Since last July, Google’s home service ads offering has been available to users in the San Francisco Bay area searching for plumbers and locksmiths. The ads normally show three providers with rating, phone number and a send request button. Google have now added electricians and heating/air con providers to the list of services, and they’ve announced the ads are now available to users in Sacramento.
There is an application process for contractors looking to use the service, where they fill in a form and undergo a background check. The ads can then be set up in AdWords Express, which makes it easy for them to set them up.
This is a simple way for contractors to get their services advertised without setting up a full AdWords account, and without needing a particularly fancy website.
From a consumer’s point of view the process is really simple: When you search for a plumber the results show like in the picture above. Then you can send a request to up to three people to get quotes, availability etc. When you click on a result the ad expands and you can see more info on the services they offer.
If you want to contact more than one, you just need to press ‘More Plumbers’ and then you can tick the three you want to contact, and hit the ‘Send request’ button. Then you just fill in the form and hit send and it’ll be sent to all the people you selected.
Once the job is complete Google asks you to complete a review, and if people get multiple bad reviews they can get kicked out, so it should be pretty reliable.
As I mentioned at the top the home services ads are currently only available in San Francisco and Sacramento, but hopefully it won’t be long before it’ll be available to us here in the UK as it looks like a really useful service.
