Google Ads & LSA Management in Raleigh, NC

Almost every home-service business we onboard asks the same question in the first call: should we be running Google Ads, Local Service Ads, or both? The honest answer depends on where your business is today — your Google Business Profile strength, your review count, and how competitive your service category is in the Raleigh market.

When LSAs win

Local Service Ads are the right lead channel when you already have a healthy GBP (30+ reviews, 4.5+ stars) and you're willing to complete the Google Guaranteed verification — license, insurance, and background checks. LSAs sit above every other paid result, you pay per lead (not per click), and disputable charges get refunded when you flag them. For established roofers, HVAC companies, plumbers, and electricians in Raleigh, LSAs consistently deliver the lowest cost-per-lead of any paid channel.

When traditional Google Ads win

Search Ads win when your service falls outside LSA-eligible categories, when you're a new business without the review base to compete in LSAs yet, or when you need geographic precision LSAs don't offer — bidding harder on Cary and Apex than on Raleigh proper, for example. Search Ads also handle niche and long-tail intent LSAs can't touch: "commercial flat roof repair Wake County," "24-hour drain cleaning near Falls Lake," and similar.

Where contractors waste ad budget

Almost every Google Ads account we inherit is bleeding 30–60% of budget on the same handful of mistakes: broad match keywords with no negative list, no call tracking so nobody knows which campaigns actually produced calls, bidding on their own brand name (paying Google for traffic that would've been free), and landing pages that dump paid traffic onto a generic homepage. Fixing those four leaks usually cuts cost-per-lead in half before we've touched a single bid.

What weekly management actually means

Most agencies "manage" Google Ads with a monthly PDF and quarterly bid tweaks. We audit search terms weekly, add negatives every time a wasted click appears, test ad copy against a control on a rolling basis, and monitor active campaigns daily during the first three weeks so bad bids get killed before they burn a month of budget. In Raleigh, typical cost-per-lead ranges we hit: roofing $40–90, HVAC $45–110, plumbing $35–75 — with LSAs generally landing at the low end and Search Ads at the high end.