ServicesPay-Per-Click Capture

Pay-Per-Click Capture

Pay-per-click capture is our approach to paid search for service businesses: Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising campaigns built around the searches that turn into jobs, landing pages matched to each service, and call tracking so every ring is counted and attributed.

Discuss Pay-Per-Click Capture
Explore the service

For businesses whose customers search with a job in mind.

PAY-PER-CLICK CAPTURE
Map the money searches

Services, suburbs and urgency that pay.

Build ads and landing pages

One service, one message, one page.

Track every call and form

Search terms checked against booked jobs.

Illustrative approach · Scope agreed around your business

What we can help with

What the capture setup includes

Every piece aims at one outcome: the searcher calls or books, and you know which search sent them.

  • Service and suburb keyword mapping
  • Negative keyword lists for DIY, jobs and courses
  • Campaign structure by service and urgency
  • Landing pages per service with tap-to-call
  • Call tracking and missed-call reporting
  • Regular search term and lead quality checks

Pay-Per-Click Capture in practice

Capturing the searches that turn into jobs

The searches worth paying for name a service and usually a place or an urgency: ’emergency plumber Ryde’, ‘air con installation quote’, ‘locksmith near me open now’. Broad terms like ‘plumbing’ or ‘how to fix a leaking tap’ pull clicks from DIYers, students and job seekers. We group campaigns by service and urgency, so emergency work can run call-focused ads on an after-hours schedule while planned work goes to quote-request pages. Location targeting is set to people in or regularly in your area rather than people merely interested in it, which cuts clicks from interstate researchers. Microsoft Advertising can import the same campaigns and picks up Bing and Edge searches, which lean towards desktop users.

The day-to-day running of Google campaigns is covered in more depth under Google Ads management.

Planning and implementation

Landing pages and call tracking

Sending every ad to the homepage wastes money. Each core service gets a landing page that repeats the searcher’s words in the headline, shows the phone number as a tap-to-call button, states the area covered, and puts licence details, reviews and real job photos near the top. Forms ask only what’s needed to call back. For many trades the phone is where enquiries actually happen, so call tracking carries a lot of weight: call assets and Google forwarding numbers record calls straight from the ads, and dynamic numbers on the website record calls from people who clicked through first. Google’s default counts a call from an ad as a conversion after 60 seconds; we adjust that for each business and report missed calls separately, so you can see enquiries lost to voicemail.

The same campaigns can run on Bing Ads with little extra setup. When paid search is one of several channels, performance marketing ties it to booked jobs in your CRM, and conversion rate optimisation takes landing page testing further.

How we work

Launch and ongoing management

01

Research and structure

Keyword research by service and suburb, a review of competitor ads, negative keyword lists and a campaign structure you can read at a glance.

02

Build pages and tracking

Landing pages per service, call tracking, form tracking and conversion values, all tested end to end before any money is spent.

03

Prune and expand

Search term reports are checked against what callers actually wanted, new negatives are added and budget shifts to the services that book.

Measurement and review

How paid search capture is measured

Cost per click is the least useful number in the account. We report qualified calls and forms per service, the cost of each, and, once outcomes are recorded, cost per booked job against the value of that work.

Listen to a sample of calls each month. They show faster than any dashboard whether the ads attract the right jobs in the right suburbs, and they reveal when the real problem is how calls are answered.

Good questions

Questions about pay-per-click capture

A few useful answers before we talk.

How is this different from your Google Ads management?

Google Ads management covers running campaigns on Google. Pay-per-click capture is wider: which paid search platforms to use, the landing pages, call tracking and the path from search to booked job. For most service businesses the two overlap heavily, and the capture work is what makes a Google Ads account answerable for jobs rather than clicks.

Should we bid on our own business name?

Usually yes, at a low cost. Competitors can bid on your name, and directories or marketplaces often appear above your own listing. Brand clicks tend to be cheap, and a brand campaign makes sure people looking for you land on your site rather than a comparison page. Keep it separate from service campaigns, so brand searches don't flatter the results of your generic ads.

What about Google Local Services Ads?

Local Services Ads sit above regular search ads for a range of trade categories, carry a Google verification badge, and charge per lead rather than per click. Where they're available for your trade and area, they're worth testing alongside search campaigns. Verification involves licence, insurance and identity checks that vary by category, and you'll need to dispute leads that don't fit. We track their leads alongside your other enquiries.

Why are we getting clicks but no calls?

Start with the search terms report. Broad match keywords without negatives often attract DIY searches, job seekers and people outside your area. If the searches look right, the landing page is next: slow loading, no visible phone number on mobile, or a message that doesn't match the ad. Tracking can also be broken, so calls happen but never get recorded. We check each of these in that order before asking for more budget.

Can the free audit review our Google Ads account?

Yes. With read access, the free marketing audit looks at search terms, negative keywords, location settings, conversion tracking and landing pages, then gives you a prioritised checklist to action yourself or with your current provider. Click costs vary by trade and area, and our budget guide covers how to pick a sensible starting spend.

Connected services

Paid search pieces that work together

01

Google Ads

Day-to-day management of your Google campaigns.

Explore Google Ads

02

Bing Ads

The same campaigns on Bing and Edge search.

Explore Bing Ads

03

Performance Marketing

Paid search judged on booked jobs.

Explore Performance Marketing

A useful starting point

What the free audit finds in a search account

For pay-per-click capture, the free audit starts with the search terms you’re paying for and where those clicks land.

  • Search terms costing money that don't match work you want.
  • Whether calls from ads and landing pages are being tracked at all.
  • Structure, page and tracking fixes ranked by how much wasted spend they address.
See the 100% free audit offer

Get a 100% free audit with an actionable checklist.

Give us read access to your ads account and we’ll show you where the budget is leaking.

Get my free audit & checklist