The Client
Colorado Sunshine is a landscaping and hardscaping company in Longmont, Colorado, operating at colorado-sunshine.com under its Design & Build outdoor living banner. We built and ran their Google Ads, which grew calls from the ads from 13 in our first month to 49 a month.
The company designs and builds complete outdoor spaces: landscaping, hardscapes, pavers, concrete, fencing, retaining walls, fire features, outdoor structures and pools, starting with 2D and 3D design renderings.
"13 calls from the ads in January 2022. 49 in June 2022."
The Challenge
Google Ads for landscapers is a seasonal, competitive market:
- A short season. In Colorado, most homeowners plan outdoor projects in spring, so the account has to be ready before demand arrives.
- Mixed intent. "Landscaping" searches bring lawn-mowing requests, job seekers and DIY shoppers alongside homeowners planning a real project.
- Local competition. Boulder County and the north Denver metro have many established landscapers bidding on the same searches.
- High-value, phone-first buyers. A full outdoor build is a large purchase, and these buyers want to talk to someone before they commit.
What We Built
1. A Main Search Campaign With an A/B Test
In January 2022 we launched a main Search campaign on Maximize Conversions, with a parallel A/B test version, built around service searches: "landscaping services", "landscaping companies", "landscape colorado", "landscaping longmont" and "landscapers in colorado", plus patio, paver, fencing and outdoor kitchen searches. Between them, the two versions produced most of the leads.
2. A Supplemental Search Campaign
A second, smaller Search campaign covered the company's own brand names and the names of other local landscapers, to catch homeowners still comparing companies.
3. A Business Profile Campaign
In February 2022 we added a campaign tied to the company's Google Business Profile, built to bring calls from local map and search results.
4. Tight Local Targeting
The campaigns targeted the company's service area: Longmont, Boulder, Erie, Niwot, Lyons, Mead and Hygiene, plus Denver and the north metro, ZIP code by ZIP code.
5. Over 600 Negative Keywords
Our campaigns carried 600+ negative keywords to keep out job seekers, lawn-care-only requests, supply shoppers and other searches that never turn into a project.
6. A Pool Installation Campaign
In spring 2023 we added a dedicated pool installation campaign with its own landing page, to open a new line of high-value projects.
7. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
Every campaign was reviewed daily through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search-term mining, new negatives, A/B tests and budget moved to the campaigns producing calls.
The Results
- 200+ real leads from our campaigns, almost all phone calls from the ads.
- Calls nearly quadrupled: from 13 in January 2022 to 49 in June 2022.
- 120+ leads in a single quarter, April to June 2022, the peak of the outdoor project season.
- Reach: 190K+ impressions and 4,900+ clicks across Boulder County and the north Denver metro.
- "Landscaping services" alone produced about half of all leads.
Key Takeaways
- Be live before spring. Launching in January meant the account was tuned and ready when demand more than doubled in April.
- Broad service searches work for landscapers when negatives keep out the jobs you don't want.
- Test in parallel. Running the main campaign and an A/B test version side by side showed which settings produced calls.
- Expect the phone to ring. Landscaping buyers call, so the campaigns were built and measured around calls.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many leads can a landscaping company get from Google Ads?
Colorado Sunshine's campaigns produced 200+ real leads, almost all phone calls. Calls grew from 13 in January 2022, our first month, to 49 in June 2022, and 120+ came in April to June alone.
When do landscaping leads peak in Colorado?
In spring. Calls averaged about 19 a month from January to March 2022 and about 42 a month from April to June 2022, as homeowners planned their summer projects.
What do people search when they want a landscaper?
Mostly broad service searches. 'Landscaping services' produced about half of all leads, followed by 'landscaping companies', 'landscape colorado', 'landscaping longmont' and 'landscapers in colorado'.
Do landscaping customers call or fill out a form?
They call. Of the 200+ real leads, all but a handful were phone calls from the ads.
About This Campaign
Landscaping and hardscaping lead generation on Google Ads, built with our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ optimization system.
Industry: Contractors (Landscaping & Hardscaping) Platforms: Google Ads (Search, Business Profile) Location: Longmont, Colorado (Boulder County and the north Denver metro) Account Duration: January 2022 to June 2023. The engagement has ended.
Real leads are phone calls from the ads, calls from the website, tracked Business Profile calls and contact-form submissions, as recorded by Google Ads for our LPA campaigns. Directions, website visits, clicks to call and other Business Profile engagements are excluded. Campaigns run before January 2022 were not built by us and are not counted. The chart covers January to July 2022; the 2023 pool installation campaign added a small number of leads to the total. The client website link points to an archived copy from the engagement period.