How Do I Know If My Google Ads Are Actually Working?
- KaeRae Marketing
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
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 happening. But you're not sure if those clicks are turning into actual customers. And if your agency is sending you a monthly report full of graphs, you're probably no closer to an answer.
Let's fix that. Here's exactly how to know if your Google Ads are working — with real metrics and real benchmarks.
Metric #1: Phone Calls From Ads
For home service businesses, phone calls are usually the primary conversion. Someone searched for a plumber, saw your ad, clicked it, and called you. That's the chain you want to track.
To measure this, you need call tracking in place — either through Google's native call tracking or a third-party tool like CallRail. Without it, you're guessing.
What good looks like: In a well-run home service campaign, 8–15% of clicks should convert to a phone call. If you're getting 100 clicks a month and 0–3 calls, something is broken — either the ad copy isn't relevant, the landing page isn't converting, or the keywords are attracting the wrong searchers.
Metric #2: Cost Per Lead
This is the single most important number in your Google Ads account. It tells you how much you're paying, on average, to generate one qualified inquiry.
The formula is simple: Total ad spend ÷ Total leads = Cost per lead.
What good looks like: For most home service businesses, a cost per lead of $30–$80 is reasonable and profitable. In very competitive markets (large cities, emergency services), $80–$120 per lead can still work if your average job value is high enough.
If your cost per lead is $200+ in a mid-size market, something is off and needs to be investigated.
Metric #3: Lead-to-Job Close Rate
Google Ads generates leads — what happens to those leads depends on your sales process, your pricing, and your follow-up speed. But you should be tracking what percentage of Google Ads leads turn into actual booked jobs.
This isn't a Google Ads metric — it's a business metric. But it's crucial for understanding your real return on ad spend.
What good looks like: Most home service businesses close 50–70% of inbound leads from Google Ads. These are warm, high-intent leads — people who searched for your service and called you. They're not browsing or comparing 10 options. A close rate below 40% suggests either a pricing issue, a follow-up speed issue, or lead quality problems.
Metric #4: Cost Per Acquired Job
This is the number that actually determines if Google Ads are worth it for your business. Take your total ad spend and divide it by the number of jobs you booked from those ads.
Example: You spend $2,500 on Google Ads. You generate 35 leads. You close 20 jobs.
$2,500 ÷ 20 jobs = $125 cost per acquired job.
If your average job value is $400, that's a solid return. If it's $150, the math barely works.
Metric #5: Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Once you have cost per acquired job and average job value, you can calculate a basic ROAS:
(Jobs booked × Average job value) ÷ Total ad spend = ROAS
Using the example above: (20 × $400) ÷ $2,500 = $8,000 ÷ $2,500 = 3.2x ROAS
A 3x ROAS means every dollar you spent on ads generated $3 in revenue. For most home service businesses, a 3–5x ROAS is solid. Below 2x and the margin pressure gets real.
What NOT to Measure
Here's where a lot of home service business owners get misled — by their own dashboards and by agencies that prefer to highlight comfortable metrics.
Impressions
How many times your ad was shown. This tells you visibility, but visibility doesn't pay bills. A million impressions that generated zero calls is a failure, not a success.
Clicks
Clicks are a means to an end — the end being a lead. High click volume with low conversion rates just means you're paying for a lot of people to visit and leave.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR measures how often people click your ad after seeing it. A great CTR with a bad conversion rate means your ad is interesting but your landing page isn't convincing anyone to call. CTR is a diagnostic metric, not a success metric.
If your agency reports lead generation results — actual calls, actual form fills, actual jobs booked — you can evaluate performance. If they report clicks and CTR, ask why those are the headline numbers.
A Simple Scorecard for Home Service Google Ads
Green: Your campaigns are working
Cost per lead under $80 in most markets
Call volume consistent or growing month over month
Close rate on leads above 50%
ROAS of 3x or higher
Yellow: Something needs attention
Cost per lead $80–$150
Flat or inconsistent call volume
Close rate 35–50%
ROAS of 2–3x
Red: Something is broken
Cost per lead above $150 in a normal market
Declining call volume despite consistent spend
Close rate below 35%
ROAS below 2x
FAQ: Measuring Google Ads Performance
What's the most important Google Ads metric for a home service company?
Cost per acquired job. It's the only metric that directly connects your ad spend to your actual business results. Everything else is a diagnostic tool to help you get there.
How do I track which Google Ads calls turn into booked jobs?
The most practical approach: ask every new customer how they found you. For Google Ads specifically, use a call tracking number unique to your ads so you can identify which calls came from paid search. Advanced setups can integrate call tracking with your CRM.
My agency says results are great but I'm not seeing more jobs — who's right?
Trust your own revenue data. If your booked jobs and revenue aren't increasing proportionally to your ad spend, something is wrong regardless of what the dashboard says. Ask your agency specifically: how many tracked phone calls came from Google Ads last month, and what did each cost?
How long until I can accurately evaluate whether Google Ads are working?
60–90 days gives you enough data to make a fair evaluation. Month 1 is a learning phase. By month 3, you should have enough conversion data to see clear trends.
Not Sure What Your Numbers Are Telling You?
KaeRae Marketing helps home service business owners understand what their Google Ads data actually means — and what to do about it. Book a free consultation and we'll look at your specific numbers together.
Want to learn how to read your own Google Ads reports? KaeRae Education has practical resources for home service business owners who want to stop relying on their agency to interpret their own data. Visit KaeRaeEducation.com.
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