HVAC PPC is pay-per-click advertising for heating and cooling companies, almost always Google Ads Search campaigns that show your ad when someone near you searches "ac repair near me", "furnace not working" or "heat pump installation". It is one of the most expensive trades to advertise: in Google's Keyword Planner on November 13, 2026, "ac repair near me" in Phoenix, Dallas and Chicago had a top-of-page bid range of $31.73 to $160 a click. At those prices the account has to be built around the season, the service and the phone, not around a flat daily budget and a list of keywords.
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I'm Chiran Nawalage, founder of VibeAds. I built the HVAC campaign templates VibeAds uses (22 HVAC ad groups, the seasonal curve and the negative keyword list below come from them), and VibeAds buys its own Google clicks aimed at HVAC company owners, which taught me something about HVAC click prices too. The Keyword Planner figures on this page are from a pull I ran on November 13, 2026. This is not a report on a client's account.
If you want the checklist of what goes wrong in existing HVAC accounts, read Google Ads mistakes for HVAC companies. This page is about building one that works.
Key takeaways
- The same service costs very different amounts depending on the words. "ac installation near me" ranged $39.47 to $187.45 at the top of the page; "ac installation" $5.86 to $70.73.
- Advertise the season you are in. In VibeAds' templates AC repair and installation run May through October and furnace and boiler work November through April; heat pumps, ducts and maintenance run all year.
- Size the budget to the services, then move it with the months. At our $18.00 HVAC planning click, each service needs about $13.50 a day; our demand curve puts July and August at 1.5 times an average month and February at 0.7.
- Emergency HVAC is a phone problem before it is a bidding problem. If nobody answers at 9 p.m. in July, turn the emergency ad group off at 9 p.m.
- Block the HVAC research crowd before launch: BTU and tonnage calculators, SEER ratings, EPA 608, HVAC school and salary, window and portable units, parts and filters.
On this page: What it costs · Search words · Ad groups · Seasons · Budget plan · Negatives · Emergency calls · Our own HVAC clicks · FAQ
How much does HVAC PPC cost?
VibeAds plans HVAC at an average of $18.00 a click, with a typical range of $12.00 to $30.00. That is the highest of the home trades in our data (plumbing is $10.49, electrical $12.18, roofing $10.70).
Here is what Google's Keyword Planner showed for HVAC searches in Phoenix, Dallas and Chicago combined on November 13, 2026, a month when AC demand is low in two of the three:
| Search | Monthly searches | Competition | Top-of-page bid |
|---|---|---|---|
| ac repair | 8,100 | Low (12) | $0.75 to $97.15 |
| ac repair near me | 6,600 | Low (4) | $31.73 to $160.00 |
| furnace repair | 5,400 | Low (7) | $14.77 to $55.27 |
| hvac companies near me | 2,400 | Low (28) | $7.97 to $88.90 |
| furnace repair near me | 1,900 | Low (3) | $15.51 to $66.31 |
| hvac contractors near me | 1,900 | Low (4) | $1.28 to $70.00 |
| ac maintenance | 1,600 | Low (8) | $30.18 to $122.35 |
| hvac company | 1,600 | Low (18) | $8.86 to $90.96 |
| ac installation | 1,300 | Low (4) | $5.86 to $70.73 |
| hvac maintenance | 1,000 | Low (12) | $13.49 to $52.51 |
| ac installation near me | 1,000 | Low (1) | $39.47 to $187.45 |
| hvac repair near me | 1,000 | Low (5) | $1.30 to $100.17 |
| duct cleaning services | 880 | Low (13) | $5.14 to $42.42 |
Three things I read from this table:
- Ignore the competition column. Every row says LOW, and the bids run to $187. Keyword Planner's competition score counts how many advertisers bid, not how much. HVAC has few advertisers per city and each of them bids hard.
- "Near me" is where the money is. The bottom of the "ac repair near me" range ($31.73) is above the middle of most trades' ranges. Those searchers are standing next to a broken unit.
- Maintenance bids high. "ac maintenance" ran $30.18 to $122.35, more than furnace repair. My read is that HVAC companies treat a tune-up as the start of a relationship: the maintenance plan, the repair, eventually the replacement. If you sell maintenance plans, this is worth testing; if you only want repair calls, don't chase it.
Which HVAC searches are worth paying for?
Group searches by what the person needs, not by the words:
| What they need | Example searches | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|
| Something broke | ac repair near me, furnace not working, no heat | Yes, your core. Highest bids, highest intent. |
| Replacing a system | ac installation near me, heat pump installation, new furnace cost | Yes, but longer sales cycle. Track estimates, not just calls. |
| Routine service | hvac maintenance, ac tune up, furnace tune up | Test it if you sell maintenance plans. |
| Choosing a company | hvac companies near me, hvac contractors near me | Yes, often your best value per click. |
| Learning or buying parts | btu calculator, seer rating, hvac parts, window ac | No. Block these. |
| Brand searches for another company | the big local franchise's name | Only on purpose, in its own ad group. |
Keyword Planner also returns noise. My Phoenix-Dallas-Chicago pull included a regional HVAC brand name, "aircon installation" (a term mostly used outside the US), and "air conditioning unit", which scored 82 (HIGH) on competition because retailers sell units. Read every idea before you add it.
How should you structure an HVAC PPC campaign?
VibeAds' HVAC library has 22 ad groups. A new campaign uses only the ones the budget carries, chosen in this order:
Priority 1 (emergency and broken): AC Repair, Furnace Repair, Emergency HVAC Repair. Priority 2 (installs and high-value jobs): AC Installation, Furnace Installation, Heat Pump Installation, Heat Pump Repair, Mini-Split Installation, Boiler Repair & Installation. Priority 3 (everyday service): General HVAC Repair, Residential HVAC Services, HVAC Maintenance & Tune-Up, Ductwork Installation, Duct Cleaning, Refrigerant Recharge. Priority 4 (add-ons): Commercial HVAC Services, Duct Sealing & Insulation, Smart Thermostat Installation, Indoor Air Quality Assessment, Air Purifier Installation, Humidifier / Dehumidifier Installation, Zoning System Installation.
Rules I follow for each ad group:
- One service, one page. An "AC Repair" ad sends people to an AC repair page with the phone number at the top, not to a homepage that also sells duct cleaning.
- Exact and phrase match until you have data. Broad match and AI Max need conversions to learn from. VibeAds only offers broad match once an account has 30 conversions; before that, broad match mostly finds the research searches listed below.
- Commercial HVAC in its own campaign if you do it. Rooftop units and service contracts are a different buyer with a different budget, and a commercial lead at $90 a click needs its own numbers.
- Separate campaigns if you sell other trades. When Local Services Ads campaigns move into Google Ads, Google applies one campaign-level target, and its own example of keeping different targets is a separate campaign for plumbing and for HVAC (Google Ads Help). The same logic applies to Search.
How should HVAC PPC change through the year?
HVAC is one of the most seasonal trades we build for. This is the demand curve in VibeAds' HVAC template, where 1.0 is an average month:
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
And this is when our templates build each seasonal ad group (year-round ad groups are not listed):
| Ad group | Built in |
|---|---|
| AC Repair, AC Installation | May to October |
| Furnace Repair, Furnace Installation, Boiler Repair & Installation | November to April |
Two cautions from building these:
- Your city is not the national curve. Phoenix sells AC repair in March; Minneapolis sells furnace repair in October. When a Google Ads account is connected, VibeAds reads Google's monthly search history for the campaign's own area and moves a service to the front when it is at its local peak; the national months are only the fallback. Do the same by hand: in Keyword Planner, look at the monthly trend for your city before you turn a seasonal ad group on or off.
- Don't use seasonality adjustments for a whole summer. Google says they are built for short events of 1 to 7 days and may not work as well over 14 (Google Ads Help). Use them for a forecast heat wave or first hard freeze. Handle the season itself with budgets.
How much should an HVAC company spend on PPC?
Start with the services, then apply the months. VibeAds' rule is that each service ad group should afford at least one click a day, counted at 75% of the trade's average click. For HVAC at $18.00 that is $13.50 a day per service.
- 2 services (AC Repair, Furnace Repair): about $27 a day
- 4 services (add Heat Pump Installation, HVAC Maintenance): about $54 a day
- 6 services: about $81 a day
Then let the budget follow the curve. Here is a 12-month plan for a company whose average month is $60 a day:
| Month | Factor | Daily budget | Month total (30.4 days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.8 | $48 | $1,459 |
| February | 0.7 | $42 | $1,277 |
| March | 0.9 | $54 | $1,642 |
| April | 1.0 | $60 | $1,824 |
| May | 1.1 | $66 | $2,006 |
| June | 1.4 | $84 | $2,554 |
| July | 1.5 | $90 | $2,736 |
| August | 1.5 | $90 | $2,736 |
| September | 1.2 | $72 | $2,189 |
| October | 1.0 | $60 | $1,824 |
| November | 0.8 | $48 | $1,459 |
| December | 0.8 | $48 | $1,459 |
The $60 is an example, not advice for your market. The point is the shape: a flat budget sets a flat monthly ceiling, and Google will not spend more than 30.4 times your daily budget in a month no matter how many people need AC repair (Google Ads Help). In July that ceiling is lost calls.
I do not turn budgets into a leads forecast. How many of those clicks become booked jobs depends on your page, your phones and your prices, and a number from me would be a guess.
Which negative keywords should HVAC PPC start with?
These are from VibeAds' HVAC list, added to every HVAC campaign before it goes live:
- Buying equipment yourself: buy furnace, buy ac unit, window unit, window ac, portable ac, portable air conditioner, thermostat buy
- Parts and supplies: hvac supply house, hvac parts store, hvac parts, furnace filter, air filter buy, filter size, refrigerant buy, freon buy, freon recharge DIY, mini split DIY, hvac tools
- Research and math: tonnage calculator, btu calculator, seer rating, hvac meaning, hvac stands for, hvac diagram
- Careers: hvac school, hvac degree, hvac license, epa 608, hvac technician pay, hvac salary range
On top of that every VibeAds campaign gets the general list (jobs, careers, free stuff, DIY and how-to). Our plumber, HVAC and electrician negative keyword list has the rest, and the negative keyword tool will build one for your area.
Two notes. Negative keywords do not match close variants, so add plurals yourself (Google Ads Help). And do not block "cost" or "price": "ac replacement cost" is someone pricing a job you want.
How should HVAC PPC handle emergency calls?
The emergency ad group is where HVAC PPC makes or loses the most money, and the problem is usually the phone, not the ad.
- Schedule it to your answering hours. If calls after 8 p.m. go to voicemail, the emergency ad group should stop at 8 p.m. A click that reaches voicemail on a 98-degree night is someone who calls the next company.
- Use a page that is a phone number. Our emergency HVAC pages put the call button at the top and the form below it, because people with no heat call, they don't fill in forms.
- Count only real calls. Set the call conversion's minimum length to filter out hang-ups and wrong numbers (Google Ads Help). Smart Bidding will find more of whatever you count.
- Move off call-only ads. Google stops showing existing call-only ads in February 2027 and wants Responsive Search Ads with a call asset instead (Google Ads Help). Rebuild them this winter so they have history before summer.
What our own HVAC ad taught us
VibeAds advertises to HVAC company owners on Google. Between August 15 and November 12, 2026 our HVAC ad group paid an average of $20.88 a click, the second-highest of our trade ad groups (pest control was $23.71, junk removal $6.21). We paused it in October.
Two lessons carried straight over to how I build HVAC campaigns for homeowners:
- HVAC clicks are expensive at every level of the market. If marketing-to-HVAC clicks cost $21, homeowner AC repair clicks in July cost more. Budget HVAC from HVAC numbers, never from a general home services average.
- Small accounts see strange searches. Our ads matched "hvac slogans for business", "hvac sales presentation" and two marketing agencies' names. Your HVAC ads will match "hvac technician salary" and "btu calculator" the same way. With a small budget, a few of those clicks are a large share of the month, which is why the negatives above go in before launch.
See your HVAC campaign drafted
Pick your service area and budget, and review every HVAC ad group, keyword and negative before anything goes to Google Ads.
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HVAC PPC FAQ
Is PPC worth it for HVAC companies?
Usually yes, because a single repair or replacement pays for many clicks. It stops being worth it when calls go unanswered, when the campaign counts every call as a conversion, or when the budget runs out by noon in July. Fix those first.
What is a good cost per click for HVAC?
VibeAds plans HVAC at $18.00 on average, with most clicks between $12 and $30. Emergency and installation searches with "near me" sit well above that: Keyword Planner showed top-of-page bids up to $160 for "ac repair near me" and $187 for "ac installation near me" in three big metros.
Should HVAC companies advertise furnace repair in summer?
Generally no, outside cold climates. VibeAds builds furnace and boiler ad groups November through April by default and moves them when local search history says otherwise. Year-round services like heat pumps, ducts and maintenance stay on all year.
Should I use Local Services Ads or PPC for HVAC?
Both, if you can. Local Services Ads charge per lead and need Google's background screening; Search PPC gives you control over services, hours and pages. See how to split a budget between them.
How many HVAC services should I advertise at once?
As many as your budget gives one click a day each. At $18 a click that is one service per $13.50 of daily budget. Two well-funded ad groups beat eight starved ones.
Related reading: Google Ads for HVAC companies · How to run Google Ads for an HVAC company · Google Ads mistakes for HVAC companies · PPC for contractors · Best AI tool for HVAC Google Ads