High-Intent Ads

What an intent-first ad actually says

Most local ads are written like a brochure. They lead with how long the business has been trading, or a slogan about quality and service. Both are true and neither answers the question the person typing had in mind.

Someone searching “emergency plumber near me” at nine at night wants to know three things, in this order: do you cover where I am, are you available now, and how do I reach you. An ad that answers those in the first line beats a better business with a vaguer ad almost every time.

So we write to the search rather than to the company. The neighborhood named. The service named. Availability stated plainly. One clear next step — call, book, get directions — not three competing ones.

Where the ads run, and why it matters

Search ads appear above the normal Google results when someone types something you have chosen to appear for. Maps ads appear when they search in Google Maps or for somewhere nearby. They behave differently and they are worth different amounts to you.

• Search — the person has described their problem in their own words. Highest intent, highest competition, usually where a local budget earns most.
• Maps — they are looking for somewhere to go now. Enormously valuable for anyone with a premises or a van.
• Display — image ads across other sites. Cheap attention, far lower intent. We use it sparingly, if at all, on small budgets.

What we need from you

Less than people expect. The ads work better when they are specific, and specificity comes from you rather than from us guessing.

• The services you actually want more of — not everything you are capable of.
• The area you are genuinely willing to travel to.
• Your hours, and whether you take out-of-hours calls.
• Anything true that a competitor cannot say: licensed, insured, family-run, same-day, a guarantee you honor.

What the first month looks like

The first week or two produces information rather than results. Real clicks reveal which searches are triggering your ads, and some of them will be irrelevant in ways nobody could have predicted — people looking for jobs, for parts, for instructions on doing it themselves.

Trimming those is the work, not a sign something has gone wrong. By the second half of the first month the wasted spend has largely been squeezed out and what remains is closer to people who can actually hire you.

Local demand is also lumpy. Weather, weekends and seasons move it around far more than most owners expect, which is why we look at weeks rather than days before changing anything substantial.

On a one- or two-week package that learning period is a real share of the campaign, which is why we describe a short campaign honestly as a test rather than a finished result.

When this is not the right fit

Search advertising works when people are actively looking for what you sell, when a customer is worth meaningfully more than a click, and when someone answers the phone.

It is a poor fit if nobody searches for what you do, if you cannot take on more work, or if calls go to voicemail during business hours. More traffic then just produces missed opportunities faster. Those are worth knowing before you spend rather than after, and we would rather tell you than take the money.