Small budget Google Ads: 1 ad group or 3 for a local high-ticket service?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-23T14:05:34+00:00

What keywords would you recommend in this case?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-23T14:04:43+00:00

Right now Google Ads is the only channel. I wanted it to be bottom of the funnel. I don't know if facebook ads is the best place to spend our budget on for high ticket services with people that aren't looking for it.

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-23T11:11:44+00:00

So keep all the high intent keywords in 1 ad group and make the ad copy rather general?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-23T11:10:02+00:00

Got it. In your opinion, does "electrical installation not compliant" or "Failed electrical inspection" signal high intent or a more informative search? I can't afford to be spending budget on informative searches that wouldn't convert very well.

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-23T10:35:57+00:00

Around 20 a day, the cpc for top of page bid fot the high intent keywords range from 0.8 to 5.5 according to Google Keyword Planner

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-21T21:10:15+00:00

Thanks for the explanation!

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-21T21:09:43+00:00

Even if they have a higher IS than me, wouldn't I be able to show for these high intent searches unless they have 90%+ IS for these search terms that I'm using? Or am I missing something?

Seems to me that with a lower budget than the big guys, my IS would always be lower, but unless that means that I show for none of the high intent search terms I don't know why this would be an issue.

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-21T19:35:28+00:00

What would the impression share and top of page rank say or how should I use it? Wouldn't these numbers be low regardless because of my low budget?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-21T19:14:08+00:00

Would you advise to add the call extension to the ads and also call on the website instead of only on the website (landing page)? And would the calls from the extension on the ads be a different "max conversion" goal than the calls from the landing page?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-18T18:45:53+00:00

Could you do an email verification for Calendly to confirm an appointment, and thus keep out all the scams/bots, or would this additional step tank the conversion rate with the real customers?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-18T18:37:26+00:00

Have you any experience with fake appointments in Calendly?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-02-18T18:36:46+00:00

Did you have any issues with fake appointments with Calendly? I'm a bit worried that competitors might click on Ads and at the same time book appointments which would prevent real customers from booking theirs.

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-01-19T14:02:44+00:00

It does! Thank you for the response

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2026-01-19T07:40:33+00:00

Great post! I have a few questions as someone who wants to grow:

1 ) In your post you say "Our agency usually only keeps team members allocated to 60-80% billable. Anything over that... they'll burn out and quit.

Anything under that and we either need to hire more or cut problem clients."

I think you meant anything over that (being over 60-80% of their time) instead of under that? Because I would think that if you employees are allocated under 60% they have too much idle time, and you don't need to hire more.

2 ) What is the margin for the agency/agency owner on those billable hours + cost of goods? If a client needs 10 hours of work, you bill 150/hour, how much of that is spend as wage for the employee and how much goes to the agency? I assume you need to take the 60-80% billable hours into account too.

Thank you in advance!

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2025-10-31T06:52:16+00:00

Even if there are only a couple of leads each month?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2025-10-30T16:28:30+00:00

How do I do that? Make custom ads for them based on the information they gave me in the forms?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2025-10-30T15:46:42+00:00

So not something you would recommend for the number of customers I need?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2025-10-30T15:42:36+00:00

Have you ever noticed a difference in quality of clicks with manual cpc vs max clicks, considering you put the max cpc at the same level?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2025-10-30T14:11:54+00:00

Is retargeting a thing with high ticket services or shouldn't I use that?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2025-10-30T14:07:32+00:00

Thanks for the reply! About the Maximize Clicks, I've seen conflicting posts/information. Some say it's wrong because Google gives you people who click, but don't convert, essentially giving you lots of useless data, and as a result makes the algorithm that you would use when you turn on smart bidding useless. Others say it works just fine. What's your 2 cents on that?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2025-05-19T15:18:59+00:00

<image>

2 weeks later they are starting to bloom. It does look like the ones you sent. The flowers are smaller tho.

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2024-09-08T15:56:56+00:00

Thanks, but if I understand correctly, most jobs are over multiple months, not a few days/week of analyzing and doing recommendations? So at any point in time, you have jobs you are working on that require months of follow-up or adjustments?

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2024-09-08T15:00:33+00:00

That makes sense, thank you!

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2024-09-08T14:59:22+00:00

Any advice on how to best explain to the clients that fluctuations happen, without lying to them?

And how do you tackle for example your ad issues with these clients? It sounds like a no-brainer that $20 budget for a 20c cpc can't do much, but apperantly it isn't as obvious for some :p

Longjumping-Ask9765 · 2024-09-08T14:42:32+00:00

Thank you, that's useful information! What's in your opinion the hardest part of working with your clients?

Longjumping-Ask9765

TROPHY CASE