Roofing Google Ads Cost Explained: How Much Will a PPC Campaign Cost Your Business?
With Google Ads, you control how much you spend. Set a maximum monthly budget so you’ll never overspend, and cancel any time without fees or charges.
But you’re not here to learn the maximum amount it costs to run a PPC campaign. You already know you could inject a million dollars into paid ads if you wanted. You’re here to learn what it costs to bring in new customers and turn a profit.
If you don’t want to overspend, or set a budget so low it never generates a lead, read on to discover the price of a (successful) Google Ads campaign for your roofing business.
Google Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising strategy, so you only pay for results.
If no one clicks your ad to visit your site or call your business, you’re not charged. This looks appealing to roofers who want to control their ad spend, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
It’s tempting to set a small budget and feel like you’re getting a great deal. The problem is, your ads exist inside a constantly moving bidding process.
Every roofing keyword YOU want to rank for, hundreds of OTHER roofers want to rank for. You control your monthly and daily budget, but setting a $10/day ad spend and thinking “great, I’ll get leads for just ten bucks a day” is a titanic mistake.
Why? Because an ad click isn’t the same as a lead.
If the roofing keyword you target costs $2 per click, and you’re budgeting $10 per day, you’ll get 5 CLICKS a day. Not 5 leads. This means a low ad budget looks excellent on your credit card statement, but brings a trickle of traffic that doesn’t convert.
Over a month you can spend $300 on ads that get clicks, but never a single lead. By setting your daily budget too small, those handful of daily clicks burn through your ad spend, your ad goes offline until the next day, and you’re paying for nothing.
So if underspending is the road to ruin, how much does a SUCCESSFUL ad campaign cost?
Read on to find out.
Switch Your Marketing Spend to Us, and We’ll Increase Your Return On Investment or We’ll Give You $300
What factors influence roofing Google Ads costs?
| Monthly Ad Spend | Click-Per-Cost (CPC) | Competition |
|---|---|---|
|
You’re in charge of your total spend so you can spend $2,000 a month or $20,000 a month. Your PPC budget will set the boundaries for your costs. |
Each roofing keyword has its own CPC. Some keywords cost more than others, meaning you’ll need to pay more to rank for them. |
Google Ads is a live-auction, meaning your competition can raise the price of your target keywords. More competition means higher CPC. |
| Quality Score | Devices | |
|
Your Quality Score is directly linked to your CPC. The higher your Quality Score, the less you pay per click. |
|
Choose to send your ads to computers, tablets or mobile devices. Each device brings its own CPC. |
| Target Network | Bidding | Management Fees |
|
Your ads can appear on the Search Network (Google) or the Display Network (third-party sites). Ads on the Display Network are typically cheaper. |
You’re in charge of your max bid per keyword. By setting a max bid you can stop overspending, but you may fail to rank for keywords by bidding too low. |
Using a PPC agency will add extra costs in the form of monthly management fees. Factor these in if you’re outsourcing your roofing Google Ads campaign. |
Looking to improve your Quality Score? Check the easiest way to send your Quality Score up and your CPC down
“How can I figure out how much a roofing keyword costs?”
The average cost-per-click (CPC) for a Google Ad is between $1 and $2. But when you make decisions based on ‘averages’ you end up getting burned.
The easiest way to check the exact cost of a particular roofing keyword is to use Google’s free Keyword Planner. For example, you might want to research the CPC for keywords like:
- roofers near me
- roof repair near me
- home roof repairs
- hail roof repair
Keyword Planner is the simple way to research target these keywords and forecast your expected ad costs. For example, if you’re targeting 10 roofing-related keywords at an average CPC of $5, then you can work out a total ad spend based on how many clicks you want.
Keen to get 100 clicks? That’ll cost $500 in total.
Chasing 1000 clicks? That will set you back $5,000 overall.
It’s worth noting these figures can look scary. No roofer drops $5k on a whim.
Thankfully, Google Ads isn’t a random advertising strategy. In fact, you can predict how much money you’ll generate from your clicks with a simple ‘Roofing Google Ads Formula’.
“How do I use Google’s Keyword Planner?”
Not sure which keywords to look up? Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to using Google’s Keyword Planner.
To get started, head to your Keyword Planner dashboard and click on ‘Keyword Planner’.
Next, click the ‘Discover New Keywords’ option.
You’ll be able to enter roofing-related keywords to start your keyword research process. You can also enter your URL and Google will provide keyword suggestions based on the content of your site, which makes the process even easier.
Remember to set your search location so you don’t build a PPC campaign around keyword usage from the UK when you’re in the US.
Once you hit ‘enter’ you’ll see a range of keywords along with their average monthly search volume and the top of the page bids. These figures are the amounts paid by roofing companies currently ranking for those keywords. This is your ballpark figure.
If the keyword ‘roofing’ costs $8 per click, you won’t be able to set your max bid at $4 and expect to rank.
Not a math whiz? No problem.
Once you’ve found the roofing keywords you want to target, click on the ‘Add Keywords’ option at the top of the results page.
Happy with the variety of keywords you’ve selected? Click the ‘Plan Overview’ option in the left sidebar and Google will forecast the likely cost of your ad campaign. With no math needed, Google will predict what a campaign targeting your selected roofing keywords will cost you.
Pretty handy for a free tool!
Whether you’re hiring a roofing ad agency or managing your own ad campaign, using Keyword Planner gives you the info you need to manage your spend. You can track the monthly search volume and expected cost of each roofing keyword so you’re aware of what your entire campaign will cost.
Theory is great. But do Google Ads WORK? Learn how to predict your expected Google Ads revenue to the DOLLAR
“How much will a roofing agency charge for a campaign?”
Hiring an agency to manage your campaign means you get the combined skills of ad experts, copywriters, conversion experts and marketers – but that does come at a cost.
The most common pricing models for roofing agencies are:
- Fixed Rates
- Percentage of Ad Spend
- Fixed Rate + Percentage of Ad Spend
Fixed rates mean you’ll pay a monthly fee to your agency, which stays the same whether you scale up or slow down your PPC campaign. Agencies can set their own fixed rates, though anything below $500/month is typically an indication of inexperience or low-quality.
Percentage of ad spend means your agency will charge a predetermined rate based on your ad spend. For example, if the fee is set at 15% and you’re investing $1,000 a month in ads, your agency fees will be $150 (15% of $1,000).
Fixed rate + percentage of ad spend means you’ll pay a monthly retainer (usually to cover agency fees) with a further cost based on your ad spend.
IMPORTANT: Don’t forget to factor in your ad spend. You’ll be paying Google 100% of the money that you set aside for ads. Your agency costs will come on top of your ad costs. So if you want to spend $500 a month on ads and your agency charges you a flat rate of $500/month, your total monthly cost will be $1,000.
“What am I paying a roofing ad agency for?”
This is as important a question as “how much am I paying?”.
Spending $200 a month on agency management fees seems like a steal. But if you’re only getting one ad, with no edits, and no optimization, then it’s not worth your money at all.
Ask your roofing ad agency what’s included in your management fee. At a minimum you should expect to be given:
- Original ad copy
- Ad editing
- Unique landing pages
- Rotating ad campaigns
- Your own account manager
You may also be charged a one-time ‘set-up fee’. This covers the cost of onboarding, landing page design, goal tracking, and phone conversations with your new account manager.
Ready for our elevator pitch? See why a Tradie Digital PPC campaign can GUARANTEE results (tell us where to send your $300 if we’re wrong…)
“What is a good budget for Google Ads?”
This depends on your ambitions.
Typically, roofing contractors and business owners fall into 3 major categories. You’ll recognize yourself in one of the following statements…
“I want…enough leads to tick along and keep the status quo”
“I want… enough leads to grow my business and take on more roofers”
“I want…enough leads to crush the competition and grow aggressively in my area”
All 3 of these stages require different budgets.
You’re here for a concrete answer and there’s nothing worse than “it depends” at the end of an article. So here’s how much you’ll need to budget.
“I want…enough leads to tick along and keep the status quo”
Any monthly budget lower than $1,000 won’t be enough to target roofing keywords that attract customers. And since there are specific keywords more likely to bring in new business, they’ll also be bid on by your competition. This drives the price up, giving us our $1,000 a month minimum to bring in regular leads and keep the status quo.
“I want… enough leads to grow my business and take on more roofers”
A monthly budget between $5,000 and $10,000 will give you the firepower to target a range of roofing keywords. You’ll have enough runway to rank for a range of keywords that bring leads, go head-to-head with the competition, and rank your ads in multiple suburbs. Spending more allows you to target keywords that bring high-value and high-paying customers, like ‘full backyard renovation’, or ‘luxury landscaping service’.
“I want…enough leads to crush the competition and grow aggressively in my area”
A monthly budget around $15,000 will give you the ammunition to aggressively target every keyword that brings commercial intent. If a potential customer is looking for landscaping services, you’ll be able to appear everywhere. By taking the highest-paying leads you’ll siphon customers from your competition and boost your bottom line. With search ads boosting brand awareness by 80%, you’ll become unmissable.
What to do next…
You’ve made up your mind, so it’s time to take the next step.
It’s easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole and read about Google Ads for weeks without taking action (sound familiar?).
The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll start seeing results. If you’re ready to get the ball rolling, we’ve got your next steps mapped out for you.
