The big brands own the generic terms
Culligan and Kinetico run national budgets on “water softener”. Bidding head-on for the generic word is a good way to pay $20 a click for a comparison shopper.
Installed systems from $1,500 to $8,000. Culligan is bidding on your name.
Hard water is a slow problem, so the search is slow too. People read about scale on the shower door for a month before they type “water softener installation”, and when they do, Culligan, Kinetico and the big-box stores are already in the top three ads.
We build campaigns around the system types you sell and the water problems people actually describe, keep the salt-and-filter shoppers out, and track every call to a scheduled water test and an installed unit.
Installs from $1,500 to $8,000, plus salt and service plans. The upside is real. So is the waste, and here’s where it usually comes from.
Culligan and Kinetico run national budgets on “water softener”. Bidding head-on for the generic word is a good way to pay $20 a click for a comparison shopper.
“Best water softener 2026” and “water softener salt near me” both contain your keyword. One is reading reviews, the other needs a 40 lb bag. Neither needs a plumber this week.
A water test booked from a cheap click is easy to skip. If the ad promised a free gift and nothing else, the appointment was never real.
Lead with the symptom: Campaigns for scale on fixtures, dry skin and hair, spotty dishes, iron and sulfur smell, and well water treatment. People search the problem before they search the product.Product campaigns that match your line: Salt-based softeners, salt-free conditioners, reverse osmosis, whole-house filtration. Each with its own page, its own price context and its own budget.Negatives for the retail crowd: Salt, filters, resin, “Home Depot”, “Lowe’s”, DIY install videos and brand-only searches, trimmed every week so the budget goes to homeowners who want it installed.Track to the installed unit: Call tracking plus Housecall Pro, Jobber or ServiceTitan, so Google learns which clicks became a test and which tests became a system on the wall.Examples from water softener installation accounts. The real lists run to hundreds of terms and get reviewed every week.
Your account is run by two PPC pros with 20+ years each. No handoff to a coordinator juggling 35 accounts.
Not quarterly. Not “when the algorithm settles”. Every week, by hand, so the junk never gets a chance to pile up.
Your Google Ads account, your data, your tracking, from day one. Leave anytime and take it all with you.
Who likes 12-month contracts? We don’t. We earn the next quarter by making the last one pay.
Most single-metro water treatment companies do well between $3k and $7k a month. Hard-water markets like Phoenix, Dallas and Indianapolis run higher because every plumber and big brand is there too.
No. We take one water softener company per metro. If we are running your ads, we are not quietly running the ads of the dealer across town.
All of it. Well water treatment, iron filters and reverse osmosis often have less competition and higher tickets than plain softeners, so they usually get their own campaigns from day one.
Your best customer pays every quarter for years. Let’s go get that one.
How we run it →Honest companies lose the click to scammers every day. Here’s how to stop that.
How we run it →Someone is locked out right now. They’re calling the first number they see.
How we run it →Every search is an emergency. Every click comes from a phone. Build for that.
How we run it →Talk to a senior PPC expert who has run water softener installation accounts. Never a junior.