J&F Junk Removal · Birmingham, AL
Why your ads get city trash pickup calls.
People looking for the city’s garbage service were clicking a junk removal company’s ads. Here is what it cost, and what stopped it.
Google Ads by Adimize · Figures pulled November 13, 2026
- spent on city trash and garbage-hauler searches (Jul 16 – Oct 7, 2026)
$534.62
spent on city trash and garbage-hauler searches (Jul 16 – Oct 7, 2026)
- of the visible search-term spend in that period
31.9%
of the visible search-term spend in that period
- on those searches since (Oct 8 – Nov 12, 2026)
$0
on those searches since (Oct 8 – Nov 12, 2026)
The problem
The searches the ads were paying for
Someone who types “amwaste birmingham” wants to know when the city truck comes. Broad keywords let Google show a junk removal ad on that search anyway, and some of those people click and call. Real searches that got paid clicks:
| Date (2026) | What they searched | Cost of the click |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 22 | bulk trash pickup birmingham al | $14.26 |
| Aug 28 | am waste birmingham | $46.67 |
| Sep 4 | republic trash services | $8.80 |
| Sep 9 | waste pro near me | $27.33 |
| Sep 14 | birmingham city trash pick up | $25.64 |
| Sep 16 | birmingham sanitation department | $38.20 |
| Sep 23 | amwaste birmingham al | $77.77 |
| Oct 5 | garbage pick up | $20.66 |
September was the worst month. Half the visible search-term spend went to these searches, and 9 of the account’s 16 recorded conversions that month came from them. The conversion column looked healthy. More than half of it came from people searching for trash pickup.
By month
How much went to trash searches
| Month (2026) | Spent on trash searches | Visible search-term spend | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| July (from Jul 16) | $41.75 | $243.86 | 17.1% |
| August | $86.51 | $608.48 | 14.2% |
| September | $353.48 | $703.67 | 50.2% |
| October | $52.88 | $735.79 | 7.2% |
| November 1–12 | $0.00 | $299.20 | 0% |
Before (Jul 16 – Oct 7, 2026): 27 clicks and $534.62 on trash searches, 31.9% of $1,678.44 in visible search-term spend. The last paid click on one was October 5. After (Oct 8 – Nov 12, 2026): 0 clicks and $0, out of $912.57 and 35 clicks on visible terms. A few trash searches still showed the ad; nobody clicked.
The fix
Exclusions, in writing, with dates
From October 8, a shared exclusion list on both search campaigns blocks these searches. It holds 95 terms, including amwaste, sanitation, city trash, bulk pickup, garbage pick up, waste pro, republic services.
On top of it, Adimize added exact-match exclusions for the stragglers on Oct 15, Oct 19, Oct 27, Nov 4 and Nov 10: searches like “birmingham public works”, “myhooverconnect” and “trash services in my area”.
The check that matters is the search-terms report, every week: what people actually typed before they clicked. A keyword list tells you what you meant to buy. The search terms tell you what you paid for.
In their words
From the owners
“Last month, we generated $5,821.32 in revenue from Google Ads. With the $1,000 Google credit applied, our actual out-of-pocket ad spend was $366.45.”
Jacorie & Felicia Calhoun
J&F Haul and Deliver
Message to Justin, Oct 2026
Another client, about his own ad account:
“Honestly, I had no idea how much had to be rebuilt after everything with the website, so thanks for putting all that work in behind the scenes. It definitely makes me feel a lot better knowing the tracking is finally set up the right way and the account isn't wasting money on junk traffic anymore.”
Cameron Dennison
BullDawgs Junk Removal
Message to Justin, Jul 2026
Methodology
Where every number comes from
Figures from the Google Ads account Adimize manages for J&F Junk Removal, pulled November 13, 2026. The account’s data starts July 16, 2026. Local Services Ads are not run by Adimize and are excluded. Figures cover visible search terms only: Google hides low-volume searches, and visible terms are about half of the account’s search spend. “Trash searches” means searches for a named garbage hauler or a city or county service (AmWaste, Waste Management, Republic, Waste Pro, sanitation, public works) and generic trash, garbage or bulk-pickup searches with no junk, hauling, removal or dump words. The exclusion list’s date comes from its name; Google keeps about 30 days of change history, so we can’t confirm which terms were on it that day, and terms were added later. Over the same weeks the account’s impressions fell and its keywords were restructured (November 4), which also lowers clicks, so we don’t claim the exclusions alone caused the drop. The 9 conversions recorded on trash searches were calls from ads; whether any became a job isn’t known. No revenue claims in our voice; dollar figures in quotes are the owners’ own.
Your turn