Pay-Per-Click Advertising: The Complete Guide for Service Businesses

If you run a service business, you have probably been cold-called by someone promising to get you to the top of Google. They throw around terms like Quality Score and ROAS, quote you a monthly fee, and leave you wondering whether it is all a bit of a con.

It is not a con. But it is frequently done badly. Having run service businesses ourselves and worked with dozens of trades and professional service firms across the North East and beyond, we have seen the full spectrum. Agencies that charge £500 a month to manage £200 of ad spend. Campaigns left running for months targeting the wrong postcodes. Landing pages that send traffic to a homepage with no clear call to action.

This guide is designed to give you enough knowledge to make informed decisions. Whether you end up running PPC yourself, hiring someone, or deciding it is not right for your business, you will understand what you are dealing with.

How PPC Actually Works

Pay-per-click advertising does exactly what it says. You create an advert, and you pay each time someone clicks on it. You do not pay to show the ad, only when someone takes action.

The major platforms, Google and Meta primarily, run auction systems. When someone searches for "emergency plumber Gateshead" or scrolls through Facebook while fitting your ideal customer profile, an auction happens in milliseconds. Your ad competes against others for that space.

But here is the thing that catches people out: it is not simply the highest bidder who wins.

The Google Ads auction

Google uses something called Ad Rank to decide which ads appear and in what order. Your Ad Rank is calculated from three factors: your bid (the maximum you are willing to pay per click), your Quality Score (Google's assessment of your ad's relevance and quality), and the expected impact of your ad extensions and formats.

Quality Score is where things get interesting. Google rates your ads on a scale of 1 to 10 based on expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. A higher Quality Score means you can actually pay less per click than competitors while still appearing above them.

Here is a practical example. Suppose two garage door installation companies in Newcastle are bidding on "garage door repair Newcastle". Company A bids £5 per click but has a Quality Score of 4. Company B bids £3 per click but has a Quality Score of 8.

Company A's Ad Rank: £5 × 4 = 20 Company B's Ad Rank: £3 × 8 = 24

Company B wins the better position despite bidding 40% less. They also end up paying less than their maximum bid because the actual cost per click is calculated based on the Ad Rank of the advertiser below you, divided by your Quality Score, plus one penny.

This is why ad account management matters. A well-structured campaign with relevant ads and a good landing page will consistently outperform a sloppy setup throwing money at the problem.

The Meta Ads auction

Meta, which includes Facebook and Instagram, works differently. Instead of responding to search intent, you are interrupting people as they scroll. Meta predicts which users are most likely to take your desired action based on their behaviour data. The auction considers your bid, estimated action rates, and ad quality.

Meta's system is heavily optimised around machine learning. Given enough data, it gets remarkably good at finding people who will convert. The challenge is getting enough conversions for the algorithm to learn. Meta typically needs around 50 conversions per week per ad set to optimise effectively. For many service businesses, that volume is hard to achieve.

Major Platforms Compared

You have options beyond Google and Meta, though those two capture the lion's share of digital advertising spend. Here is how the main platforms stack up for service businesses.

Google Ads

Google Ads remains the default choice for service businesses, and for good reason. When someone searches for "commercial electrician Durham", they have intent. They need an electrician. They are looking right now. This intent-based targeting is Google's superpower.

Google offers several campaign types. Search campaigns show text ads in search results. Display campaigns show image ads across partner websites. Performance Max campaigns use automation across all Google properties. Local Services Ads, available for certain trades, show your business at the very top of results with a "Google Guaranteed" badge.

For most service businesses starting out, search campaigns targeting specific services and locations deliver the most predictable results. We cover Google Ads setup in detail in our deep-dive article on Google Ads for Local Service Businesses.

Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram)

Meta excels at reaching people who are not actively searching but match your ideal customer profile. A bathroom fitter might target homeowners aged 35-55 in certain postcodes who have shown interest in home improvement content.

The strength of Meta is visual storytelling. Before-and-after photos of your work, video testimonials, behind-the-scenes content. For trades with visually impressive outputs, Meta can work brilliantly. For services where the outcome is invisible, like an accountant or IT support, it tends to struggle.

Lead costs on Meta are often lower than Google, but lead quality can be hit-or-miss. Someone who filled out a form on Facebook while half-watching telly is less committed than someone who searched for your service and clicked through.

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn is the B2B platform. If you are targeting decision-makers at specific companies or in specific roles, LinkedIn's targeting is unmatched. You can target by job title, company size, industry, seniority level, and more.

The catch is cost. LinkedIn clicks routinely cost £5 to £15, sometimes more. For a manufacturing consultancy targeting operations directors, that might be worthwhile. For a local electrician, it almost certainly is not.

Microsoft Ads

Microsoft Ads, formerly Bing Ads, reaches people searching on Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo. The audience skews older and slightly more affluent. Competition is usually lower than Google, meaning cheaper clicks for the same keywords.

For service businesses, Microsoft Ads makes sense as a supplement to Google, not a replacement. Once your Google campaigns are performing well, you can often import them directly to Microsoft and pick up additional leads at a lower cost.

Why PPC Works for Service Businesses

Service businesses have characteristics that make them well-suited to PPC, particularly on search platforms.

First, your customers often have urgent needs. A blocked drain, a broken boiler, a crashed server. They search, they find you, they call. The sales cycle can be measured in hours, not months. This immediacy makes tracking ROI straightforward.

Second, geography matters. A plumber in Sunderland does not need to reach people in Southampton. PPC platforms let you target precisely where you operate, down to specific postcodes or a radius around your location. No wasted spend on irrelevant areas.

Third, your services are typically high-value. A new boiler installation might be £3,000. A garage door replacement, £2,500. A website project, £5,000 plus. Even at £30 to £50 per lead, the maths can work comfortably if your close rate is reasonable.

Fourth, trust matters enormously. When someone needs a tradesperson in their home or a professional handling their finances, they want reassurance. PPC lets you control the message from search to landing page, building trust at every step.

Which Platform for Which Business

Here is a practical framework for deciding where to focus.

Start with Google Ads if: your service solves an immediate problem people actively search for, you operate in a defined geographic area, and your average job value exceeds £500. This covers most trades, emergency services, professional services like accountants and solicitors, and B2B service providers.

Consider Meta Ads if: your work is visually compelling, you are building awareness for a newer service, or you have a lower-ticket offering with higher volume. Kitchen fitters, landscapers, and interior designers often do well. Home improvement services where people browse for inspiration rather than searching for solutions can work well here.

Use LinkedIn if: you sell B2B services to specific decision-makers and your deal values justify the higher cost per lead. IT consultancies, commercial contractors, and professional services targeting corporate clients fit this profile.

Add Microsoft Ads when: your Google campaigns are mature and profitable. Microsoft is rarely the starting point, but it is often good incremental value.

Budget Planning: What to Expect

Here is the uncomfortable truth about PPC budgets: there is a minimum viable spend below which you will struggle to generate meaningful data or results. That minimum depends on your market, but for most service businesses in the UK, it sits around £500 to £1,000 per month in ad spend, plus management costs if you are not doing it yourself.

Spending £200 a month on Google Ads is not enough to appear consistently for competitive keywords. You will get sporadic clicks, inconsistent data, and no clear picture of what is working. It is the worst of all worlds: enough money to feel like you are doing something, not enough to actually learn anything.

Typical cost per lead by sector

These figures are indicative, based on UK campaigns we have managed and industry benchmarks. Your actual costs will depend on competition in your area, your Quality Score, and your conversion rate.

Emergency trades (locksmiths, emergency plumbers, drain clearance): £20 to £60 per lead. High competition, high urgency, relatively high conversion rates.

Home improvement trades (kitchen fitters, bathroom installers, garage door companies): £30 to £80 per lead. Longer consideration period, bigger ticket items.

Professional services (accountants, solicitors, financial advisers): £40 to £150 per lead. Competitive, but lifetime customer value is typically high.

B2B services (IT support, commercial cleaning, industrial suppliers): £50 to £200 per lead. Smaller search volumes, but deal values often justify the cost.

Working backwards from your target

The sensible approach to budget planning starts with your target. How many new customers do you need per month? What is your close rate on leads? Work backwards from there.

Say you are a garage door installer wanting five new installation jobs per month. Your average job value is £2,500, and you close about one in four quotes. That means you need 20 leads to get 5 jobs.

If leads cost £50 each, your ad spend is £1,000 per month. Add management costs, say £400 to £600 for a decent agency or the equivalent of your time if managing in-house. Total investment: £1,400 to £1,600.

Return: 5 jobs at £2,500 = £12,500 in revenue. If your margin is 40%, that is £5,000 gross profit against roughly £1,500 marketing spend. A healthy return.

This kind of calculation is what separates strategic marketing from gambling. You should know what a lead is worth, what you can afford to pay, and what return you are getting. If you cannot measure it, you should not be spending money on it.

Common Mistakes Service Businesses Make

We see the same errors repeatedly, often costing businesses thousands in wasted spend.

Sending traffic to your homepage. Your homepage tries to serve everyone. A PPC landing page should serve the specific person who clicked on a specific ad. If someone searches for "emergency boiler repair Gateshead", they should land on a page about emergency boiler repair in Gateshead with a clear call to action. Not your homepage with its six services and About Us link.

Targeting too broadly. We have inherited accounts targeting the entire UK for services delivered within a 30-mile radius. Every click from London when you only serve Newcastle is money burnt.

Ignoring negative keywords. If you install premium garage doors, you probably do not want clicks from people searching "cheap garage doors" or "garage door DIY repair". Negative keywords exclude searches you do not want. Without them, you pay for irrelevant clicks.

Set and forget. PPC requires ongoing attention. Search terms change, competitors adjust their bids, your Quality Score fluctuates. An account left untouched for three months is an account leaking money.

No conversion tracking. Astonishingly common. Businesses spending thousands on Google Ads with no idea which keywords, ads, or landing pages generate actual enquiries. You are flying blind.

Chasing vanity metrics. Impressions and clicks feel good but do not pay bills. The only metrics that matter are leads, cost per lead, and the quality of those leads. Everything else is supporting data.

When to DIY vs When to Hire Help

This is not a sales pitch for agencies. Sometimes DIY is genuinely the right call.

Managing PPC yourself makes sense if: you have time to learn (properly, not just watching one YouTube video), your campaigns are relatively simple (one location, one main service), you are comfortable with data and spreadsheets, and you genuinely enjoy this kind of work. Some business owners find it fascinating. Others find it soul-destroying.

Working with an agency or specialist makes sense if: your time is better spent running your business, your campaigns need to scale or become more complex, you have been burned before and want someone accountable, or you want access to expertise and tools you would not have individually.

If you do hire help, look for someone who asks about your business before they pitch their services. If the first conversation is about budget and package prices without understanding what you do, how you make money, and what a lead is worth to you, walk away. The good ones will want to understand your business properly. The bad ones just want your monthly retainer.

Ask specifically: how will you report on results? What is your process for testing and optimisation? How often will we speak? Can I see examples of similar campaigns you have managed?

A Word on Attribution

Attribution, the question of what actually caused someone to become a customer, is genuinely complicated. Someone might see your Facebook ad, Google your company name a week later, and then call you. Who gets the credit?

Different attribution models give different answers. Last-click attribution credits the final touchpoint. First-click credits the first. Linear attribution spreads credit across all touchpoints. Time-decay gives more credit to touchpoints closer to the conversion.

For most service businesses, obsessing over attribution models is overkill. What matters is having basic conversion tracking in place (so you know a lead came from paid ads rather than organic search), asking new customers how they found you, and tracking whether your overall marketing investment is generating profitable returns.

We cover attribution in more depth in our article on PPC Attribution: Understanding What Actually Converts.

The Bigger Picture

PPC does not exist in isolation. It is one piece of your marketing system. A brilliant Google Ads campaign sending traffic to a terrible website will not convert. Strong ads without a follow-up process for leads will leak opportunities. Good campaigns need good foundations.

Before spending money on ads, ask yourself: if we doubled our leads tomorrow, could we handle them? Is our website actually persuading people to get in touch? Do we have a reliable process for following up enquiries? Is our pricing competitive and clear?

PPC amplifies what is already there. If your sales process is solid, ads can pour fuel on that fire. If your fundamentals are broken, ads will just expose the cracks faster.

Think about your competitors. The ones who always seem busy, who have been around for years, who have vans everywhere and a solid reputation. Chances are they have figured out some combination of marketing, sales, and delivery that works. PPC is often part of that, but it is never the whole story.

Getting Started

If you are new to PPC, here is a sensible sequence.

First, get your tracking in place. Install Google Analytics on your website. Set up Google Ads conversion tracking for form submissions and phone calls. Without this, you are guessing.

Second, start with Google Ads search campaigns targeting your core service in your core area. Keep it simple. One campaign, a few tightly themed ad groups, strong landing pages. Prove the concept before expanding.

Third, commit to learning or managing properly. Check your account weekly at minimum. Review search terms, adjust bids, test new ad copy. If you cannot commit to this, hire someone who can.

Fourth, give it time. PPC is not instant. You need data to optimise. Budget for at least three months of learning and refinement before judging whether it works for your business.

Fifth, measure what matters. Track your cost per lead. Track lead quality. Track how many leads become customers. Track your return on investment. Let data guide your decisions.

PPC is not magic. It is a tool. Like any tool, it works when used properly and causes damage when misused. Take the time to understand it, set it up correctly, and manage it with attention. The businesses that do this consistently outperform those throwing money at it and hoping for the best.