Google Ads for Vancouver Pest Control Companies: Seasonal Campaigns That Actually Pay

Pest control demand in Metro Vancouver is seasonal, urgent and specific. Nobody searches “pest control” in the abstract; they search “rats in attic Burnaby” in October and “wasp nest removal” in July, and they want someone today. Google Ads is built for exactly that kind of demand, and it is also very easy to waste money on. This is the structure we run for pest control clients, and the reasons behind each part. Westside Pest Control, a Metro Vancouver company that has grown revenue by about 30% year over year, is the case study.

One campaign per pest, not one campaign for the company

A single “pest control Vancouver” campaign competes with every national brand on the most expensive terms and sends every click to the same generic page. Instead: a campaign for rodents, one for ants, one for wasps and hornets, one for bed bugs, one for spiders and silverfish, and one for commercial. Each has its own keywords, its own ad copy that names the pest and the response time, and its own landing page. Budgets move between them with the season, which is the whole point.

The seasonal budget

• September to November: rodents. Rats and mice move indoors as it cools, and Metro Vancouver’s rat population makes this the biggest campaign of the year. Raise the rodent budget in mid-September, before the searches spike.
• December to February: rodents continue; everything else drops. Keep a small always-on budget for bed bugs and commercial.
• March to May: carpenter ants and the first ant searches, spiders, early wasps. Shift budget from rodents to ants in March.
• June to August: wasps and hornets, ants, bed bugs after summer travel, mosquitoes. Wasp searches spike on the first hot weekend; have the campaign ready and paused.

The trades marketing calendar has the same logic for other trades; for pest control the swings are sharper, and a budget left flat across the year wastes most of it.

Keywords and the negatives that save the budget

Bid on the pest plus the intent: “rat exterminator”, “wasp nest removal”, “bed bug treatment”, “ant control”, with the city names. Then add negatives aggressively: “diy”, “how to”, “poison”, “traps”, “home depot”, “humane”, “spray”, “jobs”, and the names of products. A large share of pest control ad spend in a new account goes to people looking for instructions or products, and the negative list is what stops it.

The landing page per pest

The rodent page says: what you do about rats in Vancouver homes, how fast you can come, what it costs, what a treatment involves, whether it is safe for pets and children, and the guarantee. A phone number that dials with one tap, hours, and a three-field form. Photos from real jobs. Reviews that mention rats. The same for each pest. Sending a wasp search to the rodent page, or any search to the homepage, doubles the cost per lead.

Call tracking, or you are guessing

Most pest control leads are phone calls, and most calls happen within minutes of the search. Without call tracking the campaign reports clicks, not customers, and the wrong pest gets the budget. With it, calls are attributed to the keyword, recorded for quality, and imported into Google Ads so bidding optimizes for calls. The tracking setup is the first thing installed, before the first dollar of spend.

Ad extensions that convert

Call extensions with the hours, so the number appears in the ad itself. Location extensions tied to the Google Business Profile. Sitelinks to the other pest pages. Review snippets. Callouts for “same-day service”, “licensed”, “pet-safe treatments” when true. Extensions are free and make the ad larger than the competitor’s.

What the numbers look like

Westside Pest Control’s Google Ads, combined with the review program and the profile work from local SEO, have supported revenue growth of roughly 30% year over year; the case study has the numbers. The specific figures depend on the company, but the pattern repeats: in our experience the pest-by-pest structure and a strict negative list cut the cost per lead substantially within the first couple of months.

Book a free strategy call and bring last season’s Google Ads data if you have it. We will show you where the budget went by pest, and where it should have.

Related guides

• The Vancouver trades marketing calendar by season
• GA4 and call tracking setup for a trade business
• The lead funnel for a Vancouver HVAC company
• Google Ads management for trades

Frequently asked questions

How much does a pest control click cost in Vancouver?

It varies widely by pest and season; rodent and bed bug terms are among the most expensive, ant and spider terms cheaper. What matters is the cost per booked job, which the pest-by-pest structure and call tracking make visible.

Should a pest control company use Local Services Ads too?

Yes. Pest control is an eligible category, the Google Guaranteed badge appears above the regular ads, and the pay-per-lead model suits urgent searches. Run both.

Can I run Google Ads year-round with a small budget?

Yes, and you should, so the account keeps its history and catches off-season searches. Scale up per pest as each season starts.

Do I need a separate page for every pest?

For every pest you advertise, yes. The page is where the click becomes a call, and a generic page loses most of them.