Garden centerDrake’s 7 Dees
380%more organic traffic
in one year
- Google Ads conversion rate
- 26.4%
- Google Ads conversion rate
- leads in 60 days
- 744
- leads in 60 days
Google Ads and PPC in Chicago
A PPC agency for Chicago businesses that counts every call.
Google Ads campaigns for Chicago service businesses that bid hardest on the searches your call tracking shows are booking jobs.
- Call tracking from the first click
- Separate ads for each kind of job
- Wasted search terms cut weekly
Google PartnerView our Partners listing
5.0on Google · read our reviews
2010Lithium Marketing, established in 2010
$10M+Over $10 million in Google ad spend managed
Businesses
we’ve worked with
Businesses we’ve worked with
- Willard Power Vac
- Sarkinen Plumbing
- Robinson Restoration
- Town & Country Glass
- Dixie Glass
- Byers Septic Service
- F&W Fence Co.
- Drake’s 7 Dees
- Rickabaugh Construction
- Hillsview Building
- Dozer Dave
- Mt. Hood Pro Painting
- On-Target Landscape
- Atiyeh Bros Carpet
- Lovett
- Westmore Construction
- Northwest New Homes
- Porter Sealcoating & Paving
- RescueHero Restoration
- Panda Plumbing
- Biermann Plumbing & Heating
- Ballistic Junk Removal
- Smart Doors LLC
- Peak Performance Roofing
- Deluxe Heating & Cooling
- Lifetime Exteriors
- Bruce Johnson Construction
- Madrone Painting
- Smart Tree Service
- Premier Gutter Cover
- NW Pacific Electric
- Universal HVAC
- Lenny Martin Painting
- Next Level Decks & Exteriors
- Prodan Construction
- Smooth Rollin’ Sealcoating and Paving
- Lovett Restoration
- Greenlight Titles
- G.W. Hartley IV
- Advanced Coatings
- Thomson Equipment
- MyADU
Where the money goes
Where a Chicago Google Ads budget earns its keep
Lithium Marketing builds and manages Google Ads accounts for Chicago contractors and home service companies, with every dollar judged by the calls and booked work it brings back. At $29.60 for an average click on “pest control chicago” and $27.52 on “plumber chicago”, every call needs to be traced to the keyword that paid for it, so call tracking goes in before any bid goes up.
Weather is the other reason to plan ahead. The region is prone to severe thunderstorms during the spring and summer, which can produce large hail and damaging winds. If hail and wind bring a rush of roofing or water damage calls, we load more budget into those months and pull back when the calls thin out, checking the pattern against your own call records.
Chicago click costs
What a Chicago click costs, trade by trade
Landscaping sits at the low end, at $7.79 an average click for “landscaping chicago”, which lets a landscaper start small and learn what converts before spending more. A roofing click is pricier, about $19.33 on “roofing company chicago”, and it deserves a landing page with recent Chicago roofs and the phone number at the top.
Our check of “plumber chicago” found one Google ad on the page. That count moves with the hour and with each advertiser’s budget, so plan your ads and your Google Business Profile to work the same jobs, since either one can win you the call.
| Search | Searches a month | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| ppc agency chicago | 90 | not reported |
| ppc management chicago | 20 | not reported |
| google ads agency chicago | under 10 | not reported |
Source: Google Ads keyword data, average monthly U.S. searches. "Under 10" = below Google’s reporting floor.
| Search | Searches a month | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| pest control chicago | 2,400 | $29.60 |
| plumber chicago | 5,400 | $27.52 |
| water damage restoration chicago | 480 | $22.39 |
| garage door repair chicago | 2,400 | $19.37 |
| roofing company chicago | 1,900 | $19.33 |
| hvac repair chicago | 480 | $17.34 |
| electrician chicago | 1,900 | $13.77 |
| landscaping chicago | 2,400 | $7.79 |
Source: Google Ads keyword data, average monthly U.S. searches. "Under 10" = below Google’s reporting floor.
- Map Pack
- The first thing on the page
- Search ads
- 1 recorded
- Local listing reviews
- 290 to 2,700 Google reviews each
- Directories in the top 10
- Better Business Bureau, Yelp
- AI Overview
- Not shown
- People also ask
- Shown
Source: one Google results page for “plumber chicago”, as Google showed it to a searcher located in Chicago. Search ad counts exclude sponsored local listings. Results shift by searcher and day.
Chicago seasons
Timing Chicago ad spend to the seasons
Chicago has four distinct seasons, and if your work happens outdoors, your calls may track them. Measurable snowfall can continue through the first or second week of April, so we ramp landscaping and exterior painting campaigns with the weather and your call volume, not the date on the calendar.
Summers are hot and humid, with frequent heat waves, and temperatures reach at least 90 °F on 17 days in a normal summer. If AC repair calls jump during those stretches, the budget behind “hvac repair chicago” should be able to jump with them, then settle once the heat breaks.
- residents (2025 estimate)
- 2,731,585
- residents (2025 estimate)
- population change, 2020 to 2025
- -0.6%
- population change, 2020 to 2025
- housing units
- 1,277,054
- housing units
- of occupied homes owner-occupied
- 46%
- of occupied homes owner-occupied
- of homes built before 1980
- 75.2%
- of homes built before 1980
- median home value
- $334,100
- median home value
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 2025 population estimates, ACS 2020–2024 and 2023 County Business Patterns.
Bidding by trade
How hard to bid in your Chicago trade
Cook County has 1,007 electrical contractors, and an average click on “electrician chicago” costs $13.77, one of the lower prices in the table. That leaves an electrician room to split campaigns by job, such as panel upgrades, rewiring and EV chargers, and see which brings the best calls.
Pest control companies are a smaller group, with 108 in the county, but their clicks top the table. A pest control business should spend on the treatments with the best margins and send each ad to a page about that pest, so the expensive clicks have the best chance of turning into calls.
County Business Patterns
Trade and home service businesses in Cook County
Establishments by industry, 2023
- Residential remodelers2,888
- Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors1,377
- Landscaping services1,241
- Electrical contractors1,007
- New home builders565
- Painting contractors539
- Roofing contractors354
- Excavation and site preparation contractors167
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 County Business Patterns (NAICS establishment counts).
The first 30 days
From audit to daily tuning: your Chicago account
Nothing gets more budget until the tracking shows it produces calls.
1
Review the current account
Existing campaigns get a line-by-line review: keywords with a record of calls stay, and search terms that never convert go on a negative list.
2
Trace every lead to a keyword
We set up GA4, call tracking and CRM conversion imports so a booked job can be followed back to the search that started it.
3
Match each ad to a landing page
A furnace repair search lands on a furnace repair page and a roof leak search on a roof page, each with the phone number up top.
4
Adjust bids as calls come in
Bid and search-term changes happen every day for the first 30 days; after that the account gets a weekly review as call data piles up.
What every Google Ads account includes
The same eight parts go into every Google Ads account, wherever the business is.
- Conversion tracking, properly wired
- Landing pages per intent
- Match types and negatives
- Responsive search ads
- Geo and audience targeting
- Bid management
- Remarketing
- Looker Studio reporting
Ads in practice
What Google Ads, SEO and a new website did for Drake’s 7 Dees
Google Ads was one of three jobs Lithium did for Drake’s 7 Dees, a garden center, next to its SEO and a new website, so read the card as the result of all three. Kevin Atiyeh’s quote, from the carpet and rug company Atiyeh Bros, is about Lithium learning his business and applying it to his digital marketing.
Garden center“Lithium Marketing has done a good job with understanding our Company and what we specialize in and applying that to our digital marketing.”
Kevin AtiyehAtiyeh Bros CarpetTargeting nearby cities
Google Ads targeting the cities near Chicago
Geo-targeting lets one account reach Naperville, Aurora, Joliet and Elgin, plus Kenosha and Racine in Wisconsin, at different bids. Before adding a city, open its page below to see what searches there look like; the last link opens our full list of Illinois cities.
Published price
PPC fees for a Chicago business
From $500
per month in management
Management is separate from your ad spend. Typical: $500–$1,500 a month in management on $2,000–$5,000 a month in ad spend. No haggling, no hidden upsells.
FAQ
Chicago Google Ads questions, answered
Still curious?
Call (503) 766-5964 or email [email protected].
What does a typical Chicago Google Ads budget look like?
A typical account spends $2,000 to $5,000 a month on ads, and our management fee, from $500 a month, comes on top of that ad spend. Where you land depends on your trade’s click cost and how many jobs you want; pest control and plumbing clicks cost far more here than landscaping does.
Is PPC faster than SEO?
Usually, yes. Initial results typically show within the first week the campaigns run, while SEO rankings take months to build. A common setup pairs ads for the jobs you need booked now with SEO for the calls you want coming in over the long term.
Can you run ads for only part of Chicago?
Yes. Campaigns can target specific ZIP codes or a radius around your shop, and bids can differ by area. If your crews only work the North Side, for example, the ads can skip the rest of the city and put that budget where you want the work.
Do you advertise on Facebook and Instagram too?
Yes, when it fits. Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram and Microsoft Ads are both part of what Lithium manages. For most trades we open on Google, since people there are already searching for the job, then test a second platform once the Google account is producing tracked calls and the budget allows.
Why is the management fee separate from ad spend?
Because Google and Lithium do different jobs. Google runs the ad auction and charges your ad spend click by click; Lithium runs the account, and the management fee covers that work. Your fee moves with ad spend, with each extra channel and with any landing pages we build, and both numbers are in writing before a campaign goes live. No haggling, no hidden upsells.
Free action plan
Find out what a Chicago call should cost you in a free Google Ads audit
If you run ads now, share access to the account; if not, tell us the jobs you want and where. Then a co-founder goes through keywords, click costs and a starting budget for your trade on a short video call.
What we’ll cover
- What’s working (and what isn’t) in your current marketing
- Site and funnel gaps that are costing you leads
- Local SEO and paid traffic opportunities
- Simple tracking and KPIs to measure success
(503) 766-5964
[email protected]
2000 NE 42nd Ave Ste D Unit 2370, Portland, OR 97213
Prefer to pick a time? Book a 30-minute call with DJ