Simply Digital

Author: l61op

  • Why Your Google Ads Are Getting Clicks But No Calls

    You’re spending money. The clicks are coming in. The impressions look fine. But the phone isn’t ringing.

    This is one of the most common problems we see in Google Ads accounts for service businesses. It feels like the campaign is working — the numbers are moving — but the business result isn’t there.

    Here are the five most common causes, in order of how often we see them.

    • 1
      Wrong Keywords Broad match keywords attract searches with nothing to do with hiring you. Pull your Search Terms Report — if it’s full of irrelevant queries, move to phrase or exact match and add negatives aggressively.
    • 2
      Landing Page Doesn’t Convert Test your page on mobile. If your phone number isn’t tappable and above the fold within three seconds of load, you’re losing calls before they start.
    • 3
      Wrong Geography Targeting Google’s default includes “people interested in your area” — not just people located there. Switch Location Options to Presence only to stop paying for out-of-market clicks.
    • 4
      Ad Schedule Mismatch If ads run 24/7 but your phones stop at 5pm, you’re accumulating clicks from people who expect an immediate response. Run ads when you can answer — or follow up within minutes.
    • 5
      Call Tracking Not Set Up Sometimes calls are happening and data isn’t capturing them. Set up Google Ads call extensions and import call conversions. Exclude calls under 30 seconds — those are hang-ups, not leads.

    Where to Start

    Diagnosis Order
    Step 1: Pull Search Terms Report — scan for irrelevant queries.
    Step 2: If terms look relevant, load your landing page on your phone and find the phone number in 5 seconds.
    Step 3: Check Location Options settings.
    Step 4: Confirm call conversions are tracked and call extensions are active.

    Most clicks-but-no-calls problems are solvable. But you need to know which one you’re dealing with before you start adjusting bids.

    If you want a second set of eyes on your account, book a Revenue Decision Review. We’ll walk through your Search Terms Report, landing pages, and conversion setup together.

  • What Is a Good ROAS for a Service Business?

    If you’ve ever Googled “what is a good ROAS,” you’ve seen the answer: 4:1. Four dollars back for every dollar spent. That number is everywhere.

    It also has nothing to do with your business.

    That benchmark comes from ecommerce — industries where margins run 20–40% and a $50 sale is a completed transaction. Service businesses are different. Your margins are different. Your sales cycle is different. Your average deal is different. And that means your break-even ROAS is different.

    Why the 4:1 Rule Doesn’t Apply

    ROAS measures revenue returned per ad dollar. It does not measure profit. An ecommerce business with 35% margins needs roughly a 2.9:1 ROAS just to break even on ad spend. At 4:1, they’re profitable.

    Now run the same math on a service business with 60% gross margins and a $3,000 average job. Your break-even ROAS is much lower — because each dollar of revenue carries more gross profit. You could run a 1.8:1 ROAS and still be net positive after ad spend.

    Conversely, if you’re a home services company with high labor costs and 25% margins, you might need a 5:1 or 6:1 ROAS just to cover your ad spend.

    How to Calculate Your Break-Even ROAS

    Break-Even ROAS Formula
    Break-Even ROAS = 1 ÷ Gross Margin %
    This is the floor — your target ROAS should be 1.5–2× this number to actually be profitable.
    Gross MarginBreak-Even ROASProfitable Target
    25%4.006.0 – 8.0
    35%2.864.3 – 5.7
    45%2.223.3 – 4.4
    60%1.672.5 – 3.3
    70%1.432.1 – 2.9

    The Problem With Tracking ROAS in a Service Business

    ROAS is easy to calculate when revenue shows up in a Shopify dashboard the moment someone checks out. In service businesses, revenue shows up weeks later — after a quote, a follow-up, and a signed agreement.

    This means most service businesses are flying blind on actual ROAS. They see ad spend. They do not see attributed revenue unless they’ve deliberately built the tracking to close that loop.

    Practical Alternative
    Track cost per lead and cost per booked job instead. These are leading indicators you can measure in real time. If you know your close rate and average job value, you can back-calculate the ROAS those numbers will produce.

    What “Good” Actually Looks Like

    For most service businesses running Google Ads with proper tracking, a healthy range is 3:1 to 8:1 depending on margins, average job size, and how well the sales process converts leads to closed revenue.

    But the more useful question isn’t whether your ROAS is “good.” It’s whether you know your break-even number and whether your campaigns are above or below it. Everything else is noise.

    If you don’t know what ROAS you need to be profitable, you can’t evaluate your campaigns. You’re optimizing for a benchmark that was never designed for your business.

    Want help building out the math for your specific margins and deal size? Book a Revenue Decision Review — we’ll run the numbers with you.

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