Van signwriting and Google Ads do different jobs, so it is not really either/or. Van signwriting is a cheap, one-off, always-on local advert that builds trust and name recognition over years, seen by everyone near where you park and work. Google Ads is a switch-on, switch-off, pay-per-click channel that puts you in front of people actively searching right now, and that you can measure precisely. For most trades the honest answer is a smart van plus a small, well-run Google presence, and the real question is whether you can tell which one actually made the phone ring.
Trades ask this a lot, usually framed as "which is better." They are not really competing, they are doing different things, so here is how to think about it.
What van signwriting does
A signwritten van is one of the best-value adverts a trade can buy: pay once, and it advertises you for years, everywhere you drive and park. It works on trust and familiarity, the neighbour who has seen your van outside a job down the road three times feels like they already know you. What it does not do is target people at the exact moment they need you, and it is hard to measure: you rarely know which job came from the van.
What Google Ads does
Google Ads is the opposite in almost every way. It puts you in front of people searching for your trade right now, in your area, so the intent is high. You can turn it on and off, control the budget, and measure it precisely, every click and, if set up properly, every call. The trade-off is that it costs per click, needs managing, and stops the moment you stop paying.
The question almost nobody asks
Here is the point most trades miss when choosing between them: can you actually tell which one worked? If the van and the Google Ads both feed into the same phone number, and someone rings, you have no idea which advert earned that call, so you cannot know which spend to keep. That is what call attribution solves, and it is the difference between guessing and knowing. Even the honest old-fashioned version, asking "how did you hear about us", beats no idea at all.
So where should you spend?
For most trades, both, in proportion: a smart signwritten van as a cheap, permanent local presence, and a small, well-run Google Ads budget for the high-intent searchers, with a way to measure which is actually producing booked jobs. Then you scale the one that works and cut the one that does not, instead of renewing everything on faith. And whichever brings the call in, it only counts if someone answers it.
Frequently asked questions
For most trades, yes: it is cheap over its life and advertises you for years wherever you go. It just cannot be measured or targeted like Google Ads.
Not better, different. Ads target people searching now and are measurable; a van builds local familiarity cheaply over time. Most trades benefit from both.
Use call attribution so you can see which channel produced each booked job, rather than guessing. See call attribution for tradespeople.
Want to know which advert actually makes your phone ring? Talk to Daisy.
Hear Daisy answer a call.
The AI front desk that answers every call, qualifies the job and books it while you stay on the tools. Try to catch her out.