Lonta AI blog
Google Ads
Most wasted spend in a contractor's Google Ads account comes from settings, not from bids: who the ads reach, when they run, and what the account counts as a win. Each piece names the setting as it appears in the interface and the Google page that documents it.
13 posts
Your $250 Google Ads daily budget can produce a $500 day
A daily average, a billing limit and your shop's spending approval serve different purposes. Put all three on one sheet.
6 min readYour service form and qualified lead can describe the same job
An action's Primary label is only part of the answer. Follow the goal into each campaign, then match the result to the office's request records.
6 min readSix inquiries beat four. That doesn't settle your landing page test.
A 50% lift can mean two extra inquiries. Ask for the underlying counts and the decision rule before replacing the page that pays for your calls.
6 min readYour cheapest Google Ads leads may be people who already knew your name
A search for your shop's name and a first-time customer are different facts. Keep both in the report, or cheaper calls can look like growth while fewer new households hire you.
7 min readGoogle Ads for electricians: price panels, EV chargers and generators on their own tickets
One cost-per-lead target can fill an electrical account with breaker calls, while panel and charger searches ask about price, permits and tax credits, and generator searches about price and installation manuals.
15 min readTwo shops, one Google Ads account: stop letting the account decide which truck gets the call
Two shops on one website don't bid against each other in the auction. Put them in one campaign, though, and they share one budget, one season, one schedule and one phone number, and Ad Rank settles the towns between them.
14 min readCall-only ads stop showing in February 2027. The ad that replaces them counts calls differently.
The replacement also shows on desktops and sends some callers to your website before they dial.
12 min readA trade with few searches punishes broad targeting harder than a crowded one
When a service exists at only some addresses in your metro, broad match and a bid strategy built to spend the whole budget can send much of it to homes that can't use the service, and the search terms report lists only part of that spend.
12 min readYour own customers are clicking your ads. Decide which of them you want to pay for.
A customer with your sticker on the furnace who searches "furnace repair" and taps your ad costs the same as a stranger. A customer list stops part of that. It has holes, and on your own company name you may not want to use it.
13 min readCheck your own Google Ads account in 30 minutes: seven settings, in the order we open them
Where your ads are allowed to show, what Google counts as a lead, which bid adjustments do nothing, and who can lock you out. Each check sits on a screen Google documents, under the name Google gives it.
12 min readCheap Performance Max leads that never book: spam, bots and the form nobody calls back
Google's own help pages say its traffic filters can't stop a bot from filling in your form, and its two lead-form quality checks don't run in Performance Max. What that does to the leads in your report, and how to count the real ones.
12 min readNegative keywords for HVAC, plumbing and electrical, and the customers each one can cost you
A negative keyword list for HVAC, plumbing and electrical that shows, next to each entry, the paying searches it would also block, and where each negative should sit when you sell more than one trade.
12 min readGoogle Ads doesn't know how far your trucks drive. Draw the map yourself.
The default setting also reaches people who are merely interested in your area, a radius is a circle when rush hour isn't, and a lower bid for the far towns isn't supported under Smart Bidding.
11 min read