In this blog post, I am going to share the three most important Google Ad metrics that every septic service business owner needs to track. Coming up, I’ll answer: How do you know if your ads are actually making you money instead of costing you? Which numbers should you look at first when you log into your Google Ads account? And how can you quickly tell which ads are working and which ones need to be fixed or turned off completely?
Think about your septic service business like fishing in a lake. You could cast your line randomly all day long, using expensive bait and hoping something bites. Or you could use a fish finder to see exactly where the fish are and focus your efforts there. That’s what these Google Ad metrics do for your business – they’re your fish finder, showing you exactly where to put your advertising dollars to catch the most customers. Without tracking these numbers, you’re just casting blindly and hoping for the best.
Let’s start with the most important metric of all: Return on Investment, or ROI. This tells you how much money you’re making compared to how much you’re spending on ads. To figure out your ROI, take the total profit you made from your ads, subtract what you spent on those ads, then divide by what you spent on ads, and multiply by 100. For example, if you spent $500 on Google Ads and made $2,000 in profit from the septic jobs that came from those ads, your ROI would be 300%. That means for every dollar you put in, you got three dollars back. Pretty good, right? If your ROI is negative, that means you’re losing money on your ads and something needs to change fast.
The second key metric is tracking your customer conversions. This means keeping track of which calls or form submissions from your website actually turned into paying customers. Let’s say your Google Ads got you 20 phone calls last month, but only 8 of those people actually booked a septic service. That’s a 40% conversion rate. If you know that each new customer is worth about $500 in profit to your business, then each of those 8 conversions is worth $500, giving you $4,000 in total profit. Now you can compare that to what you spent on ads to see if you’re making money. The real power comes when you track which specific ads and keywords are bringing in those conversions. Maybe ads about “emergency septic repairs” convert at 60%, while ads about “routine septic maintenance” only convert at 20%. With this information, you can put more money toward what’s working better.
The third metric you need to watch is Return on Ad Spend, or ROAS. This looks at the total revenue you get from ads compared to what you spent. So if you spent $1,000 on Google Ads and got $5,000 in new septic service jobs from those ads, your ROAS would be 5:1 or 500%. That means for every dollar you spent on ads, you got five dollars in revenue back. ROAS is different from ROI because it looks at total revenue, not just profit. This helps you see which ads are bringing in the most business overall. For example, maybe your ads for “septic tank pumping” have a ROAS of 7:1, while your ads for “septic system installation” only have a ROAS of 3:1. That might tell you to focus more on pumping services in your ads, or it might show you need to improve your installation ads.
Want to learn more ways to use Google Ads to grow your septic service business? I’ve got plenty more blog posts just like this one that can help you attract more local customers and keep your crews busy year-round. These simple strategies have helped hundreds of septic businesses just like yours stop wasting money on ads that don’t work and start bringing in consistent leads every month. Take a look around my blog for more tips that can help you dominate your local market with smart advertising.
