Roofing PPC: Step-by-Step Guide (Benefits, Costs + Expert Tips)

Roofing PPC is a digital marketing strategy where roofing companies promote their services through online ads on search engine platforms. When done right, PPC can help roofers grow brand awareness, drive qualified leads, and increase sales.

In the roofing industry, standing out against the competition can be a challenge.

That’s where pay-per-click (PPC) ads come in.

With roofing PPC ads, even roofing contractors can compete with larger, corporate roofing companies to bring in new leads and customers.

Let’s look at what roofing PPC is, why you need it, and how to take your ad campaigns to the next level with advice from experts.

What is roofing PPC?

Roofing PPC is a paid marketing strategy that helps roofers attract more qualified leads through ads displayed on search engines and social media platforms.

As with all types of pay-per-click advertising, advertisers only pay a fee when someone clicks on their ad.

Google Ads is the largest PPC platform, but you can also create ad campaigns on other search engines like Microsoft Bing and Yahoo.

How much does roofing PPC cost?

The cost of PPC roofing depends on the size of your campaign and budget. For instance, most PPC agencies charge between 10% and 20% of your ad budget.

So if you’re spending $5,000 per month, then you’ll pay an agency $500 to $1,000 per month on top of the $5,000 ad spend.

Other agencies may charge a flat monthly fee between $1,500 and $10,000.

Benefits of PPC for roofing companies

PPC helps roofing companies generate high-intent leads quickly, control ad spend, and compete against competitors by showing their ads exactly when homeowners are searching for roofing services.

PPC advertising also pairs well with other digital marketing strategies like content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO), making for a stronger holistic marketing campaign and online presence.

Here are several benefits pay-per-click ad campaigns offer roofers:

• Increases brand awareness: PPC ads can improve brand awareness by getting your business in front of new people.
• Drives targeted website traffic: With PPC targeting options, you can drive more specific and relevant traffic to your roofing website.
• Yields more qualified leads: PPC ads don’t just get more traffic — they bring in relevant, quality leads that’ll likely convert into buyers.
• Offers a competitive edge: Since PPC ads display at the top of the search engine results, they allow you to outrank competitors, regardless of organic ranking.
• Immediate results: Roofers can start to see results from their first PPC ad campaign.
• Boosts return on investment: PPC ads deliver $2 for every $1 spent on average.

Case study: Having worked with roofing and home service companies, a PPC agency like HawkSEM knows how to maximize ad spend through continuous testing, refinement, and campaign optimization. Through partnering with HawkSEM for PPC, NorthStock increased conversions by 53%.

Pre-launch checklist for roofing PPC campaigns

Before launching a PPC campaign, roofing businesses should complete a few foundational steps:

1. Identify your target audience
2. Define goals
3. Conduct keyword research
4. Build custom landing pages
5. Set up conversion tracking

1. Identify your target audience

Your target audience is the group of people most likely to hire your roofing business. This will be a pivotal step to create messaging in your ads and landing pages that resonate with your intended audience.

To build a target audience:

• Review your website analytics: Inside Google Analytics, open your Reports > User > User Attributes > Overview. This will show you information on your current website visitors, like age and geographic location.
• Analyze your social media followers: If you have a social media presence (and you should), analyze your followers and insights.
• Conduct market research: Conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups to get candid feedback on your roofing company.
• Do competitor research: Look at your competitors’ marketing campaign messages to identify gaps and opportunities in your own marketing.

Further reading: How to Do Keyword Research: Tools to Use + Proven Tips

2. Define goals

Before launching a campaign, it’s important to identify the specific business goals you hope to achieve through PPC marketing.

For roofing PPC campaigns, the goals are usually focused on generating qualified leads and conversions.

The most common goals include an increase in:

• Phone calls
• Form fills
• Bookings and appointments
• Landing page visits
• Brand awareness

3. Conduct keyword research

Keyword research is the process of identifying search terms that your target market uses to find your roofing services.

Using Google search along with keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner:

Determine the keywords you already rank for: Use tools like the Google Search Console or Google Rank Checker to discover the keywords your brand ranks for and in which positions they have.

Compile topics and keywords relevant to your brand: Brainstorm roofing keyword terms that homeowners are likely to use to find roofing services. Then, take the keywords you’ve brainstormed, and put them into Google Keyword Planner to see the average monthly search volume, competition level, and bid range.

Identify new, related keywords: Keyword Planner will show you the data for the keywords you entered, and additional keyword ideas. You can broaden your search with additional keywords the tool suggests or refine your keywords using the tool’s filters.

Create a negative keyword list: Negative keywords are terms you add to your PPC campaign to prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant searches. To find negative keywords, keep an eye out during your keyword research for words that are often associated with roofing but aren’t relevant to your business, such as “DIY” or “jobs.”

4. Build custom landing pages

A landing page is a standalone web page designed specifically to capture leads from a PPC ad.

Before creating your PPC campaigns, make sure you build specific, targeted landing pages that align with the ads you intend to create.

Many PPC advertisers mistakenly send all their PPC ad traffic to their website home page. The problem? The home page is very broad, with many pages to navigate to.

For roofing companies, you will likely start with single services, like roof repair, replacement, or inspection.

There should be a clear call to action, such as a phone number, contact form, or “schedule an inspection” button.

Further reading: How to Create Landing Pages that Convert: Examples + Pro Tips

5. Set up conversion tracking

Conversion tracking records and measures the actions users take after interacting with your PPC ads, like submitting a form or calling your business.

For roofing companies, this helps you understand which ads, keywords, and campaigns are generating real leads, so you can make data-driven decisions to improve performance over time.

To set up Google Ads conversion tracking, you add a small piece of code to your website called a Google Tag (formerly known as a “global site tag” or gtag).

This tag acts like a signal that notifies Google Ads whenever a visitor completes a conversion.

Conversion tracking must be properly set up before campaign launch for accurate performance data.

Further reading: How to Set Up Conversion Tracking for Google Ads: A Quick Guide

How to set up a PPC campaign for a roofing business

Roofing PPC is highly competitive and location-driven. Usually, the goal is to increase direct calls from qualified homeowners, as opposed to an increase in website traffic.

The setup choices below are designed specifically for local roofing businesses, using Google Ads as the primary PPC platform:

1. Choose a lead-focused Search campaign and bidding strategy
2. Configure campaign settings and local targeting
3. Build keyword groups and write high-intent ads
4. Set a budget and launch your campaign

1. Choose a lead-focused Search campaign

Search is typically the best campaign type to begin with for roofers due to high-intent and emergency searches.

Other campaign types — such as Local Services ads and Performance Max — can be effective after you’ve launched and optimized a core Search campaign.

Here’s how to set up your Search campaign:

Select a lead generation objective and campaign type

When you create a new campaign, you’ll be prompted to choose your campaign objective.

For most roofing businesses, the primary goal is lead generation. Click on Leads > Continue.

Google Ads will present several options, including:

• Performance Max: Generate leads across Google platforms using Google AI to optimize ads
• Search ads: Use text ads to bring in new leads from Google Search
• Display ads: Reach potential customers across millions of sites and apps
• Shopping ads: Promote your products using your Google Merchant Center account data
• Video ads: Create video ads that appear on YouTube
• Demand Generation: Drive demand and conversions using image or video ads

For this example, choose Search > Continue.

Choose phone calls as your primary conversion goal

Next, select the conversion actions you want to drive from your ads. Google Ads allows you to optimize for form submissions, phone calls, or both.

For roofers, phone calls typically drive the highest-quality leads.

Here’s an example of what an ad looks like with phone calls as the main campaign goal:

Leads can contact your business directly from the ad by clicking on the phone icon.

Pro tip: Set up PPC call tracking so you know how many calls come from your PPC ads.

Once your goals are selected, give your campaign a clear, descriptive name so it’s easy to identify in your account.

Select a bidding strategy

When launching your first campaign, it’s best practice to use manual CPC (cost per click) to allow your ads to accumulate performance data.

Manual CPC bidding allows roofing businesses to define the maximum amount they want to pay for each click.

As your campaign generates consistent leads, you can later test automated bidding strategies focused on conversions or target cost per lead.

Further reading: 12 Google Ads Bidding Strategies (+ When to Use Each)

2. Configure campaign settings and local targeting

After choosing your campaign type and bidding strategy, configure your campaign settings and targeting options.

First, select which networks your ads will appear on. For most roofing Search campaigns, it’s best to run on the Search Network only and exclude the Display Network to avoid low-intent traffic.

Next, define your location targeting.

Enter the specific cities, ZIP codes, or service areas your roofing business serves. Precise location targeting helps ensure your ads appear only to homeowners within your coverage area.

Finally, review audience segments.

While Search campaigns primarily rely on keyword intent, audience segments can be layered in as observation signals to gather insights about who is converting.

3. Build keyword groups and write high-intent ads

Once your campaign settings are in place, create ad groups and add your PPC keywords.

Group keywords by service type or intent (for example, roof repair, roof replacement, emergency roofing) so your ads closely match what users are searching for.

After adding the right keywords, write your ad headlines and descriptions. Your ad copy should clearly communicate:

• The service you offer
• Your location or service area
• A strong call to action (CTA)

You’ll also include the URL of the landing page or contact form users will visit after clicking your ad.

4. Set a budget and launch your campaign

Finally, choose your campaign budget. You can set a total budget or an average daily budget.

When you set an average daily budget, your monthly ad spend will not exceed your daily budget times the average number of days in a month.

For example, if your average daily budget is $900, then your monthly ad spend won’t go over $27,000 ($900 x 30).

Before launching, review all campaign settings. You’ll likely need to tweak your ads over time based on your results and the insights you get from tracking your campaigns.

5 expert roofing PPC tips

To get the best results from your roofing PPC ad campaigns, go beyond the basics. As you develop your PPC marketing plan, use these expert tips to take your pay-per-click advertising to the next level.

1. Focus on high-intent keywords

Instead of just targeting broad keywords, choose a mix of general and specific, high-intent, long-tail keywords that’ll bring in relevant and ready-to-buy customers

Focus on queries like “roof repair near me” or “emergency roof replacement” instead of broad terms like “roofing.”

2. Include a clear call to action (CTA) in ad copy

Whether you’re running Google Ads, Bing Ads, LinkedIn Text Ads, or Facebook Ads, you need to include a clear CTA in your PPC ad copy.

This will help users understand the next step to take and what will happen if and when they click on your ad.

(Image: Google screenshot)

3. Optimize for mobile

PPC ad campaigns should also be mobile-friendly since many people in your target market search from their mobile devices. In fact, nearly 63% of all website traffic globally comes from mobile devices.

To optimize your PPC ad campaigns for mobile, make sure your landing page is mobile responsive. It should be easy to navigate, click buttons, and fill out forms from a smaller device screen.

If your goal is to drive phone calls from your PPC ads, use the click-to-call ad extension. This makes it easy for users to contact your business quickly from their mobile phones.

4. A/B test

A/B testing is the method of comparing two different versions of an ad or landing page to see which option better reaches or converts your audience.

Here’s how:

• Pick one element to test (e.g., headlines or CTA)
• Create two versions
• Run both versions at the same time
• Measure performance
• Choose the winner and optimize

Further reading: What is A/B Testing? How To Use It + Expert Advice

5. Monitor performance and optimize

If you want to optimize your PPC ad campaigns for the best results, track your results and tweak your campaigns based on what you find.

Key metrics to track your PPC ad performance include:

• Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of people who see your ad and click on it
• Cost per click (CPC): The amount you pay when someone clicks on your ad
• Conversion rate: The percentage of people who complete the desired action after clicking on your ad
• Return on ad spend (ROAS): Revenue generated by the ad campaign compared to total ad spend
• Quality score: A measure of how relevant the keyword, ad, and landing page are (which impacts how much you pay for ads)

“Tracking is an essential part of any successful PPC campaign for roofing businesses,” says Sam Yadegar, CEO of HawkSEM. “Our proprietary analytics software, ConversionIQ (CIQ), helps us understand what aspects of a PPC campaign are working and where we need to optimize for a higher ROAS MoM and YoY.”

The takeaway

PPC offers many benefits for your roofing marketing strategy. But running your own PPC roofing ads is no easy task, especially when your marketing budget is on the line.

That’s why we recommend using a roofing PPC company.

When you partner with marketing experts for PPC management services, you know they’re doing everything they can to get you the best possible results. The best part? You get to focus on what you do best…roofing.

If you’re ready for serious business growth, it may be time to use roofing PPC services to attract more potential customers online.

As a top digital marketing agency, HawkSEM’s team of roofing PPC experts would love to be part of your team. Let’s talk.

This article has been updated and was originally published in June 2024.