Google Ads for home services in the UK and Australia: the local playbook
How I built multi-city Search accounts for trades, including 13,093 leads across six Australian cities and a 24.87% peak CTR in the UK.
Premkumar Ragav
Trades and home services are among my favourite accounts because the numbers are honest: the phone rings or it does not.
Split urgent jobs from planned ones
A locked-out customer wants someone now. A homeowner considering loft insulation will compare quotes for a week. These need different ads and different pages.
| Urgent (locksmith) | Planned (loft, roof, gutter) | |
|---|---|---|
| Ad type | Call-focused | Search to a landing page |
| Message | Speed and coverage | Trust, proof and savings |
| Hours | Match your phone cover | Business hours and evenings |
Build by city
For OP Locksmith, I ran a Search programme across six Australian cities with more than 100 local ad groups, which produced 13,093 leads, with core keywords converting at up to 46.8%. Separate campaigns let you put money where you have vans available and pull it where you do not.
Write ads that sound local
For Efficient Loft in the UK, an eight-campaign account produced 1,154+ conversions, with a peak CTR of 24.87%. Local wording, real service areas and honest offers did much of that work. Keep spelling and tone local, and test your text in the SERP preview and character counter.
Negative keywords are your margin
Home services attract job seekers, DIY researchers and people wanting free advice. Review search terms weekly during the first month. My negative keyword audit shows what to look for.
Measure jobs, not clicks
- Track calls over a minimum length as conversions
- Ask the team to mark which calls became jobs
- Feed those back to Google as offline conversions
Clearview Home Services in Australia produced 411 qualified local leads across three cities on a A$41.5K budget using this kind of tracking. The GA4 setup guide covers the basics.
Privacy and consent
UK businesses should set up cookie consent and Google's Consent Mode properly. Australian businesses should keep Privacy Act 1988 obligations in mind. Without proper consent signals in the UK, your conversion data can become less reliable.
See home services marketing, or my pages for the UK and Australia.
Frequently asked
What is a good budget for home service Google Ads in the UK?
I usually suggest at least £1,000 a month in ad spend, more if you cover several cities. Work out your own floor from your click cost and conversion rate.
Are call-only ads still useful?
For urgent trades, call-focused formats still work well. Check that someone answers the phone during the hours the ads run.
Should I bid on each suburb?
Group suburbs into service areas first. Create separate ad groups only for those with enough search volume to justify the effort.