Where to look, in three seconds
On a phone, the marker is at the very top of the listing block, above the site name, set in small bold text. On a desktop it sits in the same place, to the left of or above the web address. Google's own advertiser documentation shows the format: an "Ad" marker followed by a separator, then the address. Google has used both "Ad" and "Sponsored" over the years and the wording changes from time to time, but the position does not.
Three practical habits:
- Read the first two lines of the listing, not the headline. The marker is always in the top line of the block, and it is the only reliable signal. Domain names are not a signal, and neither is how professional the listing looks.
- Scroll to the bottom too. Paid results appear above and below the ranked ones. The block at the foot of page one is the same kind of result as the block at the top.
- Count. On a contested emergency term in London, you can be four or five listings down before you reach anything that was not paid for. That is not a trick, it is simply how many advertisers are bidding.
UK advertising rules require this labelling rather than leaving it to preference. The CAP Code, which governs non-broadcast advertising in the UK, opens its recognition section with the rule that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such. The label exists because it is required to.
The three blocks on a leak search, and what each one is
| Block | How a business gets there | What it tells you |
|---|
| Sponsored results, top and bottom | Bids in an auction, pays per click | They wanted this search term enough to pay for it |
| Map pack, the three listings with the map | A Business Profile, ranked on relevance, distance and prominence | They are physically near you and have an established profile |
| Ordinary ranked results | Google's ranking of the page itself | Google judged the page a good answer to the search |
The map pack confuses people most, because it looks commercial and sits high. It is not paid placement. Google's guidance on local ranking is direct about it: local results are ordered on relevance, distance and prominence, and "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google". A map listing that appears for you in Clapham may not appear for someone searching the same words in Enfield, because distance is one of the three factors.
One wrinkle worth knowing: there are paid formats that sit within or alongside the map area, and they carry the same marker as any other ad. If the block is labelled, it was bought. If it is not, it was not.
What none of it tells you
This is the part that matters more than the labelling. Position tells you how a listing got there. It tells you nothing about who will arrive at your door.
- A sponsored result can be an excellent local firm. A business that started this year has no ranked pages and no established profile. Bidding is how it gets seen at all. Ranking is partly a function of age, and age is not competence.
- An organic result can be a long way from you. Ranking pages does not require being nearby. A firm that ranks nationally may subcontract your job to someone local you have never heard of.
- A map listing is near you, which is genuinely useful, and is also the block where distance does most of the work. Near is not the same as right for the job.
The distinction that actually changes your quote
Not paid against ranked. It is whether the listing belongs to the firm that will attend, or to an intermediary that will pass you on.
Three kinds of thing appear in a leak search and they behave differently:
- The firm itself. You ring them, they attend, they do the work, they carry the liability. One organisation from the call to the finished floor.
- A directory or marketplace. Your enquiry is distributed to member firms, who typically pay either a membership fee or a fee per lead. You may be contacted by several, and the firm that eventually attends is carrying the cost of being sent to you.
- A booking or dispatch brand. A single brand takes the call and allocates the work to a network of engineers or subcontractors. From your side it looks like one firm. The engineer who arrives may be self-employed and working to that brand's rate card.
None of these is illegitimate and all three can end with a good repair. But they price differently, and the person you spoke to is not always the person who turns up. We have set out how each model is paid and what it does to a quote separately, because it is the bigger of the two questions.
How to tell which one you are looking at, before you ring
- Does the site name a specific company, with a company number and a registered address in the footer, or does it describe "approved local experts"?
- Does it say who attends, or does it say you will be "matched" or "connected"?
- Does the enquiry form ask for your postcode and your job details before it gives you any way to speak to anyone?
- Does it quote a rate, or only promise a quote?
Plural, vague language about a network is not a warning sign of dishonesty. It is an accurate description of a different business model, and it is telling you what it is.
When to just click the ad
When water is coming in. If there is an active leak, click whatever puts a competent engineer in your hallway soonest, and sort the rest out later. The cost structure behind the listing is an interesting question at eleven in the morning and an irrelevant one when a ceiling is filling.
The rest of the time, the two minutes it takes to work out who owns the listing is the cheapest two minutes in the whole job. If you want to know what those sponsored positions cost to hold, we have published the measured London click prices and the arithmetic. And when you are ready to ring anyone, including us, there is a list of questions worth asking first.
