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PpcAutomate

Google Ads for HVAC companies and PPC for HVAC contractors

PpcAutomate runs the daily Google Ads work for HVAC companies: it blocks parts, DIY, training, and job-seeker searches as they appear, keeps repair and replacement campaigns inside their budgets through the summer and winter peaks, and alerts you when calls or form fills drop.

Try it with your report

Pay for dead furnaces and failed condensers, not for parts buyers and trainees

An HVAC account attracts very different searches under the same broad keywords. A homeowner typing "ac not cooling" on a 98 degree afternoon will call the first company that picks up. Someone typing "hvac technician salary" wants a job, and someone typing "furnace igniter replacement" wants a part and a video. Google charges you for all three clicks.

The table shows how PpcAutomate treats common HVAC query groups once you mark which jobs you sell. Treat it as a starting map. Your own search terms report decides the final list.

  • Emergency repair

    Example searches

    ac repair near me, furnace not heating, emergency hvac

    Typical intent

    Call now

    What the rules do

    Keep eligible, protect from negatives, watch cost per lead

  • Replacement and install

    Example searches

    new air conditioner installation, heat pump installation, furnace replacement cost

    Typical intent

    Quote request

    What the rules do

    Keep eligible, compare cost per lead with job value

  • Maintenance

    Example searches

    ac tune up, furnace maintenance plan

    Typical intent

    Booking

    What the rules do

    Keep eligible, run on a lower cost per lead target

  • Job seekers and training

    Example searches

    hvac technician salary, hvac school, epa 608 certification

    Typical intent

    Employment

    What the rules do

    Add as phrase negatives after review

  • DIY and parts

    Example searches

    how to recharge ac, furnace igniter, capacitor replacement

    Typical intent

    Self service

    What the rules do

    Add as exact or phrase negatives

  • Commercial and out of scope

    Example searches

    rooftop unit supplier, hvac wholesale

    Typical intent

    Trade buyer

    What the rules do

    Exclude unless you sell to the trade

The point of the table is speed. An HVAC company that reviews search terms once a month pays for three or four weeks of parts and salary clicks before anyone notices. Negative keyword autopilot mines recurring word groups every day, so a pattern like "salary" or "how to" is caught after a handful of wasted clicks. See the negative keyword automation page for how matching and approval work.

Pace the budget for the first heat wave and the first cold snap

Service area, 14 ZIP codes

Bid +10% · CPL $96

Sample account, demo data

HVAC demand does not move smoothly. Calls spike in the first week of real heat and again at the first hard freeze, and quiet shoulder months follow. A flat daily budget either runs out at noon on the worst day or sits unspent in April.

PpcAutomate's pacing rules compare month-to-date spend against the monthly budget you set. When a campaign is on track to hit its cap early, the rule slows budget increases and emails you. When it falls behind during a busy week, it can raise the daily budget in small steps, inside a ceiling you choose. Nothing moves by more than the daily change limit, so a rule cannot double your spend overnight.

  • Keep cooling and heating in separate campaigns so each has its own budget and cost per lead target.
  • Raise the cooling budget before the forecast heat, not after the calls are already lost to a competitor.
  • Pause maintenance plan promotions in peak weeks if the crew is booked out.
  • Use the change log to see exactly which budget moved and why.

Keep spend inside the ZIP codes your trucks actually reach

Location settings live in Google Ads, and they matter before any negative keyword runs. Set your radius or ZIP codes around the area your technicians can reach within your promised response time. Check whether the campaign targets people in that area or also people who show interest in it, because the second option can send budget to a homeowner researching a house in another state.

City names inside queries need care too. "Hvac Phoenix" is useful if Phoenix is in your territory and wasted if it is a competitor's market across the valley. PpcAutomate applies exclusion and bid rules to the campaigns you select. It does not widen your radius or change your location settings on its own.

A rule set a three-truck shop can read in one minute

These rules show the level of control you keep. Each one says what it checks, where it applies, and how far it can move a setting in a day. You can switch any rule off and undo any change from the log.

  1. 1 When a search phrase containing salary, jobs, school, or certification spends without a conversion, add it as a phrase negative to the repair and installation campaigns.
  2. 2 When a query starting with how to or diy collects 3 clicks and no conversion, add it as an exact negative.
  3. 3 When cost per lead on replacement keywords rises above $180 over 30 days, lower their bids by up to 10 percent per day.
  4. 4 When the cooling campaign is on pace to spend its monthly budget before the 22nd, slow daily budget increases and send an email alert.
  5. 5 When calls or form fills drop to zero for 24 hours while spend continues, send an alert so you can check the phone line and tracking.

The thresholds above are examples. You enter your own numbers based on average ticket size and close rate.

How much should an HVAC company spend on Google Ads?

Start from the number of booked jobs you want, your close rate, and the cost per lead you can afford, then let the budget follow. A company that closes four in ten leads and averages a repair ticket of a few hundred dollars can afford a very different cost per lead than one that mainly sells full system replacements worth several thousand. Clicks in HVAC are expensive in most US metros, so the budget has to be large enough to collect a meaningful number of leads each month.

Run the math before you raise spend. If your target is 30 booked jobs a month, you close 40 percent of leads, and you can pay $110 per lead, the account needs about 75 leads and roughly $8,250 in monthly spend. If that number is out of reach, narrow the campaign to the jobs with the best margin, usually replacement and install, rather than spreading a small budget across every service.

PpcAutomate's bid and budget rules then hold the account to that plan. Monthly pacing spreads spend across the month, and a daily cap on change size stops any single rule from making a large swing. The bid and budget rules page shows how targets and limits are set.

See what changed in the account while you were on a roof

Owners and office managers rarely have time to open Google Ads during the day. The change log lists every negative added, every bid adjusted, and every budget moved, with the rule that triggered it and a one-click undo. Daily email alerts cover spend spikes, conversion drops, disapproved ads, and campaigns that run out of budget.

The monthly report puts cost per lead, spend, and the work done in one place, so you can decide whether to add a service, cut a town, or raise the budget before the next season. If several people share the account, Starter includes 2 team seats and Growth includes 5.

A flat fee instead of a percentage of your ad spend

HVAC PPC agencies often charge a monthly retainer or a percentage of ad spend, and the routine work behind that fee is mostly search term reviews, bid changes, and budget checks. PpcAutomate does that routine for a flat subscription. Your Google Ads spend is billed by Google separately.

Starter costs $99 per month, or $49 per month billed yearly at $588 per year. It covers 1 Google Ads account and up to $15,000 in monthly ad spend under management. Growth costs $249 per month, or $124 per month billed yearly at $1,488 per year, and adds Microsoft Ads, target CPA pacing, per-rule Approve or Autopilot mode, Slack alerts, and a weekly account audit. Multi-location companies and franchise groups with several accounts usually start on Growth. Compare all limits on the pricing page.

If you already run the plumbing side of a home services business, the Google Ads for plumbers page covers the same workflow for that trade, and PPC management for small business covers the general case.

Questions HVAC companies ask about Google Ads

Yes, for most HVAC companies with a defined service area and a phone answered quickly, because search ads reach homeowners whose furnace or air conditioner just failed. They stop paying off when budget leaks to parts, DIY, and job-seeker searches. Daily negative keywords and cost per lead tracking keep the account profitable.

Work backward from booked jobs. Divide your monthly job goal by your close rate to get leads needed, then multiply by the cost per lead you can afford. For example, 30 jobs at a 40 percent close rate and $110 per lead needs about $8,250 a month. Start with your best margin jobs if that is too high.

Many run both. Local Services Ads charge per lead and suit general repair calls, while Search campaigns charge per click and give you keyword, negative, and bid control for higher value work such as system replacement. PpcAutomate manages the Search side.

Start with urgency and replacement terms such as ac repair, furnace repair, emergency hvac, new air conditioner installation, and heat pump installation, combined with your city or near me. Exclude jobs, salary, training, how to, and parts terms from the start, then add negatives from your own search terms report.

No. Local Services Ads are managed in their own dashboard, where you set job types, service area, and weekly budget. PpcAutomate works on Google Ads Search campaigns, and on Microsoft Ads from the Growth plan, adding negatives, adjusting bids and budgets within your limits, and reporting the changes.

Yes, from the Growth plan. Each rule can run in Approve mode, where proposed changes wait for your click, or Autopilot mode, where they apply within your daily limits. Starter applies rules automatically and keeps every change in the log with one-click undo.