Case study
Google Ads Search Campaign
Building a controlled, budget-conscious paid search strategy for a New Jersey plumbing business's water heater services.
01 — Overview
The challenge
The plumbing business had a working analytics foundation but no paid traffic actively driving new leads. Water heater repair, replacement, and installation searches were identified as a high-intent opportunity: customers searching these terms are typically ready to act, making them a strong fit for a first paid search test.
The goal
Build a Google Ads Search campaign focused specifically on water heater service leads, using a small, realistic budget rather than Google's default automated recommendations, and structure it as a controlled initial test rather than an open-ended spend commitment.
02 — Campaign strategy
A Search campaign was chosen over Performance Max. Search keeps keyword targeting, ad copy, and placement under direct control, which matters most for a first, limited-budget test where the goal is to learn from search intent rather than hand budget decisions to full automation.
03 — Targeting strategy
Keywords were built around water heater repair, replacement, and installation searches, along with related plumber and service-call terms, to capture users with clear purchase intent. Geographic targeting was limited to the business's actual service area rather than targeting traffic indiscriminately.
04 — Ad creation
A Responsive Search Ad was built with multiple headline and description variations covering the core water heater services and a clear call to action, so Google can test combinations and serve the strongest-performing version once the campaign is live.
05 — Budget & bidding
Rather than following Google's higher automated budget recommendation, the campaign was set to an average daily budget of $16.50 (approximately $500 per month) with a Maximize Conversions bidding strategy, keeping the initial test financially realistic for a small local business.
06 — Measurement connection
This campaign was not built in isolation. Its conversion goal is set to lead-form submissions,
and it relies on the GA4 and Google Tag Manager implementation already in place for the same
business, which captures contact-form submissions and phone-number clicks as
generate_lead events. Once live, that existing measurement framework is what will
let this campaign's leads be evaluated.
07 — Status
The campaign is fully configured and paused prior to launch. No advertising spend or performance results are reported. This case study documents the targeting, creative, and budget strategy behind the campaign build; once launched, it will provide a real-world test of paid search performance alongside the measurement foundation already established for the business.