PPC for roofers: repair, replacement and storm searches need three different campaigns

PPC for roofers works when the account treats three kinds of roofing search separately. Repair searches ("roof leak repair", "missing shingles") are urgent and local. Replacement searches ("new roof cost", "metal roof installation") are planned, high value and researched for weeks. Storm searches ("hail damage roof inspection") arrive in a burst after the weather and fade within days. Give each its own campaign, budget, ad copy and landing page, run calls only in the hours somebody answers, add a long negative keyword list on day one, and judge the account on cost per signed job, not cost per click.

For how paid search fits beside the other roofing lead channels, such as referrals, canvassing and bought leads, see our guide to roofing marketing and its five lead channels. This page goes deep on the paid search account itself.

The three campaigns every roofing account needs

Campaign	Typical searches	What the ad and page must do	How to judge it
Repair	roof leak repair, roofer near me, emergency roof tarp	Show speed, the service area and a phone number that is answered	Cost per inspection booked
Replacement	roof replacement cost, new roof, metal roofing contractor, shingle roof installation	Show materials, warranties, financing if offered, project photos and reviews	Cost per signed contract, tracked over the full sales cycle
Storm and insurance	hail damage roof, storm damage roof inspection, wind damage roof repair	Explain the inspection, what you document, and how you work with the homeowner's claim	Inspections booked during the surge window

Add a fourth campaign for commercial roofing only if you do it. Flat roofs, TPO and roof coatings attract property managers and facility buyers, who need different pages and often a different salesperson.

Keeping these apart is the single biggest fix most roofing accounts need. When repair and replacement share one campaign, cheap repair clicks use the budget early in the day, and the replacement searcher who would have signed a large job never sees the ad.

Storm response: the surge campaign

Storm demand is the part of roofing PPC that behaves like no other trade. After a hail or wind event, searches in the affected postcodes jump for a short window. A prepared account wins that window.

• Build the storm campaign in advance and leave it paused. Ads, keywords and a storm landing page ready to switch on the morning after.
• Target the affected area tightly. Use radius or postcode targeting around the storm path, not your whole service area.
• Raise the budget for days, not weeks. Set a calendar reminder to bring it back down. Once the surge passes, return spend to its normal level.
• Staff the phones before you spend. A storm surge with voicemail is the most expensive way to fund your competitors' pipeline.

Be careful with insurance language. Describe what you do, such as the inspection, the photos and the documentation you provide. Before any ad or landing page mentions insurance deductibles or claim outcomes, check your state's contractor licensing and insurance rules, because some states regulate exactly what a roofer may say and offer.

Local Services Ads for roofers

In the US, Google's Local Services Ads help page lists Roofers as an eligible category, read on 21 October 2026. You pay per lead rather than per click, the ad sits above normal results, and verified businesses carry the Google Verified badge. Google also says that if you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected, which matters for a trade that is often on a roof when the phone rings.

Local Services Ads suit repair and inspection demand well. Replacement buyers usually want to read about materials and see project photos, which is the job of a search ad and a proper landing page. Most roofing companies that can handle the volume run both.

Calls, call assets and the hours you advertise

Roofing leads arrive mostly by phone. Google's call ads help page states that the option to create new call ads was removed in February 2026, and that existing call ads will stop receiving impressions in February 2027. Phone numbers now belong on responsive search ads as call assets. If your account still runs old call ads, move them to call assets now.

Then schedule the ads to the hours a person answers. If your crews start at seven and the office closes at five, an ad running at nine in the evening sends calls to voicemail. Either staff an answering service that can book inspections or switch the repair campaign off overnight.

Track every call as a conversion, and score the calls weekly: repair or replacement, in area or out, booked or not. A campaign with a low cost per call and a poor booked rate is buying the wrong calls.

Negative keywords that stop wasted roofing spend

Roofing words appear in many searches from people who will never hire a roofer. Start with these negatives and add more from the search terms report each week:

• Jobs and training: roofing jobs, roofer salary, roofing apprenticeship, hiring.
• Materials buyers and DIY: shingles for sale, roofing nails, roofing felt, how to install, DIY, home improvement store names.
• Unrelated roofs: roof rack, car roof, roof top tent, rooftop bar, roof of mouth.
• Services you do not offer: gutters, skylights or solar, if you do not install them.
• Places outside your service area, especially nearby cities that share a name with your county or region.

Landing pages for each campaign

Send repair ads to a repair page with the phone number at the top and the service area listed. Send replacement ads to a page showing the materials you install, warranties, project photos, reviews that mention replacements, and financing if you offer it. Send storm ads to a page about the inspection process. The home page should receive none of your paid traffic. Strong roofing pages also help organic results, which our guide to SEO for roofing contractors covers.

Hiring a roofing PPC agency

Many agencies sell PPC to roofers, from home services specialists to general shops. Our comparison of PPC and Google Ads optimisation software is useful if you plan to run the account in house. If you hire, get these in writing:

1. The Google Ads account is in your company's name, with the agency as a user.
2. Reporting on booked inspections and signed jobs, using call tracking and your CRM, not clicks alone.
3. A storm plan agreed before the season, including who switches the campaign on and how fast.
4. Whether they run ads for another roofer in your area, answered in the contract.
5. A clear notice period and a clean handover of the account if you leave.

Roofing PPC: the questions roofers ask

How much should a roofing company spend on PPC?

Enough to buy more booked inspections than your crews and salespeople can handle, measured over at least two months. Set the budget from your cost per signed job and the jobs you want each month, then adjust from real data.

Are Local Services Ads better than search ads for roofers?

They do different jobs. Local Services Ads suit urgent repair and inspection leads and are paid per lead. Search ads with strong landing pages suit replacement buyers who research first. Most busy roofers run both.

Should a roofer bid on storm and hail damage keywords?

Yes, with a separate campaign that is built in advance and switched on only in the affected area for a short window. Keep insurance language factual and check your state's rules first.

Why are my roofing clicks expensive but my jobs few?

Usually because repair, replacement and irrelevant searches share one campaign, the negative list is short, or calls go unanswered. Split the campaigns, read the search terms report and score your calls.

Do I still need call ads for my roofing company?

No. Google removed the option to create new call ads in February 2026. Add your phone number to responsive search ads as a call asset instead.

The roof replacement shortlist that has no auction

A homeowner pricing a new roof increasingly asks ChatGPT or Gemini "who are the best roofing companies near me for a full replacement?" and gets back three or four names. No bid places a roofer in that list. It is built from the reviews, project pages, licences and directory profiles the assistant can read. A roofer who wins every auction can still be missing from it. To see which roofers an assistant names in your area, and what it cites to justify them, AI Knows Us runs that question for you.