Plumbing has the 3rd highest CPC in home services at $10.49/click. Broad match keywords trigger your ads for 'plumber salary' (147,000 monthly searches), 'plumbing apprenticeship', and 'how to become a plumber'. At $10.49 each, these job-seeker and DIY clicks drain your budget fast with zero chance of conversion.
Keywords like 'emergency plumber' and 'plumber now' have CPCs of $15-25 but convert at 2x the rate—IF you have a dedicated landing page with click-to-call, 24/7 availability messaging, and instant response promises. Most plumbers send this traffic to their homepage, killing conversion rates and wasting the premium CPC.
Plumbing is hyperlocal—customers won't wait 2 hours for a plumber to drive from 45 miles away. Yet many plumbers target entire metro areas or even states. With a $129.02 cost per lead, every lead outside your 15-20 mile service radius is money wasted on jobs you'll never take.
Broad match keywords trigger your plumber ads for searches like "plumber jobs" and "plumber salary". Without negative keywords, you're paying for clicks that will never convert.
Fix: Add comprehensive negative keyword lists and switch high-value keywords to exact match.
Your homepage isn't optimized for conversions. Plumbers who click ads expecting specific services bounce when they land on a generic page.
Fix: Create dedicated landing pages for each service with clear CTAs and matching message.
You're paying the same CPC at 3 AM as you are during peak hours. But plumber searches convert differently throughout the day.
Fix: Analyze your conversion data by hour and day, then adjust bids accordingly.
Running the same ads for months means you're leaving performance on the table. Different messages resonate with different plumber customers.
Fix: Run at least 3 ad variations per ad group and let Google optimize.
These keywords waste budget without delivering customers:
147,000 monthly searches from job seekers, not customers. Zero commercial intent.
DIY searchers who will never hire. Watch a YouTube video, don't call a plumber.
Career seekers, not homeowners with plumbing problems.
People buying parts at Home Depot to fix it themselves.
Attracts price-shoppers collecting 10 quotes. Low close rate, high time waste.
Two powerful tools for plumbers to improve your Google Ads performance