Google Ads for appliance repair: budgets, the campaigns that book calls, and the ones that pay for YouTube tutorials
What a tracked appliance repair call costs on Google, how to split Local Services Ads and Search by appliance, and the negative keywords that stop the bleeding.
Google Ads is where a homeowner with a warm refrigerator finds a tech in the next two minutes. It is also where an appliance repair company spends $1,800 in a month on people searching "why is my dryer squeaking" who were always going to fix it with a YouTube video and a $12 belt. Which of those you get depends on the campaign structure, not the budget.
This guide assumes you answer the phone during the hours your ads run. If the call goes to voicemail, ads make the problem more expensive. Fix answering first with the missed calls guide.
Local Services Ads first
Local Services Ads sit at the very top of an appliance repair search, carry a Google Guaranteed badge, and bill per lead instead of per click. For appliance repair in most US metros a lead costs $20 to $50. You can dispute leads that are out of area, commercial equipment, or someone looking for parts, and Google credits a fair share of valid disputes.
Approval needs a background check on the owner, proof of insurance, and a license where your state requires one (most do not for appliance repair, which makes approval faster than for plumbers or electricians). Plan on two weeks.
LSA ranking is driven by review count, rating, response time and how many leads you answer. A shop under 20 reviews will get fewer leads at the same budget than a shop at 80. Only 22.4% of appliance repair companies have passed 100 reviews, so a shop that gets there has a visible edge in the LSA list. Start the budget at roughly eight leads a week; for a two-van shop at $35 a lead that is about $280 a week.
Then Search, split by appliance
Run one Search campaign with an ad group per appliance, because the clicks are worth different amounts and the ad copy should name the appliance:
- Refrigerator: refrigerator repair, fridge not cooling, freezer not freezing, ice maker repair. Clicks $10 to $25. The highest urgency and the biggest tickets, $200 to $600 for sealed system and compressor work.
- Washer and dryer: washer repair, dryer not heating, dryer repair near me. Clicks $8 to $18. Average ticket $150 to $300.
- Dishwasher and oven: dishwasher not draining, oven not heating, range repair. Clicks $7 to $15. Tickets $150 to $350.
- Brand: Samsung refrigerator repair, LG washer repair, Whirlpool dryer repair, Bosch dishwasher repair. High intent, usually cheaper than the generic terms, and the ad should name the brand.
- Your company name: cheap, high intent, and it stops a competitor from buying your name for $2 a click.
Use phrase and exact match only. Broad match on "appliance repair" will buy "appliance repair jobs", "appliance repair course" and "appliance repair parts" at full price.
Each ad group gets its own landing page: the refrigerator ad goes to the refrigerator page, with the diagnostic fee and a tap-to-call button above the fold. The website guide covers what those pages need.
The negative keyword list, day one
Add these before the campaign goes live: parts, part, manual, how to, DIY, youtube, video, reset, error code, salary, jobs, hiring, training, course, school, certification, used, for sale, commercial, restaurant, walk-in, HVAC, furnace, water heater, warranty company, recall.
Then read the search terms report twice a week for the first month. In appliance repair the junk terms are endless: "F21 error code Whirlpool", "Samsung ice maker class action", "dryer belt diagram". Each one you add as a negative saves a few dollars a day forever.
Budget and schedule
For a one to three van shop, $1,200 to $2,500 a month across LSA and Search is a real test. Under $600 there is not enough data to judge anything in two weeks. Spend should follow the phone: if dispatch answers 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., schedule ads 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and turn them off overnight. A click at 11 p.m. that reaches voicemail is a click you paid for and a job the next shop booked at 7 a.m.
Bid higher in the hours when refrigerator calls peak, which is early morning (people discover the warm fridge at breakfast) and early evening. Lower bids midday.
Tracking that tells you the truth
Install call tracking on every ad number and count a conversion only when the call lasts more than 45 seconds. A 10-second call is a wrong number. Record calls so you can hear what you paid for; the first week of recordings usually reveals that half the "leads" were asking for parts or a brand you do not service, which tells you exactly which negatives to add.
After two weeks, working looks like 20 to 40 tracked calls, a search terms report you have pruned twice, and a cost per booked diagnostic you can say out loud, usually $40 to $90. It does not look like a lower cost per click; cost per click is irrelevant if the clicks do not book.
Frequently asked
Is Performance Max worth running for appliance repair? Not until Search and LSA are tuned. Performance Max spends across Display and YouTube and is hard to keep on topic in a trade this specific. Run it later, with a small budget, only if you have conversion tracking that counts booked calls rather than clicks.
What about "near me" terms? Include "appliance repair near me" and "dryer repair near me" as phrase match in their appliance groups. They convert well because the searcher wants someone close. Do not pay for "cheap appliance repair near me"; add "cheap" as a negative unless you want the customer who argues about the diagnostic fee.
How do I know if the agency running my ads is doing a good job? Ask for the search terms report and the call recordings. If they cannot show you both, nothing else they say matters. The agency guide lists the other questions.
Campaign build, LSA application and call tracking are included when you try Google Ads management in the free 14-day trial.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, appliance repair companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor