Playbook · HVAC · Paid advertising
The complete guide to HVAC Google and Meta ads
How an HVAC company runs ads that catch the no-cool and no-heat calls when the weather breaks, ease off when the board is full, and keep replacement and tune-up campaigns funded the rest of the year. For owners running their own account or checking an agency’s work.
The short version
How should an HVAC company run Google and Meta ads?
Keep emergency repair, system replacement and tune-up or agreement searches in separate campaigns, each with its own budget, ads and landing page. Repair budgets should follow the forecast and your open slots, rising ahead of a heat wave or cold snap and dropping when techs are booked out. Replacement campaigns run steadier, because those buyers compare quotes and ask about financing over weeks. Judge each campaign by booked jobs and systems sold. Meta won’t catch breakdowns, but it works for planned work: tune-up and maintenance agreement offers, and staying in front of homeowners comparing replacement quotes. The median Google lead for AC install and repair costs about $128 (LocaliQ, 2025), whether it turns out to be a thermostat question or a full replacement.
The search terms report
Where HVAC ad budgets get wasted
Every month we read the actual searches your ads showed up for. In HVAC, the wasted spend is predictable: DIYers, parts shoppers, job seekers and people outside your service area.
Cut: never going to book
| Search term | Why it’s cut |
|---|---|
| Job seeker | |
| DIY | |
| Parts shopper | |
| Wants free | |
| Outside your area |
Keep: searches that book
- “ac repair near me”Ready to book
- “new ac unit cost [city]”Replacement buyer
- “furnace tune-up [suburb]”Shoulder-season job
Example search terms. Yours come from your account.
Step by step
The playbook
-
01
Price a no-cool call, a replacement and an agreement
These are worth very different amounts to you, and an agreement keeps paying every spring and fall. Know each one before you decide what a click is worth.
- Pull average ticket and close rate for repairs and replacements from your CRM
- Estimate what an agreement customer brings in over the years they stay
- Write down the most you’d pay for a repair and for a replacement
-
02
Build separate campaigns for emergency, replacement and tune-ups
The emergency searcher wants a truck today. The replacement shopper is collecting quotes. Share one campaign and the cheaper, faster repair clicks take the money.
- Emergency repair campaign with AC, furnace and heat pump ad groups
- Replacement campaign for new system, heat pump and ductless searches
- Tune-up and agreement campaign that runs in spring and fall
-
03
Land each click on a page built for it
A homeowner sweating at 9 p.m. needs a call button and proof you come to their neighborhood. A replacement shopper needs financing, brands and photos of systems you’ve installed.
- Repair page: one-tap calling, service area and how soon you can come
- Replacement page: financing, warranties, good, better, best options and real installs
- Tune-up page: what the visit checks and what the agreement includes
-
04
Turn repair budgets up and down with the forecast
Repair searches jump with the first heat wave and the first freeze. Watch the extended forecast and set repair budgets before the spike hits.
- Raise repair budgets a few days ahead of forecast heat or cold
- Keep heat-wave and cold-snap ads written and paused, ready to switch on
- Lower repair bids in mild weeks and let tune-ups use the money
-
05
Cut back the ads when the board is full
When every tech is booked into next week, repair clicks buy calls you can’t run, and a homeowner with no cooling won’t wait. Cut repair spend until slots open.
- Check tomorrow’s open slots each afternoon during peak season
- Pause emergency ads or drop their budgets when you’re booked out
- Keep replacement ads running, since those appointments can be set later in the week
-
06
Cut the searches that never become a job
HVAC search terms fill up with DIY recharge questions, parts shoppers, tech school applicants and free-unit seekers. Read the search terms report weekly in peak season and monthly the rest of the year.
- Add negative keywords for recharge, parts, manuals, school and jobs
- Block thermostat brand support searches
- Block towns past the distance your techs will drive
-
07
Use Meta for tune-ups, agreements and quote shoppers
Nobody with a dead furnace opens Facebook to find help. Meta earns its keep with planned work: spring and fall tune-up and maintenance agreement offers, and staying in front of homeowners comparing replacement quotes.
- Run tune-up offers to homeowners in your area as each shoulder season starts
- Show financing and install photos to people who viewed your replacement page
- Leave agreement renewals to your CRM’s reminders, so ad budget goes to new customers
-
08
Track every ad to the booked job, test, then improve
Both ad platforms learn from whatever you count as a win. Count form fills and they find more form fills. Send back repairs, replacements and new agreements, then change one thing at a time so you know what moved the number.
- Count repairs, replacements and new agreements as your main conversions, and track calls and forms on the way there
- Capture the click ID (gclid), the code that ties a lead to the exact ad, on every form and online booking, and send booked jobs with the invoice or contract amount back to Google Ads and Meta as they’re booked
- Judge every keyword and campaign by cost per booked job, giving replacement keywords the weeks those buyers take
- Test one change at a time, like the ad, the landing page, the tune-up offer or the bid, and keep what books more
Free PDF
Get the full HVAC playbook as a PDF
All three guides, every checklist and the marketing calendar in one file you can print or hand to your office manager.
- Local SEO, ads and website, step by step
- Printable checklists
- A month-by-month marketing calendar
Tick it off as you go
HVAC ads checklist
0 of 12 done
Your ticks save in this browser, so you can come back to it.
What not to do
Common mistakes
Spending through a full board
Ads that keep running when techs are booked out buy calls you can’t answer in time, and the homeowner books whoever can come today.
Reacting to the heat wave after it starts
Writing ads and raising budgets once the phones are already busy means missing the first days of the spike, when homeowners call the first name they see.
Letting repair clicks starve replacements
In a shared campaign, cheap emergency clicks win the budget, and the system sales that pay for the year barely get shown.
Counting a thermostat question as a lead
A how-to call and a full system replacement show up as the same lead. Only booked jobs and systems sold show what a campaign earned.
Your monthly report
How to measure HVAC ads
If it doesn’t tie back to a booked job, it’s a leading indicator at best. Track these every month.
- Cost per booked job, repairsRepair campaign spend divided by the repairs that booked
- Cost per booked job, replacementsReplacement and heat pump spend divided by systems sold, judged over the weeks buyers take
- Jobs turned away in peakRepair requests from ads you couldn’t schedule, a sign to cut back sooner
- Agreements from adsNew agreements and renewals started by a tune-up or agreement campaign
Questions
HVAC Google and Meta ads questions
How much should an HVAC company spend on Google Ads?
Work back from what a repair and a replacement are worth and how many extra calls your techs can run in a peak week. The median Google lead for AC install and repair is about $128 (LocaliQ, 2025), and plenty of leads never book. Plan more for the swing weeks around the first heat wave and first freeze, less in mild weeks, and raise it only while the numbers hold.
Should I pause HVAC ads when we’re booked out?
Pause or cut the emergency repair ads, yes. A homeowner with no cooling won’t wait until next week, so those clicks turn into calls you can’t take. Keep replacement and agreement ads running, since those appointments can be set further out, and turn repair spend back up as soon as slots open.
Do Facebook ads work for HVAC?
Not for breakdowns. A homeowner with a dead furnace searches Google. Meta works for the work you can plan: spring and fall tune-up offers, maintenance agreement sales and renewals, and keeping your financing and install photos in front of homeowners while they compare replacement quotes.
Why do my HVAC ads bring so many small repair calls?
Usually because repair and replacement share a campaign, so the cheaper, faster repair searches take most of the budget. Split them, give replacement its own budget and a landing page with financing answers, and send replacement sales back to Google so it learns which clicks turn into installs.
How do I track HVAC ads to systems sold?
Attach the ad click ID to every form and online booking, mark the result in your CRM as a repair, a replacement or a new agreement, and send those results back to Google Ads and Meta as they’re booked. A replacement can close weeks after the first click, so each late sale goes back the day it closes.
When should HVAC ads shift to tune-ups?
As the first stretch of mild weather settles in each spring and fall. Repair searches thin out, and tune-up and agreement campaigns become a better use of the same money. Move budget over gradually, and keep a repair campaign live for the odd hot or cold spell.
Rather not do it yourself?
Every HVAC company we work with gets its own plan
This playbook covers what works for most companies in your trade. We start from your market, crews and numbers, then test and adjust month to month, reported in booked jobs and revenue. Tell us your service area and the services you want to grow.