is full, ads only add calls you'll turn away.
Is $100 a month enough for Google Ads?
Usually not for a local service business. At $15 a click, $100 buys about 6 clicks a month. If 1 in 10 clicks calls, that's less than one call. You'd wait months to learn anything, and Google's bidding would have nothing to learn from. Put the same $100 into answering every call and asking every customer for a review first.
What this calculator leaves out
It counts the first job only. Repeat visits, referrals and maintenance plans make a customer worth more than one ticket, so a result near break-even can still be worth doing. It also assumes your tracking is right. If you don't know how many of last month's calls came from ads, the free audit starts there.
Related
See how we run Google Ads, compare costs by trade on our industry pages, read about how LSA leads are billed, or get a free audit of your account.