What Google Ads actually are (in plain English)
Google Ads are the paid results at the very top of the page when someone searches, marked with a small "Sponsored" label. You bid to appear for searches like "emergency electrician near me", and you only pay when someone clicks. You set a daily budget, so you never spend more than you agree to.
The appeal is simple: they put you above the free results instantly, before your Google Business Profile and normal listings. The catch is that you're paying for every click whether it turns into a job or not.
How much do they cost?
There's no set price. You pay per click, and the cost of a click depends on how many other trades are bidding for the same search in your area. For competitive, high-value terms — "emergency plumber", "24 hour electrician" — a single click can cost anywhere from a few pounds to £15 or more. Quieter searches cost less.
A realistic starting budget for a local trade is £10–£30 a day. But the daily figure isn't the number that matters. The number that matters is your cost per booked job. If £120 of clicks over a week wins you one £600 job, the ads are working hard. If that £120 wins you nothing, they're not — and you need to know which it is within the first couple of weeks.
When Google Ads are worth it
Ads tend to pay off for tradespeople in a few specific situations:
- Urgent, high-value work. People searching "emergency plumber [town]" at 9pm need someone now and will click the first credible result. If you do emergency call-outs — the kind of work our plumbers and electricians sites are built around — ads can catch that demand the moment it appears.
- Filling a quiet spell. If your diary suddenly has gaps, ads can turn the tap on quickly rather than waiting weeks for free listings to build.
- A new business with no reviews yet. When you're too new to rank in the free local results, paid ads buy you visibility while your "near me" ranking catches up.
- You already convert well. If your website and replies already turn enquiries into jobs, more traffic simply means more work. Ads pour fuel on a fire that's already lit.
When to skip them (for now)
Ads are the wrong first move if the basics aren't done. Skip them if:
- You have no website, or a poor one. Ads send people to a page. If that page is slow, confusing or missing a contact button, you'll pay for clicks and lose the customer at the last step. Sort a proper page first — here's what to put on a one page trade website.
- Your Google Business Profile is empty. That's free, works forever and is where most local trade enquiries come from. Fix it before you pay for anything.
- You're slow to reply. Paying for a click and then taking a day to respond is money straight in the bin. Speed wins trade jobs, ads or not.
- You can't track results. If you don't know which calls came from ads, you can't tell if they work — and you'll either overspend or quit too early.
Ads vs the free stuff: do the free stuff first
The honest order of priority for almost every tradesperson is: free basics first, paid ads as a top-up. A complete Google Business Profile, a simple website you own and a steady flow of reviews will win you local work for £0 in ongoing cost and keep working whether or not you're paying. Ads stop the moment your budget runs out.
Lead-generation sites sit in the same "paid top-up" bucket, and we compare them here: your own website vs Checkatrade and MyBuilder. The theme is always the same — own your presence first, rent extra visibility second.
If you do run ads, do these five things
- Send clicks to a fast, clear page. Your own site or a dedicated landing page, with a big contact button above the fold, beats sending paid traffic to a social profile.
- Target tightly. Set your ads to your real service area — the towns and postcodes you actually cover — not a huge radius that burns budget on jobs too far away.
- Use negative keywords. Block searches like "jobs", "salary", "DIY" or "free" so you're not paying for clicks from people who'll never hire you.
- Turn on call and form tracking. Know exactly how many enquiries each pound of spend produced, so you can judge it on cost per job.
- Review weekly and be ruthless. Keep what brings work, cut what doesn't. A small, well-managed budget beats a big, ignored one.
The short version
Google Ads are worth it for tradespeople who already have the basics working and want more of the jobs they're good at winning — especially urgent, high-value work. They're a waste of money for anyone sending paid clicks to a weak page or a slow reply. Sort your profile, your website and your response speed first, then treat ads as an optional accelerator, not a rescue. For more free wins, see our guide to getting more local work as a tradesperson.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Google Ads cost for a tradesperson?
There is no fixed price — you set a daily budget and pay each time someone clicks your ad. For UK trades, a click on a competitive term like "emergency plumber" often costs anywhere from a few pounds to £15 or more, so a realistic starting budget is £10–£30 a day. The number that actually matters is your cost per booked job: if £120 of clicks wins you a £600 job, it is working; if it wins you nothing, it is not.
Do I need a website to run Google Ads?
In practice, yes. Ads send people to a page, and if that page is slow, unclear or missing a contact button, you pay for the click and lose the customer. Sending paid traffic to a proper landing page or a simple site you own almost always converts better than sending it to a social profile or nothing at all.
Are Google Ads better than a Google Business Profile?
They do different jobs. A Google Business Profile is free, keeps working forever and puts you in the local map results — every tradesperson should sort that first. Ads are a paid top-up that can put you above the free results instantly, which is useful for urgent work or a quiet spell. Do the free basics first, then add ads if you still want more volume.
Want a website worth sending clicks to?
We build clean, fast one page websites for UK trades with the contact button front and centre — so the traffic you earn (or pay for) actually turns into jobs. £299 one-off, no monthly fees.
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