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Google Ads for UK local businesses

Tell us what work you want more of, where you can get to, and when you can take bookings. Start with a campaign that fits your working week, then judge it by the calls, appointments or quotes you can actually use.

Industry groups
16
Business types in this directory
91

Find your business type

Search for your trade or service, or choose an industry to see what to advertise and which enquiries to track.

91 business types

Can’t find your industry? Get in touch.

What a good enquiry looks like in your business

The figures below are worked examples created for this guide. They use Google ad spend only, before management fees, VAT and the cost of doing the job.

Heating engineer checking the job schedule beside a van on a terraced street

Trades with a van and a diary to fill

A boiler repair in Walthamstow and an installation across north-east London can justify different travel times and budgets. State your call-out area and answer hours. Send planned work to a quote page so the customer can leave details while you’re on a job.

£60 per booked job. If £360 brings 12 calls, eight are suitable and six book, you spent £30 per call, £45 per suitable enquiry and £60 per booked job.

Google Ads for heating engineers
Salon owner checking the appointment diary at reception

Salons filling weekday appointments

If your evenings already sell out, use ads for treatments with weekday space. Link to the treatment, price and available times so the customer can book without ringing the desk.

£30 per attended appointment. If £240 brings 12 confirmed bookings and eight attend, the cost is £20 per booking and £30 per attended appointment. Keep cancellations visible when you compare campaigns.

Google Ads for beauty salons
Mechanic inspecting a car in an independent garage

Garages keeping the ramps busy

If the MOT diary is full, use a separate campaign for services or repairs you can fit in. Ask for the vehicle details and preferred day before promising a slot. Keep a parts enquiry separate from a workshop booking.

£50 per completed job. If £300 brings 15 enquiries, nine bookings and six completed jobs, the £20 cost per enquiry becomes £50 per completed job.

Google Ads for garages

Give your campaign a job to do

Choose work you can take on

A roofer booked for replacements until spring might want smaller repair jobs within a few postcodes. An accountant might want bookkeeping enquiries and have no room for another last-minute tax return. Tell us what you would say yes to this week.

Set your catchment from real journeys

Start with recent jobs or appointments, where customers come from and where the travel is worth it. Show your areas and opening hours clearly so people can tell if you cover them before they call.

Keep a record after the call

Mark each enquiry as suitable, booked, completed or lost. Note why you couldn’t take it. If most calls are outside your patch, change the targeting before adding budget. If they are suitable but don’t book, look at availability, callbacks and quotes.

See a sample monthly report · Estimate your cost per booked job · Compare management plans

Questions local business owners ask

I’m a plumber. Should emergency call-outs and planned jobs share a budget?

Give them separate budgets where their value, hours or service areas differ. A burst pipe needs a phone you can answer now. A bathroom quote can go to a form that asks for a postcode and the scope of work. Compare completed emergency visits with accepted quotes for planned work.

I run a salon. Can I advertise quieter times without filling up Saturday?

Start with the treatments and appointment times you want to sell. Send people to the relevant treatment or booking page, then review which appointments were confirmed and attended. If walk-ins and existing clients already fill Saturday, spend the budget on times with room.

Our garage books by phone. How can we tell which ads brought in work?

Track campaign calls, ask what the customer wants and record whether a slot was booked. Reconcile the call log with the workshop diary so a repeat call about the same MOT does not count as another booking.

We fit kitchens. What should we measure if it takes weeks to win a job?

Follow the enquiry through survey, quote and accepted job. Review the date the enquiry first came in as well as the date the job was won, so a long decision cycle does not make a recent campaign look worse than it is.

I run a clinic. Can I measure bookings without sharing patient details?

Review aggregate booking and attendance counts in your practice reports. Keep patient details and treatment reasons in the practice system. Agree what can be measured safely before adding any booking events to advertising tools.

Should I target a radius around the business or pick postcodes?

Start with the towns or postcodes your team can serve at the times customers need you. Compare out-of-area calls and completed work before widening the patch. A straight-line radius can hide a slow river crossing or a drive that makes a short job unprofitable.

How much should I spend before I know if Google Ads works for me?

Start from the value of work you can take on and your capacity to answer enquiries. Use a cautious estimate for how many enquiries turn into jobs, then compare setup, management and Google spend in the budget calculator. Review lead quality before committing more.

What if my niche isn’t in the directory?

Tell us what you sell, where you work and what a worthwhile enquiry looks like. We can discuss whether there is a service and area worth testing first.

Talk to us about Google Ads

Tell us about your website, service area and what you want to achieve. If you already run Google Ads, include your approximate monthly ad spend.

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