If you are a land surveyor using Google Ads, your goal is not traffic volume. Your goal is qualified local leads from people actively looking to hire a surveyor in your area.
The campaign setup below shows you how to structure Google Ads the right way for surveying services, avoiding spam clicks, students, and directory traffic while focusing entirely on local, high-intent searches.
1. Campaign Type: Search Only (Leads)
Campaign goal: Leads
Campaign type: Search
Networks to use:
- ❌ Google Search Network (disabled)
- ❌ Display Network (disabled)
When you run Google Ads for surveying services, enabling additional networks almost always leads to wasted spend. Keeping your campaign Search-only ensures your ads show only when someone is actively searching for a surveyor.
2. Location Targeting: Keep It Tight and Local
Most surveyors serve a defined geographic area. Google Ads targeting should reflect that reality.
Recommended radius targeting:
- Metro areas: 5–10 miles
- Suburban or mixed areas: 10–15 miles
- Rural areas: 10–15 miles
- Almost never exceed: 20 miles
Advanced location settings:
- Target people in or regularly in your locations
- ❌ Do not use “people interested in this location”
You should also apply negative location targeting to exclude:
- States you do not serve
- Cities that historically generate spam
- Countries that commonly produce junk clicks
This alone can dramatically improve the quality of your leads.
3. Campaign Structure: One Service Per Ad Group
To get the best performance from Google Ads, you should separate each surveying service into its own ad group.
Example ad groups:
- Boundary Survey
- ALTA Survey
- Construction Survey
- Residential Survey
- Commercial Survey
- Topographic Survey
This structure allows you to align keywords, ad copy, and landing pages precisely, which improves Quality Score and lead quality.
4. Keywords: High-Intent Only (Typically 10–25 Per Service)
Each ad group should contain 10–25 high-intent keywords that indicate someone is ready to hire a surveyor.
Use only:
- Phrase match
- Exact match
Avoid broad match entirely.
Examples for a Boundary Survey ad group:
- “boundary surveyor near me”
- “boundary survey services”
- “boundary surveyor [city]”
- [boundary surveyor]
- [boundary survey near me]
If the keyword does not clearly indicate buying intent, it does not belong in your campaign.
5. Negative Keywords: Mandatory for Surveyor Ads
Negative keywords protect your budget and should be set up from day one.
Apply a shared negative keyword list that includes:
- free
- cheap
- diy
- how to
- course
- class
- training
- certification
- license
- salary
- job
- hiring
- internship
- equipment
- software
- gis
- autocad
- example
You should review your search terms weekly and continue expanding this list.
6. Ad Copy: Speak Directly to Local Searchers
Each ad group should include:
- 1 Responsive Search Ad
- All available headlines filled
- All description lines filled
Ad copy best practices for surveyors:
- Include your service and city in a couple primary headlines
- Emphasize licensing, accuracy, and reliability
- Reinforce that you are a local surveying company
Example headline themes:
- Licensed Land Surveyor
- Tampa Boundary Surveys
- ALTA Surveying Services
- Accurate & Fast Turnaround
Example description themes:
- Experienced land surveyors supporting development, construction, and property transactions.
- Surveying services designed to support accurate planning and smooth project execution.
- Trusted land surveyors providing consistent, accurate results for complex projects.
7. Ad Assets: Support Intent, Not Distraction
Ad assets help your ads stand out, but only when used intentionally.
Sitelinks (Vital Pages Only)
Use sitelinks for:
- Homepage (include location language here)
- Services
- About
- Contact
Not every sitelink needs location language. Your homepage sitelink is the primary place to reinforce geography.
Callouts
- Licensed & Insured
- Local Surveyor
- Fast Turnaround
- Residential & Commercial
- 10 Years Of Experience
Structured Snippets (Optional)
- Services: Boundary, ALTA, Construction, Residential
8. Images and Logo (Recommended)
Adding image assets improves visibility and trust, especially on mobile search.
You should include:
- Your company logo
- Relevant images
- Field or office photos when available
9. Conversion Tracking
At a minimum, you should track:
- Phone calls
- Contact form submissions
For better optimization review lead quality regularly to see what ads are performing and what needs revising.
10. What This Setup Helps You Avoid
This campaign structure is designed to help you avoid:
- Broad match waste
- Nationwide spam clicks
- Directory traffic
- Student and job-seeker searches
- Low-quality Search Network placements
Instead, you attract local property owners, builders, and commercial clients actively looking for a surveyor.
Final Takeaway
Google Ads works exceptionally well for land surveyors when your campaigns are built around local intent, service-specific targeting, and strict keyword control. Most poor results come from overly broad targeting and weak filtering.
This setup gives you a repeatable system for generating qualified surveyor leads without wasted spend.