This section is for UK business owners and marketing leads who want to know how I would run Google Ads for their particular kind of business before they get in touch. Each sector page explains how people in that market search, which rules limit what an ad can say, and where accounts in that sector usually lose money.
Why the sector changes a Google Ads account
The mechanics of Google Ads are the same for everyone: keywords, bids, ads, landing pages and conversion tracking. What changes from one sector to the next is everything around them, and that is where most of the money is won or lost.
- What you are allowed to say. Google has its own policies for financial services, healthcare, legal services and several other categories, and UK regulators add their own rules on top. An ad that ignores either gets disapproved, or worse, gets approved and breaches the rules.
- How urgent the search is. Someone searching for an emergency plumber at 10pm will call the first credible result. Someone choosing accounting software will compare five options over a month. The bidding, the ad schedule and the way results are measured have to follow that difference.
- What a lead is actually worth. A conveyancing enquiry, a gym trial and a manufacturing tender are worth very different amounts, so the cost per enquiry you can afford differs just as much. I set targets from your margins, not from an industry average.
- Who else is bidding. In some markets you compete with national brands and comparison sites; in others, with booking platforms bidding on your own business name.
Sectors grouped by what decides the campaign
The sector names matter less than the pressures behind them. Find the group that sounds like your business, then open the sector page for the detail.
Regulated advice and care
Solicitors, lenders, brokers, financial advisers, fintech firms, private clinics and dental practices all advertise under rules set by a regulator as well as by Google. Ads for solicitors and law firms must sit comfortably with the SRA’s standards, and for banks, brokers, lenders and financial advisers Google asks UK advertisers of most financial products to pass its financial services verification, which checks FCA authorisation. That sits on top of the standard advertiser verification every account goes through. Clinics face strict limits on promoting prescription-only treatments, and dentists have GDC guidance on how they describe themselves. Here the copy has to be accurate and permitted before it is persuasive.
Urgent local jobs
Plumbers, electricians and locksmiths win business from people nearby who want to act soon, and gyms and car dealers share the same local focus with a little more time to decide. The work for trades and home services is mostly about tight location targeting, sensible opening-hours scheduling and answering the phone when the ad is running. A missed call costs the same as an answered one.
Dates and bookings
Hotels and tour operators sell rooms and departures that expire. For hotels competing with online travel agents, the aim is usually to win the direct booking for your own name and your location before a commission-taking platform does. Seasonality shapes the budget more than in any other group.
Long and considered decisions
Software companies, B2B suppliers, manufacturers and recruitment agencies sell to buyers who research for weeks and often decide as a committee. For SaaS and software companies and the other sectors in this group, the first form fill is rarely the sale, so I track what happens afterwards, such as a demo held or a quote accepted, and feed that back to Google.
Places, property and admissions
Schools, colleges, training providers, estate agents and property developers work to intake dates, launch dates and local catchments. Campaigns here are planned backwards from the date that matters, with budget weighted towards the weeks when people are actually deciding.
What these pages will and will not tell you
You may have arrived here wanting to know whether I have run Google Ads for a business like yours. The sector pages explain how I would approach your market and what I would check first. They do not name clients or quote results, because I only publish a case study once the client has agreed and the figures can be shown. If sector experience matters to your decision, ask me on a call and I will answer plainly, including when your sector is one I would be approaching for the first time.
How sector work usually runs
- A short call. We talk about what you sell, who buys it, what a customer is worth and any rules your regulator or trade body sets.
- An account and policy check. If you already advertise, I review the account, the tracking and any disapproved ads. If you do not, I check which of Google’s restricted categories apply before anything is built.
- A plan for your market. Keyword themes, a negative keyword list for the searches your sector attracts but cannot serve, budgets set from your margins, and the landing pages each campaign needs.
- Build and launch. Campaigns go live with conversion tracking tested first, so the early data can be trusted.
- Ongoing management. If you want the account run for you, the work continues as monthly PPC management: reading search terms, adjusting bids and ads, and reporting on enquiries and sales rather than clicks.
If your sector is not listed
The list covers sectors where Google Ads raises distinct problems, not the only ones I will take on. Most businesses fit one of the groups above closely enough for the same approach to apply. If you are unsure, or your sector has rules I have not mentioned, get in touch and tell me about your business, and I will say honestly whether I am the right person to run your account.