Let's TalkLet's TalkDrain searches mix homeowners with a blocked line tonight, people buying drain cleaner, people renting a snake and people looking for drain technician jobs. Google Ads for a drain cleaning company has to pay for the first group, answer at night and give inspection and sewer repair searches their own budget.
We go through the search terms you paid for, the calls they produced, which were answered and what they became, and show how much went on products, rentals, DIY and job searches, which campaigns produced inspections and sewer repairs and what to change first. You get a recorded walkthrough; there is no call to sit through.
Four failures we see repeatedly in this vertical, and what each one actually costs.
'Best drain cleaner for hair', 'drain snake rental', 'how to unclog a toilet without a plunger' and 'hydro jetter for sale' come from people fixing it themselves. 'Drain technician jobs' comes from people looking for work. Without careful exclusions, these can take a large share of each day's budget before a homeowner with a backed-up line has seen your ad.
Drain emergencies peak in the evening and at weekends. Ads that keep running when nobody answers pay for calls that ring out, and the customer calls the next company. Schedules and call handling have to match.
Searches about sewer line replacement, trenchless repair and root removal are fewer and far more valuable than clog searches, and they convert slowly because homeowners research. In a shared campaign, quick clog conversions take the budget.
A call about a slow sink and a booked sewer replacement count the same in most accounts. Without importing completed jobs and their values, bidding cannot learn which searches produce real work.
Business outcomes rather than dashboard metrics. None of these is a guaranteed number - where we do guarantee something, it is written into the offer above.
The real deliverables, not a list written to make a proposal look thicker.
Not the general agency pitch. The reasons that only apply to this kind of business.
Drain keywords attract people buying chemicals, renting snakes and looking for how-to videos. We build exclusion lists from the search terms you actually pay for and keep them current, so the budget reaches homeowners and businesses who need a technician.
We match ad schedules to your call handling. If nobody answers at night, we set up out-of-hours answering or pause urgent ads during those hours. Every missed call is tracked so you can see what slow answering costs.
Inspection, root removal and sewer replacement searches get their own campaigns and budgets, and completed jobs are imported with their values, so bidding learns to find the jobs that build the business rather than only the quickest clogs.
Recent searches sorted into jobs, products, rentals, DIY and employment.
Negative lists built and reviewed monthly.
Ad schedules aligned with call answering.
Clog, inspection, sewer repair and commercial campaigns.
Landing pages that set honest expectations.
Completed work and values fed back for bidding.
The parts of this that come from having run it in this industry before rather than from running it well in general.
Google's current US list of Local Services Ads categories includes drain expert. Where available they charge per lead rather than per click and show a Google Verified badge. Compare them with search campaigns on cost per completed job.
Searches about drains that keep clogging or sewer smells come from homeowners whose problem may need an inspection. Pages that explain the likely causes and offer a camera inspection convert them into diagnosis and repair work.
Restaurants and property managers search for drain and grease line maintenance. A separate campaign with scheduled service explained brings recurring accounts.
The cheapest drain calls are often quick clearances. Importing job values teaches bidding which searches lead to inspections and sewer repairs.
None of our case studies is a drain cleaning company. The nearest Google Ads engagement is an auto dealership, where tightly targeted search campaigns produced 1.22M clicks at a 0.90% click-through rate, 627% ROAS and $617K in revenue. The transferable lesson is targeting discipline - paying only for searches from people ready to buy, which in drain work means filtering out product, rental and DIY traffic first.
Read the full case studyYes, when product, rental, DIY and job searches are excluded, ads only run when calls will be answered and sewer repair searches have their own budget. Measured on completed jobs and their value, search ads can be a dependable source of both urgent clearances and larger sewer work.
Drain cleaner products and chemicals, snake and jetter rental or purchase, how-to and DIY searches, and job searches. Review the search terms report monthly, because new variations keep appearing, especially in the evening when urgent searches peak.
Only if someone will answer. Drain emergencies often happen in the evening and at weekends, but an ad that leads to voicemail wastes money and sends the customer elsewhere. Set up out-of-hours answering, or schedule urgent ads off during hours you cannot cover.
Yes. Sewer line replacement, trenchless repair and root removal searches are fewer, slower to convert and far more valuable than clog searches. Their own campaign, budget and landing pages - with footage and options explained - keep them from being starved by quicker conversions.
Google's current US list includes drain expert, so many drain companies can, though availability varies by area. They charge per lead rather than per click, and invalid leads are not charged. Compare them with search campaigns on cost per completed job.
Depending on your state. In Texas, drain cleaning is plumbing service, and a company may not advertise plumbing services without securing a Responsible Master Plumber, whose licence number must appear in plumbing advertisements. Check the rules where you work and include required details.
The service searched for, how quickly you respond, how pricing works, when a camera inspection is recommended, licence details where required, genuine reviews and an easy way to call or book. For sewer repairs, include sample footage and an explanation of the options.
Import completed jobs as offline conversions, with their values, so bidding learns which searches lead to inspections and sewer repairs rather than only quick clearances. Counting every call equally teaches Google to find whoever calls.
Enough to fill your technicians' capacity in the areas you want to grow, with urgent spend matched to the hours you can answer. Start with your most profitable job types, judge them on cost per completed job, then expand. A small, well-targeted account can do well.
Yes, in its own campaign, if you have the equipment and can schedule around service hours. Restaurant and kitchen managers search for grease line jetting and drain maintenance, and the work recurs on a schedule. A landing page explaining how you schedule visits, document the work and prevent backups during service converts them into accounts that last far longer than a single emergency call.
Excluding wasted searches and fixing schedules can improve an account within weeks. Sewer repair results take longer, because homeowners research and compare quotes, so judge those campaigns over a couple of months.
Written for owners weighing this up, whether or not they work with us.
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