7 PPC Tips for Insulation Companies

PPC marketing for insulation companies isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach; market size, job types, brand awareness, and targeted audience all vary from business to business. However, many different best practices and trends eliminate these differences and can help any insulation company generate more qualified leads and sales from the web.

Whether you service a large metropolitan area or a handful of sparsely populated towns, one specific type of insulation, or multiple, it’s important to make sure you understand not just who you are and what you provide as a company but the landscape of the market and behaviors of your customers.

When it comes to PPC for insulation companies, you get charged for every click regardless of the searcher’s intent, therefore targeting the wrong customers or locations and not being clear about your services/service area will lead to:

• A higher volume of unproductive clicks
• Lower quality leads you cannot service
• A higher cost per lead

Below, we’ve outlined seven PPC tips for insulation companies our search engine marketers have used to measurably improve website traffic, qualified leads, and sales for insulation contractors in the United States.

Let’s dive in.

PPC Tip #1: Set Up Your Account Properly

Best practices for setting up some of the technical aspects of a PPC account could vary greatly from account to account depending on how each wants to track their conversions, goals, etc., as well as differences in how ad copy will look and what the preferred method of contact is for each account.

However, there are basic account setup settings you should still consider.

Call Extensions

Listed under the “ads and extensions” tab, call extensions allow you to add a phone number that a user can call without having to go to your site. This streamlines the process for customers who’ve been swayed by your ads and does away with the potential that you might lose them in the shuffle of trying to navigate the website.

Call extensions can include your regular business phone, however, if you have the capability to take out a tracked line, you could create an entirely new number that redirects to your business’s phone.

A separate phone number (not your office line) for ad extensions better allows you to track where calls are coming from.

Lead Form Extensions

Similarly, a lead form extension could also be set up under the same extension tab. This works like the phone extension; except this time, you could set up a lead form someone can access and submit from the Google interface.

Google allows you to pick what questions and details you want to ask or know of your customers when they fill a form out. These can be set up to go directly to your email or a dedicated customer service rep when submitted.

It is recommended you fill out as many of the different extensions as possible. Sitelinks (see the Photo Gallery link in the above image) allow for quick access to different parts of your site you think might be most relevant or want to be highlighted.

Location Extensions

Location extensions allow you to include your business’s address in each generated ad. The location extension is clickable and will show your business’s location in Google Maps.

Location extensions are important for letting users know your business is local, as well as providing where they can find it if they choose to visit. Locations can be synced with your Google My Business profile or added separately.

Callout Extensions

Callout extensions allow you to highlight anything you think might stand out among your peers. What is it about your business you want people to know while still in the exploratory phase? It could be that you offer free estimates, a guaranteed on-time arrival window, or any other promise or offers you want the consumer to know.

You get 25 characters per callout extension, and you can feature up to four callout extensions per ad (though you can make more to mix and match between different ads and campaigns). If you don’t fill out at least two, Google will automatically fill them, so take advantage of this space.

Sitelink Extensions

Sitelink extensions provide you the ability to give users quick access to various different locations on your site all in one view; this is especially useful for those who’ve searched your brand name and might otherwise just land on your company’s homepage.

Common uses of sitelink extensions include contact, about us, service area, or job type pages. You can make as many sitelinks as you want, however only up to four will show at a time.

PPC Tip #2: Run Multiple Types of Campaigns

Branded Campaigns

Generally speaking, every PPC account will have a branded and at least one non-branded campaign.

Branded campaigns are ads tailored specifically around your brand name. Ad copy should reflect this and make your company name as visible as possible.

As shown below, it’s recommended to include headlines that go beyond just the company or brand name, however only bid on keywords that include your company’s name to keep the ads and keywords best optimized and organized.

For branded campaigns, you never want to be limited by budget because it’s your company homeowners are searching for, and in most cases, you’ll be the only one bidding on these words.

Setting the daily PPC budget for your branded campaign to a high number (e.g., $100) will keep you from losing impression share due to a low budget and also won’t run up the bidding price since there’s little to no competition for them.

Be mindful if your brand name can be confused with a generic search term that is commonly used in non-brand searches, and make sure you are only bidding on keywords with your specific name in it.

Non-Branded Campaigns

Non-branded campaigns can be broken down by service type. For instance, one single non-brand search campaign can encompass any generic insulation search term. If you offer more than just insulation (gutters, windows, garage doors, etc.), separate those out into their own campaigns.

The above ad is an example of a non-branded insulation search. It makes clear in the headline the company offers spray foam in the location specified. Including your brand name in non-brand ads isn’t necessary (especially if it’s mentioned in the URL or somewhere else in the ad), but it is a good way to get your brand presence up.

The ad group level is where you break out each insulation type. “Spray foam,” “Batts,” “Residential,” and “Removal” are all examples of ad groups. The purpose is to keep as many similar keywords together as possible to be able to use in similar ad copy.

You can have crossover between groups (for instance, “insulation removal” can be included in the fiberglass ad group’s ad copy and keywords), however, make sure the name of the ad group always appears with each keyword and in each ad set (the “fiberglass insulation removal,” for instance, would be fine for the fiberglass ad group, but not just “insulation removal”).

PPC Tip #3: Choose the Right Insulation Keywords To Target

Make sure the keywords in each ad group specifically reflect each ad group they are in. The purpose of this is to increase each keyword’s quality score and relevance. The quality score of a keyword, expected clickthrough rate, and relevance ranking will go up if they are included in their respective ad group’s headlines and descriptions, as well as if/how often and where they appear on the landing page for each ad. Relevance to other keywords in an ad group also weighs in this formula.

The better the keyword score and relevance, the more likely it is to show up in search and the less you’re likely to pay.

Not every keyword will have a high-quality score, so don’t be surprised if a non-branded one is as low as a four or five out of a possible 10. There might not necessarily be anything you can do to raise it, it’s just more difficult to have a higher score with generic terms.

Include “Near Me” in Your Keyword Targeting

“Near me” keywords are also a nice trick. If you’ve ever had a Google search that included the words “near me” in it, then you know what it’s like where you want to find a certain product or service nearby and don’t know of anyone or don’t care who can provide it.

Bidding on “spray foam near me” or “spray foam company near me” keywords, for example, allows you to position yourself to appear in searches for someone using this generic but popular search phrase.

It’s also recommended to include whatever “near me” phrases you’re bidding on in ad copy as well to help their quality scores.

Exclude Unqualified Keywords (“Negative Keywords”)

Just as important as keywords you want to appear in searches for are, knowing what keywords you don’t want to be associated with are equally important. These are what are known as negative keywords, and you can apply them to an ad group, campaign, or the whole account.

For an insulation contractor ad group, some negative keywords might include “what is,” “do it yourself,” “best,” or the name of a specific brand of insulation (unless you sell it directly). All of these could include your ads in their search results, however, customers are not likely to be looking for an insulation contractor because they are either trying to install/remove insulation themselves or might still be in the exploratory phase.

Before you go any further, it would be a good idea to compile a list of them in the negative keyword tab at the top of the page for easy access. Think about what searches you don’t want to appear in. Remember, you pay for every click, and to limit wasteful spending, it’s important not to have people clicking on your ads when they have no desire to be a potential customer.

Competitors’ brands will always be included as negative keywords, with the one exception being they would not apply to a competitor campaign. If someone is looking up the brand name of someone else, it is a very high likelihood their mind is set to give them their business. With that in mind, there’s little point in appearing in a search for a competitor’s name and risking paying if someone not interested in you clicks on your ad, accidental or otherwise.

However, those tend to yield low results and aren’t recommended for insulation companies on a tight budget.

“What is” is another good negative keyword phrase because someone looking up what spray foam is out of curiosity is likely not at the buying phase, if they’re even looking at buying at all.

Unless you sell parts/insulation/anything else directly to the customer list brand names of the products, you use a negative keyword as well. Someone searching for a branded name of a type of fiberglass is most likely looking for that type of insulation to install themselves.

Finally, be aware of what other types of jobs might be out there that could include your keywords.

“Open cell” could appear in a chemistry-related search, and thus “chemistry” would be good to not appear in a search that does use your keyword but is still off-topic.

Keywords and negative keyword lists evolve over time. As your ads appear in more searches, you can check the “search terms” tab under keywords to see every search your ad has appeared in. Use the search term list to decide what you want to add as keywords or negative keywords.

PPC Tip #4: Make the Most of Your Ad Copy

The last but possibly most important part of your insulation PPC campaigns is your ad copy. This is what appears when someone searches a term and, thus, your opportunity to entice them. Think of ad copy like a headline to grab the searcher’s attention and win their click from competitors.

It’s important that each ad reflects the ad group it’s in and the keywords in them; an ad that does not mention spray foam in a spray foam ad group is essentially a waste because it’s not offering the user what they want.

Include Offers & Promotions in Ad Copy

Ad copy is also your chance to let users know what sets you apart from the other results. Do you have any deals you could include? Do you offer free estimates? Are there any measurable guarantees you make to customers about your service? These are all good examples of how to stand out.

If you choose to make expanded text ads, make sure you use all three headlines and both description spaces to better optimize your ads/keywords and to include more details.

It is, however, recommended to use responsive search ads too. Only the usual three headlines and two descriptions will appear in a search, but these will mix and match up to 15 headlines and four descriptions based on past performance and search relevance.

Proper punctuation in descriptions and capitalizing the first letter of every word is best practice for presentation, and of course, make sure nothing is misspelled or grammatically incorrect (especially because there is no automatic spelling or grammar check).

PPC Tip #5: Target Relevant Types of Insulation Jobs

Before you go any further with PPC campaigns, it is vital to understand what insulation services your business wants more jobs for (e.g., if there are any job types you are trying to grow) and make sure you are properly targeting them.

Do you just offer one or two specific types of insulation? Do you only add insulation but will not remove it? Are there any jobs you specifically do not want?

Getting more granular with your ad groups, keywords, and ad copy allows you to target the audiences you want better. There isn’t necessarily much difference between targeting for removal versus installation, commercial versus residential, or any of the different types of insulation.

The biggest difference will be how you handle ad copy. For installation purposes, consider including all the different types of insulation you can install. Likewise for removal.

For insulation type ad groups, include in your headlines the words installation, removal, and replacement if relevant (for the batts ad group, use “batts installation,” “batts removal,” “batts replacement”) to let searchers know you deal with both the type of insulation and job you want done with it in one headline.

A generic “install or replace” also works as a headline depending on length.

Similarly, if you deal with both commercial and residential, it’s a good idea to let the user know by having a “home and commercial insulation” headline. Same with metal versus wood buildings.

Make sure you include both the generic searches (insulation removal, spray foam, commercial insulation), as well as those terms followed by “company” and “contractor” to include in more searches.

Once you’ve answered these questions, follow the proper best practices as before: Bid on the keywords you want, include them in your ad copy, and make sure your landing page corresponds with the keywords and ad copy.

PPC Tip #6: Leverage Geo-Qualified Campaigns for Better Performance

A geo-qualified PPC campaign targets your company’s specific service areas, giving your company a leg up on the competition that isn’t running them.

Regardless of location, there is always demand from people who include their city, town, or other location details in a specific search. Whether it’s “Miami Spray Foam Insulation Company,” “Visalia Insulation,” or “Jackson, WY, Fiberglass,” there’s plenty of data in Google Ads that backs up people who want to find a product or service specific to their location, large or small.

These differ from “near me” searches because they include a specific place and don’t just rely on your Google using your location to find what is nearby.

Thus, when doing pay per click campaigns for insulation companies, consider the towns, cities, and other communities in your service area.

• Where do you see business the most?
• Where do you want to expand to?
• Which areas have the highest population?

All of these can be considered when trying to create a geo-qualified PPC campaign.

First, start out by creating a Google Ads campaign separate from your non-branded and branded ones to allow for your geo-qualified campaigns to have a separate budget. From there, create an ad group for each locality you want to create custom ads for.

Building out each area in their own ad group will keep relevant keywords more closely together in their own groups, improving the quality score and relevance of these keywords and thus allowing your ads to appear at a lower cost more often.

Revisit the types of insulation services you do and the list of keywords built out corresponding to them. Instead of using “spray foam” or “spray foam company,” take that list of keywords and add the location before each word or phrase; in this case, “spray foam” would become “spray foam Idaho Falls.”

Finally, make sure your ad copy reflects these geographic modifiers. You want the specific location you’re targeting to appear in at least one headline for every expanded text ad and in multiple headlines for responsive search ads depending on ad copy.

Below is an example of the final product:

As seen, a person in Idaho Falls searching for a spray foam company in their city will see a search result that includes both their location and service; the location extension is a bonus to show this is a local company.

However, if you have multiple business locations, make sure you go into each GQ ad group and apply whichever address is closest to that given ad group’s location extension, especially if you have a larger service area (about 50 miles or more). Remember, GQ campaigns are all about letting users know you’re a local provider, and you should back that up by giving the most local address.

Create Geo-Targeted Landing Pages for Geo-Qualified Traffic

If you want to take the geo-qualified searches a step further, look into creating a specific landing page for each location ad group as such:

The user seeing their area’s name on the website helps give that extra reassurance your company is local and will service their area. If these geo-targeted pages have not been created yet, consider adding in a service area tab or section to your website’s homepage so each can be accessed organically.

PPC Tip #7: Set the Proper Budget for Your Market Size

Now that we’ve established the importance of breaking down your service area by each individual locality you want to target, it’s important to remember this article’s first sentence: There is no one-size-fits-all approach to insulation marketing.

And while it may seem like a geo-qualified PPC campaign for insulation contractors are straightforward (and in some respects is), no two geo-qualified campaigns will be built the same.

In fact, market size can change your company’s entire approach to many PPC campaigns, not just geo-qualified.

Think about how the Google Ads bidding system work: More competitors mean higher costs. Higher costs mean either the need for a higher budget or a more narrowed-down approach to refine your ad targeting.

Take Puyallup, Washington, a city of 40,000 people, for example.

The first-page bid for a geo-qualified insulation keyword is a fraction compared to that for one in Miami, a city of 442,000 people with a metropolitan population of more than 6 million.

Why is this? More people means higher search volume and more competitors, which means you need to bid higher to show up on the first page of Google.

This is where you need to consider your budget. Are you comfortable spending more on PPC to get more leads, or do you tailor your focus to a more defined strategy? Ultimately, there is no rule that tells you what you should and shouldn’t pay for keywords other than is it something you want and fits your business.

But if you want to slim down, consider using geo-qualified campaigns to target smaller areas; instead of implementing a single ad group for the city of Miami, make them for its suburbs (Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, etc.).

If you want to drive spray foam leads, then lower bids for or altogether pause ads for fiberglass and any other non-spray foam ad groups. You can also bid up or down on locations in your set service area, devices, age groups, time of day, day of the week, and household income.

Just be prepared; the larger the service area, the more you’re going to need to budget.

Grow Your Insulation Company With Blue Corona

You’re busy running a company. We don’t recommend stressing over these seven PPC tips for insulation companies. Instead, let the PPC marketing experts at Blue Corona handle your paid advertising campaigns.

At Blue Corona, we’re determined to grow the trades, one business at a time. We specialize in helping residential insulation companies increase qualified leads and sales, reduce their marketing costs, and increase ROI from their digital marketing campaigns.

Contact Us Today To Learn More

Interested in learning more about Blue Corona’s PPC advertising services for insulation contractors? Send us a message to schedule a free marketing consultation.