Google Ads and Meta Ads for general contractors.

Connect the CRM. Import the stage changes that matter, such as consultation booked, proposal sent, and contract signed, back into the ad platforms as offline conversions with values. Without that, bidding optimizes toward whatever form fills fastest. Also extend your attribution and retargeting windows to match the real decision timeline instead of the default thirty days.

Separate them. The search language, the budget expectations, and the sales process differ enough that shared campaigns produce mismatched leads on both sides. Distinct campaigns with matching landing pages let you see which project type your market actually supplies and which one your close rate justifies paying more for.

Qualify before the form, not after. State scope and typical project range on the landing page, ask a budget or timeline question in the form, and exclude cheap-intent search terms like handyman and small repair. Then feed which leads became consultations back into the platform so bidding learns the difference between an inquiry and a prospect.

It can work once the account has real conversion data to feed it, and it tends to struggle before that. The usual approach is to establish Search first, get offline conversions flowing, then add PMax with account-level brand negatives and audience signals built from your customer list. Watch the asset group and search term reports closely for irrelevant intent.