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Digital marketing in San Francisco, California

One agency for your San Francisco website, SEO, ads and phones.

Hand Lithium the website, SEO, Google Ads and phone answering for your business in San Francisco, with a co-founder running the first call.

  • A single plan across four services
  • Each call traced to the channel
  • Targeting by neighborhood and trade

Google searches each month

What San Francisco searches for, by service

2,550

searches a month

  • Web design
    980
  • Digital marketing
    780
  • SEO
    740
  • PPC management
    50

Source: Google Ads keyword data, average monthly U.S. searches. "Under 10" = below Google’s reporting floor.

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2010Lithium Marketing, established in 2010
$10M+Over $10 million in Google ad spend managed

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

The short version

How one plan covers a San Francisco trade business

For a plumber, electrician, painter or landscaper in San Francisco, Lithium Marketing puts the website, SEO, Google Ads and phone answering under one plan and one call report. San Francisco’s density is about 17,695 people per square mile, so we start by choosing the neighborhoods you want to reach and carry that service area through your pages, ads and phone script.

Your marketing should make the same offer wherever someone finds you. If you want repair calls in the Sunset and project estimates in the Mission, the website explains those services, ads point to the matching pages and the receptionist asks the questions your crew needs before booking.

Who lives here

Old buildings, mostly renters: what that means for your plan

With 76.5% of San Francisco’s homes built before 1980, build pages and ads around repair, upgrade and replacement work on older buildings. The city has repeatedly upgraded its building codes, requiring retrofits for older buildings, so a contractor who does seismic work should give it its own service page and campaign.

Among San Francisco’s occupied homes, the owner-occupied share is 38.2%. If you take rental-property work, explain your services for landlords and property managers on the site and have the receptionist ask who can approve a repair.

residents (2025 estimate)
826,079
residents (2025 estimate)
population change, 2020 to 2025
-6%
population change, 2020 to 2025
housing units
414,602
housing units
of occupied homes owner-occupied
38.2%
of occupied homes owner-occupied
of homes built before 1980
76.5%
of homes built before 1980
median home value
$1,394,500
median home value

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 2025 population estimates, ACS 2020–2024 and 2023 County Business Patterns.

County trade counts

Project trades lead the county, repair trades lead the searches

The trade chart covers San Francisco County. Residential remodelers top it at 534, with 214 new home builders next. For those project businesses, we use finished-job galleries and pages explaining each project type to help an owner compare your work with other bids.

Electrical contractors outnumber plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors in San Francisco County, 176 to 162. Broad trade pages leave a lot unsaid: an electrician can explain panel upgrades, while a plumber can show the difference between drain cleaning and repiping. Start with the jobs you want more of and track which pages bring those calls.

County Business Patterns

Trade and home service businesses in San Francisco County

Establishments by industry, 2023

  • Residential remodelers
    534
  • New home builders
    214
  • Electrical contractors
    176
  • Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors
    162
  • Painting contractors
    133
  • Landscaping services
    79
  • Roofing contractors
    52
  • Glass and glazing contractors
    26

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 County Business Patterns (NAICS establishment counts).

Step by step

Four steps to a full San Francisco plan

Nothing gets bought until we can count where your calls come from today.

1

Count today’s calls by source

Tracking goes on your phone numbers, forms and Google Business Profile, so the first month shows which channel already brings work.

2

Choose the jobs and neighborhoods

You pick the services you want more of and the parts of the city you want them in, from the Richmond and the Sunset to Bernal Heights, and every channel aims there.

3

Fix the weakest link first

A slow or hard-to-use website gets rebuilt before ads send people to it; a sound one goes straight to SEO pages and Google Ads.

4

Answer and report

The AI receptionist picks up the calls the other three bring in, and one monthly report shows calls and leads by channel.

A full-plan result

One plan, three services: Town & Country Glass’s website, SEO and Google Ads

For Town & Country Glass, a Portland commercial glass company, Lithium built the website and managed SEO and Google Ads. The case study reports the results of that full program. Contractor Marc Rickabaugh of Rickabaugh Construction shares his experience with Lithium in the accompanying quote.

Town & Country Glass website homepage for commercial storefront glass in PortlandCommercial glass

Town & Country Glass

13Xorganic traffic

145 to 1,849 visits a month

top-3 rankings, up from 1
109
top-3 rankings, up from 1
Google Ads conversion rate
29.9%
Google Ads conversion rate
Read the case study
“We used the team at Lithium Marketing to update our website and increase our SEO. We couldn't have been happier with the results! We receive compliments about our updated website on a regular basis!”
Marc RickabaughMarc RickabaughRickabaugh Construction

Across the bridges

Marketing pages for nearby Bay Area cities

Daly City, Richmond, San Mateo, Berkeley, Oakland and Vallejo each have a marketing page below with their own housing, trade and search figures. Use them when your crews start taking jobs across the bridges or down the Peninsula; the Bay Area link covers the region, and the California link opens the full list of cities.

Pricing

San Francisco marketing prices, service by service

Lithium publishes a typical price for four of its five services, and AI automation is quoted after a free discovery call. Your proposal depends on scope, competition and ad spend.

Conversion web design

$5,000

typical project

Larger sites with more pages or integrations get a fixed proposal after a 30-minute discovery call. Six to nine weeks from kickoff to launch.

SEO

$1,300–$3,000

per month

Typical local SEO retainer, scoped against your revenue per lead.

Google Ads management

From $500

per month

Plus ad spend. Typical: $500–$1,500 a month in management, plus ad spend of $2,000–$5,000 a month.

AI receptionist

$179

per month

Fully managed. No contracts, cancel anytime. Live in days.

AI automation

Scoped

after discovery

Clear, upfront pricing after a free discovery call. Custom builds typically take 1–2 weeks.

Optional hosting and maintenance: $99/month. Secure private hosting on a dedicated high-speed server, daily backups, software and security updates, and basic website changes are all included. Most clients choose this option to keep their new website updated and running smoothly; it is not required.

Our usual service agreement starts with six months, then continues month to month with 30 days’ cancellation notice. Your written agreement sets the final terms. The AI receptionist has no contract.

  • You own your domain, hosting account and website
  • Six-month starting term
  • We guarantee the work, not a ranking
Get my free action plan

FAQ

What San Francisco owners want settled before signing

DJ Van Zanten

Still curious?

Call (503) 766-5964 or email [email protected].

If I can only afford one service right now, which comes first?

Pick the service that fixes the weakest point between a search and a booked job. If customers find you but calls ring out, the receptionist is the first fix. If your site loads slowly or hides the phone number, rebuilding it comes before any ad spend. If neither is the problem, SEO or Google Ads brings in more searchers. A co-founder makes that call with you after looking at your current numbers.

Can Lithium run one service while another vendor keeps the rest?

That works. Each service stands on its own, so Lithium can run your SEO while your current designer keeps the site, or take over Google Ads and leave everything else alone. We add call tracking to whatever we run, so our part is counted in calls and leads.

How will we work together from San Francisco?

Your strategy calls happen by video with a co-founder. Lithium is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with a team in Portland, Bend and Seattle, working with every client by video. Allison McKenney, your account manager, handles everyday questions by phone and email.

Is San Francisco too pricey a market for a small trade business to advertise in?

That depends on the trade more than the city. Some trade clicks here run high and others cost little, as the table above shows. A business that answers every call and tracks every lead soon learns what a lead costs in its trade, and where clicks cost more than your jobs can carry, SEO and the Map Pack take on more of the work.

What are the contract terms for a San Francisco plan?

Most services begin with a six-month agreement, followed by monthly renewals with 30 days’ notice to stop. The AI receptionist is the exception, with no contract and no setup fee, so you can start it on its own and keep it only as long as it earns its place.

Free action plan

Map out your San Francisco marketing with a co-founder, free

Tell us which jobs you want more of and where in the city you want them, and include your site. A co-founder will look at your calls, listings and site, then lay out the first move 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

Get my free action plan

Tell us a little about your business. Response within 24 hours.

  • 100% free, no obligation
  • Custom plan for your business
  • Response within 24 hours
Call now Free action plan