111 Conversions at $0.68 Each: A Local Trade Services Account Rebuild

Numbers taken straight from the Google Ads dashboard for an account we manage: 111 conversions from $75.21 in spend over a 14-day period in September 2026, a 63.43% conversion rate, at $0.68 per conversion. Client name and trade are withheld; full screenshots are available on request. Here’s exactly how the account was built to get there.

Client Type and Location

A local trade services business operating in a single metro area, offering emergency and scheduled call-out work. The account had run Google Ads before under a previous setup, with mixed results and no clear sense of which keywords were producing real jobs.

Starting Point

Before the rebuild, the account ran broad-match keywords across a handful of loosely themed ad groups, no negative keyword list, and all traffic landing on the business’s homepage rather than a page matched to the service searched for. There was no call tracking, so spend couldn’t be tied to actual jobs booked.

Campaign Structure

The account was rebuilt around one ad group per service type, each with its own ad copy and a landing page matched to the keyword language in that group. Search campaigns only, no Display or Performance Max mixed in, so budget wasn’t diluted across placements that don’t carry the same buying intent.

Keywords and Negative Keywords

Ad groups were built around high-intent, “need it now” searches: service-plus-location and service-plus-“near me” patterns, and emergency/urgent variants. A negative keyword list was built before launch, not after, excluding job-seeker searches, DIY how-to searches, course and training searches, and wholesale/supplier searches, the categories that reliably show up in a search terms report but never convert.

Landing Page Approach

Each ad group pointed to a page naming the exact service and area searched for, with a tap-to-call button above the fold, genuine trust signals (licensing, years trading, real reviews), and no pop-up or interstitial on load.

Tracking Setup

Call assets with call reporting turned on, a verified Google forwarding number, and a minimum call length set so a wrong number or voicemail hang-up didn’t count as a conversion. Form submissions were tracked as a separate conversion action, set up to fire from the confirmation page. Both fed into the same account so Smart Bidding could optimise toward real enquiries rather than clicks.

Budget

$75.21 in total spend over the 14-day reporting period, a deliberately modest daily budget while the rebuilt structure proved itself before any scaling decision was made.

What Changed

Results

Over the 14-day period: 175 clicks, 111 conversions, a 63.43% conversion rate, and $0.68 cost per conversion on $75.21 total spend. Past results don’t guarantee future performance for any account, including yours, which is exactly why the first 2 months of our management are free: we’d rather prove it on your account than ask you to take our word for someone else’s.

The same approach applies directly to plumbers, electricians, HVAC companies and roofers: see our Google Ads for plumbers page, or read the complete guide to Google Ads for plumbers for the full breakdown of how we structure accounts like this one.