Key takeaways
- The ad account, billing, tracking numbers and landing pages should be in the shop's name, with the agency as a user you can remove.
- Urgent repairs, maintenance and inspections, tires and detailing each need their own campaign and budget.
- A useful report counts booked repair orders matched to your shop software, not clicks.
- Ask for a written log of the work done each month: search-term clean-ups, tests and page changes.
Google Ads management for an auto repair shop means building and running the campaigns that bring in warning-light calls, brake jobs, inspections, tire work and detailing, then proving which ones turned into repair orders. Done properly, the account belongs to the shop, the budget follows the season, and every report ties spend to cars in bays.
What management includes
- Campaigns split by service line: urgent repairs, maintenance and inspections, tires, and detailing if you offer it. Each has its own budget, ads and landing page.
- Keywords in drivers' words, symptoms included, with a negative list that keeps out parts shoppers, DIY searches, job seekers and recall questions.
- A budget calendar that leans into winter prep, summer travel and your area's inspection deadlines, and pulls back on a service when the bays are full.
- Ad schedules matched to the counter, heaviest when an advisor can pick up, with after-hours calls routed to a voicemail or text-back that someone answers first thing.
- Location targeting around the drive to your shop, because your customers come to you.
- Landing pages per service with hours, what happens at drop-off, your warranty terms and a booking button.
- Conversion and call tracking (conversion measurement, call tracking), with booked repair orders from Tekmetric, Shopmonkey or your shop software imported back so bidding learns from real customers, not rings.
- Local Services Ads alongside search, where your category and area are eligible, including the program's move into Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals as that reaches your category (the transition).
- A monthly work log you can read in five minutes: what we cleaned up, what we tested and what we changed.
Who owns what in a managed account
| Part | You own | We do |
|---|---|---|
| The account | Opened in your business name | Work in it as a user |
| Billing | Charged to your payment method | Recommend budgets |
| Changes | Every change visible in the account | Build, test and adjust campaigns |
| Results | History that stays with you | Report calls, booked jobs and cost per customer |
Who should own the account
The shop should own it, with its own card paying Google directly. The agency is a user on your account, and you can remove that access whenever you choose.
This matters more for a repair shop than it looks. The account holds years of search terms in your area, which symptoms book and which do not, and the call history that taught the bidding what a good customer looks like. An agency that builds the account under its own login can walk away with all of it, and the next manager starts from zero in the middle of winter prep.
Check four things today:
- Billing: the payment method on the account is the shop's, not the agency's.
- Admin access: your email is an admin user, not just a viewer.
- Tracking numbers: call tracking numbers that appear on your site and ads are in an account you control. They end up on fleet invoices and window stickers, and you do not want them disconnected when you change partners.
- Landing pages: they live on your domain, not on a page builder the agency rents.
How we report
We report in booked repair orders and cost per booked repair order, matched to your shop software. Clicks and impressions appear only as supporting detail.
| Line in the report | Where it comes from | What you do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Spend by service line | Google Ads | See where the money went |
| Calls and form leads | Call tracking and site forms | Spot missed calls and slow answers |
| New customers with a repair order | Matched against your shop software | The number that matters |
| Cost per booked repair order | Spend divided by that number | Compare with LSA, SEO and referrals |
| Return visits from ad-won customers | Shop software history | See whether the ads bought one ticket or a customer |
| Work done and next test | Our log | Hold us to it |
A shop can open its own account and check every line. That is the point. The cost per lead guide shows how to run the same match yourself.
How it works for auto repair shops
- Assess. We audit your account, or set one up in your name, and listen to a sample of recent ad calls. We also check the landing pages and how ad-won customers show up in your shop software.
- Prioritize. We rank the fixes by booked repair orders at stake. That is usually tracking first, then the negative list, then splitting campaigns by service line. Each fix gets a date.
- Execute. We make the changes in your account, log each one, and line up seasonal budgets before the first cold snap and before road-trip season.
- Measure. Each month you see cost per booked repair order by service line. Then we choose the next priority together.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
If an agency built your account under its own login, the first project is moving it, with its history, into your shop's name. After that, management runs in dated projects with no contract you cannot leave, and every report starts from repair orders in your shop software and works back to the spend. To see how this fits with organic search and your Google profile, read Google Ads for auto repair shops. Or book a growth consultation and we will check who holds your account today and which five changes would book the most cars.
Sources
- About conversion measurement, Google Ads Help
- Set up tracking calls to a phone number on a website, Google Ads Help
- Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, Google Ads Help