Should a trade business do SEO or Google Ads first?
The short answer
Track first. Then Google Ads for the one job you want more of, while the page and your Business Profile build what you keep. Ads bring work this month. The foundation still brings it next year.
One switches on today. One keeps going.
Google Ads
Work this week.
Shows up the day you switch it on, for the exact job and suburbs you choose. Stops the day you stop paying.
The foundation
Work that compounds.
A page for the job, a Business Profile run properly, reviews arriving. Slow to start, can't be bought, and still working when the ads are off.
Before a dollar of ad money moves.
Ads aren't the risk. Ads nobody can read are. Three things go in first, and none of them take months.
- 01
Tracking on every call and form
So you can see which search, which ad and which suburb rang your phone.
- 02
The account in your name
Your ad account and your Search Console, owned by you, before anyone spends anything.
- 03
One job, one page
A page built for the job the ads are buying, not your home page.
The order we run for most trades.
- FirstTracking on calls and forms, in your own accounts.
- ThenOne job page and Google ads in your suburbs.
- AlongsideYour Business Profile and reviews, every week.
- NextMore job pages, once the ads show what books.
Start here
The Launch.
One job you want more of. A page built to win it. Google ads only where it books. The risk sits with us.
What you get
- 01
A page built for that one job
Your work, your reviews and your licence, with tap to call.
- 02
Ads only where it books
The searches that book that job, in the suburbs you work.
- 03
Every enquiry tracked
Every call and form, and what it cost, in your own account.
- 04
The waste cut out
Searches that will never book a job, found and removed.
What we carry
See it before you pay the balance.
The page, the ads and the tracking, shown to you first.
Nothing for management until five real enquiries.
Management starts when the enquiries do.
Everything stays yours.
Your ad account, your page, your card. Month to month.
What tradies ask next
Can a trade business run Google Ads and SEO at the same time?
Yes, and most should. The order that matters isn't ads against SEO, it's tracking before spend. Tracking takes days, so the ads can start almost as soon as you can read what they do.
How long does SEO take to work for a tradie?
Months, not weeks. A page for the job and a well-run Business Profile build steadily. That's why the ads run while it does. Here's how the SEO side is run.
Is Google Ads worth it for a small trade business?
When one booked job covers the spend. Take what a job of that type is worth to you and how many you'd need a month, and the maths answers it for your business, not anyone else's.
Can I pay Google to rank higher on the map?
No. The map ranking can't be bought. It comes from how well your profile matches the search, how close you are, and how well known the business is. Ads are the only paid placement. Here's how the map side is run.
What should I ask whoever runs my ads?
Which search and which ad produced which phone call, shown to you in the account. If nobody can answer that, the ads aren't being read. Here's how Chad Scales runs them.
Who should own the ad account?
You. In your own Google account, before anybody spends anything. Then when an arrangement ends, the history and the account stay with you.
Not sure what your business needs first?
Or call Noah on 0447 800 506