Show Up When They Search For You
Google Ads management for local businesses: Search, Performance Max and Local Services Ads, set up properly and worked every week. Your ad budget goes on your own card, straight to Google. We manage it. We never hold it and we never mark it up.
Who Pays For What
This is the part to be clear on before anything else. There are two separate costs, and only one of them is ours.
You pay Google
The ad spend
The money that buys the clicks is yours, and it goes from your card directly to Google. We do not pay for your ads, and the ad budget never passes through us. You set the daily limit, you can see every charge in your own Google account, and you can pause it whenever you want.
You pay us
The management
Our fee is for the work: building the account, writing the ads, and being in it every week to cut waste and move budget. It is a separate invoice from us, and it does not include a single dollar of ad spend. We never add a markup to what you pay Google.
The account is in your name, too. If we ever part ways, you keep the account, the history and everything we built in it.
What You Will See
Three views of a managed account. The businesses and numbers are made up to show how it works: they are not results we are promising.
Clicks
38
Calls and forms
3
Ad spend
$114
Cost per lead
$38
Wk 1
Wk 2
Wk 3
Wk 4
Wk 5
Wk 6
Clicks Calls and forms
- emergency plumber near meKeep
- plumber salaryBlocked
- water heater repair orange parkKeep
- how to fix a leaky faucet yourselfBlocked
- plumbing jobs hiringBlocked
- 24 hour plumber st augustineKeep
0 wasted searches blocked this week
Before: budget split evenly
Three Kinds of Google Ads
Google Ads is not one thing. Which of these you need depends on what you sell and how people look for it, and we will tell you which ones are worth your money.
Search ads
The text ads at the top of Google when someone types what you sell. You pay only when they click. Best when people already know what they need and are looking for someone to do it: a plumber, a dentist, a roofer, a lawyer.
Performance Max
One campaign that Google runs across Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail and its partner sites. It can find customers you would not have targeted, and it needs clean tracking and a firm hand, or it spends on the wrong things.
Local Services Ads
The listings with a badge above the regular ads, for eligible trades and professions. You pay per lead, not per click, after Google checks your license and insurance. If your trade qualifies, this is often the first thing to turn on.
Where Ad Budgets Leak
When we open an account that is costing an owner money, these are the six things we look for first.
No tracking
The account counts clicks but not calls or forms, so nobody can say which ads bring customers. Everything after that is a guess.
Keywords too broad
Ads for a roofer showing on "roofing jobs" and "how to patch a roof". You pay for every one of those clicks.
Every click goes to the home page
Someone searches for one specific service and lands on a page about everything. They leave. A page that matches the search gives them a reason to stay.
Set up once and left alone
The account was built two years ago and nobody has opened it since. Google's suggestions get auto-applied and the budget drifts.
Showing ads too far away
A local business paying for clicks from people who will never drive that far, because the location settings were left on the default.
No idea what a lead costs
You know what you spend. You do not know what a booked job costs you in ads, so you cannot tell if it is worth it.
Setup, Then Management
Most accounts need both: a one-time setup so tracking is right, then monthly management to keep the spend working.
Google Ads Setup
From
Live in about a week
The account built the right way from day one, so you know which clicks turned into calls and forms.
- Conversion tracking for calls and forms
- Campaign and ad group structure
- Keyword and audience research
- First set of ads written
- Billing stays on your card with Google
Google Ads Management
From
3-month start
Someone in the account every week: cutting wasted searches, testing ads, and moving budget to what brings calls.
- Keyword and negative keyword management
- Bid and budget adjustments
- New ads tested every month
- Tracking checked so the numbers are real
- Monthly report in plain English
How the fee works
The $800 a month covers up to about $4,000 in monthly ad spend. Above that, our fee is 20% of spend, and 15% once you pass $10,000 a month. Ad spend is separate and paid straight to Google. Running Meta or TikTok ads instead? See the Ad Campaign project on the services page.
What Management Actually Is
An ad account is not something you set up and walk away from. This is what the monthly fee pays for.
Every week
We read the search terms, block the wasted ones, check that calls and forms are still being counted, and adjust bids and budgets.
Every month
New ads are tested against the current ones, budget moves toward what is producing, and you get a report in plain English.
Whenever you ask
A call to walk through the numbers: what a lead is costing, what is closing, and whether the budget should go up, down, or somewhere else.
The questions we get
How much does Google Ads management cost for a small business?add
Our management starts at $800 a month, which covers up to about $4,000 in monthly ad spend. Above that the fee is 20% of spend, and 15% past $10,000 a month. Setup is a one-time fee from $850. Ad spend itself is separate and paid directly to Google.
How much should I spend on Google Ads?add
It depends on what a click costs in your trade and area, which we look up before you spend anything. We will tell you the smallest budget that can produce enough calls to judge, and we will say so if your budget is too small for search ads to be worth it yet.
Who pays for the ads, you or me?add
You do, directly to Google. Your ad budget goes on your own card in your own Google Ads account, so you see every charge. We do not pay for your ads, the money never passes through us, and we never mark it up. Our fee is a separate invoice for building and managing the campaigns.
Who owns the Google Ads account?add
You do. We set it up in your name and work in it as a manager. If you ever stop working with us, the account, its history and every campaign we built stay with you. You should never have to start over because you changed agencies.
How long until Google Ads start working?add
Ads can bring clicks the day they go live. Knowing which keywords and ads are worth the money takes longer, because the account needs real data. That is why management starts with three months, then runs month to month with 30 days' notice.
Do you guarantee results?add
No, and be careful with anyone who does. We control the setup, the targeting, the ads and how fast we cut what is not working. We cannot control Google's auction, your competitors, or what happens after the phone rings. You get an honest report every month.
Want a Second Opinion on Your Ads?
If you already run Google Ads, we will look at the account with you on a free call and tell you what we would change. No obligation.
Book a Free CallRather talk it through? Call or text (904) 639-5631.