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The Marketing Mantra
This blog is meant to provide business owners with the tools and resources to manage digital marketing campaigns using Google tools. Find the answers to your questions and start reaching your business goals.
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Does Having a Blog Help a Plumbing Company Rank on Google?
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: it depends entirely on what you write, how often you write it, and whether the content actually serves the people searching for it. A blog full of generic, thin, copy-paste articles about 'the importance of regular drain maintenance' that nobody is searching for will do almost nothing for your rankings. A blog built around the specific questions homeowners in your city are asking Google — written with enough depth and specificity to actually
4 days ago13 min read


On-Page SEO Checklist for Home Service Business Websites
Your Google Business Profile gets you into the Map Pack. Your reviews build your credibility. But your website is the engine underneath all of it — and if it's not properly optimized for search, you're putting a ceiling on how high everything else can go. On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing the individual pages of your website so Google understands what each page is about, who it's for, and why it should rank for relevant searches. When it's done right, your pages show
6 days ago15 min read


What Is the Fastest Way to Get Reviews for a Home Service Business?
Quick Answer: The fastest way to get Google reviews for a home service business is to text every satisfied customer a direct review link the same day you complete their job — while the positive experience is still fresh. This single habit, done consistently, outperforms every automated tool, email campaign, or fancy review platform on the market. Reviews are currency in the home service industry. A plumber with 140 five-star Google reviews gets the call. The plumber with 11 r
May 2811 min read


Google Business Profile Optimization for HVAC Companies: Step-by-Step
Your Google Business Profile is the most valuable piece of free real estate in local HVAC marketing. It's what appears when someone searches 'HVAC company near me' or 'AC repair [your city]' — the block of businesses with star ratings, phone numbers, and a map that sits above every other search result on the page. Getting into that Map Pack and getting clicked once you're there — that's what a fully optimized Google Business Profile does for you. And yet most HVAC companies h
May 2615 min read


How Do I Get My Plumbing Business to Show Up on Google Maps?
Quick Answer: To show up on Google Maps for plumbing searches, you need a fully optimized Google Business Profile with your service area set correctly, consistent reviews, and matching business information across the web. The full Map Pack appearance for 'plumber near me' searches takes 3–6 months of consistent effort in most markets. Showing up when someone searches 'plumber near me' on Google Maps is one of the highest-value marketing outcomes for a plumbing business. Those
May 214 min read


Local SEO for Plumbers: The Complete Guide to Ranking in Your City
Every day, people in your city are searching for a plumber. Right now, someone two miles from your shop is on their phone typing 'plumber near me' with a pipe leaking under their kitchen sink. The question is whether your company shows up — or whether your competitor does. That's the entire game with local SEO. It's not about having the fanciest website or the biggest marketing budget. It's about being the most visible, most credible plumbing business in your specific market
May 1915 min read


What Are the Most Common Google Ads Mistakes Made by Plumbing Companies?
Quick Answer: The most common Google Ads mistakes plumbing companies make are: running broad match keywords without a negative keyword list, sending paid traffic to the homepage instead of a landing page, not setting up call tracking, setting a budget too small to generate data, and hiring an agency that doesn't specialize in home services. After auditing hundreds of home service Google Ads accounts, the same mistakes show up again and again. Not because plumbing business own
May 145 min read


How to Use Negative Keywords to Stop Wasting Money on Google Ads
If there's one thing I could get every home service business owner to do today — just one thing — it would be this: look at your negative keyword list. Is it robust? Is it updated regularly? Does it go beyond the obvious? If the answer to any of those is 'I'm not sure' or 'what's a negative keyword list?' — this post is for you. What Are Negative Keywords? A negative keyword is a word or phrase you add to your Google Ads campaign to tell Google: do NOT show my ad when someone
May 125 min read


What Is a Google Ads Quality Score and Does It Matter for HVAC Companies?
Quick Answer: Quality Score is Google's 1–10 rating of how relevant your ad, keywords, and landing page are to what someone just searched. For HVAC companies, it matters a lot: a high Quality Score means you pay less per click and your ads appear higher on the page. A low score means you pay more for worse placement — or your ads don't show at all. Quality Score is one of those behind-the-scenes Google Ads settings that quietly determines whether your money is going far or be
May 74 min read


Why Your Home Service Website Is Killing Your Google Ads ROI
You've invested in Google Ads. You're spending real money. But the calls aren't coming in the way they should. Before you blame your campaign structure, your keywords, or your budget — take a hard look at where your traffic is landing. Because in my experience, one of the most common reasons home service Google Ads campaigns underperform has nothing to do with the ads at all. It has everything to do with the website. The Connection Between Your Website and Google Ads Performa
May 55 min read


How Much Do Plumbing Companies Spend on Advertising Per Month?
Quick Answer: Most plumbing companies spend between $1,500 and $5,000 per month on Google Ads depending on market size and competition. Small markets might work with $1,000–$2,000/month. Large competitive cities often require $4,000–$8,000/month or more. This is ad spend only — management fees are separate. It's a completely reasonable question that almost nobody in the marketing industry gives a straight answer to. Let's fix that. Here's what plumbing companies are actually
Apr 304 min read


The Difference Between SEO and Google Ads (And Why Home Service Businesses Need Both)
If you've spent any time thinking about your online marketing, you've probably heard both terms thrown around — sometimes by the same person, in the same sentence, about completely different things. SEO. Google Ads. Which one do you need? Which one is better? Are they competing strategies or complementary ones? Let's settle this once and for all with a straight answer instead of more marketing mumbo jumbo. What Is SEO? SEO — Search Engine Optimization — is the practice of mak
Apr 285 min read


What Should a Google Ads Landing Page Look Like for an HVAC Company?
Quick Answer: An effective HVAC Google Ads landing page has one job: get the visitor to call or submit a form. It should include a clear headline matching the search, a click-to-call phone number above the fold, 3–5 trust signals (reviews, licenses, years in business), a simple contact form, and zero navigation links that could pull visitors away. You paid for that click. Now what? Where you send paid traffic is just as important as the ad that brought them there. And in the
Apr 235 min read


How to Write Google Ads That Actually Get Plumbing Calls
Most plumbing Google Ads look the same. "24/7 Plumbing Service. Licensed & Insured. Call Today!" Repeat that across 50 different plumbing companies in your market and you've got a wall of identical ads that nobody really reads. The good news: that sameness is an opportunity. Writing better ad copy than your competitors isn't hard when your competitors are barely trying. Here's a practical guide to writing Google Ads that actually get your plumbing business's phone ringing — n
Apr 215 min read


What Is a Good Conversion Rate for a Home Service Google Ads Campaign?
Quick Answer: A good conversion rate for home service Google Ads is 8–15%, meaning 8–15 out of every 100 clicks should result in a phone call or form submission. Below 5% usually signals a landing page problem, a keyword relevance issue, or both. Above 15% means things are running very well. Conversion rate is one of those metrics that can tell you a lot about your Google Ads — but only if you know what you're comparing it to. Too many home service business owners look at the
Apr 165 min read


Google Ads Keyword Match Types Explained for Home Service Business Owners
Keyword match types are one of the most important settings in your entire Google Ads account — and one of the most misunderstood. Get them right and your ads show up for people who are actively looking to hire a plumber, HVAC technician, or electrician. Get them wrong and you're paying for clicks from people who have absolutely no intention of calling you. Here's the plain-English breakdown. What Are Keyword Match Types? When you add a keyword to your Google Ads campaign, you
Apr 145 min read


How Do I Know If My Google Ads Are Actually Working?
Quick Answer: Your Google Ads are working if they're generating tracked phone calls, form submissions, or booked jobs at a cost that makes financial sense for your business. Clicks, impressions, and CTR don't tell you if ads are working. Actual leads do. Here's how to measure what matters. This is one of those questions that sounds simple but exposes a real problem in how most Google Ads campaigns are reported. You look at your dashboard. Clicks are happening. Spend is happen
Apr 95 min read


7 Signs Your Home Service Google Ads Campaign Is Wasting Money
Google Ads waste is shockingly common in the home service industry. I've audited accounts where 40%, 50%, even 60% of the monthly ad spend was going to clicks that had zero chance of turning into customers. The worst part? Most of these business owners had no idea. Their agency was sending monthly reports. The clicks were happening. It just... wasn't turning into calls. Here are the 7 most common signs your Google Ads are leaking money — and what to do about each one. Sign #1
Apr 75 min read


What Questions Should I Ask Before Hiring a Google Ads Agency?
Quick Answer: Before hiring a Google Ads agency, ask: Who will manage my account? Do I own the account? How do you track calls and conversions? What does reporting look like? Do you require a contract? Can you show results for similar businesses? These questions reveal whether you're talking to a legitimate partner or a bad deal waiting to happen. Hiring a Google Ads agency can feel like a leap of faith. The work is invisible, the jargon is confusing, and you've probably alre
Apr 25 min read


The Truth About Marketing Agency Contracts (Why We Don't Use Them)
Let me paint a picture you might recognize. You hired a marketing agency. Signed a 12-month contract. The first couple months were okay — some activity, a few check-ins. Then the calls got shorter. The reports got more confusing. The leads didn't really materialize. And when you tried to have a real conversation about it, you got a lot of jargon and a gentle reminder that you had 8 months left on your agreement. Sound familiar? If it does, you're not alone. I built KaeRae Mar
Mar 315 min read
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