Electrical SEO or Google Ads, which should an electrician do first?
Search suits electricians better than ads, because the most valuable work is compliance and planned installation, both of which are researched rather than decided in seconds. Ads make sense for emergency faults and for testing which terms convert, not as the main channel.
Why paid search fits this trade less well
Ads are strongest where the decision is immediate and the buyer isn't comparing. That describes a burst pipe far better than it describes anything electrical.
Electrical faults are often urgent but not usually catastrophic, so people do compare. Compliance is bought on relationships and turnaround by professionals who aren't clicking ads. Rewires and EV chargers are researched for weeks. Only the genuine emergency slice behaves the way paid search rewards.
Where each belongs
| Work | Better served by | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency fault, no power | Ads | Urgent, decided quickly |
| EICR and certification | Search | Professional buyers who compare and keep suppliers |
| Rewires | Search | Weeks of research, expensive clicks |
| EV chargers | Search | Informed buyers reading about specification and grants |
| Commercial contracts | Search and relationships | Rarely won from a click |
If you do run ads
- Keep them on emergency and fault terms, not on EICR. Certification clicks are expensive and the buyer is comparing several quotes.
- Add negatives on day one. Electrical attracts heavy irrelevant traffic: electrician courses, apprenticeships, electrical wholesalers, electric cars, electrical jobs.
- Use a tight radius. Electrical emergencies are local and arriving late is worse than not going.
- Point clicks at the specific fault page, not the homepage.
- Use them as research. A fortnight of ad data tells you which electrical terms convert, which is genuinely useful for deciding what to build.
What most electricians get wrong
Bidding on EICR terms. They look attractive because the intent is obvious, but agents collect several quotes and the click cost has to survive that comparison. Ranking for it works far better than paying for it.
The other mistake is running ads indefinitely instead of building. Ads stop the day you stop paying, and for a trade whose best customers are repeat relationships, renting the introduction forever is an odd way to run it.
Related questions
Do ads help my organic rankings?
No, they're separate systems. The useful by-product is conversion data on which terms are worth building pages for.
What about Local Services Ads?
Worth testing for emergency work, with the same caveat as any rented channel: it stops when payment stops.
Is the £147 fee my ad budget too?
No. That covers the search work. Ad spend is separate and paid to Google directly.
Not sure which to start with?
Tell us what work you want more of. If ads are genuinely the better answer for your situation, we'll tell you that rather than selling the slower option.