PPC for contractors: bid on the project, not the trade, and count the signed contract

PPC for contractors works when the account is built around projects, not around the word "contractor". A homeowner searching "kitchen remodel cost" and one searching "room addition contractor near me" are different buyers with different budgets, so each project type gets its own campaign, its own landing page and its own budget. Bid only inside the area your crews can reach, put your license number where the ad lands, and judge the account on signed contracts rather than form fills. Google Local Services Ads now cover general contractors and several remodeling trades, so most contractors should run them beside Search, not instead of it.

This page is for general contractors, remodelers and construction firms that sell to homeowners and small commercial clients. If you run a single trade, our pages on PPC for roofers and plumbing PPC cover those auctions in more detail.

Why "contractor" is the wrong keyword to build around

Most searches that contain the word "contractor" are vague. They come from homeowners, job seekers, subcontractors and students. The searches that pay come from people who already know the project: a kitchen, a bathroom, a basement, an addition, a deck, a garage conversion, a new roof over an extension.

So the account starts with a list of the projects you actually want, in order of margin and capacity.

Project type	What the searcher usually wants	What the landing page needs
Kitchen and bathroom remodels	Ideas, a budget range, and a firm that handles design and build	Recent projects with photos, a budget band, how the design stage works
Additions and conversions	Someone who handles permits, structure and the full build	Permit process, timeline in stages, finished examples
Repairs and small jobs	Speed and availability	Service area, response time you can keep, minimum job size

Build the campaigns

One campaign per project type

Separate campaigns let you set a budget for each project and pause one when the schedule is full. If kitchens are booked for three months, you cut kitchen spend and keep additions running.

Match types and Smart Bidding

Google's help page on keyword matching says broad match is the default match type, and that it is critical to use Smart Bidding with broad match. In practice that means broad match only works once the account has real conversion data to learn from. A new contractor account with a small budget usually does better starting with phrase and exact match on project terms, then widening once signed jobs are flowing back into the account.

The negative keyword list

This list saves more money than any bid change. Start with:

• Job seekers: jobs, hiring, salary, careers, apprenticeship, union.
• Learners: license exam, course, school, how to become.
• Do it yourself: DIY, how to install, tutorial, rental equipment.
• Projects you do not take, by name.

Read the search terms report every week for the first two months. Each odd search you see is a negative keyword you did not think of.

Location settings

Draw the target around where your crews will actually drive, not around a whole metro area. Google Ads offers two settings: "Presence or Interest", which also reaches people who have shown interest in your area, and "Presence", for people who are in or regularly in the area. Google recommends the broad setting as a general practice on Search, and also says Presence makes sense when you only want people in specific places. For a contractor who cannot take jobs outside a set radius, Presence is usually the right choice. Google does not allow radius targets smaller than 1 km.

Local Services Ads beside Search

Google's list of Local Services Ads categories in the United States, read on 21 October 2026, includes general contractor, kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling, carpenters, flooring, foundations, siding, fencing, countertops, painters, handyman, electricians, roofers, plumbers and pool contractors, among others. Local Services Ads show prominently in search results, you pay for leads rather than clicks, and Google runs its own checks before a business goes live, including a license or business registration and reviews where the category requires them. Handymen have extra wording rules in some states, covered in our page on handyman advertising.

The two lanes do different jobs. Local Services Ads catch the searcher who wants a phone call today. Search campaigns let you control the message, send the visitor to a project page, and run project types Local Services Ads do not list. We compare the formats in more depth in our page on local search advertising and how each format charges.

The landing page decides the cost per job

Sending a kitchen click to your homepage wastes the click. Each project campaign gets a page that answers what that buyer came to find:

• Real projects. Before and after photos of jobs you finished, with the town, the scope and how long it took.
• A budget band. Not a quote, but a range for a typical job, so the visitor can tell whether you are in their price bracket. It filters out mismatched leads before they cost you a site visit.
• Your license number. In some states this is the law, not a nice touch. California's Business and Professions Code section 7030.5 says every licensed contractor must include the license number in all forms of advertising, as prescribed by the registrar of contractors. Check your own state board's rules, and put the number on the ad's landing page and in the footer.
• The process. Consultation, design, permits, build, handover, in plain steps.
• One clear action. A short form or a call button. If the form asks for a budget and a start date, your estimator can sort leads before calling.

Lead form assets

Google lets you add a lead form to Search and Performance Max campaigns, so a person can send their details without visiting your site. Google's requirements include a link to your privacy policy, and leads are kept in Google Ads for 60 days, with CSV downloads covering only the last 30 days. If you use lead forms, connect them to your CRM or download them often, or leads will expire before anyone calls them.

Count the signed contract, not the form

A remodel can take weeks to move from enquiry to signature. If the account only counts form fills, Smart Bidding learns to find people who fill in forms, including tire kickers and people collecting five quotes. The fix is to send the real outcome back to Google.

Google's offline conversion import does this. Google Ads gives every ad click an ID called the GCLID. You store it with the lead in your CRM, and when that person signs a contract, you upload the GCLID with the conversion details. Google now recommends enhanced conversions for leads, which uses first party data captured by a tag, as the more durable version of the same idea. Either way, the account starts learning which searches turn into signed jobs.

Track these four numbers every month:

• Cost per lead, by project type.
• Lead to site visit rate.
• Site visit to signed contract rate.
• Cost per signed contract against the gross margin on that project type.

Budget and pacing

The right budget is the one your schedule can absorb. Work backwards: how many new jobs can your crews start next quarter, what share of enquiries usually become signed jobs, and what can you afford to pay for one signed job of each type. That gives a monthly ceiling per campaign. When the schedule fills, lower the budget on that project type rather than letting leads go cold.

If you hire someone to run the account, ask how they will connect the ads to signed contracts, who owns the account, and what they report each month. Our guide to PPC agencies and their fee models sets out the questions to ask before you sign.

Questions about PPC for contractors

Is PPC worth it for a general contractor?

It is worth it when the account is split by project type, limited to your real service area, and measured on signed contracts. A single campaign on the word "contractor" mostly buys clicks from job seekers and people with very different projects.

Should a contractor run Local Services Ads or Google Search ads?

Usually both. Local Services Ads charge per lead and appear first for categories such as general contractor and kitchen or bathroom remodeling. Search ads give you control over the message and the landing page, and cover project types the Local Services list does not.

Do contractors have to show a license number in ads?

It depends on the state. California requires licensed contractors to include the license number in all forms of advertising under Business and Professions Code section 7030.5. Check your own state licensing board before launching.

What is a good conversion to track for contractor PPC?

The signed contract. Track calls and forms as early steps, then import signed jobs back into Google Ads using offline conversion import or enhanced conversions for leads so bidding learns from real revenue.

Where the homeowner checks before the click

A homeowner planning an addition often asks an assistant something like "who are the best remodeling contractors near me" before typing anything into Google. The answer names a few firms, and it draws on reviews, license records and project pages, not on ad spend. Your PPC budget does not move that list. AI Knows Us belongs to a newer category that checks whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews name a business for questions like that one, and shows which sources they relied on.