I watched an owner spend $4,200 in three weeks on “HVAC” and “air conditioning repair” before he called me. His previous agency had set up a “smart campaign” with auto-targeting and told him to wait for the algorithm to learn.
He got 87 clicks. Two phone calls.
One was a parts supplier asking about wholesale pricing.
That’s the story I hear everywhere. Contractors who tried Google Ads, burned budget on the wrong searches, and walked away convinced paid traffic doesn’t work. The truth? It works fine—once you stop the bleed.
The Real Problem Isn’t Google Ads, It’s Missing Guardrails
Most HVAC accounts fail because they skip the unglamorous setup work.
| What’s Missing | What Happens |
|---|---|
| No conversion tracking | Can’t tell a $200 service call from a spam form |
| Wrong geo-targeting | Paying for clicks from two counties over |
| Broad match keywords with zero negatives | “HVAC technician salary” eats your budget by 10 a.m. |
The agencies that set these up aren’t malicious—they’re running a template. They launch campaigns fast, let Google’s automation do the heavy lifting, and hope the client doesn’t look too closely at the search terms report.
I’ve rebuilt enough accounts to know the pattern. The fixes aren’t complicated, but they require decisions Google’s automation won’t make: which zip codes matter, which search phrases indicate real service needs, and what counts as a conversion worth bidding on.
Start With Conversion Tracking or Don’t Start at All
Before you write a single ad or pick a keyword, you need to know what you’re measuring.
Two Primary Conversion Actions for HVAC
Phone Calls
Phone call tracking requires a Google forwarding number or a third-party service like CallRail. CallRail records calls, shows which keywords triggered them, and integrates with Google Ads. You set up dynamic number insertion on your website—visitors from Google Ads see a unique tracking number, and when they call, the system logs it as a conversion.
Form Submissions
Add the Google Ads conversion tag to your “thank you” page—the page people see after submitting a contact form. Google fires the tag, records the conversion, and attributes it back to the keyword and ad.
The Part People Miss: Conversion Values
Set a conversion value. If your average service call is worth $350, assign that value to phone call conversions. If form fills close at a lower rate, maybe assign $175. This tells Google’s bidding algorithm what a conversion is worth.
Once tracking is live, let it run for two weeks before touching bidding. You need 15-30 conversions minimum before Smart Bidding has enough data to make decent decisions.
Geo-Targeting: Your First Line of Defense Against Wasted Spend
I’ve seen accounts targeting entire metro areas when the company only services a 25-mile radius. One client was getting clicks from people 40 miles north because Google’s default includes “people interested in your targeted location.”
Fix this in two steps.
Step 1: Change location targeting to “Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations.” This excludes searchers who are just interested in your area but don’t live there.
Step 2: Draw your service radius accurately. Use radius targeting around your office—10 miles, 15 miles, whatever matches your dispatch range. If you have multiple service areas, create separate campaigns for each zone.
Exclude locations where you don’t service. If you keep seeing clicks from neighboring cities, add them as location exclusions.
Keyword Planner and Intent-Based Keyword Structure
Google’s Keyword Planner shows search volume and competition, but it doesn’t tell you intent.
Understanding Search Intent
- High Intent: “HVAC repair near me” (system is broken, needs help now)
- Medium Intent: “HVAC maintenance cost” (researching, planning)
- Zero Intent: “HVAC technician training” (job seeker, not a customer)
Filter for intent and structure campaigns around service types. Run separate campaigns for emergency repair, maintenance, and installations. Within each campaign, ad groups focus on tightly related keywords. The emergency repair campaign has ad groups like “AC not working,” “furnace won’t start,” and “no heat emergency.” Each ad group gets 5-10 closely related keywords, all phrase match or exact match.
Match Types That Actually Work
Phrase match gives you control without being too restrictive. If you bid on “AC repair,” phrase match shows your ad for “emergency AC repair” and “AC repair near me,” but not “AC repair technician jobs.”
Exact match is even tighter—your ad only shows for that exact phrase or close variants.
Broad match is a budget killer without a massive negative keyword list. Unless you have conversion data proving broad match works, stick with phrase and exact.
Focus on long-tail, service-specific phrases. “HVAC repair in [city]” is better than “HVAC” because it’s cheaper, more targeted, and attracts people ready to book.
Negative Keywords: The Spend Protection You Can’t Skip
Negative keywords tell Google which queries should never trigger your ads.
Essential Negatives to Add Immediately
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Job Searches | jobs, salary, career, training, school |
| DIY Content | DIY, how to, YouTube, tutorial |
| Parts/Equipment | parts, wholesale, used, for sale |
| Wrong Service Type | portable, window unit, RV, car, automotive, marine |
Add these at the campaign level so they apply to every ad group.
Then get specific. Add “swamp cooler” and “commercial” if you only do residential. If you don’t service particular brands, add those brand names as negatives.
After your first week, pull the search terms report. This shows the actual queries that triggered your ads. Add every irrelevant query as a negative keyword.
Do this every week for the first month, then every two weeks after that. Your negative list will grow to 100+ terms—that’s the difference between a $90 cost per lead and a $35 cost per lead.
Ad Extensions and Lead Quality Signals
Ad extensions make your ads bigger and filter leads by giving people information before they click.
Call Extensions (Mandatory)
They put your phone number directly in the ad. On mobile (where 60%+ of HVAC searches happen), they turn your ad into a one-tap call button. Use a tracking number so Google can attribute phone conversions to specific keywords.
Location Extensions
Show your address and a map pin. Link your Google Business Profile to enable this. It’s a two-minute setup that can lift click-through rates by 10-15%.
Callout Extensions
Highlight key differentiators: “24/7 Emergency Service,” “Licensed & Insured,” “Same-Day Repairs.” These answer objections before people call.
Sitelink Extensions
Add extra links below your main ad: “AC Repair,” “Furnace Installation,” “Maintenance Plans,” “Emergency Service.” Each sitelink can have its own destination URL.
Structured Snippets
List services or brands: “Services: AC Repair, Heating Repair, Duct Cleaning, Thermostat Install.”
All extensions are free—you only pay when someone clicks your ad. Google rewards ads with extensions by giving them better positions at lower costs.
Smart Bidding With Guardrails (Not Blind Trust)
Google wants you to use Smart Bidding—automated strategies like Target CPA or Maximize Conversions. That’s true… eventually. But only after you have conversion data.
The Safe Path to Automation
- Start with Manual CPC bidding. Set a max CPC based on what you can afford—if your average job is worth $350 and you close 20% of leads, you can afford $70 per lead, which means roughly $7-10 per click. Bid conservatively at first, maybe $5 per click.
- Run Manual CPC until you have 30+ conversions in a 30-day window. Then switch to Target CPA or Maximize Conversions. Set a target CPA that’s 20% higher than your current average to give the algorithm room to learn.
- Add a portfolio bid strategy if you’re running multiple campaigns. This lets Google optimize across all campaigns instead of treating each one in isolation.
Set a maximum CPC bid limit even when using Smart Bidding. Enable “Bid Limits” and set a max CPC of 2-3x your normal bid. This prevents the algorithm from bidding $40 for a single click.
The 30-Day Checkpoint: What to Watch and When to Adjust
After your first month, pull these reports and look for patterns.
Search Terms Report
Are you still seeing irrelevant queries? Add them as negatives. Are certain phrases converting at lower cost? Create dedicated ad groups and increase bids.
Geographic Report
Which zip codes drive the most conversions? Increase bids in those areas by 10-20%. Which areas eat budget with no results? Exclude them or lower bids by 30-50%.
Time of Day Report
When are people calling? Use ad scheduling to increase bids during peak hours and decrease bids overnight (unless you offer 24/7 emergency service).
Device Report
Mobile usually drives 60-70% of HVAC searches. If your mobile conversion rate is significantly lower than desktop, your landing page probably isn’t mobile-friendly.
If your cost per conversion is above target, look at where the waste is happening—usually it’s a handful of broad keywords or a geographic area outside your core service zone. Make surgical cuts, not sweeping changes.
If you’re hitting your cost per lead target but not getting enough volume, gradually increase your daily budget by 20-30% and expand to adjacent zip codes or add more service-specific keywords.
The Checklist: What You Need Before You Spend a Dollar
Here’s what a properly configured HVAC Google Ads account looks like on day one:
- ✓ Conversion tracking installed for phone calls and form submissions, with values assigned
- ✓ Geo-targeting set to “Presence” only, with accurate service radius and location exclusions
- ✓ Campaigns structured by service type, with tightly themed ad groups using phrase and exact match keywords
- ✓ A negative keyword list of 50+ terms blocking job searches, DIY queries, and irrelevant services
- ✓ Ad extensions enabled: call, location, callout, sitelink, and structured snippets
- ✓ Manual CPC bidding with conservative max bids until you have 30+ conversions
- ✓ A weekly calendar reminder to review search terms and add negatives
That’s it.
No magic, no proprietary secrets. Just the basics, done correctly, with guardrails that prevent the classic bleed.
Most contractors I work with see profitable leads within two weeks once this foundation is in place. Not because Google Ads suddenly started working—because we stopped paying for the wrong clicks.
If you’ve been burned before, I get the hesitation. But the alternative—waiting for the phone to ring, hoping referrals keep coming, watching competitors show up first—that’s a bigger risk than a controlled google ads for hvac test with proper tracking and spend limits.
Start small. One campaign, one service type, $20 a day. Build the foundation right, watch what converts, and scale what works.
You don’t need to trust Google’s automation. You just need to stop giving it permission to waste your money.