The Only Google Ads Guide Construction Companies Will Need
In 2025, new construction will bring in 2.1 trillion dollars of value. How much of this… will you add to your backlog?
This is how you can grow your business so that you can take as much of that as possible.
Having an online presence is the best way to grow your business and find quality projects. The only problem with this is that building your website and getting your name out there requires a lot of work. Especially since the bigger established names are already dominating the online space.
If only there was a way to speed up this process and make it worth your time to market yourself digitally.
Fortunately for you, there is. By running Google Ads, you can get your company's name on the first page of Google search, without having to compete with all of the monopolies who have already established themselves online.
With Google Ads campaigns, you’re able to establish your business as a reliable business partner, generate more sales, and scale your business to new levels.
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads are ads that are displayed at the top and bottom of Google searches. By doing this effectively, your ads will show up on your potential new clients' Google search.
At its core, Google Ads is a pay-per-click model (PPC). This means you pay only when someone clicks on your ad. It’s designed to help businesses connect with potential customers who are actively searching for your products or services.
When set up correctly, you’ll be attracting high-quality leads faster than any non-online method. Leaving your brick-and-mortar competitors behind (Sorry Mom and pops)
In this article, we’ll dive into the winning recipe for your Google Ads campaign. (With some bonus tips to push your campaigns far beyond any of your competitors)
But before we get started, Google Ads is just one of many ways to grow your construction-based business. Combine it with other proven growth strategies that we share here in our article 11 Proven Strategies to Grow Your Small Construction Business to set your foundation to be stronger than even rebar and concrete.
Benefits of Google Ads
1. Efficiency
Google Ads lets you target specific demographics, locations, and keywords which will get your ads to appear right in front of your target audience. This focused targeting is important because if your ads are appearing in front of people who couldn’t care less about construction, you can kiss your hard-earned capital goodbye.
2. Fast Results
As soon as you create your campaign and have it go live, your ads will already be appearing in search results. You’ll be able to track key metrics of your campaign almost immediately so that you’re able to adjust strategy a lot quicker than having to wait for your change orders to get approved.
3. Building Authority
Even when your ads aren’t getting clicks the first time around. Your target audience will still be seeing your business on Google. The more often they see your business, the more established your business will appear to your potential clients.
5 Steps to Using Google Ads Successfully
There is a blueprint for using Google Ads successfully, just like a well-structured plan for constructing a building. To make it easy we’ve created a 5 step process to ensure your campaign runs as efficiently as possible.
1. Getting Started with Google Ads
The biggest and easiest step is getting started with Google Ads and is extremely simple, you can get your account approved with some basic business information by going to this page https://ads.google.com/intl/en_us/home/
From there, Google will make you pick the objective of your campaign.
For growing your construction-based business the 3 best options would be phone call leads, submitting lead forms, and page views. So we’ll focus on creating effective ads for those 3 options.
2. Creating Effective Ads
Phone Call Leads; Turning Clicks Into Conversations
Sometimes your next client is only a phone call away and all it takes is one conversation to create a relationship that lasts forever.
These campaigns are designed to connect potential customers directly to your business by making it easy for them to call you straight from your ad.
How to Make it Work:
- Use call-only ads; Instead of a link to your website, they show your phone number and a call button. These ads are also perfect for when someone is on mobile because it’s small and simple.
- Set your business hours; Make sure your ads are only showing when your business is open. You don’t want someone to call you, just for you to miss it and miss out on a potential lead.
- Localize your Campaign; Focus on people searching in your service area with location-based keywords like, “Roofing Contractors near me” or “Commercial painters in Dallas”
The image above is a perfect example of a phone ad. Someone on their mobile phone needs a plumber in the area and the ad with the number is very convenient for them to call and schedule work.
Submit Lead Form; For the “Not Quite Ready” Clients
You’ll still be targeting warmer people who know what they want but aren’t quite ready to purchase yet. These are people who are looking for estimates, and bids, and looking at different contractors.
In this campaign, you can offer a free estimate or consultation in exchange for the client’s contact information. Ideally their email or phone number.
How to Make This Work:
- Highlight the value of your free offer in your ad, for example, “Get a free custom quote in 24 hours” Make your offer stand out by offering something better than the competitors, by providing it within 24 hours.
- Keep the form simple; nobody is going to want to fill out a huge form that’s going to take up their time
With this information, you’re able to market to them for free through email marketing and SMS campaigns. Which is great for nurturing a relationship with them and increases your chances of getting a sale in the future. For more information on leveraging email marketing and making more sales check out this article Complete Guide to Construction Email Marketing + 32 Templates
Brand Awareness; The Long Game
Let’s face it, not everyone is going to buy from day 1. Running a purchasing campaign isn’t always the best choice. Some clients are slow burners and spend time researching before their a decision.
In that case, you don’t want to force the sale onto them because it’s going to create friction and ultimately cost you a sale.
How to Make This Work:
- Include clear calls to action that are relevant to what they are looking for, to keep them engaged, for example, “Explore our portfolio of Custom Home Builds” or “Check out our guide on how to choose a GC for your custom home”
- Make sure the content you are sharing is valuable to them.
You’re playing the long game here by building trust and turning casual browsers into loyal clients.
3. Targeting Your Audience
Google Ads offers you many different ways for you to target your ideal customer. You can target them through different demographics based on their age, gender, income, and location just to name a few.
Before you start your campaigns, you will want to define your ideal customer profile. More info on this in our comprehensive construction marketing guide here.
For example, if your bread and butter is in Dallas, TX, you can set your ads to show up only in that area. That way, you’re not wasting your budget advertising to someone in New York who wouldn’t hire you no matter how good your offer is.
Don’t feel like you’re getting the most bang for your buck with targeting? You can even use advanced targeting to appear in front of people based on their search history and online behaviors.
Someone who searched for, “Painting contractor for commercial buildings” will end up seeing your ad a couple of hours or days later. This would be ideal for a painting contractor to set up.
Just like the ad below which will appear if you're near the Las Cruces area and search “commercial building painting contractors”
Another creative way to target can be by targeting those with a higher income. This will work especially well if you’re a high-end contractor because this is another way to get you closer to your ideal client, who can afford your services.
4. Budgeting and Bidding
Your bids and budget are the backbone of a winning Google Ads campaign. Do this correctly and you’ll get a great return on your investment.
How Bidding Works and Why It Matters
With Google Ads, you bid on keywords that you want your ads to show up on. You want to make your business visible on search engine results pages (SERPs) that are relevant to what your ideal clients are searching for.
For example, if you’re a door and hardware contractor in Phoenix, here are two different keywords and searches you can bid on;
- “Door and hardware contractor in Phoenix for commercial buildings”
- “Doors and Hardware for a Building”
The first search targets GCs looking for someone to help with their commercial project. A solid lead
The second search can be too broad, and you’ll end up spending your budget on people who are just window-shopping for different door styles. Not a great lead.
This is a perfect example of targeting. Because they targeted the right keywords for the search, “Door and Hardware contractors in Phoenix” their ad lands right on the front page of Google for everyone to see.
Custom Bids: Make Every Dollar Work Harder
Something cool about Google Ads is you can set bids based on keyword value:
- Established keywords If you have keywords that are performing well for you, it’s worth spending more on them because you know they’ll bring in results.
- New keywords that you are testing out you’ll want to play it safe. Have a lower budget for these words to test out how well they’re going to work without breaking the bank.
You can set clear daily and monthly limits on your budget, and you’re able to change these as much as you like. This lets you optimize your campaigns without overspending.
You can also use tools like Google Keyword Planner to spy on and analyze competitors' ads. You can also use this resource to see which keywords have the highest search volume.
5. Monitoring and Optimizing Campaign Performance
Google Ads will provide you with numerous metrics to measure your campaign's performance. You can use this data to fine-tune your campaigns and get as much ROI as possible.
Impressions - How many people saw your ad. Be careful with this metric, you always want to focus on quality over quantity.
CTR - The percentage of people who clicked after seeing your ad. A high CTR means your ad is a winner, a low CTR means it might be time for a rewrite or scrapping the ad.
Conversion rate - How many people clicked on your ad and bought your product or completed your desired action. Like filling out your lead form or booking a consultation.
Cost per conversion - The price you pay for each conversion. This will let you know if your campaign is making money or just burning it.
Not all campaigns are created equal and that’s okay - because you can compare them to each other. If one campaign is exceeding expectations while the other is flopping, then you’ll know to tweak the loser and double up on the winner.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
So now you’ve got the tools, the strategy, and the knowledge - but even the best campaigns can crash if you make some of these common mistakes. Avoid these traps, and your Google Ads will work as hard as you do.
Lack of Negative Keywords; Don’t Let Your Budget Leak
Negative keywords are like the guardrails for your ads. Without them, your ads might pop up in irrelevant searches, burning through your budget.
Back to the doors and hardware example, you don’t want your ads showing up on the search, “Doors for buildings.” Because this search is most likely being made by a person who is browsing for different doors, not for your services.
By going through your search terms, you’ll be able to spot irrelevant keywords. You can then add them to your negative list to keep your ads on the right track.
Put yourself in the shoes of the customer and think about what they are looking for based on the search.
Not Tracking Your Data
Google Ads is not a “set it and forget it” system. Here’s why:
- A campaign performing poorly will just become a money pit. You want to recognize this immediately by checking your analytics regularly
- Without tracking your data, you won’t know what’s working - or what’s failing.
Think of tracking your data as plugging leaks in your pipeline to keep dollars flowing. Turn off underperforming campaigns, adjust your strategy, and double down on what’s working.
Mobile Optimization
Your target audience is always on the move - they’re at job sites solving problems or at meetings away from the office. If you aren’t optimized for mobile, they’ll skip right past you.
- A clunky unresponsive ad on a phone will result in lost leads
- Mobile users are impatient - your ad needs to hook them fast and be easy to engage with
You can always test your ads on your phone to make sure they’re fast and functional. Google also has mobile-friendly tools to spot issues and help resolve them.
Bonuses
We still have some tips to take your campaigns to the next level. These bonus strategies will give you the edge over your competition and make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck.
Retargeting Ads
Most buyers aren’t ready to commit after just one ad. It takes an average of seven touchpoints before they make a decision. That’s where retargeting ads come in.
Retargeting ads focus on potential clients who’ve already interacted with your ad but didn’t pull the trigger. It works because;
- They’ve already shown interest - now you’re keeping your business top of mind
- By staying top of mind; you build familiarity, trust, and the likelihood they’ll come back when they’re ready to buy.
Landing Page Content; Create a Seamless Experience
Nothing kills a conversion faster than confusion. If someone clicks on your ad about roofing and lands on a generic construction page, they’ll leave faster subcontractors at a job site on a Friday afternoon.
- Make sure your land page delivers what your ad promises
- Make your landing page easy to navigate. If your desired action is to fill out a lead form, make the form short and simple
A well-aligned landing page will not only keep clients engaged, but they’ll receive this notion that working with your business will be smooth.
Great Ad Copy; Words That Sell
Your ads are going to be your first impression. Showing up in front of your client is only half the battle; your words will do the heavy lifting.
What makes great ad copy?
- Call out your audience; Use their language to grab attention. Make them feel you’re talking directly to them.
- Identify their pain points; Show them that you understand their struggles. If you can show that you understand their pain, clients will feel like you understand them.
- Offer a solution; After you’ve hit your audience’s pain points, you’ll want to show them that you have the perfect solution to their problems. This can establish you as a trusted authority.
Good ad copy speaks directly to your audience’s needs, builds trust, and creates a sense of urgency.
Conclusion
In conclusion, with a little bit of upfront effort, Google Ads can help provide the spark you need to increase the flow of leads and sales into your pipeline.
It’s something your company can leverage to grow your company, find quality leads, and generate more sales, even if you don’t have a strong online presence.
If you’re ready to take your construction business to the next level with online marketing. Then check our article with 21 marketing strategies to pair with your Google Ads to create a strong foundation. Construction Marketing Guide: 21 Proven Strategies & Playbook
