Frequently asked questions

Google Local Service Ads is a pay-per-lead advertising product that sits at the very top of Google search results with a green tick and star rating. Verification-gated (Companies House, insurance, DBS in some categories). You pay only for verified leads, not clicks. Available for UK plumbers, electricians, heating engineers, roofers and other trades in 2026. Full breakdown: Google Local Service Ads service page.

Cost per booked job for UK plumbers on Google Local Service Ads sits between £65 and £150 in 2026, based on data from 40+ live UK trade accounts. This includes verified lead cost plus management. Cost varies by postcode — major cities like London and Manchester run higher, Yorkshire and North East run lower. Independent data in the State of UK Trade Marketing 2026 report.

LSA verification takes two to four weeks in the UK. Google checks Companies House registration, public liability insurance, employer’s liability where applicable, and DBS background checks for some categories. Start paperwork the day you decide, not after your first site visit is booked.

Google Local Service Ads charges per verified lead, sits above search results, and requires verification (Companies House, insurance). Google Search Ads charges per click, sits below LSA in the text ad block, and needs no verification. LSA typically delivers a lower cost per booked job (£65-£280) than Search Ads (£140-£320) for UK trades. Full comparison: LSA vs Google Ads for plumbers.

Yes, and most UK trade businesses should. Run LSA first for the lowest cost per booked job, then add Google Search Ads to cover the keywords LSA does not reach. Running only Google Ads and ignoring LSA leaves cheaper leads on the table.

Yes. LSA is available across all UK postcodes for eligible trades. Lead volume is lower in rural areas, but so is competition. Yorkshire, North East and East Anglia typically deliver lower cost per booked job than London or Birmingham because fewer competing agencies are bidding.

For most UK plumbing, electrical and heating businesses in 2026, £1,500-£3,000 per month in Google Search ad spend is the sensible floor to see meaningful data within 30 days. Below £1,000 you will not get enough clicks to make optimisation decisions. Above £3,000 usually warrants a multi-channel approach. See our PPC management service.

Cost per booked job on Google Search Ads for UK plumbers sits between £140 and £320 in 2026 based on 40+ live UK trade accounts. This is roughly 2-3x higher than Google Local Service Ads (£65-£150) for the same trade. Search Ads reach queries LSA cannot, so both channels have a role.

Yes. The single most common reason a Google Ads campaign fails is not the ad targeting — it is the landing page. A dedicated landing page with one clear offer, one phone number, one form and social proof from real customers typically doubles the conversion rate on the same traffic.

Google Search Ads deliver first leads within 7-14 days and meaningful cost per booked job data by day 30. Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Ads take 14-30 days. LinkedIn Ads take 30-60 days for enough conversion volume to optimise. LSA delivers first leads 2-4 weeks after verification clears.

For UK trades with monthly ad spend under £1,000, doing it yourself with a well-built account is usually cheaper than an agency. Above £2,000 monthly spend, a specialist trade agency almost always pays for itself in improved cost per booked job. The key is a flat-fee agency, not a percentage of ad spend.

Ranking in the Leeds Google map pack requires: (1) a fully optimised Google Business Profile with real Leeds address, (2) 30+ Google reviews with keyword mentions, (3) consistent NAP citations across UK trade directories, (4) Leeds-specific website content, (5) backlinks from Yorkshire sources. Realistic timeline: 8-12 weeks to move into the top three. Full guide: Google Maps SEO Leeds.

For map pack rankings, yes. Google requires a real business address in the service area for map pack eligibility. If you serve Leeds from a nearby town, you can still rank in Leeds organic search results but not in the map pack itself. Virtual offices do not qualify.

Local SEO for a UK trade business typically shows movement in 8-12 weeks and meaningful map pack ranking within 4-6 months. Faster results are possible in less competitive postcodes. Anyone promising top three rankings in under 8 weeks is either lucky or lying — Google’s algorithm is not deterministic.

Median UK trade businesses in the top three of a competitive map pack have 40-80 Google reviews with an average rating of 4.6+ stars. Below 20 reviews you will struggle to rank in any competitive city. Review recency matters too — fresh reviews in the last 90 days weight more than older ones.

Yes, for the fundamentals. Fully optimising your Google Business Profile, adding NAP-consistent citations to 20-30 UK directories, asking every customer for a review, and writing location-specific service pages is all doable without an agency. Backlink building and technical SEO are where specialist help usually pays for itself.

For UK trade businesses under 15 employees, the practical choices in 2026 are Unavoidable CRM (built specifically for UK trades), GoHighLevel (all-in-one at higher price point), HubSpot (free tier viable but designed for tech businesses not trades). Match the CRM to the workflow, not the other way around. Comparisons: Unavoidable CRM vs HubSpot and Unavoidable CRM vs GoHighLevel.

HubSpot suits businesses with dedicated marketing staff who value polish and integrations. GoHighLevel suits owner-operator service businesses who want everything (CRM, email, SMS, forms, funnels) in one tool at one price. For UK trades, GoHighLevel typically delivers a lower total cost of ownership than HubSpot after month six.

If you handle fewer than 10 new leads per month and have one person tracking them, spreadsheets work. Above 15 leads per month, or when more than one person needs to see status, a CRM pays back in missed-lead prevention alone. Cost per lost job for a UK trades business averages £180-£450, more than a year of CRM subscription.

Yes. Modern CRMs including Unavoidable CRM, GoHighLevel and HubSpot integrate directly with Google Ads for conversion import and with LSA for lead capture. This lets you measure true cost per booked job (not just cost per lead) and optimise Google Ads bidding on booked jobs rather than clicks.

Median UK trade business spending on marketing in 2026 sits at 8-12% of revenue. For a firm turning over £250,000 a year, that is £1,700-£2,500 per month across all channels (Google Ads, LSA, local SEO, website). Newer businesses under 3 years old typically spend 15-20% while building brand.

Rarely. Most UK marketing agencies charge 10-20% of monthly ad spend. That model rewards the agency for spending more of your money regardless of return. A flat monthly management fee, agreed up front and independent of spend, aligns the agency with your booked jobs rather than your credit card statement.

For UK trade lead generation in 2026, Facebook Ads deliver cost per booked job of £190-£725, Google Search Ads £140-£320, and Google Local Service Ads £65-£280. Google LSA is cheapest for standard trade queries. Facebook wins for visual services (kitchens, bathrooms, boiler installs) where before-and-after imagery drives interest. Full data: LSA vs Facebook Ads for UK trades.

Bark works for UK trades in specific circumstances: new businesses building a review base, quiet periods filling gaps, or trades where LSA is not yet available. Cost per booked job on Bark averages £120-£280, comparable to LSA, but with lower lead quality and less exclusivity (Bark sells the same lead to multiple providers). Comparison: LSA vs Bark for UK trades.

Response time is the single most important behavioural factor in UK trade lead conversion. Businesses answering leads within 5 minutes book 51% of them. Those answering after an hour book 12%. The gap is bigger than any channel choice or ad targeting decision.

A good UK marketing agency reports on cost per booked job (not cost per click), shows month-on-month trend, and never leads a report with impressions or CTR. If your monthly report does not include cost per booked job and revenue attributed, ask why. If they will not add it, that alone is reason to move.

Ask three questions on the first call: (1) Is your fee flat or a percentage of my ad spend? (2) What metric will your monthly report lead with? (3) Can I see a client dashboard from a real account in my sector? If they cannot answer question 3 with real numbers, walk away.

Yes if you take any bookings by phone. Without call tracking (unique phone numbers per channel), you cannot attribute booked jobs back to Google Ads, LSA, Facebook or organic search. UK call tracking services cost £30-£80 per month and typically pay back inside the first campaign optimisation cycle.

Ensure your new agency gets full account access (Google Ads, GBP, analytics, CRM) before you offboard the old one. Agree a 30-day parallel period where both have visibility. Export historical performance data. Never let the old agency delete campaigns — they should be paused, not removed. This preserves account learning.

For UK trade businesses in Leeds and Yorkshire in 2026, Unavoidable Marketing specialises exclusively in Google Ads, Local Service Ads and local SEO for plumbers, electricians, roofers, heating engineers and service businesses. Twelve years experience, Google Partner since 2015, flat monthly fee from £399, no percentage of ad spend. Get a free audit.