An HVAC contractor buying leads is really choosing between three different things: leads earned through the Google Business Profile and the site, leads bought per contact from Google's own pay-per-lead product, and leads bought from third-party sellers who often sell the same enquiry to several contractors. The three have different costs, different close rates and different amounts of control, and the pitches for all three sound identical. This page separates them, describes what Google publishes about how each works, and sets out how a contractor should judge the price before signing anything with a monthly minimum.
The three sources, and how they differ
Earned leads come from ranking in local results and from the pages on your own site. They cost work rather than a per-lead fee, take time to build, and are yours permanently. Google's Local Services Ads sit in a middle category: you pay per lead rather than per click, paying only for leads related to your business and the services you offer, with leads arriving as phone calls and messages. Third-party lead sellers are the third, and the important structural fact is that many sell the same enquiry to multiple contractors, so you are buying a race rather than a customer. None of the three is automatically wrong. What is wrong is paying a per-lead price appropriate to an exclusive enquiry for one that has been sold four times over.
How Google's pay-per-lead product actually works
Google's documentation for Local Services Ads sets out the mechanics. It is a pay-per-lead model where you pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer, and leads come in as calls and messages. Providers go through screening and verification requirements, submitting a licence or business registration and confirming they hold the appropriate business licences, and a Google verified badge signals that a business has passed Google's screening process. Pre-badge ads let a business receive leads while it completes onboarding, though the listing ranks below providers who have finished onboarding and obtained the badge. Responsiveness matters to visibility: Google states that if you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected. For a contractor, that makes phone coverage a media buying decision.
The organic side is the cheapest lead you will ever get
Google publishes what drives local ranking and keeps it to three factors: relevance, how well your Business Profile matches the search; distance, how close you are to the searcher; and prominence, how well known the business is. Its help pages give specific advice a contractor can act on without hiring anyone: enter complete hours, including special hours, be clear about what kind of business you are through the category, and respond to reviews, since more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. Google also states there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. As a service-area business you are expected to run one profile for your central office with a defined service area, and profile guidelines prohibit padding the business name with extra descriptors, which is a common vendor tactic that risks suspension of the profile your business depends on.
Reviews drive this market and the rules now bind you
Reviews influence both local ranking and the homeowner's choice on the doorstep, which is exactly why shortcuts get sold to contractors. The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule prohibits writing, creating or selling reviews that misrepresent the reviewer or their experience; providing compensation or incentives conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment; publishing reviews from a company's own officers or managers without clear disclosure; misrepresenting that a company-controlled site provides independent reviews; and using groundless legal threats or intimidation to suppress a negative review. The FTC's guidance states that marketing firms acting for a business are not immune from liability, which does not remove the contractor's. If a lead vendor or marketing company offers to handle reviews, ask exactly what it sends and to whom, in writing.
Judging the price before you sign
Do the arithmetic before the sales call, because the seller will supply their own. Take the average job value for the work the lead represents, since a maintenance call and a system replacement are not the same purchase, and take the proportion of enquiries your team actually converts. That gives the most you can pay per lead before the channel stops paying. Then adjust for exclusivity, because a shared lead needs a materially lower price to make the same margin. Ask any seller three questions in writing: is the lead exclusive, what is the process for disputing a lead that was never for your service area, and is there a contract term or monthly minimum. Google's general hiring guidance applies to marketing vendors too: be wary of unsolicited approaches, and of anyone unwilling to explain their methods.
Questions people ask about hvac leads
Are bought HVAC leads worth it?
It depends on exclusivity and your close rate. Work out the most you can pay per lead from average job value and conversion rate before you talk to a seller, and price a shared lead materially lower than an exclusive one, since you are buying a race rather than a customer.
How does Google's pay-per-lead advertising work for contractors?
Local Services Ads charge per lead rather than per click, with leads arriving as calls and messages, and providers pass screening and verification including licence or business registration. Google states that regularly failing to answer calls or messages may affect ad ranking.
Can I pay for a better position in the map results?
No. Google's Business Profile help states there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, and its published local factors are relevance, distance and prominence. Any vendor implying paid placement in organic map results is describing something Google says does not exist.
Can I offer customers a discount for a five star review?
No. The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule prohibits compensation or incentives conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment. Ask for reviews neutrally and identically from every customer, and check what any vendor sends in your name.