Pakistan
USA
Canada
UK
Dubai
Australia
Germany
- Target the areas you actually serve, using people in or regularly in those places.
- Build ad groups around service plus location searches, with strong negatives.
- Add call, location and lead form assets, and link your Google Business Profile.
- Run ads only when someone can answer, and track calls as conversions.
Should I target by radius or by area?
Both work. A radius around your shop suits businesses where customers travel to you, such as clinics or repair centres. Named areas, such as cities, districts or postcodes, suit businesses that travel to the customer, because service areas rarely form a neat circle. You can also exclude areas you do not cover.
The setting that matters most is the location option. Choose people in or regularly in your targeted locations, rather than people who have shown interest in them. The interest option can show your ads to someone in another city or country who searched for your area, which wastes budget for most local services. Our guide to targeting the right audience explains the wider options.
Which keyword themes bring real jobs?
Group keywords by service, not by single words. A plumber might have ad groups for blocked drains, boiler repair and leak detection, each with variations that include the area, such as a city name or near me. Each ad group then gets ads and a landing page that match that service.
Negative keywords matter as much as keywords. Add terms like jobs, course, salary, DIY, free and how to, so you do not pay for people who want to become a plumber or fix the problem themselves. Urgent words such as emergency or same day often signal higher intent, so consider separate ad groups with their own budget.
Which assets should a local business use?
Assets give your ad more space and more ways to act.
Call assets
Show a phone number or call button, especially on mobile. Schedule them for opening hours only.
Location assets
Show your address, distance and map link. They need a linked Google Business Profile.
Lead form assets
Let people send details without leaving Google, which helps when your site is slow on mobile.
Sitelinks
Link to individual service pages, pricing information or a booking page.
Callouts and structured snippets
State practical facts such as licensed, free quotes or areas covered, only if they are true.
Why link Google Business Profile?
Linking your Google Business Profile to Google Ads lets you use location assets, so your address and distance appear with the ad. It also allows local conversion actions, such as direction requests and calls from the profile, to be reported in some cases. Make sure the profile name, address, phone number and hours match your website.
In some countries, such as the US and the UK, Google also offers Local Services Ads, a separate product where you pay per lead and appear with a Google screening badge for eligible categories. It is not available everywhere, including Pakistan at the time of writing, so check Google's Local Services Ads pages for your country and category.
How do I set ad schedules and handle calls?
An unanswered call is a paid lead lost.
- Map your answering hoursList when someone can actually take calls, not just when the office is open.
- Set the ad scheduleRun call assets only in those hours. Search ads can run longer if your forms are answered quickly.
- Prepare the person answeringGive them a short script, prices or price ranges they are allowed to share, and a way to log the call.
- Track and review callsUse call reporting and the call details report to check answered rate, duration and busy times.
- Adjust bids by timeOnce you have data, raise or lower bids for hours that bring better or worse leads.
How do I track calls as conversions?
Count three things: calls from the ad itself, calls from your website after an ad click, and form or WhatsApp leads. Set a minimum call length so short wrong-number calls do not count. Our guide to tracking phone calls and WhatsApp clicks walks through each method.
Then decide which conversions guide bidding. For most local businesses, qualified calls and form leads should be primary conversions. Direction requests and page visits can stay secondary, so they appear in reports without steering spend. Where possible, record which leads became paid jobs and feed that back into Google Ads.
How does this work for Pakistani, Gulf and UK businesses?
In Pakistan and the Gulf, most local searches happen on mobile, and many customers would rather message on WhatsApp than call or fill a form. Put a WhatsApp button on every landing page, track clicks on it, and make sure someone replies quickly. Include Roman Urdu or Arabic variations of service names in your keyword research, as people search in mixed language.
Google forwarding numbers, which power call reporting, are available in the UK and US but not in Pakistan or the UAE at the time of writing. Businesses there can still track clicks on the phone number and call assets. UK businesses should check whether Local Services Ads cover their category, and run them alongside Search where they do.
How we handle this for clients
We begin by mapping the service area, answering hours and the services that bring the best jobs. Then we build Search campaigns by service, set location and schedule rules, add assets and link Google Business Profile. Call, form and WhatsApp tracking is set up and tested before launch.
After launch we review search terms, call logs and lead quality with the client, and add negatives and bid changes based on what turns into work. This is part of our Google Ads management and Google Ads for lead generation services. Service areas and schedules are reviewed again whenever the business adds staff, branches or new services.
Junaid has more than 18 years in SEO, paid media, web development and custom software. He founded SEOnumber1, builds WordPress plugins, CRMs and web applications, has served 500+ clients in 48 countries, and holds Google Ads, Analytics and Google Blue and Green Belt certifications. He is a National Level Award Winner in Digital Marketing. Read his story or ask a question about this article.