Google Ads for pest control, one ad group for each pest

Separating the caller from the shopper

Pest control is a category where the same words come from two kinds of people. One has a problem in the house and wants it gone. The other is in a hardware aisle choosing a spray. They both type cockroach treatment.

You pay for both clicks. So most of the work in a pest control account is on the shopper side. We add negative keywords for sprays, baits, traps, hardware chains and how to guides, and each week we read the search terms report for new ones. Every negative is checked against what you do before it goes in. Our post on negative keywords for local service accounts sets out the method.

An ad group for each pest

Someone searching wasp nest removal wants to see wasps in the ad. Someone searching rat control wants to see rats. A general pest control ad for both reads like a template and gets fewer clicks.

We build ad groups around the pests you treat: wasps and bees, rodents, cockroaches, ants, spiders, bed bugs and so on. Each has its own ads and its own landing page, so the visitor arrives at a page about their problem with a phone number in reach. If you do not treat a pest, there is no ad group, so you never pay to turn away callers.

Termites are a different campaign

A termite inspection is planned. The buyer may be days from settlement or may have spotted damage. The job is worth more and the decision is slower than a wasp nest.

Termites get their own campaign, budget and landing page that explains what an inspection covers and what a report shows. Judging it against the urgent pest campaigns would be unfair to both, so we report them separately.

The urgent pests need an answered phone

A wasp nest over a play area or rats at night produce calls from people who need someone fast. A click from them costs the same as any other, and it is wasted if the phone rings out.

We build the schedule around when someone answers. If your phone is covered in the evenings, the urgent campaigns can run then. If it is not, they pause and the form says when you will ring back. One account we run moved to all hours once its booking form showed that out of hours clicks still turned into bookings. Whether that suits you is a test, not an assumption.

Reviews in the ad

A frightened householder compares businesses on the stars before reading a headline. The ad and your map listing appear on the same results page, so we keep your Business Profile and its reviews in order while the ads run.

Weather moves the budget

Insects peak in spring and summer. Rodents head inside as it gets cold. Termite swarms follow warm, humid weather. A flat budget through the year pays too much in quiet weeks and too little in a rush.

We shift spend between campaigns with the season and review it weekly, and you approve any increase to the ceiling.

Landing pages that answer fast

A caller with a pest in the house reads for a few seconds. The page they land on should name the pest, say the areas you cover and show a phone number that dials on a tap. A long page about the company loses them. We build the short version first and keep the detail lower down for the careful reader.

What we have and have not shown

We run the website and search for Avalanche Pest Control, and it has given us a clear view of what pest searches look like. That work is search, so we do not present its numbers as Google Ads results. For Ads, our nearest proof is the account we manage for an appliance repairer, which cut wasted clicks and tracked real enquiries.

Counting real enquiries

Google Ads can report conversions that were not enquiries. On the appliance account, Google had been counting about ten times more conversions than there were enquiries. We count calls from the ad, taps on your phone number and quote forms sent, and nothing else. A form asks for a name, a phone number or email, and a comment.

Your account and your spend

You create the Google Ads account and add your own card. You pay Google directly for every click, and we never hold your payment details. Our fee covers managing the account, month to month, and cancels on 30 days notice.

Each month you get a short report with spend, clicks, enquiries and cost per enquiry, plus the changes we made and why.