How do you brief Google Ads for the construction work you want?

Choose one service to discuss first. Describe a realistic project, who would appoint you, where the work would take place and the information you would need to assess it. Include timing and capacity where they affect whether you can take it on.

“More building enquiries” leaves most of that undefined. A better starting point might be enquiries from property managers about planned refurbishment of commercial premises within an agreed working area. The agency can then ask which types of premises, project scopes and decision-makers matter.

Bring examples from your existing work where you have permission to share them. Explain why those projects suited the business. A photograph alone will not tell an agency whether you supplied one package, managed the full job or worked as a subcontractor.

You do not need a finished keyword list. You need a clear account of the offer that the keyword research and campaign proposal can be checked against.

Prepare three short lists. The first contains the jobs you actively want. The second contains work outside the campaign's scope. The third contains enquiries you could consider after clarifying something.

That third list matters. An enquiry with no stated budget may need a conversation. A project just outside your usual area may be workable for a larger commission. Treating every incomplete enquiry as unsuitable would hide the difference between a poor fit and a missing detail.

For each boundary, give the reason. Is it a service you do not provide, an area you cannot cover, a project scale you would not consider or a temporary capacity limit? A seasonal restriction needs a review date; a service you have stopped offering needs a consistent message wherever it appears.

Share these decisions with the person answering the phone as well as the agency. The campaign brief and the office's enquiry checklist should describe the same business.

List the places where you can deliver the advertised service. Add any exceptions that depend on project size or scope, without turning an occasional exception into a promise of national coverage.

Then consider the person searching. A facilities manager could be based elsewhere while arranging work at a local property. A homeowner might be searching near the site itself. Those situations raise different questions for the campaign plan.

Google's location options distinguish people likely to be in or regularly in an area from people showing an interest in it. Location signals are not perfectly accurate. Ask the agency which setting it proposes and why it fits the buyer and project locations you described.

Keep checking the actual site location when an enquiry arrives. A targeting setting cannot confirm where a prospective client's work will happen.

Give the agency examples of requests the campaign should avoid, such as recruitment, training, materials-only purchases or a service outside your scope. Explain the meaning behind the example before deciding which search words to exclude.

A contractor might use the word “jobs” when looking for a subcontract package, while someone else uses it to look for employment. A business that declines isolated repairs might still accept repair work within a larger refurbishment. Broad exclusions need that context.

Negative keywords can prevent adverts appearing for specified searches. Their matching rules differ from ordinary targeting keywords, and they do not automatically cover every related variation. Google's negative keyword guidance explains the limits. Ask the agency to show how its proposed exclusions protect the brief and where they could also remove useful searches.

Once a campaign is running, the search terms report helps review the searches that triggered adverts. Some low-activity queries are omitted for privacy, so the report is not a complete record of every search. Agree who reviews the available terms and how your team's enquiry feedback reaches them.

Read the proposed advert and its destination together. Could a visitor identify the advertised service, your role in that work, the area covered and what to send you next?

A commercial fit-out advert should lead to information that helps someone assess your fit-out offer. A general gallery of unrelated domestic work may leave the visitor to guess. Choose relevant project evidence and state what your business actually delivered.

Include genuine scope boundaries where they help someone decide. For example, clarify whether the offer is supply and installation or installation only. Avoid filling the page with a long list of rejected jobs; explain the service positively and answer the few distinctions that matter most.

Agree which details belong in the enquiry form and which can follow in a conversation. Service required, site location and a short project description may be useful starting points. Test that messages reach the right person and that someone can respond. A campaign should not launch into an unattended inbox.

This is a hypothetical briefing example, not a Crafters client result or a recommended keyword list.

A flooring contractor wants enquiries for planned commercial installation. It works in an agreed group of towns and takes on domestic work only through existing relationships. The campaign is intended for new commercial customers.

The owner and agency record three decisions:

• Promote: installation enquiries from commercial property owners, facilities teams and main contractors for sites within the agreed area.
• Outside this campaign: domestic carpet fitting, materials-only purchases and recruitment enquiries.
• Clarify first: mixed-use premises, work just beyond the usual area and requests that do not yet describe the floor condition or installation timing.

The landing page explains the commercial installation offer and shows approved examples of that work. The enquiry route asks for the site location and a short description, with a named person responsible for the response.

Before launch, the agency reviews proposed searches and exclusions against those decisions. The owner spots that an exclusion intended to remove domestic work could also remove searches describing commercial work in residential blocks. They discuss a narrower approach instead of approving the list unchanged.

The example shows what the brief needs to resolve. It does not establish how many searches, suitable enquiries or appointments the campaign would produce.

Record who can approve campaign changes and spending, how the agency fee and advertising budget are separated, and when the first review will happen. Identify any landing-page or tracking work needed before launch and who is responsible for completing it.

Make capacity updates part of that agreement. If a team becomes unavailable or a service pauses, someone needs to tell the agency promptly. The old brief should not continue inviting work the business cannot currently accept.

Keep enquiry feedback short enough for the office to maintain. Record the service, site location, whether the request fits and the reason when it does not. Leave requests awaiting clarification identifiable. A received enquiry, an assessed opportunity and won work are separate stages.

Our guide to reading a construction marketing report explains how to review those stages without counting them as separate new leads. Use that review to decide whether the campaign, page or original brief needs attention.

Prepare a page with your priority service, an example of a suitable project, the work to exclude, the questions that need judgement, your working area and the person handling enquiries. Add the current website page and any approved project material that supports the offer.

At Crafters, our Google Ads approach for construction businesses connects a focused service and working area with a relevant landing page and an agreed review of enquiries. If you are considering a campaign, tell us which work you want to attract. We can discuss the scope, what the website needs and how the first campaign should be assessed.