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Complete Guide to Local PPC: How to Target for Local Paid Search

Samuel Edwards
|
October 11, 2022

Scaling and growing a PPC campaign is all finding areas for growth in relation to getting the most conversions for every dollar spent.

Believe it or not, many successful PPC campaigns waste hundreds and even thousands of dollars on wasted impressions.

In other words, they’re not ready to effectively scale.

This means that even if your local campaigns are acquiring thousands of impressions every week, your local PPC ads could be potentially falling on blind eyes and deaf ears.

Looking into every impression you receive is difficult, if not downright impossible.

Importance of PPC

Local businesses, in particular, are more fulfilled when they can convert ad impressions into foot traffic.

In paid search, optimizing PPC campaigns to achieve this goal is called local PPC.

A local PPC ad involves a lot of refinement around optimizing your local PPC ads for nearby searches to compel viewers to visit a location instead of a website.

This is done mainly through geotargeting.

If you’re not familiar, local PPC can be a complicated topic. However, like local SEO, local PPC isn’t as meticulous when you understand the benefits of geotargeting.

As such, this guide will explain all you need to know about both subjects.

What is Local PPC?

To better understand local PPC, let’s provide an example.

Let’s say that you’re at home and want to order takeout for dinner. As you’re searching for restaurants online, you come across an ad for one of your favorite local restaurants that has begun to offer delivery.

Intrigued with the idea of having your food delivered, you click the ad and immediately place your order. As simple as this example sounds, this is what local PPC is. Even with a tight budget, a defined local PPC strategy can help you get your local search ads right in front of prospects with strong buyer’s intent.

With that said, local PPC is a paid search campaign that’s designed to target individuals within a specific region.

You can run these local PPC campaigns on both social media platforms and search engines, primarily through Google and Facebook Ads.

With local PPC, you only pay when a person clicks on your ad, so you have to be careful about who you’re targeting. Wasted conversions on people outside of your scope of service can result in an inflated budget over time.

Thus, the benefits of local PPC are:

Operating Relevant Ads:

With a local PPC strategy, your ads will only show up in front of people who are the most interested in your products and services, mainly because you control who your ads target.

Ideally, your ads should only target people who can benefit from your business. Since your local PPC campaigns is–by definition–local, you won’t have to compete with corporate enterprises. This means bidding won’t be as intensive, and you can actually stretch your marketing dollars to achieve even more conversions.

A successful local PPC campaign will endure less competition, in addition to more impressions and conversions.

Improving Brand Awareness:

As a local business running local business PPC, make sure potential customers and local searchers know you exist is paramount. By running local PPC campaign, you can improve your brand awareness in your community.

Increasing Conversions:

As online shopping becomes more popular, it’s never been more important to run a local PPC campaign. When your ads show up to relevant/target audience, they’ll be much more likely to convert since you’re targeting qualified leads instead of unrefined prospects.

Highly Trackable:

Fortunately, local PPC ads are more measurable than other local marketing techniques, such as flyers and banners. By using these ads, you can more accurately track impressions, clicks, and conversions.

Low Competition:

One of the most frustrating aspects of running a nationwide PPC campaign is measuring up to enterprises with larger budgets. What makes matters worse is that you could be up against a fierce competitor that’s receiving help from a top-tier digital marketing agency.

In local PPC, you’ll simply be pitted against other nearby businesses. This means you should know your competitive landscape better. Thus, it’s possible to achieve more success running a local PPC campaign compared to a broader one.

How to Set Up a Local PPC Strategy

Now that you know what local PPC is and why it’s important, it’s now time to begin putting in the work to create an effective strategy. Here are some proven ways to get started:

Make Your Location Specific

When you decide to set up your campaign, make sure that your location is highly specific before moving forward. For example, you should even use your zip code to define your local services ads area.

With that said, it’s also important to include areas where you don’t do local business PPC to avoid targeting the wrong prospects. When you include a specific location, your campaign and budget becomes more efficient since your ads won’t reach people who can’t use your service.

Use Local Phrases with Targeted Keywords:

The phrases you use in your PPC ads should also be highly specific and relevant to the location where you’re doing local business PPC. For this step, you can use Google Trends to see if people in your area are using “Chinese takeout” instead of “Chinese food near me.”

Also, make sure to include your service location in your ad. By including your city name in the headline and copy of your ad can disqualify ineligible prospects from clicking on your ad.

That way, you can save money by never paying for clicks from someone who’ll never convert. Using hyper-local phrases along with targeted keywords is the key to a successful strategy.

Always Test and Optimize:

Running a local PPC campaign makes it simple to immediately test and optimize your ads based on real-time results. It’s important to stay vigilant and adapt your ads to changes in its performance, whether positive or negative.

During tests, you can perform A/B tests to conduct side-by-side comparisons to different aspects of your ads, such as headlines, copy, and call-to-actions (CTAs).

Use SEO for Inspiration:

If you are already running an effective SEO campaign, you should write down your high-performance local PPC keywords and begin targeting them in your local PPC strategy. For example, if a certain keyword performs well for organic search, it may produce the same results for paid search.

You can gain incredible insights into the best-performing keywords people are using to find your website in Google Search Console. You can also use tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush.

Remember, SEO vs. PPC is not a mutually exclusive strategy!

Create Ad Extensions:

By enabling ad extensions, you can add a lot of important details about your local business to your local PPC campaign. The more details you can add, the better your ads will perform.

Thus, you’ll get the most bang for your buck. The two types of ad extensions you should consider are for your phone number and location. This way, you can add your phone number and address to your ads so your leads can contact you directly.

Before you set up any ad extensions, ensure that your Google My Business (GMB) profile is up-to-date with accurate information. Your campaign will pull your data from your GMB profile.

These buttons make it easier for people to contact your business outright instead of visiting your website.

Use Other PPC Tools:

Again, you can run a local PPC campaign on both search engines and social media platforms. Try using both Facebook and Google Ads. Google Ads is clearly the most widely-used online advertising platform in the world.

Facebook Ads are just as recognizable, especially if your target demographics are constantly using Facebook in the first place.

Create a Landing Page:

Having a designated page that can convert qualified leads is key to making sure you aren’t wasting your money on ads that aren’t following through. This is called a landing page.

Instead of linking your ads to your website URL, use a landing page instead. This page should:

  • Briefly list the most important details about your business, products, and services.
  • Explain all of the benefits and features of your offering.
  • Communicate through relatable copy your audience will understand.

You may have to hire a copywriter and UI designer, but the ROI you can achieve from creating a landing page can be extremely beneficial to your bottom line.

What is Geotargeting?

Geotargeting is often synonymous with local PPC, and that’s for a great reason. Geographic ad targeting, or geotargeting for short, is an advertising strategy where the advertiser can choose specific locations where their ads will appear.

Geotargeting is popular on virtually any online advertising platform, from Google Ads to LinkedIn ads. The purpose of geotargeting is to place your ads in locations where prospects are more likely to convert, improving the ROI of your ad budget.

Here is what a sample geo-targeted ad looks like:

Geotargeted PPC Ads

The good news for advertisers is that geotargeting is a rather simple concept. With this feature, your ads can trace the most qualified leads based on:

  • Wi-Fi signals
  • Bluetooth
  • Cell tower IDs
  • IP addresses
  • Phone GPS

One of the most exciting facts about geotargeting is that your net can be as narrow and wide as you want. Below are some of the examples of geographical categories you can target in your ads:

Countries:

This is the widest range you’ll ideally want to target. Outside of this range, your ads won’t be considered local, and then you’ll be bidding against global competitors. In any case, you use this category to address concerns your audience may be facing, such as 24-hour customer service and worldwide shipping.

Areas Within Countries:

If you’re still trying to reach a large audience but the “countries” range is too wide, then you can settle for this category instead. For this category, you can target specific provinces, regions, and states.

Location Radius:

This is the perfect setting for local PPC ads. In this category, you can target leads (via location extensions) in specific radiuses and proximities from your business, rather than casting a wide net in regions and cities.

In fact, targeting a radius is best for driving foot traffic when you’re offering delivery services. The only caveat is that you must meet a certain threshold of traffic when targeting specific radiuses.

This means that if your target range is too small, your ads may not be seen at all, and you’ll just waste your time. On the other hand, if your target range is too large, then you could be targeting people who aren’t going to travel to visit your business.

Geo-Targeting Best Practices and Tips

Geo-Targeting Best Practices and Tips

If you’re going to use geotargeting to refine your ad reach, here are some effective strategies for getting the job done:

Optimize Your Ads Accordingly:

Brick-and-mortar stores often use location-specific ads to drive foot traffic. If you’re following this successful PPC strategy, take it a step further and create time-specific ads as well. For example, if your business is open at specific times, optimize your ads accordingly.

If you’re drawing a lot of visitors to your restaurant during lunch hours but want the same results for breakfast, then set your ads earlier in the day to accomplish this goal.

Test Your Campaign Changes Before Scaling:

When you’re using geotargeting to segment your campaigns, this opens up the door of possibilities regarding the different aspects you can test, such as:

  • Exclusive deals
  • Headlines
  • New copy

However, this is only on a limited scale. If you’re not sure how your campaign will perform, you can test your ad to specific markets before it goes live.

Make Sure Your Locations are Correct:

This tip may seem very basic, but do you understand how many location names are similar in any given city. When you misspell or use the wrong location name, your ads aren’t going to give mixed signals.

As such, make sure that your locations are very specific and accurate before running them.

Do You Need Help With Local PPC?

As you can see, local PPC isn’t too difficult to understand. However, if you really want to establish a competitive advantage in your industry, you should hire a qualified PPC agency to run your ads.

Whether your ads aren’t reaching your target audience or you’re spending too much money, we can help. Contact us today to speak to a member of our team and receive a free proposal.

Author
Recent Posts

Samuel Edwards

Chief Marketing Officer

Throughout his extensive 10+ year journey as a digital marketer, Sam has left an indelible mark on both small businesses and Fortune 500 enterprises alike. His portfolio boasts collaborations with esteemed entities such as NASDAQ OMX, eBay, Duncan Hines, Drew Barrymore, Price Benowitz LLP, a prominent law firm based in Washington, DC, and the esteemed human rights organization Amnesty International. In his role as a technical SEO and digital marketing strategist, Sam takes the helm of all paid and organic operations teams, steering client SEO services, link building initiatives, and white label digital marketing partnerships to unparalleled success. An esteemed thought leader in the industry, Sam is a recurring speaker at the esteemed Search Marketing Expo conference series and has graced the TEDx stage with his insights. Today, he channels his expertise into direct collaboration with high-end clients spanning diverse verticals, where he meticulously crafts strategies to optimize on and off-site SEO ROI through the seamless integration of content marketing and link building.

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Author

Samuel Edwards

Chief Marketing Officer

Throughout his extensive 10+ year journey as a digital marketer, Sam has left an indelible mark on both small businesses and Fortune 500 enterprises alike. His portfolio boasts collaborations with esteemed entities such as NASDAQ OMX, eBay, Duncan Hines, Drew Barrymore, Price Benowitz LLP, a prominent law firm based in Washington, DC, and the esteemed human rights organization Amnesty International. In his role as a technical SEO and digital marketing strategist, Sam takes the helm of all paid and organic operations teams, steering client SEO services, link building initiatives, and white label digital marketing partnerships to unparalleled success. An esteemed thought leader in the industry, Sam is a recurring speaker at the esteemed Search Marketing Expo conference series and has graced the TEDx stage with his insights. Today, he channels his expertise into direct collaboration with high-end clients spanning diverse verticals, where he meticulously crafts strategies to optimize on and off-site SEO ROI through the seamless integration of content marketing and link building.

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Timothy Carter
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April 28, 2025
The Electrician’s Guide to Running PPC Ads That Actually Bring In Paying Customers

Staying profitable as an electrician requires generating a steady stream of hot leads you can turn into paying customers, but being a highly skilled electrician isn’t enough. You need a strategy to put your services in front of potential customers precisely when they need electrical work, and that’s what pay-per-click (PPC) ads are for.

Pay-per-click advertising gives you a direct route to the top of search results, ensuring visibility exactly when potential clients are actively seeking your services. And unlike traditional advertising, PPC ads can use precision targeting to reach leads that are most likely to convert.

As of 2024, the average conversion rate for Google Ads was 6.96%, which is considered above average. With a high conversion rate and plenty of users, it makes sense to run ads on Google. It’s also worth looking at other platforms, like Facebook and Bing (Microsoft Ads).

Although many businesses get results, success is not automatic. Running a PPC ad campaign can be a great source of leads, but it can also become a money pit if you don’t do it correctly. Here’s what you need to know when your goal is to generate paying customers through PPC without wasting your marketing budget.

Pay-Per-Click advertising basics

Before diving into specific strategies, it’s important to understand the basics of PPC ads. PPC is an advertising model where you pay a fee every time someone clicks on your ad. It’s a quick way to get traffic to your website. And unlike search engine optimization (SEO), you’ll start seeing results immediately. Generally speaking, the system will display your ads for users who search for phrases related to the keywords you designate. If they click, you pay.

Why is PPC effective for electricians?

Electrical work is a competitive market, and unless you have a huge marketing budget for SEO, it’s hard to get visibility in the search results. Running paid ads on Google and social media platforms bypasses the need to pay for SEO to start getting traffic. Since ads show up at the top of the search results, leads looking for electrical services will see your ad right away. And when you target the right keywords and phrases, you’ll catch leads who need your services now.

Now let’s get into how to build a successful PPC campaign.

Set clear goals for your PPC campaign

Clear objectives are the foundation of every PPC campaign, so set advertising goals that align with your business goals. For example, it could be as simple as figuring out how many new customers you want each month and then setting goals to acquire that many new customers through PPC ads.

Research keywords to target the right search queries

Targeting the right search queries is arguably one of the most important aspects of running a PPC ad campaign. Not all keywords related to electrical work will generate paying clients. You want to focus on phrases that indicate a strong intent to hire, like “emergency electrician near me” or “licensed electrician in [city].” Some other examples include:

·  “Residential electrician”

·  “Commercial electrician”

·  “24 hour electrician”

·  “Electrical contractor”

·  “Electrician services”

·  “Same day electrician”

·  “House rewire”

·  “Electrical inspection”

·  “Electrical maintenance”

You can create variations of these phrases with other phrases like “near me” or using zip codes, counties, and cities.

Once you have a list of keywords and phrases to target, you’ll also want to build a list of negative keywords. Negative keywords are terms you want to exclude so your ads don’t show up for those searches. These are terms that are going to waste your ad spend if you get clicks. Some examples include:

·  “DIY”

·  “How to”

·  “Free”

·  “Discount”

·  Other services, like “HVAC,” “handyman,” “plumbing,” and “drywall”

·  Informational queries, like “how to wire an outlet” or “wiring diagrams”

It also helps to add negative keywords for cities, zip codes, or neighborhoods you don’t service, especially if they’re within your general area.

Craft compelling ad copy

Your ads need to resonate with your ideal lead, so your copy matters. You need a strong headline to capture attention and a compelling call-to-action (CTA) that gets them to click. A strong CTA can increase your click-through rate by 2.8%.

You already know your best leads need electrical work, but you still need to write convincing copy that creates a sense of urgency. For example, you could emphasize what sets your services apart, like having 24/7 availability. Your CTA should encourage immediate action, and the following phrases are a great place to start:

·   Call now for a free estimate

·   Call now to schedule your service

·   Book now

·   Get a free quote

·   Call now for immediate service

Well-crafted copy will get you more clicks from customers who will actually sign up for your services and become paying customers.

An example of good ad copy that will generate clicks from people who need your services:

“Need fast, reliable electrical repairs? Licensed electricians. Same-day service available. No hidden fees. Call now for a free quote!”

An example of ad copy that may attract casual interest:

“Fast, affordable service. Licensed and insured electricians. Call us today.”

Use the right visuals

The images you use with your ads matter just as much as the copy, but don’t go overboard trying to capture attention with chaotic or random images. Sometimes the best imagery is just bold text with a simple visual. If you aren’t sure what images to use, test some out and see for yourself.

Use retargeting to reengage leads

Retargeting, also called remarketing, is when you show ads only to people who have previously interacted with your ads or visited your website. Remarketing will keep warm leads aware of your services and can eventually get them to convert. Sometimes people need to see ads from the same company or advertising the same service a handful of times before they’ll convert.

The best part about retargeting is being able to craft your ads with different messages that only retargeting leads will see. This allows you to employ some advanced marketing strategies that utilize highly specific copy.

Use social proof in your ads

Trust is one of the top factors that a homeowner uses to hire an electrician. According to a Podium study, 93% of customers say online reviews impact their decision to buy. Take advantage of this and include customer testimonials in your ads. It will show prospects that other people have had positive experiences with your company and are satisfied with your services. Give people a reason to feel good about clicking your ad or calling you right away.

Get activity on your Facebook ads

We just covered the importance of social proof, and getting activity on your Facebook ads can be an extension of that. This works best for local companies that have an active presence in their community, so if you don’t already have a following, you’ll need to create one first.

If you have a decent amount of followers on Facebook, and you interact with people in your community through your business page, engage with people on posts about your services and then boost those posts to turn them into ads. Boosted posts work a little differently than ads, but the result is the same – locals will see them, and the more positive engagement you have on those posts, the better it makes you look.

Design effective landing pages

Strong, compelling ad copy is important, but once people click on your ad, your landing page is responsible for converting them into a phone call. An effective landing page has the following elements and qualities:

·  The content matches the ad’s message and offer, creating a seamless experience

·  It’s not your homepage (homepages are too general)

·  Specific copy that speaks directly to your customer’s needs

·  A clear CTA that instructs the user to act now

·  A clearly visible phone number

·  Trust signals, like badges and certifications, testimonials, and customer reviews

Target local customers

Your services are location specific, so make sure your ads reach the right geographic audience. Whatever platforms you advertise on, set your ads to reach people in your service area, whether it’s done by zip codes, specific cities, or a set radius around your main address.

Set a realistic budget

You don’t need to spend a fortune, but you do need to set a decent daily budget to get seen. By fine-tuning your keywords and phrases, you can ensure you don’t waste your ad spend. Begin by setting your daily budget to at least $50 per day, if not $100. If you go lower than $50, your ads won’t show up as often (because you’ll be outbid by other electricians) and that will mean fewer clicks.

Employ the right bidding strategies

When you’re new to PPC, you’ll need time to play with your bidding strategies to see what works. Your options include manual CPC, enhanced CPC, and automated bidding strategies like target CPA.

·  Manual CPC: You set the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for each click. This seems easy at first, but it limits you in the end. You’ll need to babysit your bids constantly or you risk overpaying or underbidding and never getting seen. This method works best if you know the exact worth of a click.

·  Enhanced CPC: With this method, you still set your bids manually, but the ad platform will nudge your bids up or down depending on whether the system thinks a click is more or less likely to convert. The system uses past conversion data to make these decisions, but it’s not perfect.

·  Automated bidding: This method gives the system total control over your cost per click. You basically tell the ad platform what you want to pay for each lead and it will increase your bids up to that amount if it thinks a user is highly likely to convert. If a particular user is less likely to convert, the system will either lowball the bid or skip the auction altogether. This method saves time and scales better, but can waste your budget if you don’t have proper tracking and keywords.

If you’re still new to PPC, stick to manual CPC. However if you’ve been using PPC for a while then enhanced PPC might make sense. And unless you’re a PPC pro, it’s best to skip the automated bidding or hire a marketing agency.

Monitor your ad performance

You can’t improve what you aren’t tracking. A successful PPC campaign rests on how well you track your efforts. From the start, monitor your click-through rate (CTR), conversion rates, and cost per conversion to know how your ads are performing. It’s equally important to split test your ads to test different ad headlines, images, copy, CTAs, and even landing pages.

Use ad extensions

Ad extensions are extra bits of information you can add that make them more enticing without paying more per click. For example, on some platforms, you can add a phone number, your location, a list of services, or special offers without having to cram everything into your main ad text. One big benefit of this feature is that Google rewards ads that it thinks are more useful with better positions and a lower cost per click.

Types of PPC ad extensions include:

·  Sitelink extensions. Adds extra clickable links under your main ad that can be used to direct leads to your highest-converting landing pages.

For example:

“Electrical Repairs | Panel Upgrades | Emergency Services | Free Estimates”

·  Call extensions. Adds your phone number to your ad. On mobile, users can click to call you. These ads should only be run during business hours since it will generate phone calls.

·  Location extensions. Shows your business address and a map link. It will boost your credibility if you link your Google Business Profile in this type of ad.

·  Callout extensions. This adds short, non-clickable text snippets that highlight features.

For example:

“Licensed & Insured” | “Same-Day Service” | “No Hidden Fees”

·  Structured snippet extensions. These are similar to callouts, but are grouped under a main header like “Services.” This is great to show leads the variety of services you offer. For example, a “Services” header might list “Wiring, Rewiring, Electrical Inspections, Smart Home Installation”

·  Price extensions. This will show the price of a specific package or service. For example: “Electrical Inspection – Starting at $99”

·  Promotion extensions. This highlights sales or special deals, like limited-time offers or holiday discounts. Promotions are great when you include a deadline to create a sense of urgency.

Ad extensions can help you get more clicks, boost your ad rank, reduce your cost per click, filter your traffic, and boost your trustworthiness. At the very least, you should be using sitelinks, call extensions, and callouts.

Already running a PPC ad campaign? Get an audit

Getting a PPC audit will help you get better results. If you’re unsure about your strategy, experimenting, or you aren’t getting good results, an audit from a professional PPC agency can help you pinpoint exactly what isn’t working and offer a more effective strategy.

Dominate your local market with PPC.co

Generating leads with PPC doesn’t require throwing mountains of cash at Google and hoping for the best. It’s about reaching the right people at the right time – people who need electrical work now – with a message that gets them to call you. Done right, paid ads will bring you a steady stream of hot leads, booked jobs, and predictable cash flow.

At PPC.co, we specialize in building high-performing PPC campaigns for electricians who want to grow their business. When you work with us, we’ll craft ads that attract people ready to hire you today.

Ready to see how it works? Contact us today to request a free proposal. You don’t need more clicks – you need more calls. Let’s make it happen. 

Samuel Edwards
|
April 25, 2025
High-Performance PPC for Roofing Contractors: A Tactical Guide to Lead Generation

Roofing is competitive, and if you want to scale your business, you need high visibility. Word-of-mouth will only get you so far – to get big results, you need to actively market your services.

The majority of your potential customers aren’t just casually browsing around – they need your services now. While some people will be looking for a new roof before there’s an emergency, those people aren’t feeling any sense of urgency and are less likely to buy. Your ideal, most profitable customers are dealing with urgent problems like shingles ripped off in a storm, water leaks or stains on the ceiling, and damage from trees. To capture these customers, your roofing business needs to show up in a Google search, and that’s where pay-per-click ads (PPC) come into play.

When you use PPC ads, you’ll show up at the very top of the page above organic search results. That means your customers don’t have to scroll to find you. All you need is a compelling ad that leads to a landing page that converts clicks into cash.

PPC advertising is the easiest way to get visibility in Google search results, but only if you do it right. Done wrong, PPC ads are a money pit. Done correctly, PPC ads can become a lead-generating machine.

This guide will walk you through a proven, high-performance PPC strategy tailored for roofing contractors ready to scale.

Understand the true value of PPC

PPC ads are a roofing contractor’s best online advertising method. While search engine optimization (SEO) is powerful – especially with local SEO – it takes time to see results. PPC gets you results (clicks, paying customers) now, putting your roofing business in front of hot leads the moment they search for your services.

Just like local SEO, you can use local-intent keywords with your PPC ad campaigns to create a higher conversion rate. Since roofing services are local, you’ll want to target specific zip codes or service areas to make sure your ads reach the right people in the areas you serve.

Successful PPC begins with search intent

Search intent consists of two things: keywords and urgency. Let’s break these down:

·  Commercial v. informational intent. The keywords people use will tell you everything you need to know about their intent. While some people are only looking for information, others are searching for services. For example, phrases like “roof leak repair near me” is gold. “How to fix a leaky roof” is not. Focus your ad budget on high-converting, purchase-intent queries. Another good phrase to bid on is “[your company] reviews.”

·  How to use match types. When running paid ads, you can choose broad match or phrase and exact match. Broad match will waste your budget because it will include a ton of unrelated queries. Stick to phrase match and exact match to zero in on qualified traffic, and then refine your campaign through negative keywords.

High-intent keyword examples

If you aren’t sure what phrases are considered high-intent, here’s a simple list you can use as a starting point:

·  Emergency roof repair near me

·  Roof repair [city or zip code]

·  Roofing companies in [city or zip code]

·  Licensed roofers near me

·  Storm damage roof repair

·  Roof leak repair services

·  Hail damage roofing contractor

·  Roof replacement [city or zip code]

There are also a handful of service-specific keywords you can target, including:

·  Metal roofing installation

·  Shingle roof repair

·  Flat roof replacement

·  Tile roofing contractor

·  Commercial roofing company

·  Residential roofing services

Don’t forget the comparison/estimate phrases:

·  Roof repair cost [city]

·  How much does a new roof cost

·  Roof replacement cost calculator

·  Compare roofing contractors [city]

Suggested negative keywords:

·  DIY

·  How to

·  Free

·  Tutorial

·  Home Dept

·  Jobs

·  Careers

·  Courses

·  Trainings

·  Rent

·  Rentals

By adding these to your negative keywords list, you’ll avoid having your ads show up for people who are looking for DIY solutions who are not likely to hire a professional roofer.

You should also bid on your own company name since there’s a possibility people will be searching for your company specifically, either to research or compare prices. Google allows you to bid on your competitors’ brands, but make sure you don’t violate Google’s trademark rules. You can bid on a competitor’s brand name even if it’s trademarked, but you can’t use it in the ad text unless you are the trademark owner, an official reseller, or providing informational content about the trademark.

If you’re running paid ads and not getting good results, it’s possibly because you’re targeting queries that indicate curiosity rather than urgency and need (purchase intent).

Build a high-converting landing page

When you run an ad, clicking will take users to the web page of your choice. Many people send traffic to their home page by default, but that’s a bad idea. Home pages don’t convert well because there is no targeted message.

You want to give people every reason possible to call you immediately and request a consultation, inspection, or buy your services. To do this, you need a dedicated sales page with copy that speaks directly to your leads and matches your ad. For example, if you’re running an ad that uses the phrase “fix a leaky roof,” your sales page should be written to get people with a leaky roof to call you for an emergency tarp, free inspection, or whatever you offer.

It will take time to test and adjust your sales pages to get them to convert optimally, but you can start by clearly stating what you offer (e.g., “24-hour emergency roof repair”), using trust signals, like Google reviews, Home Advisor ratings and reviews, badges, partnerships with financing companies, and warranties offered. Once you have a solid, basic sales page, you can start running ads and then use split-testing to fine-tune the elements one-by-one to increase conversions.

Focus on geo-targeting

Targeting local areas is the key to running a successful PPC ad campaign. Target your audience by zip code or a specific radius around your service area. Combine this with custom ad copy (“Serving the Greater Houston area!”) to boost your click-through rate (CTR).

When running PPC ads, it’s crucial to avoid overreach. Unless you are a statewide business with multiple teams and a huge budget, don’t waste your money on markets you can’t effectively service. Keep your ads confined to the service areas you can support while staying profitable.

Use call extensions and call tracking

Your best leads want to talk to you – they don’t want to send emails back and forth. When you can generate calls from your ads, those leads will convert better than clicks. The good news is that Google Ads offers the ability to run ads that will generate calls instead of clicks. It’s called call extensions, and this feature uses tracking numbers to monitor and optimize conversations with leads.

Once you run and track these ads for a while, you’ll see a pattern emerge regarding which ads are driving the most calls. Take that data and invest more of your ad budget into what is working best and cut what is not.

Don’t just focus on Google Ads

Google is the king of search, but your customers are on other platforms, too. Don’t just stick with Google. If all your leads come from a single source, you’re one algorithm update away from a slow season. Winter is already tough for the roofing industry, so you can’t afford to risk slowing down in peak season. Having a high-performing PPC campaign means running ads on multiple platforms.

Facebook is a powerhouse for roofing companies to generate leads. You can advertise your services to locals, post in local community groups, and have people share your sponsored ads. You might be surprised at how much positive activity reputable local roofers get on their Facebook ads. That activity feeds the algorithm and gets your ads shown to more people. With Facebook Ads, you can target by zip code, homeowner status, and even income level.

Already running a PPC ad campaign? Get an audit

Getting a PPC audit is one of the best ways to get better results. If you’re winging it, experimenting, or you aren’t sure why you’re not getting good results, a simple audit from a professional PPC marketing agency can help you pinpoint exactly what isn’t working and offer a more effective strategy.

Set a budget and bid smart

Depending on what platform you advertise on, you might be required to invest a minimum amount of money to get in the game. In any case, you’ll need to set a daily budget. Most roofers start with at least $50-$100 per day. If you go any lower, you risk not getting enough impressions to get results. Businesses willing to spend more money will get the most ad placements. A higher daily limit makes it possible for the system to bid higher to get your ads seen more often.

When you first run a campaign, start with manual cost per click (CPC) to see what works. Once you have enough information, test Google’s Smart Bidding feature to scale. For instance, test the Target CPA or Maximize Conversions features.

Use retargeting (remarketing)

Never let a hot lead go cold. Even though leads might need your services immediately, not everyone converts on the first visit. Some people take their time to research competitors, price compare, and think about their needs. When you use retargeting, your ads will display for people who have already visited your website, reminding them that you exist and nudging them to act.

Since retargeting ads can be run independently from your main campaign, you can tailor the ad copy to speak directly to people who have clicked on your ads previously. For example, you can run a headline that reads, “Still need a roof repair?” or “Storm damage? Book before the next rain!” These types of headlines work really well with remarketing.

Optimize your ads for mobile

Since 90% of local roofing searches happen on phones, it’s crucial that you optimize your ads for mobile. Don’t lose leads because of a clunky, difficult website. One of the most important things to do is use click-to-call buttons. This is a must for roofing contractors. It’s a simple HTML button that will bring up your phone number in a user’s dial pad when they click.

Track ROI diligently

If you aren’t tracking your ROI, you’re flying blind. To know your ROI, you’ll need to know your cost per leads (CPL). To get this, track your cost per call, per form fill, and per booked job. It also helps to use a customer relationship management application (CRM) to track sales attributions. For instance, when you sync your PPC data with your CRM, you can see the entire customer journey for every lead that turns into a contract.

Hire a professional PPC agency

While it’s possible to run your own pay-per-click ads, there are many reasons not to go down that path. The learning curve is extremely steep, and the consequences of making a mistake are costly.

If you don’t have the time to learn from scratch, or the money to waste experimenting, hire a pro. But make sure they have real world experience running ads for roofing contractors. You’ll want a company that knows your market, how and where to reach them, and what keywords and phrases get them to convert.

When you find a marketing agency that does PPC, ask about their experience with roofing contractors or other home service businesses. If they have the right experience, ask for their fees and minimum ad budget recommendations or requirements to make sure it’s within your budget.

Dominate your local market with PPC.co

High-performance PPC for roofing isn’t about throwing money at google and hoping for the best. It’s about targeting your ideal customers with the right message that gets them interested in your services. Done right, PPC can bring you a predictable, steady flow of leads, jobs, and revenue. Done wrong, it’s a fast way to burn through your marketing budget.

At PPC.co, we specialize in creating high-performance PPC campaigns for roofing contractors who are serious about scaling their business. We build razor-sharp strategies that bring in high-intent leads, cut wasteful ad spend, and turn Google Ads into a lead generating engine. Our team of PPC specialists understand the roofing industry and we know how to target leads ready to book with you now.

Stop gambling with your marketing budget. Let’s work together to build a system that delivers high-value leads. Contact us today to request a proposal or to learn more about the advertising services we offer. You don’t need more clicks – you need more conversions. Let’s make it happen.  

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