I’m Nolen Walker, the founder, owner, and CEO of Roofing Webmasters. Over the past fifteen years, I’ve worked with thousands of local companies on Google Ads for roofers.
My decade-plus experience with Google Ads has given me unique insights into how roofers can best utilize them to grow their business, maximize revenue, and increase lead generation.
The guide below will outline specific strategies, examples, and recommendations based on my first-hand experience working with roofing companies in small towns, large metro areas, and anywhere between.
Key Takeaway
Google Ads allows local roofers to buy advertising space on Google search results above the traditional organic listings.
Introduction to Google Ads for Roofers
Google Ads is a digital advertising platform on which roofing companies can buy ads in Google search results, generating clicks from targeted consumers.
Google Ads for Roofers allows local businesses to reach homeowners who search for keywords like “roof repair near me” or “roof replacement services.”
When properly implemented, Google Ads can be a powerful promotional tool for roofing companies and yield a significant ROI.
The Appeal of Google Ads for Roofing Companies
Since most homeowners who seek roofing services do so with urgency, Google Ads presents an effective avenue to reach them when they most need your services.
Google Ads contrasts with SEO, or search engine optimization, in that it works immediately and can start bringing in calls the day your campaign is launched.
Consequently, Google Ads are helpful for both established roofing companies looking to expand their market and newer businesses looking to generate leads quickly.
How Google Ads Work for Roofing Companies
Each time a user performs a relevant search, Google’s Ad platform calculates which ads to show in which order based on the following criteria:
- Bid: How much the advertiser is willing to pay for a click
- Quality Score: A 1-10 scale measurement for ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page intent match
- Ad Extensions: Your ad’s inclusion (or not) of ad extensions for improved visibility
Each factor is considered to define a final Ad Rank, which ultimately decides if and where your ad is shown for a particular query.
As a result, if a larger roofing company outbids your maximum bid, you can still close the gap by presenting a superior user experience through your quality score landing page and ad extensions
Types of Google Ads Relevant to Roofers
Google offers various ad types within its advertising platform, each serving a different goal for roofing companies.
Below I will list the ad types that are most relevant to local rofoign companies seeking qualified leads:
- Local Service Ads (LSA): This is Google’s pay-per-lead advertising model, which allows your Google Business Profile to appear within local searches with a “Google Guaranteed” badge.
- Search Ads: These are text ads that emulate organic results and are triggered by traditional keyword searches.
- YouTube Ads: These are video ads within the YouTube platform (owned by Google) that target homeowners as they watch relevant videos.
- Smart Campaigns: Google’s automated bidding and targeting system is helpful for novice roofers but lacks the ideal control measures to maximize your ad spend and budget.
- Display Ads: These are banner ads within Google’s Display Network, which is useful for expanding brand awareness but has a much lower conversion rate than LSA or search ads.
Google Ads Budgeting for Roofing Contractors
A standard roofing PPC click ranges from $8 to $45, depending on the keyword and location. Considering this, here are my budget recommendations:
Beginner Budget: $1,500-$2,000 per month (ideal for midsize markets)
Established Budget: $5,000-$10,00 per month (suitable for established roofers in large metros)
Let’s say your cost per click (CPC) is $20 with a 5% conversion rate. Here are your results:
- Cost per lead: $400
- Average roofing job profit: $9,000
- Average ROI: $8,600 per lead
How to Estimate Leads and Revenue
Local roofers can estimate leads and revenue from their Google Ads campaign by calculating standard performance metrics with their budget. For example:
- Monthly Budget: $3,000
- Average CPC: $25
- Clicks: 120
- Lead Conversion Rate: 7%
- Leads: 8.4
- Booking Rate: 60%
- Booked Jobs: 5
- Average Job Revenue: $10,000
- Estimated Total Revenue: $50,000
Your location, budget, and ad relevance will cause these estimates to fluctuate.
Google Ads Benefits for Roofing Companies
Google Ads introduces various benefits for local roofing businesses. Below, I will outline some of the most appealing advantages of investing in Google advertising.
Instant Gratification
I’ll be honest: Roofers who seek instant gratification are more likely to fail than those who are brand-focused, but Google Ads absolutely quenches their thirst.
Unlike SEO and brand-building, which can take months and years to refine, Google Ads deliver instant results.
This can be good or bad, depending on how you leverage the results to expand your roofing business and build a sustainable, long-term brand.
Investment Scalability
Most business owners like the concept of scalability, and Google Ads provides that by allowing roofers to set their budget, which might range from $500 per month to $5,000 per month or even more.
Unlike SEO, which makes it harder to attribute investment to ROI, PPC makes it easy. This cuts both ways, as you know, when it also drains your budget.
Organic Supplementation
My agency is focused first and foremost on organic SEO results, which are cheaper and more sustainable than paid ads.
However, Google Ads can supplement SEO even for companies that’ve earned high organic rankings because they further legitimize your brand and present a halo effect to Google searchers.
Downsides of Google Ads for Roofing Companies
If Google Ads sounds too good to be true, it’s because, in many cases, they are, especially when black-box billing agencies use the platform to hold your roofing company hostage and force long-term reliance on paid platforms.
Below are some of the most alarming downsides of Google Ads for local roofers:
Budget Mismanagement
PPC agencies may mismanage your Google Ads budget, burning through several thousand dollars with limited or zero results.
About 80% of the roofing companies I’ve worked with over the past 15+ years have experienced PPC mismanagement from an incompetent or corrupt agency.
Gig Economy
Reliance on Google Ads for roofing leads keeps your company in the gig economy, preventing a sustainable business model built on branding and organic engagement.
Many PPC-first agencies want to suppress your brand because it keeps you reliant on unethical companies like them, which benefit from your lack of growth.
Competition
Every roofer and their brother knows about Google Ads, as it is one of the most competitive industries for PPC.
Google Ads generates more than 65 billion in revenue, which makes it an easy target for unethical agencies that understand the lure of instant gratification.
Poor Lead Quality
Even the best Google Ads leads are worse than organic roofing leads because the users have less psychological investment in your brand.
Local Service Ads (LSA) tend to provide the best lead quality among paid options, but organic SEO and Google Maps leads are still vastly superior.
8 Helpful Roofing Google Ads Tips for 2025
1) Leverage Negative Keywords
Roofers tend to overlook negative keyword optimization, excluding irrelevant terms within your keyword targets.
For example, a Dallas-based roofer could exclude terms like “Fort Worth,” “Roofing Estimate Templates,” and “DIY Roof Repair,” all of which attract clicks from the wrong types of users (ones who don’t need your services).
I recommend updating your negative keyword list weekly from the Search Terms report so you can maintain an efficient budget and produce a sustainable ROI.
2) Use Geo-Targeting for Location-based Advertising
I always tell Roofing Webmasters’ clients that targeting an entire state is a bad idea, not just for SEO but also for paid advertising.
You can use Geo-targeting to target specific zip codes and city names within your service area (typically a 25-mile radius from the city of your business address).
Google Ads allows roofers to target specific neighborhoods, such as those hit by recent hailstorms or with high property values, to book larger jobs.
3) Set an Ad Schedule
As a roofing contractor, you know that lots of your calls come on weekends and after-hours during weekdays.
That’s why it makes sense to increase bids on Sundays and to pause ads from 1 to 6 AM. In addition, you can implement automated rules to increase bids during peak hours.
4) Improve Lead Quality With “Friction”
Casting too wide a net with your Google Ads campaign can result in low-quality leads and even spam.
You can solve this by introducing “friction,” which is the practice of increasing the standards a user needs to meet to submit a lead form.
Examples include adding a phone number section to your lead form so spam users who only have a fake email address will be filtered out of submissions.
5) Boost Relevance with Ad Extensions
Google tends to prioritize ads that utilize ad extensions, which include site links, callouts, structured snippets, call extensions, and location extensions.
I recommend that roofing companies use each of these extensions with their ads to increase their chances of showing up for relevant queries.
6) Optimize Local Service Ads (LSA)
When new roofing clients ask me about Google Ads, I quickly recommend Local Service Ads (LSA), which work well when properly optimized.
The first step is going through Google’s verification process, which includes a background check.
From there, it’s a matter of accumulating enough Google reviews to earn trust and quickly responding to leads because Google measures your responsiveness rate.
7) Measure Ad Performance
Google Ads is not a set-and-forget platform, and roofers should regularly measure and monitor ad performance, which can be done using UTM tags and Google Analytics.
Make sure to track the following metrics:
- Conversion Rate
- Cost Per Conversion
- Click Through Rate (CTR)
- Impression Share
- Landing Page Bounce Rate
8) Run A/B Tests
Running a single roofing ad is a widespread mistake because it fails to reveal the opportunity cost of other potential ad styles or adjustments.
I recommend creating multiple ads so you can run A/B tests and make data-driven decisions about which ads perform best.
Test headline variations, the tone of your CTA, and your display URLs, all of which make more of a difference than you might guess.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Roofing PPC
As the owner of a roofing marketing agency, I’ve heard all of the horror stories about PPC mistakes from my roofing clients (usually at the hands of their previous agency).
I want to prevent you from making those mistakes, so be sure to look out for the following:
Using Your Homepage as Your Landing Page
Your website homepage is suited for SEO, social media, and direct visits, but not for Google Ads conversions.
Instead, you should create a dedicated landing page that precisely matches the intent of your ad.
Unfortunately, many roofing companies still make the mistake of sending all ad traffic to their website homepage, reducing conversions and wasting money.
Exclusively Running Broad Match Keywords
Another common mistake is running broad match keywords exclusively, making your ad appear for low-conversion terms that drain your budget.
Broad match keywords can increase your cost per click and lower your quality score, both of which reduce the ROI of your ad campaign.
When using broad match keywords, utilizing the negative keywords feature to exclude irrelevant terms is essential.
Not Considering Mobile Device Performance
Roofers might create the perfect landing page on a desktop computer but forget to check how it looks on a smartphone.
Most of your clicks will come from mobile users, which can significantly reduce your conversion rates and torpedo your entire campaign.
Ensure your landing page is optimized for mobile devices to avoid a misalignment between your expected ROI and your actual results.
Best Tools to Improve Roofing Google Ads Campaigns
Several PPC tools are available for roofing companies seeking an additional advantage over competing advertisers. These tools allow them to optimize their Google Ads campaigns better.
Below are some of the most highly touted tools to improve Google Ads performance for roofers:
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner helps roofing contractors identify high-conversion roofing keywords and estimate their cost-per-click (CPC).
This Google tool is outstanding at helping roofers find relevant keyword ideas and map out their budget based on competition and search volume.
CallRail
CallRail allows local roofers to track phone calls from Google Ads and record them for easy access.
This way, roofers can identify which keywords and campaigns generate qualified leads and which generate spam.
SpyFu
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and SpyFu allows roofers to view competitor campaigns so they can replicate their strategies.
SpyFu allows subscribers to view the keywords and copy used in specific roofing ad campaigns, allowing contractors to reverse-engineer successful campaigns.
Google Analytics 4
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a great platform for measuring a user’s behavior after they click on your referral ad.
For example, it reveals how users navigate your landing page, including how long they stay and whether they convert by filling out a form or clicking on a “click to call” phone number.
Moving Forward with Google Ads for Roofers
I won’t lie to you and say Google Ads is the answer to all of your roofing lead generation problems. However, when properly optimized and controlled, Google Ads can benefit your roofing business.
I’ve been running Roofing Webmasters for 15+ years, so I know that Google Ads work best when combined with SEO, DataPins, and digital branding.
My agency helps roofing contractors combine these tactics to create brand synergy, maximize ROI, and encourage long-term sustainability.
If you want to increase your profits in 2025, running Google Ads for roofers can undoubtedly play a role.
