Google Ads for Plumbers: High-Intent Lead Strategy

Plumbing is one of the highest-intent categories on Google. When a pipe bursts at 6 AM or a toilet backs up before Thanksgiving dinner, nobody is "doing research." They're grabbing their phone and calling the first plumber who looks credible. That urgency is your biggest advantage on Google Ads — if your campaigns are structured to capture it. Most aren't.

I've managed PPC for plumbers across 16 service-area operators over the last two years. The ones generating $30–$50 booked jobs from Google Ads while their competitors pay $150+ for the same leads aren't using some secret platform feature. They're running a fundamentally different campaign architecture built around intent tiers, call-first conversion paths, and ruthless budget discipline.

Here's the strategy.

Section 1: Why Plumbing PPC Has an Intent Advantage

The Speed Factor

In most home services categories, the customer takes days or weeks to decide. In plumbing — especially emergency plumbing — the decision happens in minutes. Water on the floor, sewage backing up, no hot water. These are "I need someone NOW" situations. This compressed timeline means:

• Higher conversion rates: Plumbing search clicks convert to calls at 15–25%, compared to 5–10% for most home services
• Shorter decision cycles: The first plumber to answer the phone books the job 60–70% of the time
• Willingness to pay premium: When water is flooding the basement, nobody asks "what's your hourly rate?"

The Problem Most Plumbers Face

Despite this intent advantage, most plumbing Google Ads accounts underperform because they treat all plumbing searches the same. "Emergency plumber" and "plumbing estimate for kitchen remodel" have completely different intent, conversion behavior, and job values — but they're sitting in the same campaign fighting for the same budget.

Section 2: The Three-Tier Keyword Strategy

Tier 1: Emergency (Highest Intent, Highest Urgency)

These searchers have an active problem and need help today. They convert at the highest rates and should get the largest share of your budget.

Keywords:

• "emergency plumber [city]"
• "plumber near me now"
• "burst pipe repair"
• "clogged drain emergency"
• "sewer backup [city]"
• "no hot water plumber"
• "water heater repair [city]"

CPCs: $15–$55 depending on market size Conversion rate to booked job: 20–35% Average job value: $300–$1,500

Tier 2: Service-Specific (High Intent, Scheduled)

These searchers need a specific plumbing service but aren't in crisis. They'll book within a few days.

Keywords:

• "water heater installation [city]"
• "sump pump replacement"
• "garbage disposal repair [city]"
• "bathroom plumbing [city]"
• "water line repair near me"
• "tankless water heater installer"

CPCs: $10–$35 Conversion rate to booked job: 12–20% Average job value: $500–$5,000

Tier 3: Research/Project (Lower Intent, Budget-Cap)

These searchers are planning a project or comparing options. Longer sales cycle, lower immediate conversion.

Keywords:

• "plumber cost for bathroom remodel"
• "how much does it cost to repipe a house"
• "best plumber in [city]"
• "plumbing estimate [city]"

CPCs: $6–$20 Conversion rate to booked job: 5–10% Average job value: $2,000–$15,000 (remodels, repiping)

The high project value can justify the lower conversion rate, but only if these keywords have their own budget cap so they don't cannibalize your emergency spend.

Section 3: Campaign Architecture

Campaign 1: Emergency Services (50–60% of budget)

Why the majority of budget: These jobs close fastest, have the best conversion rate, and keep your trucks rolling every day.

Ad groups:

• Drain emergencies (clogged drain, sewer backup)
• Water emergencies (burst pipe, leak repair, flooding)
• Water heater emergencies (no hot water, leaking water heater)

Ad copy: Speed is your headline. "24/7 Emergency Plumber — We Arrive in 60 Minutes" wins over "Professional Plumbing Services Since 1995." The searcher doesn't care about your history right now. They care about how fast you can get there.

Landing page: Emergency-specific page with:

• Giant phone number (sticky on mobile)
• "Average response time: 45 minutes" or similar
• Service area map
• No distracting navigation or links to other services

Bid strategy: Manual CPC or Target CPA. Never broad match. Never Maximize Clicks.

Campaign 2: Water Heater (15–20% of budget)

Water heaters deserve their own campaign because they span both emergency (failed unit) and planned (upgrade/replacement) intent — and the job values are significant ($1,500–$5,000 for installation).

Ad groups:

• Water heater repair
• Water heater replacement/installation
• Tankless water heater

Landing page: Water heater-specific page with brand options (Rheem, Bradford White, etc.), financing callout, and repair vs. replace guidance.

Campaign 3: Scheduled Services (15–20% of budget)

Non-emergency repairs and installations.

Ad groups:

• Bathroom plumbing
• Kitchen plumbing
• Sump pump/ejector
• Repiping/water line

Landing page: Service-specific pages with project galleries and estimate request forms.

Campaign 4: Brand Defense (5% of budget)

Bid on your company name. Competitors and aggregators bid on plumber brand names aggressively in this industry.

Section 4: The Call-First Conversion Strategy

Plumbing is a phone business. Period. 80%+ of your conversions should be phone calls, especially for emergency services.

Call-Only Ads

For emergency campaigns on mobile devices, use call-only ads. When a homeowner searches "emergency plumber near me" on their phone at 6 AM, the last thing they want is to read a landing page. Call-only ads let them tap and call in one step.

We've seen 30–40% lower CPAs with call-only ads versus standard text ads for emergency plumbing keywords. The tradeoff is you lose the landing page impression, but for pure emergency intent, the numbers consistently win.

Click-to-Call Landing Pages

For non-call-only ads, your landing page should be designed as a call trigger, not an information page. The phone number should be:

• Sticky at the top of the page on mobile
• Displayed as a tap-to-call button, not just a number
• Repeated in the body and at the bottom
• Larger than any other element on the page

Call Tracking Requirements

The 5-Minute Rule

In plumbing PPC, speed-to-answer determines ROI more than anything in your Google Ads account. If a searcher calls from your ad and gets voicemail, they hang up and call the next result. Our data across 16 plumbing accounts: calls answered within 30 seconds book at 3x the rate of calls answered after 60 seconds. Missed calls that are returned within 5 minutes still book at 40–50%. After 15 minutes, it drops to under 10%.

Your Google Ads are only as good as your phone answer rate.

Section 5: Geographic Targeting for Plumbers

Service Area Segmentation

Split your service area into zones based on drive time and close rate:

Zone 1 (0–15 minutes): Highest bids, highest budget. You can respond fastest, customer reviews are most relevant, and close rates are highest.

Zone 2 (15–30 minutes): Standard bids. You can still respond within an hour, but you're less competitive against a plumber who's 5 minutes away.

Zone 3 (30+ minutes): Lowest bids or exclude entirely for emergency campaigns. By the time you arrive, the customer has likely called someone closer. Only run installation/project campaigns in Zone 3.

Zip Code Exclusions

Exclude zip codes where you consistently don't close jobs. Every plumber has areas that generate calls but never convert to booked work — maybe it's a low-income area where price sensitivity kills close rates, or a zone that's technically in your service area but impractical to serve. Review your close rate data by zip code quarterly and cut the dead weight.

Section 6: Negative Keywords for Plumbing

Your starter exclusion list:

Job seekers: -jobs, -hiring, -salary, -apprentice, -plumber license DIY: -how to, -DIY, -tutorial, -youtube, -fix myself, -tools Unrelated services: -gas fitting (if you don't do it), -sprinkler, -pool, -irrigation Low quality: -free, -cheap, -cheapest, -coupon, -discount Location irrelevant: -[cities outside your service area]

Review search terms twice per week during peak season. Plumbing search terms are messy — Google's broad match will serve your ad for "plumbing supplies store" and "plumber Halloween costume" if you're not vigilant.

Section 7: Plumbing PPC Benchmarks (2026)

These are booked-job CPAs. If your current reporting counts every form fill and 15-second call as a "lead," your real CPA is likely 2–3x what's being reported.

Conclusion

Plumbing Google Ads have a built-in advantage that most other industries don't: extreme urgency. Homeowners with water on the floor don't compare five contractors for two weeks. They call the first credible plumber they find and book. Your job is to be that first call — and to answer it.

The plumbing companies winning with PPC aren't spending more. They're structuring campaigns around intent tiers, prioritizing phone calls over form fills, and answering every call within 30 seconds.

Want to turn your plumbing PPC into a booked-job machine? Book a free PPC audit and we'll map your campaign structure, identify wasted spend, and show you what your cost per booked job should actually be.