We’ve all been there: sitting in front of the computer or scrolling along on your phone and seeing the one-millionth ad of the day. You can often ignore them but sometimes the ads jump out, not because they use bold fonts or bright colors but because you were just thinking about the very same product or service that’s being advertised via PPC.
As the consumer this can feel wild, like the device is inside your head, watching your every move and making note of your every thought. But as a business owner, you should know better.
This is the practice of retargeting ads and it’s a valuable one. No witchcraft of telepathy required.
When you’re paying to advertise your product or service, you want those ads to cut through all the noise and actually reach people who are interested in buying what you’re selling. That’s why you need retargeting.
First, let’s start with a typical series of events without retargeting.
A customer is looking for something similar to what your business provides. They enter some keywords into a search engine and end up on your website. Great news, right? This is a success of SEO and maybe even pay-per-click advertising. Not so quick.
The customer browses around the site, maybe even adds items to their cart or chats with the support, but ultimately leaves without making any purchases.
Without retargeting, this story ends there. So close to making a sale, yet still so far away. It’s frustrating and it can happen over and over again with piles of potential customers slipping through the cracks.
Here’s how the story can end differently, with a happy ending for everyone involved.
The same sequence of events takes place, but in this version, your business practices retargeting.
After the customer leaves your website, they are shown additional ads, often specifically referencing the items or pages they originally viewed on your site. You use the information you gleaned about them to show them just the right ad to make the conversion.
One of these ads catches their attention, so they click on it, come back to the website, and make the purchase, sign up for the email list, fill out a form, whatever the final desired action is. They’re happy, you’re happy; it’s all worked out and the credit goes to retargeting ads.
Although, if you want to tell people it’s all due to your superior business skills and product, we won’t argue.
The simple premise of retargeting is to show potential customers who have expressed some interest in your business highly relevant ads that convert them from potential customers to customers.
This can take a variety of forms so let’s look at some of them and compare.
Pixel marketing is the most common kind of retargeting. And no, it doesn’t mean the ads are blurry and pixelated.
Pixel-based retargeting works by putting a line of code (otherwise known as a pixel) on your website. The pixel then puts an anonymous browser cookie in each of the visitors’ browsers as they come to your website or landing page.
They then leave the site but the pixel allows your ad provider (e.g. Google Ads, Facebook retargeting) to start showing your specific ads to these visitors.
You’ll be able to glean lots of information about visitors to your website through this method and retarget them accordingly. Want to target a visitor who clicked on a specific product page but didn’t follow through to adding to the cart or checking out? You can do it with pixel retargeting.
Sometimes pixel retargeting can come in the form of serving very specific ads showing visitors the exact products they viewed on your site, a practice called dynamic retargeting. It can be beneficial in that potential customers are reminded of the exact thing they were interested in, but some may find it intrusive and disquieting.
List-based retargeting is a more traditional kind of retargeting where you show ads to existing customers or visitors who provided you with some level of personal information like an email address.
You can email these people directly or upload the list to your retargeting platform of choice and have the retargeting campaign address them according to what you already know. It’s a slightly less sophisticated technique but it can still be extremely effective.
The major con with list-based retargeting is that you won’t be able to go after customers who have only minimally engaged with your website, but you can achieve that through other methods.
On-platform retargeting is most used on social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook. If you post a video on Facebook, you can choose to retarget specifically those who watched the majority of the video.
It’s a different way of gathering information on the potential customer’s interest in your business and can also work well.
Showing users things they’ve expressed an interest in is already how these sites work, so your ads will generally fit right in.
Going back to our little story from earlier, what if the customer targeted in the retargeted ad campaign sees the ads for the business they were interested in and decides they aren’t actually interested at all? Isn’t it all a big waste of time and money?
Simply put, no. And there are a few reasons for that.
Marketing and advertising are always going to be a numbers game. There may be lots of fish in the sea but you’re never going to catch them all, even the ones right near your boat.
What you can do is narrow the holes in the net you’re casting so fewer fish get away. But enough with the fish metaphors.
Let’s put it into hard numbers. If you liked math in school, this will be your favorite part.
Website visitors who have been retargeted with display ads are more likely to convert by a whopping 70%. That’s 7-0 percent. Not good enough for you?
How about the fact that retargeted ads have a click-through rate that is 10X higher than regular display ads?
What about the evidence that retargeting campaigns can produce crazy returns on investment, as was the case with one company, Watchfinder, which achieved a 1,300% ROI over six months?
Of course, every business will see different conversion levels with their retargeting campaigns, but the numbers show they can be incredibly effective. So effective, in fact, that you’d really be silly not to get in on the action.
But if you really want to increase the success of your remarketing campaign, follow these tips:
This may be the most important tip of them all, which is why we’ve put it at the top. Do you hear that? If you’re only going to pay attention to one of these, make it this one!
One of the worst things you can do is to bombard potential customers with too many ads. Customers have expressed frustration and annoyance regarding repetitive ads that seem to follow them around wherever they go online.
Don’t be the creepy business harassing would-be customers. It’s not a good look or a good strategy.
On the other side, use too few impressions and your ads may never breakthrough, even to the interested customers you are specifically going after. Show them enough to keep them thinking about your business but not so many you turn them off of it.
Essentially, you want just the right number of impressions. A Goldilocks amount, if you will. Not too many and not too few.
You may think that just because retargeting goes after customers who have already expressed an interest, that the ads don’t have to be as eye-catching the second (and third and …) time around.
Well, cast that thought from your mind. Lock it out and throw away the key.
Ad design will always be important. It may even be more important in retargeting.
You need to make sure the ads are recognizable and tie directly to your brand. Variety in ad type is also valuable here since customers can find the same ad over and over again much less appealing than a bunch of different ones.
This goes with tip #1 but it deserves its own shoutout. Don’t go after recent customers right after they’ve made a purchase.
If a customer is won over by your ads, decides to buy something, and then is immediately inundated with more ads, it will feel more like a punishment than a friendly suggestion.
An annoyed customer is not likely to become a repeat customer. And if you happen to make the critical error of serving them an ad for the very product they just purchased? Forget it.
You should be conscious of where each potential customer is in the sale funnel and make sure that your retargeting campaigns reflect that.
The value of the retargeting campaign compared to any ordinary ad campaign is that you already have additional information about the potential customers and their interest in your business.
Don’t waste that information by doing nothing with it. Create specific ads and different campaigns depending on what level of interaction the customers have engaged in and what product types they showed interest in.
As with any marketing campaign, a critical component is consistent monitoring and evaluation.
Tracking conversions, whichever conversion you’re aiming for, whether it’s sales, email signups, or views, is a great way to know how your retargeting campaign is going.
If something’s not working right, this is how you can find out and fix it. And if everything’s perfect, well, you’ll want to know that, too, so you can keep doing what works.
Find the right metrics that work for you and track them religiously.
As you may be able to see at this point, retargeting, while very beneficial, isn’t always the simplest strategy to implement. There are lots of different factors and best practices to stay on top of to get the process to pay off the way you hope.
If you want to be sure that you get the full rewards of a retargeting ad campaign, go to the professionals.
At PPC.co, we have a team of marketing experts that will help ensure your first-time visitors don’t stay one-time visitors. We do the heavy lifting on the retargeting front so the potential customers who are most likely to make a purchase are right there, ready to be wowed by your business.
Play your cards right and you’ll have swaths of new customers who keep coming back. That’s the potential for a crazy high return on investment.
Don’t leave money on the table by using a poor performing PPC marketing agency. Start using retargeting by engaging our PPC retargeting service.
%201.svg){kind=logo}
When you’re a plumber relying on a steady flow of leads to be profitable, it’s not enough to get your leads through word-of-mouth alone. That may work if you’re only a two-person team, but if you plan to grow your business, you’ll need to start marketing your services, specifically with PPC advertising.
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are a beneficial form of advertising, but they can be a source of leads or a money pit for plumbers. When done right, PPC helps plumbing companies generate targeted leads looking for services, but poorly-crafted PPC campaigns can burn through a budget without results. The good news is with smart targeting, strategic bidding, and continual optimization, plumbers can generate qualified leads at a cost that provides a positive ROI. Here’s how pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is done for lead generation for plumbing businesses.
The biggest mistake plumbers make is targeting a broad area rather than a specific local area. Hitting your target audience by demographic and location will be critical to be most efficient in your PPC ad spend. Even when your company serves customers throughout several counties, you’ll want to create ad campaigns that target each individual city or county. If your ads are reaching people outside of your service area, you’re paying for clicks that won’t turn into paying customers.
An easy way to prevent this problem is to use location targeting inside of your PPC account to set your target location by zip codes, cities, or a custom radius around your main location. This will ensure your ads will only be seen by leads you can actually convert.
You’ll also want to explicitly exclude areas you don’t serve. For example, you might serve a whole county with the exception of a couple cities or neighborhoods because of traffic congestion or licensing issues. Make sure to add these locations as exclusions in your ad campaign settings to avoid wasting money.
The keywords that will bring you the best leads are keywords that signal high intent to purchase. This includes terms like “emergency plumber near me,” “24-hour plumber,” “toilet overflowing fix,” or “fix for busted pipe.” The people who search for these terms aren’t just casual browsers. They’re people who need a plumber immediately.
This type of expert keyword research isn't necessarily rocket science, but it's critical for your rankings in search engine results pages.
Prioritize these keywords and increase your bid to capture more of these leads.
Avoid using the kinds of keywords that will attract people who aren’t likely to hire you for plumbing services. For example, terms like “DIY toilet repair” or “how to fix (fixture)” will rarely lead to calls. People who search for these phrases are usually just looking for ways to fix their own problem, so filter them out.
When people need a plumber, they want to call and get someone out fast, especially if their basement is flooding or they’re dealing with a busted pipe in the house. Google offers call-only ads that let users tap to call you immediately from search results rather than click to visit your website, where they’d need to search for a way to contact you. This ad type alone will increase your conversions.
It’s crucial to use ad tracking tools like Google’s call forwarding or third-party platforms that track which ads generate your phone calls. Knowing what ads are driving your best leads will help you do more of what works and eliminate what doesn’t.
Since most leads will want to call you immediately, only schedule your ads to run when you’ll be available to answer the phone. If you don’t offer 24/7 emergency services and don’t answer your phone at 2 AM, don’t schedule your ads to run until the start of your business day.
Depending on your location and services, you might get more calls on weekdays or weekends. To find out your peak, check your reports to see when you’re getting the most calls and then adjust when you run your ads based on your actual performance data.
Don’t create complicated, wordy ads. Use simple, clear, and direct headlines that speak directly to the problems your leads may be dealing with. They’re going to be drawn to ads that promise to help them with real problems. For example, write headlines like “Broken water heater? Get 24/7 help,” “Clogged drains fixed fast,” and “Overflowing toilet? Get help now.”
In your ad copy, it helps to use location-specific phrases. For example, you might write “Serving Phoenix homes since 2001.” Doing this helps build trust and establishes relevancy.
For Google Ads that send visitors directly to your website, you’ll need to optimize your landing pages for conversion. The following elements are essential:
· Landing page copy that matches your ad. To create a seamless experience, don’t send leads to your home page. Send them to a landing page that matches your ad. For example, if your ad targets people with a clogged drain, ensure your landing page speaks to people with a clogged drain.
· An easy-to-find phone number. Your phone number should be readily visible on every page of your website, including all of your landing pages. The ideal place is in the top right corner of every page header.
· A click-to-call button. It’s easier for mobile leads to click to bring up your phone number in their dial pad rather than forcing them to write down a phone number they’ll need to then dial.
· A call-to-action (CTA). Leads need to be told what to do. Be direct and tell them to call you now for an estimate or to schedule a service call.
Your search ads will only bring you potential leads. Your landing pages are responsible for converting potential customers into paying customers.
To maximize your ROI without wasting money, you’ll want to set a realistic daily budget and scale it only when you know you’re ready. Most local service providers stick with a $10-$50/day budget, but it depends on the industry and your location.
Over time, you’ll find that some campaigns are working better than others. A varied performance can be caused by a variety of factors, and you’ll need to take a close look before making any changes. For example, underperforming keywords and plumbing ads that don’t get many clicks should be paused. However, if your ads are getting clicks, but limited conversions, you’ll want to tweak your landing page copy and/or your offer.
Sometimes irrelevant keyword searches will display your ads, so if you can come up with a list of keywords related to services you don’t provide, you can limit where your ads show up. For example, if you don’t offer sewer camera inspections, make “sewer camera” a negative keyword. If you don’t service septic systems, make “septic” a negative keyword. Doing this will prevent clicks from irrelevant leads.
Local Service Ads appear at the top of Google’s search results above the typical PPC text ads and organic listings. LSAs are pay-per-lead, not pay-per-click, which makes them even more profitable. With LSAs, you only pay when a lead contacts you directly through your ad, either by calling you or messaging you. This is a much safer way to manage your ad spend and generate qualified leads. It’s also an easier way to capture bottom-of-the-funnel leads who need emergency plumbing services.
To set up these ads, head over to Google’s LSA page and click “get started.” You’ll be prompted to go through the setup process, which includes confirming your business eligibility. To complete the process, you’ll need your business license, general liability insurance proof, and at least one Google Business Profile with positive reviews. The system will then ask you to choose the zip codes or cities you serve, list the types of services you provide, and set your weekly budget. Once you submit the form and pass Google’s screening process, you’ll start showing up in results for searches related to your business.
Try to get as many positive reviews on your Google Business Profile as possible since businesses with better reviews tend to rank higher with Local Service Ads. Also, keep in mind that Google tracks your response times, and the faster you reply, the better placement you’ll get. Unlike PPC ads, you can request refunds from leads that aren’t relevant, like leads requesting the wrong services or who are outside your service area.
It’s important to take advantage of these ads because it’s an easy way to get your business listed at the top of search results pages when people search for terms like “plumber near me.” It’s easier than waiting months for SEO to kick in, and it will bring you immediate leads. People will see your reviews and your Google Guaranteed badge, which will boost your credibility.
Getting your business verified by Google will give you a green checkmark next to your business name in your Local Service Ads. It tells customers that Google has personally verified your business, you’ve passed a background check, your insurance has been verified, and Google Ads will back your services with up to $2,000 in reimbursement if a customer isn’t satisfied with your services.
Getting this badge can boost your visibility and credibility, which can get you more clicks, leads, and paying customers. It will also help you rank higher in the list of LSAs.
To get this green checkmark, you need to get approved for Google LSAs. Once you’re approved for LSAs, you’ll get the “Google Guaranteed” checkmark badge automatically. Just make sure you renew your insurance policy on time, maintain a high review rating, and keep responding to leads quickly. If you don’t maintain these things, Google Ads might remove your badge.
You can’t improve what you don’t track. Track your critical metrics, including call tracking, form tracking, and chat tracking. Run regular reports and check in with your ad campaign performance on a regular basis. It will take a little bit of time to gather enough data to make informed decisions, but the sooner you catch underperforming ads, the sooner you can make necessary changes.
It’s important to split test ads to see what elements drive the most conversions. Split testing, also called A/B testing, is where you run two nearly identical ads, but with one small difference between them. The difference could be a headline, colors, an image, the main copy, or the CTA. Once you run the ads long enough, take the winning ad and change one more element to test. Repeat this process by changing just one element at a time to see which version performs better. Use Google keyword planner to help navigate this. When done correctly, your clicks should increase over time.
Getting satisfied customers to review you is crucial, and as previously discussed, it can impact how your Local Service Ads show up. Reviews can also impact how you show up in the Local Pack. The more high-quality, genuine, recent reviews you have, the more likely you are to show up in search results. You’re also more likely to get clicks.
Positive reviews act as social proof that helps customers choose which business to call. You could have the best ad copy in the world, but if your competitor has 150 five-star reviews and you only have 6 reviews from 2019, customers will choose them over you.
It’s easy to get clicks, but getting real leads from search engines– the kind that book your plumbing services – takes work. For plumbers, a strong PPC strategy can make the difference between getting steady jobs or wasting cash. By targeting high intention search terms, targeting narrow service areas, and optimizing your ads, you can create high-performing ads that deliver real results without burning through your marketing budget.
Lead generation is critical for your plumbing business, but when done without a positive return on investment, it's foolish.
Whether you’re new to PPC ads, or you’re tired of wasting money on ads that don’t generate calls, we’d love to help you get real results. Our PPC experts specialize in helping local service businesses in the plumbing industry just like yours attract high intent plumbing leads, reduce wasted ad spend, and grow predictable revenue.
Contact us now for a free evaluation for your lead generation strategies, PPC campaigns and search engine optimization services – we’d love to help.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is the lifeblood of modern digital marketing, a finely tuned machine designed to separate serious advertisers from those who enjoy setting their money on fire. At its core, PPC is about buying attention—whether it’s from Google Ads, Facebook (or should we say Meta?) Ads, LinkedIn’s overpriced clicks, or whatever ad network is currently promising “unprecedented results.” The trick, of course, is making sure that the attention you’re paying for actually turns into conversions, and not just a collection of clicks that lead nowhere.
This guide is for marketers who already know the basics and are ready to squeeze every last drop of ROI from their PPC campaigns. If you’re looking for a “Beginner’s Guide to Google Ads,” this isn’t it. But if you’re tired of watching your ad spend disappear into the void and want to start running PPC like a ruthless efficiency machine, read on.
There’s nothing quite as tragic as a PPC campaign with no clear objective. Running ads without goals is like throwing darts blindfolded—sure, you might hit the board occasionally, but mostly you’re just making a mess. Before you even think about setting up a campaign, define what success looks like. Are you driving leads? Pushing e-commerce sales? Increasing brand awareness (ugh, we’ll get to why that’s usually a waste of money later)? If your goal is just “more clicks,” congratulations—you’ve just fallen for the ultimate PPC scam: paying for traffic that doesn’t convert.
Every campaign should have a quantifiable, measurable outcome tied to business KPIs. That means actual revenue, leads that don’t ghost you, or at the very least, cost per acquisition (CPA) that doesn’t make your CFO break out in hives.
Google Ads is the undisputed king of PPC, but let’s not pretend it’s the only game in town. Depending on your audience and objectives, Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) can still be a goldmine—if you’re willing to put up with Meta’s ever-changing rules and the occasional algorithmic meltdown. LinkedIn Ads? Great if you enjoy paying $12 per click for someone who will never fill out your lead form.
And then there’s the rising trend of alternative ad platforms. TikTok Ads are fantastic if you’re targeting Gen Z and have the budget to experiment. Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads) may be the underdog, but they offer cheaper CPCs and a surprising number of high-intent users. If you’re in e-commerce, don’t ignore Amazon Ads—they print money for sellers who get their targeting right.
Google would love for you to just use broad match keywords and let their algorithm “figure things out.” Spoiler alert: this is a terrible idea. Broad match means your ad could show up for searches so unrelated to your business that it’s practically performance art.
Instead, focus on high-intent keywords—the ones that indicate users are actually ready to buy. Long-tail keywords often convert better because they signal more specific intent. The goal is not just to drive traffic, but to attract users who already have their wallets half-open.
Want to know what works? Look at your competitors. Tools like SEMrush, SpyFu, and Google’s Auction Insights let you see what keywords they’re bidding on, which ones they’re ranking for, and—most importantly—where they’re burning money so you don’t have to.
If a competitor is bidding on specific high-intent keywords, that’s your signal to investigate. Either they’re seeing a positive ROI, or they’re making an expensive mistake that you can learn from. Either way, it’s free intelligence.
Great PPC ads aren’t just about catchy headlines—they’re about aligning with search intent, making a compelling offer, and convincing users that clicking your ad is the smartest decision they’ll make today. A well-optimized ad uses clear, persuasive language with a direct CTA, because vague CTAs like “Learn More” are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
A/B testing is non-negotiable. Your gut instinct is probably wrong, so test different headlines, CTAs, and descriptions to see what actually drives conversions. If you’re not actively testing, you’re just guessing.
You have about three seconds to convince visitors that they made the right choice clicking your ad. If your landing page loads slowly, looks like it was designed in 2008, or makes users hunt for the CTA, they’re gone.
Your landing page should have a singular focus: conversion. That means no distractions, no unnecessary links, and definitely no autoplay videos that scare people away. A strong landing page aligns perfectly with the ad copy, ensuring a seamless experience from click to conversion.
Nothing kills conversion rates faster than misleading ad-to-landing page alignment. If your ad promises “50% off running shoes” and your landing page is a generic homepage with no mention of that discount, expect a bounce rate that makes your campaign ROI cry. Every landing page should reinforce the ad message, use clear headlines, and make it painfully easy for users to complete the desired action. If a user has to think, they’re already gone.
If you’re still using manual CPC bidding across all campaigns, congratulations—you’re officially working harder, not smarter. Google’s automated bidding strategies have their place, but blindly trusting the algorithm is like handing your credit card to a stranger and hoping for the best.
Smart bidding, when done correctly, can optimize conversions and lower CPA, but it requires constant monitoring. Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and Maximize Conversions can be effective, but only if you have historical data to feed the algorithm. If you’re running a new campaign, manual bidding still gives you more control.
Running PPC without proper tracking is like driving blindfolded and hoping you’ll reach your destination. You need to track not just clicks, but actual conversions, customer lifetime value (CLV), and return on ad spend (ROAS). Google Ads’ built-in tracking is decent, but combining it with Google Analytics, heatmaps, and call tracking will give you a full picture of what’s working.
Scaling PPC isn’t as simple as increasing your budget and watching conversions skyrocket. If you scale too fast, you’ll tank your ROI. The right approach is incremental scaling—gradually increasing spend while monitoring CPA and conversion rates. If your CPA starts climbing faster than your revenue, it’s time to reassess. And if your PPC manager insists that “everything is going great” while your ROAS tells a different story? It might be time for a new PPC manager.
