How should roofers use Google Ads?
Run separate campaigns for urgent repairs and planned work, keep budget in reserve so you can scale up when storms hit, and ease off when the diary is full. Lead with genuine reviews and photos of your own work to build trust, target the areas you really cover, and block DIY, materials and job-seeker searches.
Roofing is a strange trade to advertise. For weeks things tick along steadily, then a storm rolls through and half the town needs someone on a ladder by the weekend. Getting Google Ads right for roofers is mostly about two things: being visible when the weather turns, and being trusted when people find you.
Separate urgent repairs from planned work
Leak repairs and storm damage are a completely different customer from someone planning a new roof. One has water coming through the bedroom ceiling and will ring the first trustworthy number they see. The other will get three quotes and take a few weeks to decide.
Give them separate campaigns:
- Urgent repairs: "roof leak repair", "storm damage roof repair", "emergency roofer near me", "slipped tiles".
- Planned work: "new roof cost", "flat roof replacement", "fascias and soffits", "guttering replacement".
Separate campaigns mean separate budgets, so a busy repair week doesn't swallow the money meant for higher-value re-roofs, and you can see which kind of work the ads are actually bringing in.
Be ready for the weather
The biggest mistake we see is a roofing campaign with a fixed daily budget that runs out by mid-morning on the one day it really matters. After a storm, searches for leaks and damage jump, and so does competition for them.
- Keep budget in reserve so you can raise repair budgets when bad weather is forecast or has just hit.
- Watch the forecast, not just the account. If a named storm is on its way, adjust before it arrives, not after.
- Ease off when you're full. If you're booked solid for a fortnight, turn urgent ads down rather than paying for calls you'll have to turn away. Planned-work ads can keep running to fill the diary further ahead.
Trust is the real competition
Homeowners have heard plenty of stories about cowboy roofers and doorstep scams, and roofing work is hard for them to check. Your ad and landing page need to answer "can I trust these people?" before anything else:
- Reviews. Your star rating and number of reviews, ideally with photos from customers. A steady flow of recent reviews matters more than a perfect score from years ago.
- Real photos of your own work, your van and your team, not stock images.
- Clear company details: your name, where you're based and how long you've been trading.
- What happens next. A free inspection, a written quote and any guarantees you genuinely offer.
Your Google Business Profile does a lot of this work for free. Many people check it, and its reviews, before they ring, so keep it complete and ask every happy customer for a review.
Target the area you really cover
Set location targeting around the places you'll genuinely travel to, and make sure ads show to people located in that area rather than people who've simply searched for it. Jobs at the edge of a huge radius cost just as much per click and are usually the ones you'd rather not take.
Keep out searches that never become jobs
Roofing searches attract DIYers, materials buyers and job seekers. Block them from day one with negative keywords such as:
- "diy", "how to", "youtube"
- "roofing felt", "supplies", "materials", "screwfix", "b&q"
- "jobs", "course", "apprenticeship", "salary"
Then check the search terms report regularly and keep adding to the list. It's one of the least glamorous parts of running ads, and one of the most valuable.
Use Meta for planned work
Facebook and Instagram are less useful for leaks, because nobody scrolls social media while water drips into a bucket. They work well for planned jobs like re-roofs, flat roof replacements and new fascias, where a strong before-and-after can nudge homeowners who've been putting the job off.
Measure booked jobs
Judge everything on what each booked job costs you, not cost per click or cost per lead. Repair calls might be cheaper to win but worth less; re-roofs cost more per enquiry but can pay for a whole season of advertising. We explain how to weigh it up in what a customer is really worth.
We run Google and Meta ads for roofers across the Midlands. Book a free chat and we'll show you how we'd set up your campaigns for the next storm.