How to generate home improvement leads using Google Ads

Here are some tips to improve your lead quality to get increased leads and traffic on your paid advertising campaigns.

1) Use location targeting

Target a specific location to give marketing managers and business owners ownership of who you are reaching and their specific interests, and show them relevant ads.

To get your Google Ad in front of the right person, ask yourself:

• Who is the target audience?

• Where are they online?

• What are they interested in?

When creating a Google Ad campaign, the location targeting mostly defaults to the country you’re in, but sometimes is set to ‘All locations,’ so it is locatable worldwide.

There is no point advertising to people you can’t service. The highly-customizable location targeting offering allows you to include the best locations for your service and exclude those that will be a waste of budget.

Be sure to select advanced targeting settings to ‘Those in my area’ rather than ‘Interested in my area.’

2) Find the right keywords

Over 51% of shoppers use Google to research their purchases before buying.

Search intent identifies what keywords are used based on what people search. They’re divided into three categories:

1. Navigational: the user wants to find another web page

2. Informational: topic research

3. Commercial: purchase desire

Choose the right keywords with the best results by thinking like your customer.

Searches such as ‘buy low-cost water boiler’ are different from ‘water boiler broken’ queries; one is a commercial request, the other is informational.

Offer content on all three of the above areas to complete your call-to-action (CTA). The keywords will target different landing pages dedicated to those search phrases.

Use free tools such as Google Keyword Planner to identify relevant keywords. Targeting highly-specific keywords will help generate qualified leads and ward off undesirable clicks. Filter out negative keywords to avoid wasting your budget on low-quality leads.

3) Optimize landing pages and follow Ads policies

Ensure your site gets relevant leads by making your landing pages align with what users search for. Tailor your landing pages to the needs of your ad groups. If possible, create unique landing pages for each. Put your CTA above the fold to grab the user’s attention immediately; landing pages should be accessible and easy to maneuver. Google is strict with its quality of landing pages and will disapprove or ban ads if they don’t meet its standards.

4) Determine lead locations using URL tracking

Know where your leads stem from to measure campaign effectiveness. Use parameters such as Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) to determine lead details, what campaign they came from or keywords searched.

5) Use ads that pre-qualify visitors

Don’t create ads aimed at increasing click-through rates. Get relevant traffic targeted to your business and consider writing ads that pre-qualify visitors.

Keep testing different strategies. The world of paid advertising is constantly changing, and you never know what will be effective at what time.

6) Use all the ad extensions

When making a quick search, most of the ads look the same from their text. So use image extensions to stand out and get users’ attention.

Use every ad extension as it expands your ad concept:

1. Sitelink

2. Callout

3. Structured snippet

4. Image

5. Call

6. Lead form

7. Location

8. Affiliate

9. Price

10. App

11. Promotion

7) Be strategic with conversion goals

Ideally, you’ve targeted the right people, stood out from the competition, and brought someone to an impressive landing page that loaded amazingly fast. But do you have another option available other than final sale if they’re not ready to convert?

Think about adding a secondary, softer CTA on the landing page.

• If you are asking someone to buy something, offer free samples of the product so they can pick styles and color options to suit their space

• If someone is asking for information, put together a custom quote or create an easy calculator function to develop their own estimate

Business owners might be reluctant to give away free samples or product demonstrations – there’s no guarantee of a return on investment – but these brand awareness activities assist in capturing the information of users who weren’t ready to convert in that moment.

Google Ads gives advertisers the ability to yield a strong ROI. But you have to know how to use it. Use these seven strategies to get the most out of your budget:

1. Narrow down your location targeting

2. Target high(er) intent keywords

3. Use all of your Ad extensions

4. Differentiate your messaging

5. Use Google Ads to qualify users

6. Understand user journey throughout your sales funnel

7. Be strategic with conversion goals

Key takeaways

Most marketers are wary of Google Ads, either because they are concerned about the ROI or they’re cautious placing ads using an advertising platform they don’t understand. But Google Ads is the fastest and most reliable way to ensure brands appear front and center for home improvement searches.

To generate leads through Google Ads, plan ahead from the start. Quick wins are not uncommon, but long-term optimization automates the process of generating high-quality leads. Define your goals in advance and map them using conversion tracking. Have suitable ads and optimized landing pages specially tailored to your target group at an early stage.

If the cost-per-lead (CPL) fluctuates initially, don’t panic. The ideal CPL can be determined and achieved with Smart Bidding. With the best data, Google Ads becomes a powerful lead machine.

If you’d like help getting started with Google Ads for home improvement, contact Reflect Digital.