Google Ads for Tradies. Pay for Jobs, Not DIYers.
Ads put you at the top of the page today, which suits urgent work and quiet weeks. They also burn money fast in trades, on people looking for a how-to video, a job or a business three suburbs too far away. We buy the searches that book work and block the rest.
Real business owners, real Google reviews of Uppercut Digital.
Reviewed by Dylan Modino, updated 2 November 2026
Do Google Ads work for tradies?
They work when they're narrow. A tight service area, the jobs you actually want, ads that match the search, and a page that matches the ad. Broad campaigns on "roofing" or "painting" spend your budget on DIY searches and job hunters before a single customer rings.
Illustration of the account structure, not client data.
What's on the job list
The jobs you want first
Repair, install and emergency searches for your trade, sent to the matching service page.
A tight service area
The suburbs you'll actually drive to, not a radius that pays for clicks you'd turn down.
The waste blocked
"How to", "diy", "salary", "apprenticeship", "cheap" and the rest, out from day one.
Call ads for urgent work
For burst pipes, leaks and breakdowns, the call is the conversion. We make it the first thing they see.
Landing pages that match the ad
A gutter ad goes to the gutter page. Sending everything to the homepage is why most accounts underperform.
Every booked job counted
Calls, forms and booked jobs, so you see cost per job rather than cost per click.
What rebuilt accounts did for two trade businesses
Sydney Refrigeration Services, a commercial and home refrigeration business, had a Google Ads account with no clear structure and a cost per lead that kept climbing. After a rebuild, its case study reports a 155% increase in conversions from Google Ads and a 40% drop in cost per acquisition.
All Home Filtration, a Sydney water filtration installer, was spending on broad keywords that didn't convert. Its case study reports a 195% increase in conversions from Google Ads, a 39% drop in cost per acquisition and a 32% lower cost per click. The first fixes were the same for both: narrower searches, matching pages, and counting the job rather than the click.
Get my free audit
They’re exceptionally knowledgeable, focusing on the fundamentals of setting up effective campaigns and then optimising them (allowing you to spend less, but receive more leads).
Google Ads for tradies, answered
How much should a tradie spend on Google Ads?
Work back from what a job is worth and how many you can take on. In dearer trades, like roofing at about US$17.63 a click or air conditioning at about US$17, a token budget is gone in a few days. We'd rather start on one or two jobs you want more of than spread it thin.
Are Google's Local Services Ads worth it?
They're worth testing in the trades Google offers them for. You pay per lead rather than per click, and they show above the normal ads. Treat them like any other lead source: count what turns into a booked job and keep them only if the numbers stack up.
Why do I get calls for jobs I don't do?
Broad match and a thin negative list. "Plumber" ads show for "plumbing course" and "painting" ads for "painting classes". Cleaning those out is the first thing we do.
Who's getting the jobs you're missing?
Give us the address of your site. You'll get the three things we'd change first, ranked, and the names of the businesses taking your spot on the map.