Google Ads for HVAC: how we run Search for Australian aircon installers

Why do Google Ads suit urgent and in-season HVAC demand?

Google Ads for HVAC work because Search catches people at the moment they need you. A system dies on a 40-degree day and the homeowner types "aircon repair" into Google. A family finally decides on ducted and searches "ducted air conditioning quote". Those people are not browsing. They want a price, a time and someone who answers.

That is the difference from Meta. On Facebook and Instagram you interrupt someone who might be thinking about ducted. On Google, they have already put their hand up. The search itself tells you what they want, and often where they are.

It also explains why Search spend matters most in summer. When a heatwave hits Sydney, breakdowns and rushed replacements go straight to Google. If your ads are not there, someone else's are.

Google Search does less for demand that has not formed yet. A homeowner who has put up with a noisy old split for three summers may not search until something pushes them. That push is Meta's job.

How do Google Ads and Meta ads work together for HVAC?

We run both, because they catch the same homeowner at different moments. Meta creates demand from homeowners thinking about ducted before they search. Google Search catches demand from people searching now, especially breakdowns in a heatwave. Both send traffic to the same suburb pages, qualifier and 60-second reply.

In practice the two feed each other. Someone who saw your Meta ad in October may search your business name or "ducted air conditioning [suburb]" in November. Someone whose system died in January may book a repair and get a replacement quote once your tech sees the unit.

The detail on the Meta side, from offers to creative, is on our Facebook ads for HVAC page. The longer comparison of the two channels is in Google Ads vs Facebook ads for HVAC. Both channels are step one of the HVAC Profit Machine.

How do we structure Google Ads campaigns for air conditioning?

We keep it tight: separate ad groups for ducted installs, replacements and repairs, each with its own keywords, ads and landing page. Targeting is limited to the suburbs you service. Negative keywords block DIY, jobs, parts and cheap split searches. Call assets let people ring from the ad, and every click lands on a page with the qualifier.

Here is the structure a typical client starts with. The keywords are examples of the kind of searches in each group, not a full list.

Four rules hold across every account:

• Suburbs, not the whole city. Google lets you target "people in, regularly in, or who've shown interest in" a location (Google Ads Help). We set it to people in or regularly in your service suburbs, so a click from someone reading about Sydney from Perth does not cost you.
• Negative keywords from day one. Negative keywords let you exclude search terms from your campaigns (Google Ads Help). We start with lists for DIY ("how to", "install yourself", "manual"), jobs ("apprentice", "jobs", "salary"), parts ("filter", "remote", "parts") and cheap split searches ("cheap split system", "portable", "window unit").
• Call assets on. Call assets add your phone number to the ad so people can tap to ring you (Google Ads Help). The number is the tracking line we set up, so missed calls get a text back.
• Landing page plus qualifier, not your home page. Every click lands on a suburb page with the six-question qualifier, so paid clicks turn into sorted enquiries rather than a contact form.

We never advertise single-room splits. The ads lead with ducted, replacement and whole-home systems, and a split enquiry that gets through never routes to priority in the qualifier.

Which searches do we keep out of HVAC PPC?

We keep out any search that will not turn into a job worth quoting: people learning to install their own system, people looking for HVAC jobs or apprenticeships, people after a filter or a remote, and people shopping for the cheapest split. We review the search terms every week and add new negatives as they appear.

HVAC PPC is pay per click advertising for heating and cooling businesses, mostly on Google Search. Every irrelevant click costs the same as a good one, so the negative keyword list does as much work as the keyword list.

A few habits we keep:

1. Search terms, weekly. The report Google gives you on what people actually typed is where the waste shows up. We read it every week and add negatives.
2. Ad matched to the search. The ad and the page headline repeat what the person typed, so "ducted air conditioning quote Castle Hill" lands on a page that says exactly that.
3. Repairs routed, not counted. Repair enquiries go to your service line fast. They are not counted as booked quotes, and they do not count towards the 3 won jobs on our pricing.

How does the Google Ads budget change with the season?

The ad spend minimum is $4,000 a month across Meta and Google combined. By default Google Search gets $1,500 and Meta $2,500. In Sydney's peak cooling months, December to February, we flip it: Google $2,500 and Meta $1,500, because people search when systems break. In winter and the shoulder months the spend leans back to Meta.

Spend also follows your diary. If install lead times pass three weeks in December, we turn spend down rather than book quotes you cannot install.

These are planning assumptions, not results. We do not quote cost per click benchmarks for HVAC because we have not measured them ourselves, and the figures that get passed around are rarely sourced. For what enquiries cost across channels, read how much HVAC leads cost in Australia.

Why don't we run Google Local Services Ads?

We do not run Google Local Services Ads because Google does not offer them in Australia. Google's own help page lists the countries where they are available, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and several European countries, and Australia is not on the list (Local Services Help).

A lot of HVAC marketing advice online is written for the US, where Local Services Ads are available. That advice does not apply here. For Australian installers, the Google options are Search ads and your Google Business Profile, which we manage as part of the monthly fee along with automated review requests after every install.

What do we report from Google Ads?

Every Friday you get one report covering both channels: Google spend, Meta spend, enquiries from each, how many passed the qualifier, booked quotes by channel, cost per booked quote and jobs won. For Google we add calls from call assets and the search terms we blocked that week.

We report cost per booked quote by channel because clicks and impressions do not tell you whether Google Ads for air conditioning are paying. A booked quote is a qualified homeowner booked in for an in-home quote, in your diary, with a time. If Google books quotes at a better cost than Meta in a given month, the report says so, and we move money.

The CRM joins the Google click to the enquiry, the booked quote and the won job, so the report runs from ad spend all the way to jobs won. You mark quotes won or lost. The rest is automatic.

What do Google Ads for HVAC cost with Scale Theory?

Google Search ads are included in our fee of $3,000 a month plus GST, alongside Meta ads, Google Business Profile management, review requests, landing pages, the qualifier, CRM and follow-up. Ad spend is separate, paid by you to Google and Meta, minimum $4,000 a month combined. The full breakdown is on our pricing page.

There is no separate Google add-on and no markup on your spend. The account is yours, paid on your card. SEO is not included.

We take one HVAC client per service line per area, which matters more on Google than anywhere else: two clients in one suburb would mean bidding against each other through us. If you are in Sydney, our Sydney HVAC marketing page shows which areas are open.