110+ plain-English definitions of every Google LSA, Google Ads, GBP, and contractor marketing term you'll run into. Searchable, jump-linkable, contractor-specific.
Google's score determining whether your ad shows and what position. Calculated from your bid, expected click-through rate, ad relevance, landing page experience, and the context of the search. A high bid alone does not guarantee a top position; ad quality matters as much as the dollar amount.
The dollar amount you pay Google (or Meta, Yelp, etc.) directly for ads. Separate from agency management fees. On LSA you pay per lead; on Google Ads you pay per click. Ad spend goes to the platform, not the agency.
Optimizing content so AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overviews) cite your business when users ask service-related questions. Related to but distinct from SEO. AEO weight comes from structured data, brand mentions, review diversity, and content depth.
See the AI Visibility scoring framework →Google's generative answer summary that appears above traditional search results on certain queries. Triggers more often on informational queries (39%) than local commercial ones (4-8%). Brands cited inside an AI Overview earn ~35% more organic clicks than identical competitors that are not cited.
The clickable text of a hyperlink. For SEO, branded anchor text ("Blue Grid Media") and descriptive anchor text ("contractor marketing data") perform better long-term than exact-match keyword anchors ("best Google Ads agency"), which Google can flag as manipulative.
Lists of customer types, demographics, or behaviors you give Google as hints for Performance Max or Smart Bidding campaigns. Signals are suggestions, not strict targeting. The algorithm uses them as a seed to find similar buyers.
The real-time process Google runs every time someone searches. Eligible advertisers compete based on bid and Ad Rank to determine who shows and in what position. Auctions happen billions of times daily and the price per click or per lead is determined fresh each time.
Bidding strategies where Google sets bids automatically based on conversion data, signals, and your target CPA or ROAS. Includes Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, and Maximize Conversion Value. Requires healthy conversion tracking to work properly.
Part of Google's verification process for LSA advertisers. Owners and (in some categories) field staff must pass a background check before the Google Verified badge is granted. Required for trades like locksmiths, plumbers, and electricians. Coordinated by a third-party service.
How to get Google Verified →The maximum amount you are willing to pay per click (Google Ads) or per lead (LSA). The actual amount charged is usually lower than your max bid because of how the auction calculates discounts based on competitor bids and your Ad Rank.
The highest amount you will pay for a single click in Google Ads. Used in manual or enhanced CPC bidding. Auto-bidding strategies generally ignore bid caps unless specifically configured.
The method Google uses to set your bids. Options include Manual CPC, Enhanced CPC, Maximize Clicks, Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, and Maximize Conversion Value. LSA has its own bid modes: Maximum Bid per Lead and Maximize Leads.
A lead that converted into a scheduled paying job. The metric that actually matters for contractors. Two contractors with identical CPLs can have very different cost-per-booked-job numbers because booking rate varies by lead source, response speed, and team training.
Cost per booked job by channel →The percentage of leads that turn into booked jobs. LSA leads typically book at 35-55%, Google Ads leads at 25-40%, Meta Ads at 8-20%, aggregator leads (Angi, Thumbtack) at 15-25%. The silent multiplier on cost economics.
Queries that include your business name (or close variations of it). Branded search volume is the strongest single predictor of AI citation rate (correlation r=0.334 per DigitalBloom's 75K-brand study). Growing branded search is the highest-leverage long-term AEO investment.
The most flexible keyword match type. Your ad can show for searches related to your keyword in any order, including synonyms and rewrites. Broad match without strong negatives is the #1 source of wasted spend in contractor Google Ads accounts.
How Google spreads your daily budget through the day. By default Google can spend up to 2x your daily budget on high-traffic days, balanced by under-spending on slower days. Monthly total stays at your set rate.
Software (CallRail, WhatConverts, CallSource) that assigns dynamic phone numbers to ad sources so you can tell which campaign, keyword, or ad drove which phone call. Essential for measuring real ROI on contractor accounts.
Popular call tracking platform. Provides dynamic number insertion, call recording, lead scoring, GA4 integration, and CRM revenue attribution. Common in contractor marketing stacks.
The top-level container in Google Ads. Each campaign has its own budget, bid strategy, targeting, and ad groups. A contractor account might split campaigns by service type (emergency vs install), location, or seasonal trade (HVAC summer vs winter).
When two of your own ad surfaces compete against each other for the same lead, driving up costs without adding leads. Common between LSA and Google Search Ads when both bid on the same query. Fixable with coordinated bidding rather than ignoring the overlap.
Why LSA and Google Ads cannibalize each other →The classification you choose for your business in Google Business Profile and LSA. Primary category drives ranking eligibility for relevant queries. The #1 GBP mistake per BrightLocal surveys is choosing the wrong primary category.
Invalid clicks on your ads from bots, competitors, or click farms. Google filters most automatically and credits invalid clicks back. Persistent issues can be reported via the Google Ads invalid traffic form.
A mobile ad extension or button that triggers a phone call when tapped. Conversion gold for emergency-intent contractor queries where the searcher is ready to talk now.
A measurable action you count as a win. For contractors, the right conversion is usually a booked job or qualified phone call, not just a form fill or click. Misconfigured conversions are the most common reason a Google Ads account looks healthy on paper while producing no booked work.
The percentage of clicks (or impressions, depending on context) that turn into conversions. For Google Ads contractor accounts, healthy CVR sits at 8-15%. Below 5% usually signals weak landing page or wrong-intent traffic.
The system that tells Google when a conversion happened. Built via GA4, the Google Ads tag, call tracking integration, and (ideally) CRM revenue feedback. Broken or partial tracking is the foundation problem in roughly 80% of contractor accounts we audit.
Total spend divided by total conversions. For contractors, "acquisition" should mean booked job, not just lead. Cost-per-booked-job CPA is the metric that beats CPL for making real budget decisions.
The amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Average CPC ranges by trade: pest control $3-$10, HVAC $8-$25, plumbing $5-$25, roofing $12-$40, water damage $50-$150+.
Google Ads cost data by trade →What you pay to get a lead (call or form fill), before booking rate is considered. Common across paid channels: LSA $25-$80, Google Ads $30-$300+, Meta $41-$117, Yelp $50-$180, Angi/Thumbtack effective $80-$250 after lead-sharing. Use as a directional metric only; cost-per-booked-job is the real target.
CPL by channel for contractors →What you pay per 1,000 ad impressions. Common on Meta and display campaigns. Less relevant for direct-response contractor advertising where leads and bookings matter more than view counts.
Improving the rate at which visitors take a desired action. For contractors that usually means making landing pages faster, shortening forms, surfacing the phone number, or sharpening the hero message.
Clicks divided by impressions. Healthy contractor Google Ads CTR ranges 5-15% depending on trade and intent. Low CTR usually means ad copy mismatch with the query or weak ad position.
An audience you upload (customer email list, CRM export) or define by behavior (visited landing page, watched 75% of video). Powers retargeting on Meta and custom segments inside Google Ads.
Schema.org property marking when a web page was last meaningfully updated. AI engines (especially Perplexity) preferentially cite content with fresh dateModified values. Stale dateModified is a citation killer; refreshing without real content changes can also be flagged.
The process of asking Google to credit you for an LSA lead that should not have been charged (spam, wrong service, hung up, out-of-area). Typical recovery rates run 40-65% across trades. Files must be submitted within the 30-day dispute window.
Why LSA leads get disputed →Google's network of 2M+ third-party websites and apps that show banner, video, and responsive ads. Generally weaker for contractor lead gen than Search or LSA, but useful for brand awareness and retargeting.
Call tracking technology that swaps the phone number visible on your website based on the visitor's traffic source. Lets you attribute calls back to the exact ad, keyword, or campaign that drove them.
Google's quality framework: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Surfaces include author bios, displayed licenses (state contractor license, NATE, IICRC), insurance proof, association memberships, and consistent NAP across the web. Strong E-E-A-T compounds with both SEO and AI citation.
Search queries signaling immediate need: "emergency plumber", "24-hour HVAC", "water leak now". Conversion-heavy but expensive. Best run in their own campaign with elevated bids during peak hours.
Google Ads feature that sends hashed first-party customer data (email, phone) back to Google to improve conversion measurement, especially as third-party cookies decline. Significantly improves Smart Bidding accuracy when set up correctly.
Keyword match type that triggers ads only on searches with the same meaning or intent as your keyword. The tightest match type; lower volume but higher relevance. Useful for protecting branded queries and high-intent service queries.
Schema.org markup that lets Google identify FAQ content on a page. Can earn expandable FAQ rich results in the SERP. AI Overviews and AEO surfaces also pull from FAQPage-marked content for direct-answer extraction.
The boxed answer at the top of some SERPs, pulled from a ranked page. Position "zero." Less common since AI Overviews launched but still appears on certain query types. Earned via clean answer formatting and Quality Score on the source page.
Google's current analytics platform (replaced Universal Analytics in July 2023). Event-based model. Integrates with Google Ads for conversion measurement. Setup is more involved than UA, so most contractor accounts have GA4 only partially configured.
Your free business listing on Google. Powers Google Maps, the local pack, and (heavily) LSA ranking. GBP health includes categories, services, hours, photos, posts, Q&A, reviews, and attributes. The single highest-ROI marketing surface for any contractor.
GBP optimization for contractors →Sub-discipline of AEO focused specifically on getting cited by LLM-powered search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini). The seminal Princeton paper (Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024) formalized GEO methods like adding citations, statistics, and quotations to content.
Restricting ad delivery to specific zip codes, cities, or radii. Contractor accounts often default to "people in or interested in" the area, which pulls in irrelevant traffic. Tighter "presence" targeting usually performs better.
Google's pay-per-click ad platform. Includes Search, Display, Video, Shopping, and Performance Max campaigns. The biggest single paid channel for contractors after LSA, with broader format flexibility but higher CPL.
Google Ads agency for contractors →The badge contractors earn after passing Google's license, insurance, and background verification. Required to run LSA. Rebranded from "Google Guaranteed" to "Google Verified" in October 2025. The badge also lets Google guarantee qualified leads up to a per-trade cap.
How to get Google Verified →Schema.org markup for step-by-step content. Can earn a step carousel rich result in SERPs. Useful for service-page timelines (e.g., "the 30-day onboarding process") and contractor how-to content.
One view of your ad in a search result, on a website, or in a feed. Doesn't require a click. Used in CPM-based campaigns and as a denominator in CTR calculations.
The percentage of available auctions your ad showed in, relative to total eligible. Lost impression share by budget = you're capped by spend. Lost share by rank = your Ad Rank is too low. Two different problems with two different fixes.
What the searcher actually wants. Roughly: informational ("how does LSA work"), commercial ("best HVAC agency"), transactional ("emergency plumber near me"), navigational ("Blue Grid Media"). Different intents trigger different SERP layouts and AI Overview rates.
Specific services you check inside your LSA profile (e.g., "emergency plumbing", "drain cleaning", "tankless installation"). Determines which queries you're eligible for. Disabling low-quality job types is one of the fastest ways to improve LSA lead quality.
A word or phrase you target in Google Ads. Keywords trigger ads based on match types (Broad, Phrase, Exact). Not applicable to LSA, which uses categories and job types instead of keyword bidding.
Google's structured database of entities (people, businesses, places, concepts) and the relationships between them. Powers the Knowledge Panel in SERPs. Strong Knowledge Graph binding (via Wikidata, sameAs schema, NAP consistency) helps both SEO and AI citation.
The page a visitor arrives on after clicking your ad. Quality, speed, mobile-friendliness, and message match to the ad affect Quality Score and conversion rate. Generic homepage landing pages routinely cut contractor conversion rates by 30-50% versus dedicated landing pages.
A potential customer who took an action you defined (phone call, form fill, chat). On LSA, a lead is a charged contact event (phone call or message). On Google Ads, a lead is usually a tracked phone call or form submission. Lead is not the same as booked job.
Ad format that lets users fill out a form directly in the ad without leaving Google or Meta. Lower friction than landing page conversions but typically lower lead quality. Best for top-of-funnel info offers, not high-ticket booked jobs.
The three GBP listings Google shows with a map on local search queries. Driven by proximity, GBP relevance, and prominence (reviews, photos, posts, NAP signals). Different from LSA, which appears above the local pack on eligible queries.
Schema.org type used to mark up a business's NAP, hours, services, and reviews. Trade-specific subtypes exist (HVACBusiness, Plumber, RoofingContractor, ElectricalContractor). Strong sameAs arrays inside LocalBusiness schema improve Knowledge Graph binding.
Google's pay-per-lead ad product for local service businesses. Displays above traditional Search Ads on relevant queries. You pay only when a customer calls or messages, not per click. Requires Google Verified status (license, insurance, background check) before going live.
The complete LSA guide →Total revenue a customer generates over the lifetime of the relationship. For contractors, recurring-service customers (pest control plans, HVAC maintenance plans) often have 5-10x the LTV of one-time service customers. Bid strategy should reflect LTV, not just first-job ticket size.
An agency-level Google Ads container that can manage multiple client accounts. Agencies request "manager link" access to a client account, which lets the agency manage ads without seeing the client's billing or owning the account. The right access model: clients should always own their account.
How tightly a keyword has to match a search to trigger your ad. Broad (loosest, most volume), Phrase (medium), Exact (tightest). Default is Broad as of 2024. Choosing match types deliberately matters more than ever.
A text-message lead from LSA instead of a phone call. Lower CPL than phone leads but typically lower booking rate and intent. Best left on for trades where text-first behavior is common (handyman, house cleaning); often turned off for emergency trades.
The trio of business identity signals Google uses to confirm an entity. NAP must be consistent across GBP, website, directory listings, and citations. Inconsistent NAP is a top reason for local ranking decay.
A keyword that prevents your ad from showing. "Free", "DIY", "jobs", and "hiring" should be negatives for almost every contractor account. A robust trade-specific negative keyword library typically saves 25-40% of monthly spend.
Search results that are not paid ads. Earned through SEO, content quality, backlinks, and technical signals. For contractors, organic typically takes 6-12 months to produce meaningful lead flow but produces the lowest CPL of any channel once mature ($15-$40).
When Google spends up to 2x your daily budget on high-traffic days, balanced by under-spending on slow days. Monthly total stays at the set rate but daily numbers vary widely. Normal behavior, not an error.
Google's automated cross-surface campaign type (Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Maps, Gmail). Black-box optimization. Works well on mature accounts with strong conversion data; pays Google to learn at your expense on new accounts.
A lead from LSA delivered as an inbound phone call. Higher quality and higher CPL than message leads. The dominant lead type for emergency trades (plumbing, HVAC, water damage).
Keyword match type that triggers ads on searches containing the meaning of your keyword. Tighter than Broad, looser than Exact. Often the right default match type for contractor service keywords.
Where exactly an ad showed (which website on Display, which YouTube video, which app, which top-of-page position). Placement reports reveal whether your spend is going to junky placements you can exclude.
Google suspending your GBP or LSA listing, usually for guideline violations (wrong category, suspected fake reviews, NAP inconsistency, multiple listings). Reinstatement requires submitting corrected documentation. Locksmiths, garage door, and water damage businesses face highest suspension rates.
Google's 1-10 rating of each keyword in Google Ads, based on expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Higher Quality Score lowers your CPC and improves Ad Rank. Most contractor accounts have keyword QS averaging 4-6; getting to 7+ cuts CPCs significantly.
The rate at which new Google reviews come in. Recency matters more than total count for both GBP ranking and LSA ranking. 50 fresh reviews routinely beats 300 stale ones. Healthy contractor accounts maintain 5-15 new reviews per month.
LSA review strategy →The process of restoring a suspended GBP or LSA listing. Requires appealing through Google's form with corrected documentation. Median reinstatement time is 7-14 days for clean cases, 4-6 weeks for complex ones.
Google Ads format where you provide up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions; Google tests combinations and serves the best-performing ones. The default ad format since 2022.
Showing ads to people who already visited your site or interacted with your brand. Higher CTR and CVR than cold prospecting. Useful for big-ticket considered purchases (roofing, HVAC system replacement) but limited for emergency-intent trades.
Revenue divided by ad spend. ROAS of 5x means every $1 of ad spend produced $5 in revenue. For contractors with healthy CRM revenue feedback into Google Ads, Target ROAS bidding is one of the most powerful automated strategies.
A Schema.org property used to link a business entity to its profiles elsewhere on the web (LinkedIn, Facebook, Wikidata, BBB, GBP, association directories). Strong sameAs arrays improve Knowledge Graph binding and Google's confidence that the entity is real.
JSON-LD code added to web pages that helps Google understand entities, services, articles, and FAQs. Powers rich results in SERPs (FAQ accordions, HowTo carousels, review stars) and improves AI Overview citation eligibility.
The classic text ads that appear above and below organic search results. Highest direct-response performance of any Google Ads format for contractors. Best for high-intent commercial and emergency queries.
Your impressions on the Search Network divided by total estimated eligible impressions. Tells you whether you're capturing your full available auction volume or being held back by budget, bid, or quality.
The actual words a user typed into Google. Different from your keyword (which is what you bid on). Reviewing search term reports weekly is one of the most overlooked but highest-leverage contractor Google Ads optimizations.
The page Google returns after a search. Modern contractor SERPs include AI Overviews, LSA, Google Ads, local pack, Knowledge Panel, "people also ask," organic results, and ads at the bottom. Different elements trigger on different query types.
The geographic zone you serve, set inside LSA and GBP. Too broad pulls leads from zips with poor close rates; too narrow misses volume. The right radius is data-driven: tune by lead-quality reporting after enough lead history accumulates.
A Google Business Profile setting for businesses that travel to customers rather than welcoming customers at a storefront. Most contractors are SABs. Allows the business to be eligible in a service area without exposing the home address publicly.
Schema.org property identifying sections of content suitable for text-to-speech and AI Overview citation. Best applied to headlines, summary paragraphs, and FAQ answers. One of the levers for AEO eligibility.
How fast you respond to a lead after it comes in. LSA leads decay rapidly; responses inside 2 hours close at materially higher rates. The "5-minute rule" is widely cited but rarely measured at the contractor level. Speed-to-lead is the biggest lever most contractors leave un-pulled.
Smart Bidding strategy where you set the cost-per-acquisition you're willing to pay, and Google adjusts bids to hit that target. Requires solid conversion volume and tracking accuracy. Often the right starter automated strategy for contractor accounts.
Smart Bidding strategy where you set the return-on-ad-spend target (e.g., 4x) and Google bids toward that. Requires CRM revenue feedback into Google Ads. The most powerful Google Ads bid strategy when prerequisites are met.
Modern CSS properties that improve line breaks in headings (balance) and paragraphs (pretty). Avoid orphan words and improve typographic rhythm. Small but visible quality-of-life upgrade for service pages.
Content created by users rather than the brand: Reddit threads, Quora answers, forum posts, social comments, customer reviews. Heavily weighted by AI search engines, especially Perplexity. Reddit is the single most-cited domain across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews combined.
A lead that never had a chance of becoming a paying job (wrong service requested, geography too far, can't pay, calling for a friend, etc). On LSA, unbookable leads are typically disputable. Roughly 15-25% of LSA leads across trades fall into this bucket.
URL tags (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term) that pass attribution data into analytics. Essential for measuring which specific ads, emails, or social posts drove which leads. Without UTMs, GA4 reports look messy and attribution breaks.
Google's process for confirming a business is real, licensed, and insured before granting Google Verified status (required for LSA). Includes license check, insurance proof, and background check for owners and field staff in some trades.
Call tracking and lead-management platform. Direct competitor to CallRail. Strengths include lead qualification workflows and PPC-attribution integrations. Often used by contractor agencies that want lead-value tagging beyond simple call tracking.
The structured-data project that feeds Google's Knowledge Graph more directly than Wikipedia. For local businesses, a Wikidata Q-item is achievable (lower notability bar than Wikipedia) and meaningfully improves entity recognition by Google and AI engines.
Yelp's CPC-based ad product for local businesses. Effective CPL typically runs $50-$180 for contractors, with quality varying heavily by market (strong in some West Coast and Northeast metros, weak in most Sun Belt suburbs). January 2026's Hatch acquisition signaled renewed AI/lead-gen investment.
LSA vs Yelp Ads →Book a free 30-minute audit. We will use the same terms above to walk through what's working in your LSA or Google Ads account and what's leaking budget.
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