Google Ads for landscapers, with design and maintenance kept apart

Two businesses in one

A landscaper who designs and builds gardens and also mows lawns is running two businesses. The first sells projects. The second sells a regular visit. A single Google Ads account that mixes them reports an average cost per enquiry that means nothing, because a project enquiry is worth many maintenance ones.

We split the account at the start. Design and build campaigns cover landscape design, retaining walls, paving and turf. Maintenance campaigns cover regular garden care and mowing. Each has its own budget, its own landing page and its own cost per enquiry. If maintenance is not worth the click cost in your area, you can see that and switch it off.

The click is the beginning

Landscaping is a slow, visual purchase. Someone who clicks an ad will look at the photos, close the page, save a few pictures from other sites and come back a fortnight later. The ad pays for the first visit. The page does the persuading.

So the landing page for a design campaign shows your own finished projects, with the suburb and the work involved, and a short quote form that asks for a name, a phone number or email, and a comment. It does not need to be long. It needs to look like the work of a business that finishes what it starts.

Supplies, nurseries and DIY

Gardening words are shared by people who build gardens and people who stock them. Someone typing retaining wall blocks wants to buy blocks. Someone typing turf supplies wants a delivery. A landscape supplies yard is a competitor for the same words, but not for the same customer.

We add negative keywords for plants, nurseries, soil, mulch, bagged products, supplies, tools and DIY. We read the search terms report every week. If you supply and install, we leave the supply and install terms in and check the rest.

Timing the spring peak

Landscaping demand tends to build through late winter, peak in spring and early summer, and quieten in winter. A buyer planning a project may research for months before booking.

That affects the plan. Design ads can start before the peak, because early planners are often the ones who book first. Maintenance ads fit the warm months, when lawns need cutting. We agree a seasonal plan in words, not guesses, and move the budget between campaigns as the year goes.

Keeping the account tight

A small crew can only cover so much ground. Targeting the whole city for retaining wall enquiries means paying for clicks from suburbs an hour away that you will not quote.

We target the suburbs you really serve. For large design jobs you may be willing to travel, and we can open the radius for that campaign alone. The maintenance campaign stays tight, because a long drive for a fortnightly mow rarely pays.

What gets counted

We count calls from the ad, taps on the number on your site and quote forms sent. On the site we built for Ovas Build, each enquiry email says whether it came from Google Ads or a page found in search, and the enquiries are reported back to Google Ads. We set landscapers up the same way.

We keep out the actions Google counts by itself, such as clicks on a map inside the ad, because they make the total look bigger than the number of real people.

Your account, your spend

You create the Google Ads account and add your own card. You pay Google directly for clicks, and we never hold your payment details. We are added as a manager and you can remove us whenever you like.

Each month you get a short report on spend, clicks, enquiries and cost per enquiry for design and maintenance separately, with the changes we made. We do not promise a number of enquiries. Our fee covers managing the account, month to month, and cancels on 30 days notice.