Call-Only Ads for HVAC Contractors: When a Phone Call Beats a Click

Most HVAC contractors run standard Google Ads that send traffic to a landing page, then hope visitors fill out a form or call. That works, but there's a faster path to booked jobs. Call-only ads skip the landing page entirely and connect the searcher directly to your phone line with one tap. For an industry where 78% of service bookings happen over the phone and urgency drives nearly every decision, this format is a natural fit. When we manage PPC for HVAC contractors, call-only campaigns consistently deliver the highest lead quality and lowest cost per booked job in the account.

This guide breaks down exactly how to set up, optimize, and scale call-only campaigns for HVAC companies — including the benchmarks, keywords, bid strategies, and mistakes that separate profitable campaigns from money pits.

Why Call-Only Ads Work for HVAC

Three factors make HVAC one of the best verticals for call-only ads.

1. Urgency Drives the Search

When someone's AC dies in July or their furnace quits in January, they are not browsing. They need someone on the phone now. A standard text ad sends them to a page where they have to read, scroll, find a number, and then call. A call-only ad eliminates every step between the search and the conversation. That friction reduction matters enormously for emergency-intent searches.

2. Mobile-First Behavior

Over 72% of HVAC service searches happen on mobile devices. On a phone screen, a call-only ad is a single tap to dial. Compare that to the standard flow: tap ad, wait for page to load, scroll to find number, tap number, confirm call. Each additional step loses 10–20% of potential callers. Call-only ads compress that entire journey into one action.

3. Higher Intent Filtering

Here's something most agencies won't tell you: call-only ads pre-qualify your leads. Someone willing to pick up the phone and call has higher intent than someone who clicks a link to browse. The act of dialing is a commitment signal. Tire-kickers and price-comparison shoppers tend to prefer clicking through to a website where they can browse anonymously. The people who call are ready to book.

Call-Only vs. Standard Text Ads: Performance Comparison

We've run call-only campaigns alongside standard search campaigns for dozens of HVAC accounts. Here's how the two formats compare across key performance metrics.

Metric	Standard Text Ads	Call-Only Ads
Click/Call Conversion Rate	5–12%	15–28%
Average CPC/Cost Per Call	$18–$45	$22–$55
Cost Per Qualified Lead	$80–$200	$45–$120
Lead Quality Score (1–10)	5.5	7.8
Junk/Spam Rate	20–35%	8–15%
Avg. Time to Booking	24–48 hours	Under 30 minutes

A few things to unpack here. Yes, the cost per call on call-only ads is often slightly higher than the CPC on standard ads. That's expected — you're paying for a phone call, not a page visit. But look at the cost per qualified lead. Because the conversion rate from call to qualified lead is dramatically higher, you end up paying 40–50% less per actual lead that turns into revenue.

The junk rate difference is the real story. Standard campaigns send a mix of serious buyers, researchers, and bots to your landing page. Your team spends time fielding form submissions from people who wanted a DIY tutorial or a price to compare against doing nothing. Call-only campaigns cut that waste significantly because the call itself is a commitment barrier.

How to Set Up Call-Only Campaigns in Google Ads

Setting up a call-only campaign is straightforward, but there are specific settings that matter for HVAC. Here's the step-by-step process.

Step 1: Create a New Campaign

In Google Ads, click New Campaign and select Leads as your goal. Choose Search as the campaign type. On the next screen, select Phone calls as the way you want to reach your goal. Enter your business phone number.

Step 2: Configure Campaign Settings

Networks: Uncheck Display Network and Search Partners. You want Google Search only.
Locations: Set your service area. For most HVAC companies, this is a 25–40 mile radius around your base. Use radius targeting, not city-level targeting, for precision.
Language: English (or whatever your market requires).
Budget: Start with $50–$100/day for a single-market HVAC company. We'll discuss bid strategy below.

Step 3: Build Your Ad Groups

Structure your ad groups by service type and intent level:

Campaign: HVAC Call-Only
├── Ad Group: AC Repair Calls
├── Ad Group: Furnace Repair Calls
├── Ad Group: Emergency HVAC Calls
├── Ad Group: HVAC Installation Calls
└── Ad Group: General HVAC Service Calls

Keep ad groups tight — 5 to 15 keywords per group. This lets you write ad copy that directly matches the search intent of each group.

Step 4: Write Your Call-Only Ads

Call-only ads have two headline fields, a description, a business name, and a display URL. Every element should drive the call.

Headline 1: State the service and urgency. "AC Repair — Techs Available Now" or "Furnace Emergency? Call Us."

Headline 2: Reinforce trust or availability. "Licensed & Insured" or "Same-Day Service."

Description: Address the core concern and push the call. "Local HVAC technicians ready to dispatch. Most repairs completed same visit. Call now for fast, reliable service."

Display URL: Use a path like /AC-Repair or /Emergency-HVAC to signal relevance.

Step 5: Set Call Reporting

Enable call reporting in campaign settings. Set the minimum call duration for conversions to 60 seconds. This filters out accidental dials and wrong numbers, so your conversion data reflects actual leads.

Step 6: Add Negative Keywords

Apply your standard HVAC negative keyword list on day one: DIY, jobs, training, salary, free, Home Depot, portable, window unit, car AC. Call-only campaigns are even more sensitive to bad keywords because every junk call costs you real phone time.

Want us to build this for you? We set up and manage call-only campaigns for HVAC contractors across the country. Schedule a free strategy call and we'll audit your current campaigns.

Best Keywords for HVAC Call-Only Ads

Not every HVAC keyword belongs in a call-only campaign. You want high-intent, service-now keywords. Save informational and research-phase keywords for your standard campaigns.

Tier 1: Emergency and Urgent Repair

These are your highest-converting call-only keywords.

"AC repair near me"
"emergency AC repair"
"furnace not working"
"no heat emergency"
"AC not blowing cold air"
"emergency furnace repair"
"24 hour HVAC repair"
"HVAC emergency near me"
"heater stopped working"
"air conditioner broke"

Tier 2: Standard Repair and Service

Slightly lower urgency but still strong call intent.

"AC repair [city]"
"furnace repair [city]"
"HVAC repair near me"
"heating repair near me"
"air conditioning service near me"
"central air repair"
"heat pump repair near me"

Tier 3: Installation (Use Selectively)

Installation keywords can work in call-only if your sales process is phone-driven. Test these carefully.

"AC installation near me"
"new furnace installation"
"HVAC replacement [city]"
"new AC unit cost"

Keywords to Exclude from Call-Only

Keep these in standard campaigns only:

Maintenance and tune-up keywords (lower urgency, form submissions work fine)
"Cost" and "price" keywords without service modifiers (research intent)
Brand-comparison keywords (people want to browse, not call)
Indoor air quality keywords (longer consideration cycle)

Bid Strategy and Scheduling

Bid strategy is where call-only campaigns succeed or fail for HVAC. The wrong approach wastes budget on calls that nobody answers.

Only Run Ads When Staff Can Answer

This is the single most important rule. Call-only ads generate phone calls. If nobody picks up, you just paid $30–$50 for a missed call. Set your ad schedule to match your phone coverage hours exactly.

If you answer calls 7 AM to 7 PM Monday through Saturday:

Schedule ads from 6:45 AM to 7:00 PM (the buffer catches early searches while your team is settling in)
Pause on Sunday unless you have coverage

If you run 24/7 emergency service:

Run ads around the clock
Use bid adjustments to manage spend by time block

Time-of-Day Bid Adjustments

HVAC call volume follows predictable patterns. Optimize your bids accordingly.

Time Block	Bid Adjustment	Rationale
6 AM – 9 AM	+25% to +40%	Morning rush. Homeowners wake up to broken systems and search before work.
9 AM – 12 PM	+10% to +20%	Sustained high intent. Many calls convert to same-day appointments.
12 PM – 3 PM	Baseline (0%)	Moderate volume. Steady but not peak.
3 PM – 6 PM	+10% to +15%	Afternoon pickup. People get home, notice the problem, search.
6 PM – 10 PM	+20% to +35%	Evening urgency. Fewer competitors bidding, high intent callers.
10 PM – 6 AM	+30% to +50%	Overnight emergency only. Very low competition. Only if you have live answering.

The morning rush between 6 AM and 9 AM is where we see the highest call-to-booking rate for HVAC. Homeowners wake up to a cold house or a warm house, immediately search, and want someone dispatched before they leave for work. Bid aggressively during this window.

Day-of-Week Adjustments

Monday: +15% (weekend problems get addressed Monday morning)
Saturday: +10% to +20% (emergency searches spike, less competition)
Sunday: +20% to +30% if you have coverage (lowest competition of the week)

Recommended Bid Strategy

Start with Maximize Conversions with a target CPA. Set your target CPA at the cost per qualified call you can sustain profitably. For most HVAC companies, that's $60–$100 per qualified call. Once you have 30+ conversions in 30 days, switch to Target CPA bidding for more predictable costs.

If your account is new or has limited conversion data, use Manual CPC with the time-of-day adjustments above until you've accumulated enough data for automated bidding.

Call Tracking and Recording Setup

You cannot optimize what you don't measure. Call tracking for call-only campaigns requires a slightly different approach than standard campaigns because there's no landing page with dynamic number insertion.

Google Ads Call Reporting

Enable Google's native call reporting. This gives you:

Call duration
Caller area code
Whether the call was answered
Call start time

Set your conversion window to count calls over 60 seconds as conversions. Some accounts benefit from a 90-second threshold if your team handles calls quickly — test both.

Third-Party Call Tracking

For deeper insight, layer a call tracking platform like CallRail, CallTrackingMetrics, or WhatConverts on top of Google's reporting. These platforms provide:

Call recording: Essential for quality review. Listen to calls weekly to identify missed opportunities and train your team.
Call scoring: Automatically or manually tag calls as "booked job," "estimate request," "junk," or "missed."
Keyword-level attribution: Know exactly which keyword generated each call.
Whisper messages: A brief message plays for your staff before they're connected: "This call is from a Google ad for AC repair." This lets your team answer with relevant context.

Metrics to Track Weekly

Metric	Target	Action if Below Target
Answer rate	Above 90%	Adjust schedule or add staff
Avg. call duration	2–5 minutes	Review call quality — too short means junk, too long means inefficiency
Call-to-booking rate	40–60%	Train phone staff, review call recordings
Cost per booked job	Under $150	Tighten keywords, adjust bids, improve call handling
Junk call rate	Under 15%	Add negative keywords, review search terms report

Common Mistakes That Kill Call-Only Campaign Performance

Running Ads 24/7 Without After-Hours Handling

We see this constantly. A contractor sets up call-only ads, leaves them running overnight and on weekends, and nobody answers. Every missed call is wasted budget — and worse, it teaches Google's algorithm that your ads don't convert, which raises your CPC over time.

The fix: Either staff your phones during every hour your ads run, use a professional answering service for after-hours, or pause ads when you can't answer. Or use an AI-powered phone agent that answers every call instantly, qualifies the lead, and books the appointment — so you can run ads 24/7 without wasting a single click on voicemail.

Not Using Call Extensions as a Backup

Call-only ads are great, but you should also run standard text ads with call extensions in a separate campaign. Some searchers prefer to visit a website before calling. Others want to read reviews or check your service area. By running both formats, you capture both types of buyers.

Think of call-only ads as your primary lead driver and standard ads with call extensions as your safety net. We typically allocate 60–70% of the budget to call-only and 30–40% to standard campaigns with call extensions for the same keyword set.

Ignoring the Search Terms Report

Call-only campaigns don't have landing page data to help you spot irrelevant traffic. Your search terms report is your only window into what people actually searched before calling. Review it weekly. Add negative keywords aggressively. We typically add 5–15 new negative keywords per week during the first two months of a new HVAC call-only campaign.

Setting the Conversion Duration Too Low

If you set your minimum call duration to 30 seconds, you'll count wrong numbers, accidental dials, and "how late are you open?" calls as conversions. This pollutes your data and misleads automated bidding. Start at 60 seconds and adjust based on your actual call data.

Using the Same Keywords as Standard Campaigns Without Adjustments

If you run call-only and standard campaigns targeting identical keywords, they'll compete against each other in the auction and drive up your costs. Either split your keyword sets (emergency keywords in call-only, research keywords in standard) or use campaign priorities and bid adjustments to manage overlap intentionally.

When to Combine Call-Only with Standard Campaigns

Call-only campaigns are not a replacement for standard search campaigns. They're a high-performance layer on top of your existing strategy. Here's how we structure a complete HVAC search strategy.

Campaign Mix for Most HVAC Companies

Campaign Type	Keywords	Budget Share	Primary Conversion
Call-Only: Emergency	Emergency repair, urgent service, system failures	30–40%	Phone calls
Call-Only: Standard Repair	AC repair, furnace repair, HVAC service	20–25%	Phone calls
Standard Search: Installation	New system, replacement, installation cost	20–25%	Form fills + calls
Standard Search: Maintenance	Tune-up, maintenance, inspection	10–15%	Form fills
Brand Campaign	Company name, misspellings	5–10%	Both

When Standard Ads Outperform Call-Only

Installation and replacement keywords: These have a longer sales cycle. Homeowners want to compare quotes, check financing options, and read reviews before committing. A landing page with pricing, testimonials, and a form captures these leads better than a direct phone call.
Maintenance and tune-up keywords: Lower urgency means people are comfortable filling out a form. They don't need to talk to someone immediately.
After-hours when you can't answer: If you don't have overnight phone coverage, standard ads with a form-fill landing page can still capture leads while your call-only campaigns are paused.

When Call-Only Clearly Wins

Emergency and urgent keywords: No contest. A broken AC or furnace demands immediate conversation.
Mobile searchers during business hours: They're on their phone, ready to call. Remove the friction.
Competitive markets with expensive CPCs: Call-only ads often have slightly lower CPC than standard ads for the same keyword because fewer advertisers use the format. In markets where "AC repair near me" costs $45 per click, a $50 call-only interaction that converts at 25% is far more efficient than a $45 click that converts at 8%.

Measuring Success: Benchmarks for HVAC Call-Only Campaigns

After managing call-only campaigns for HVAC companies across different markets and company sizes, here are the benchmarks we use to evaluate performance.

Metric	Poor	Average	Strong
Cost Per Call	Above $70	$35–$60	Below $35
Call-to-Lead Rate	Below 30%	40–55%	Above 60%
Cost Per Qualified Lead	Above $150	$70–$120	Below $70
Cost Per Booked Job	Above $250	$120–$200	Below $120
Answer Rate	Below 80%	85–92%	Above 95%
Monthly Call Volume	Under 30	50–100	100+

If your numbers fall in the "poor" column, the issue is almost always one of three things: wrong keywords, ads running when nobody answers, or poor phone handling by the team that picks up.

Getting Started

If you're already running Google Ads for your HVAC company, adding a call-only campaign alongside your existing campaigns is a low-risk, high-reward move. Start with your top 10–15 emergency and repair keywords, set a modest daily budget of $50–$75, schedule ads during your staffed hours, and track everything.

Give the campaign two to three weeks of data before making major adjustments. Review your call recordings, check your search terms report, and refine your negative keyword list. Most HVAC companies see a meaningful improvement in lead quality within the first month.

If you're not running any paid search yet and want to start with the highest-ROI campaign type, call-only is the answer. It's simpler to set up (no landing page needed), generates faster results (calls happen immediately), and produces higher-quality leads than any other campaign format for HVAC.

Ready to add call-only campaigns to your HVAC marketing? Contact our team for a free audit of your current Google Ads account. We'll identify exactly where call-only ads can improve your lead quality and lower your cost per booked job.