Google Ads, CRO and SEO for auto repair shops

Where it leaks. One campaign on “auto repair near me” pays the same for a brake job, a question about a noise and someone looking for a mechanic job. With collision, tires and mechanical work in one budget, spend drifts to whatever is cheapest to click, not to the work that fills your bays.

What we change. Separate campaigns for the jobs you want more of, such as brakes, diagnostics, transmission or collision, each sending people to a page about that job, with job-seeker and do-it-yourself parts searches excluded and bids set by what each job is worth to your shop.

Where it leaks. A home page that lists every service answers none of the questions a driver has after searching “brake repair”: how soon someone can look at the car, roughly what it will cost, and whether the quote will be fair.

What we change. One page per job with the next open time, a starting price only where you can honor it, how quotes and approvals work, and the shop’s warranty on parts and labor. An independent shop’s maintenance pages should also say that servicing a car there doesn’t void the factory warranty.

Where it leaks. Service advisors answer the phone between customers at the counter, so calls from ads ring out at the busiest hours, or a price question gets “we’d have to see it”, which ends the call without a booking.

What we change. Track every call from ads and the website with a recording, so you can hear which ones booked. Google Ads can judge call quality from recordings when both sides are in the US or Canada, instead of counting any call past a set length. A short script books an inspection time instead of quoting blind, and online booking takes the overflow.

Where it leaks. A new customer’s first visit is often a small job, such as an oil change, a battery or an inspection, and the shop’s real chance is the next repair. Without a reminder tied to mileage or the season, that brake job goes to whichever shop shows up first in the next search.

What we change. Text reminders tied to the service interval and the season, deferred work sent back as a written estimate with photos, and a review request by text after pickup rather than at the counter, since Google’s policy bars pressuring customers to review while they’re on the premises.

Where it leaks. Ad platforms count a call or a form. The repair order lives in the shop management system, so nobody can say whether the brake campaign paid for itself or just made the phone ring.

What we change. Match repair orders back to the calls and forms that came from ads, by phone number and email, and upload them to Google Ads as conversions with their invoice value. Google drops offline conversions uploaded more than 90 days after the click, so the upload runs every week.

Where it leaks. In the map results a shop competes on its Business Profile, and a profile with one generic category, a short list of services and reviews that stopped years ago gives a driver little reason to pick it.

What we change. Categories for each kind of work you do, every service listed, photos of the bays and the team, and reviews that mention the job and the car. Local Services Ads now have separate auto categories, such as brake shop, tire shop, oil change and auto body shop, so a shop can pay per lead for the work it wants.