Google Ads for Roofing Companies: Branded, Non-Branded, and LSA

Google Ads is the highest-intent channel in roofing. Somebody typing "roof leak repair" at 2pm on Tuesday has a problem right now, not in six months. That intent comes at a cost: Google Ads in roofing is one of the most expensive verticals on the platform. Here is how to spend there without lighting money on fire.

The three layers

A mature roofing Google Ads account has three distinct buckets, each with its own budget and strategy.

1. Local Services Ads (LSA). Pay per lead, not per click. Google verifies you.
2. Branded search. People typing your company name. Cheap, high-converting, defensive.
3. Non-branded search. "Roof repair near me," "roofing companies in [city]." The real battle.

Most roofers skip branded and start with non-branded, then wonder why CPLs are $200+. Build all three in the right order.

Local Services Ads first

LSA shows up above the paid search results with the Google Guaranteed badge. You pay per lead (phone call or message), usually $25 to $75 per lead in roofing, occasionally higher in competitive metros.

Requirements:

• Background check on the business and owner
• License verification
• Insurance verification
• Active Google Business Profile with reviews

LSA rewards review volume and responsiveness. Shops with 100+ reviews and average response time under 15 minutes get 2 to 3x the lead volume of shops with 20 reviews and slow response. Set up LSA notifications on every phone in the office. Missed calls hurt ranking.

A typical LSA budget for a small shop is $1,500 to $3,000/month generating 20 to 60 leads. Close rate tends to be 20 to 35% because these leads have shopped you already (the Guaranteed badge plus your review profile did the selling).

Branded search (do not skip this)

If you have any form of other marketing (direct mail, trucks, yard signs, word of mouth), people are Googling your company name. If you are not bidding on your own name, competitors will. In many markets the top bidder on your company name is literally a competitor trying to intercept your traffic.

Branded CPCs: $1 to $4. Conversion rate: 20 to 40%. CPL: $5 to $20. This is the cheapest lead source in the account and most shops ignore it. Allocate 10 to 15% of total Google Ads budget here.

Non-branded search: intent matters

Not all roofing keywords are equal. Price them by the problem behind the search.

KeywordIntentTypical CPCTarget CPL "roof leak repair"Emergency, high intent$15 to $35$75 to $125 "roof repair near me"Mixed intent$12 to $25$60 to $100 "roof replacement cost"Research phase$8 to $18$100 to $180 "roofing contractors"Comparison$10 to $22$80 to $140 "storm damage roof inspection"Insurance-adjacent$12 to $28$50 to $90

Target CPL for a mid-market shop should land at $50 to $150 depending on keyword mix. Below $50 and you are probably getting low-quality clicks. Above $150 for weeks on end means something is broken.

Quality Score: the multiplier most ignore

Google rewards ads that match searches. Quality Score (1 to 10) impacts both the CPC you pay and whether you show at all. A QS of 8 vs 4 on the same keyword can mean 50% lower CPC.

Three levers:

1. Expected CTR. Headlines that include the keyword and the city.
2. Ad relevance. Ad groups tight to one theme (do not lump "roof repair" and "new construction" in the same group).
3. Landing page experience. Page matches the ad. Fast load. Mobile-friendly.

This is why a dedicated landing page per service beats sending all traffic to the homepage. Our roofing website conversion guide has the template.

Negative keywords save the account

Build a negative keyword list before you launch. Required negatives for most roofing accounts:

• "jobs," "hiring," "career," "salary"
• "DIY," "how to," "youtube"
• "wholesale," "supply," "manufacturer"
• "commercial" (unless you do commercial)
• "metal," "tile," "flat" (unless you do those)
• Competitor names (or bid on them in a separate campaign with caveats)

Review the search terms report weekly for the first 60 days. You will find 50+ more negatives in the first month alone.

Bidding strategy

Start on Maximize Clicks with a max CPC cap for the first 2 weeks to collect data. Switch to Maximize Conversions once you have 30+ conversions logged. Avoid Target CPA or Target ROAS until you have 100+ conversions in the account. The algorithm needs a real signal to optimize against.

Call-only ads deserve their own campaign in roofing. 60%+ of high-intent searches convert via phone, not form. A click-to-call campaign with call tracking and recording (see our call tracking guide) often produces the lowest CPL in the whole account.

Budget allocation for a $5,000/mo account

• LSA: $2,000
• Branded search: $500
• Non-branded search (core services): $1,800
• Call-only campaign: $500
• Retargeting (display, YouTube): $200

This mix typically produces 80 to 140 leads per month at a blended CPL in the $40 to $75 range, depending on market competition.

Track the leads, not just the clicks

Google will tell you click data all day. What you need is lead data tied to revenue. Push every form and phone conversion into your CRM with UTM parameters intact. RoofKnockers tracks source, medium, and campaign on every contact so you can see which keywords actually produced signed jobs, not just phone rings. Review this report monthly and cut the bottom 20% of keywords by revenue per click.

Google Ads in roofing works. It is expensive and unforgiving, but the intent level is unmatched. Run all three layers, build negatives, track to revenue, and the channel pays for itself within 90 days.