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HDC Consultancy.

Automation & marketing

Google Ads

How we put trades in front of high-intent local searchers, tracked to booked work.

Google Ads is Google's paid advertising platform, covering Search ads on results pages and Performance Max across Google's whole network. HDC uses Google Ads to put trades and local businesses in front of people actively searching for their service right now, then tracks every click through to a real enquiry, so spend is judged on booked work, not vanity clicks.

Ask us about Google Ads Official site

Where it shines

  • Reaches people at the exact moment they're searching for the service, high intent
  • Results start immediately, unlike the slow build of organic SEO
  • Tight control over location, budget, keywords and schedule
  • Fully measurable, every click and conversion can be tracked to source
  • Performance Max extends reach across Search, Maps, YouTube and Display
  • Scales up or down quickly as a business's capacity changes

Trade-offs to weigh

  • Costs stop the moment you stop paying, it rents attention, it doesn't build an asset
  • Competitive local keywords can be expensive without careful management
  • Easy to waste budget on the wrong searches without negative keywords and tracking
  • Needs a fast, relevant landing page or the clicks don't convert

What Google Ads is

Google Ads is Google’s paid advertising platform, the system behind the sponsored results at the top of a search page and the ads that appear across Google’s wider network. Its most valuable format for local businesses is Search: text ads that show when someone types a query you’ve chosen to target, such as “emergency plumber Shrewsbury”. You bid on those searches and pay only when someone clicks, and Google ranks competing ads on a blend of bid and relevance, so a sharp, well-matched ad can beat a bigger budget.

Beyond Search, Performance Max uses Google’s automation to run a single campaign across the entire network, Search, Maps, YouTube, Display and Gmail, finding customers wherever they are. Together they give a business control over where it appears and how much it spends, with every click measurable.

How HDC uses Google Ads

We use Google Ads to win work now for trades and local businesses, and to make every pound of spend accountable. In practice that means:

  • Tightly-targeted Search campaigns, built around the high-intent phrases people actually use when they’re ready to hire, and limited to the towns and postcodes a client genuinely serves.
  • Negative keywords and refinement, stripping out the searches that waste budget (job seekers, DIY, the wrong service) so spend concentrates on real prospects.
  • Conversion tracking from day one, wiring ads to the website and Google Analytics so every enquiry is tied back to the search that caused it.
  • Fast, focused landing pages, pointing ads at pages built on Astro and served from Cloudflare, with one clear action, so the click doesn’t bounce.
  • Testing Performance Max where extra reach across Maps and YouTube adds qualified enquiries.

Why we apply it

SEO is the long game; Google Ads is how a business gets in front of buyers today. The intent is what makes it powerful: someone searching “boiler repair near me” has a problem they want solved now, and a well-placed ad meets them at that exact moment. For a trade with a quiet diary, that immediacy is worth more than any other channel.

Just as important, it’s measurable. Because we track clicks through to booked work, the conversation moves from “how many clicks did we get” to “how much did each job cost to win”, which is the only number that matters to a business owner.

How Google Ads fits our stack

Google Ads is the demand-capture engine in our marketing toolkit, and it only works as well as what surrounds it. The ads send traffic to fast landing pages built on Astro and hosted on Cloudflare, so paid clicks load instantly and convert. Google Analytics measures what those visitors do and confirms which campaigns produce real enquiries. From there, Make can route each lead to the right place, and Brevo follows it up automatically so a slow-to-book prospect isn’t lost. Ads bring the right people in; the rest of the stack makes sure they turn into work.

When Google Ads isn’t the right tool

We’re straight with clients about when paid search doesn’t pay. It rents attention rather than building an asset, the moment the budget stops, so do the leads, so for a business that wants long-term, compounding visibility, SEO and content are the better investment, often run alongside ads. If a service has almost no search demand, or the margin on a job can’t support competitive local click costs, the budget is better spent elsewhere. And without conversion tracking and a strong landing page, ads simply burn money, so if those foundations aren’t in place, we fix them first.

Worked example

Filling a quiet diary with high-intent searches

Picture an emergency electrician with gaps in the diary and a slow trickle of word-of-mouth work. We run a tightly-targeted Google Search campaign on phrases like "emergency electrician near me", limited to the towns they actually cover, pointed at a fast landing page that loads instantly and has one clear call to book. Negative keywords strip out time-wasting searches, and conversion tracking ties every enquiry back to the search that caused it. Within the budget set, the electrician can see which searches turn into jobs, and shift spend toward the ones that pay. (Illustrative, every build is scoped to your goals.)

Better together

How Google Ads fits with the rest of our stack

Google Analytics

Measures what the ad clicks do on the site

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Astro

The fast landing pages that turn ad clicks into enquiries

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Make

Routes and reports on the leads ads generate

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Brevo

Follows up ad-generated leads automatically

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Cloudflare

Keeps landing pages fast so paid clicks don't bounce

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Google Ads: your questions answered

How does Google Ads work?

Google Ads lets you bid to show ads when people search for chosen terms or browse Google's network. You only pay when someone clicks. You control the keywords, locations, budget and schedule, and Google ranks ads on a mix of bid and relevance, so a well-targeted, relevant ad can outperform a higher bid.

Why does HDC use Google Ads?

Because it reaches people at the exact moment they're searching for a service, and it delivers results immediately rather than waiting months for SEO to build. For a trades business that needs work now, it's the fastest way to turn a marketing budget into enquiries, and because it's fully trackable, we can prove what the spend returns.

What is the difference between Search and Performance Max?

Search ads appear as text on Google's results pages when someone searches a relevant term, the highest-intent placement. Performance Max uses Google's automation to run ads across the whole network, Search, Maps, YouTube, Display and Gmail, from a single campaign. We usually start trades on Search for control and intent, and test Performance Max where it adds reach.

How much should I spend on Google Ads?

There's no fixed figure, it depends on your area, your service and how competitive your keywords are. We start with a controlled budget on the highest-intent searches, track which clicks become real enquiries, then scale spend toward what's working. The aim is a cost per booked job you're happy with, not the most clicks.

How do I know if Google Ads is actually working?

Through conversion tracking. We connect Google Ads to your website and Google Analytics so every form submission and call from an ad is recorded against the search that caused it. That means you judge the campaign on booked work and cost per enquiry, not on impressions or clicks that lead nowhere.

Do I need a special landing page for Google Ads?

It helps enormously. Paid clicks are wasted if they land on a slow or vague page, so we point ads at fast, focused landing pages, built on Astro and served from Cloudflare's edge, with one clear action. A relevant, quick-loading page also improves your ad quality score, which can lower what you pay per click.

Want Google Ads working for your business?

Tell us what you're trying to achieve, we'll show you, honestly, whether it's the right tool and how we'd apply it.

Enquire now