The 8 Google Ads Metrics Every Contractor Should Track
Most home service contractors running Google Ads fall into one of two camps: they either hand the account to an agency and never look at the numbers, or they log in once a month, see a wall of data, and close the tab. Neither approach works. The contractors consistently getting the lowest cost per lead are the ones who check five to eight specific metrics every week and know exactly what each number means.
You do not need to become a Google Ads expert. You need to know which metrics matter for a local home service business and what action each one calls for when it is off. Here are the eight that tell the real story.
1. Impressions
What it is: The number of times your ad was shown to someone searching on Google.
What it tells you: Whether your campaign is visible at all. Low impressions mean your budget is too small, your bids are too low, or your keyword targeting is too narrow. For most local contractors, a healthy campaign generates 1,000 to 5,000 impressions per week depending on market size and the number of services advertised.
What to do: If impressions are consistently under 500 per week, check your Search Impression Share (metric 8 below) before raising your budget. The problem may be bid strategy or keyword match types, not budget.
2. Clicks
What it is: The number of times someone actually clicked your ad and landed on your website.
What it tells you: Whether people who see your ad find it relevant enough to act. Impressions without clicks mean your ad copy is not compelling or is not matching what searchers expect to find.
What to do: If you have strong impressions but low clicks, the problem is the ad itself, not the budget. Review your headlines and descriptions. Are they specific to the service? Do they call out your city? Do they include a reason to call you over the next result?
3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
What it is: Clicks divided by impressions, expressed as a percentage. A CTR of 5% means 5 out of every 100 people who see your ad click it.
What it tells you: How well your ad resonates with the people searching for your service. Google also uses CTR to calculate Quality Score, which directly affects what you pay per click. A higher CTR lowers your cost per click.
Benchmarks for home services: Average CTR for local service ads in the home services category is 4 to 7 percent. Under 3 percent is a signal to rewrite your ad copy. Over 8 percent means your targeting and messaging are well aligned.
What to do: If CTR is low, add specific keywords to headlines (the exact service plus city name), include a differentiator (same-day service, 5-year warranty, no-trip-charge), and make sure the offer in the ad matches what is on your landing page.
4. Average Cost Per Click (CPC)
What it is: The average amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad.
What it tells you: How competitive your market is and whether your Quality Score is helping or hurting you. Higher Quality Scores earn lower CPCs on the same keywords. A plumber in Chicago paying $28 per click on the same keyword as a plumber paying $18 per click likely has a lower Quality Score.
Industry ranges: Home service CPCs vary widely by trade and city. Emergency plumbing and HVAC repair in major markets run $15 to $45 per click. Landscaping and cleaning run $3 to $12. Roofing averages $18 to $60 per click due to high competition.
What to do: If your CPC is climbing month over month without a corresponding increase in conversions, check your Quality Score by hovering over the status column on your keyword list. A score of 5 or below means your ad relevance, expected CTR, or landing page experience needs improvement.
5. Conversions
What it is: The number of times someone completed a tracked action after clicking your ad. For home service contractors, this is typically a phone call (tracked via a Google forwarding number or call tracking tool) or a form submission.
What it tells you: Whether your ad spend is producing actual leads. Without conversion tracking set up correctly, you are flying blind. You will see clicks and spend, but no signal about whether any of those clicks turned into calls or booked jobs.
What to do: If conversions are at zero or clearly too low, check your conversion tracking setup first. Go to Tools and Settings, then Conversions, and verify that your call conversion action shows status "Recording conversions." If tracking is working but conversions are still low, the issue is your landing page or your phone response time.
6. Cost Per Conversion (Your Real Cost Per Lead)
What it is: Total ad spend divided by total conversions. If you spent $1,200 last month and got 24 calls, your cost per lead is $50.
What it tells you: This is the number your entire campaign lives and dies by. Every optimization decision should move toward lowering this number while maintaining lead quality.
| Trade | Target Cost Per Lead (2026) | Warning Sign |
|---|---|---|
| HVAC repair | $35 to $75 | Over $100 |
| Plumbing | $40 to $80 | Over $110 |
| Electrical | $45 to $90 | Over $120 |
| Roofing | $60 to $120 | Over $160 |
| Landscaping | $20 to $50 | Over $70 |
| House cleaning | $15 to $40 | Over $60 |
What to do: If cost per lead is above the warning threshold for your trade, do not raise your budget. Diagnose first. Is your negative keyword list complete? Are you running broad match without enough negatives? Is your landing page slow or missing a visible phone number? These are the four most common causes of inflated cost per lead.
7. Conversion Rate
What it is: Conversions divided by clicks, expressed as a percentage. If 100 people clicked your ad and 8 called, your conversion rate is 8 percent.
What it tells you: How well your website or landing page converts visitors into leads. A high CTR but low conversion rate means people click your ad and then leave without calling. The problem is the page, not the ad.
Benchmarks: Home service landing pages typically convert at 6 to 15 percent. Under 5 percent is a red flag. The highest-converting pages for home services share three things: the phone number is at the top of the page in large text, there is a clear single call to action, and the page loads in under 2 seconds on mobile.
What to do: Test one change at a time. Move the phone number above the fold. Add a headline that matches your ad exactly. Remove all navigation links from the landing page so there is nowhere to go except call or submit the form. Measure for two weeks before changing something else.
8. Search Impression Share
What it is: The percentage of eligible impressions your ads actually received. A Search Impression Share of 40% means your ads showed in 40 out of 100 searches that matched your targeting criteria. You missed the other 60.
What it tells you: How much of your available market you are reaching. Google tells you why you are losing impressions when you add the "Search Lost IS (budget)" and "Search Lost IS (rank)" columns to your campaign view. You are either losing because your budget runs out mid-day, or because your Ad Rank is not high enough to compete.
What to do: If you are losing more than 30% of impression share to budget, you are underfunding a campaign that is working. Calculate your current cost per lead, confirm it is within your acceptable range, and increase the budget proportionally. If you are losing impression share to rank, focus on improving Quality Score before raising bids.
The Weekly 10-Minute Check
You do not need to spend hours in Google Ads every week. Pick one day, block 10 minutes, and run through these eight numbers in this order:
- Impressions: Is the campaign running at normal volume?
- Cost per conversion: Is my cost per lead within target?
- Conversion rate: Are clicks turning into calls at a normal rate?
- Search Impression Share: How much of my market am I reaching?
- CTR: Are my ads getting clicked at a healthy rate?
- Average CPC: Is my cost per click stable or trending up?
- Conversions: Is my tracking recording real leads?
- Clicks: Is the click volume consistent with last week?
When a number is off, you now know what it means and where to look. A campaign running within range on all eight metrics is working. A single metric out of range tells you exactly which part of the funnel to fix. That is the whole job: spend 10 minutes each week, fix the one thing that is out of range, and move on. The contractors paying the least per booked job are not running the most sophisticated campaigns. They are the ones who actually look at these numbers and act on what they see.