This article originally appeared here.
As an HVAC company, you know that your marketing operates much differently than a makeup brand or the food industry. Your focus is to promote yourself to homeowners that may stumble upon problems with their HVAC systems over time and need a professional to come in and save the day. But with how competitive it is in the HVAC industry, how do you get your business to stand out from the rest?
A great way to place yourself in front of the competition is to run Google Ad campaigns for your business. Sounds simple, but there’s a few details to take into consideration before you make those ads go live. Here we’re going to cover some tips to make Google Ads work for your HVAC business. The topics we’ll cover include:
- User Intent
- Choosing Good Keywords
- Campaign & Ad Group Structure
- Writing Interesting Ads
- Optimizing Landing pages
- Configure Tracking
- Ad Extensions
Why Google Ads?
But first, let’s talk about why you would want to use Google Ads for your HVAC business. Your clientele will typically look for specific services when searching for repairs. Google is used by about 4.3 billion users worldwide, with 3.5 billion of them being U.S. citizens. With this in mind, when homeowners need HVAC service from experts, they’re more than likely going to turn to the Google search results page to find what they need. They’re going to search for specific services in their area and compare the first couple of results they see before making a decision. If your business appears “below the fold” on the SERP or (search engine results page) you’re less likely to get business. And if your webpage is on the 2nd page or further, then it’s almost not worth it.
Google Ads can help connect with potential customers easier and in larger quantities because of how high your campaign can push your website up in the SERP. When your business is among the top results for a specific service and city or state, clients can easily communicate with you by calling, messaging, or filling out lead forms. Without an ad campaign, your businesses social media presence will be pretty much non-existent. So what can you do to make sure your Google Ad campaign gets you the results you’re after?
8 Easy Tips To Make Google Ads Work For Your HVAC Business
1. Understand User Intent
When HVAC customers are looking for a company in their area for service, there are common keyphrases you’ll notice. These include: emergency, affordable, reliable, near me, and fix. A great example of this would be “AC emergency repair near me,” or “Affordable HVAC company near me.” It’s important to understand what your ideal customer might be looking for when they inevitably arrive at your Google Business Profile, or click an ad. By researching what most HVAC customers are looking up or by putting yourself in their shoes, you’ll be able to better optimize your Google Ad campaign. Be specific and utilize this understanding of user intent combined with comprehensive keyword research and you’re on the right track.
Most Common HVAC Keywords Searched Include:
- Emergency
- Affordable
- Reliable
- Near Me
- Fix
2. Choose Good Keywords
When creating a successful Google Ad, keyword research is imperative. You may have a good idea of what keywords make sense for your business and specific services, and they may well work. However, through keyword research, you may find keyword combinations and long tail keywords that rank higher than you expected. Combining the right set of words can make all the difference when building your ad. Try service specific keywords so your customers can find you when they need something particular like duct cleaning or mini-split repair. Remember the user intent we discussed earlier.
There are a couple of tools you can use when building your ad to give you more control over how it performs and what kind of searches will pull up your website. For example, you can use keyword match type to strategize what keyword combinations you’ll appear for when searched. You can set your ad to only be found through “exact match” or the exact keywords you attached to your ad, “phrase match” making your ad appear only when certain phrases are typed in, or “broad match” which will make your ad visible when someone types in the exact keywords or something very similar.
You can also reduce the number of irrelevant viewers you get for your ad by honing in on your particular audience. Attaching “negative keywords” to your Google ad will prevent you from being shown for unrelated searches. This could be services that fit your vertical, but that you do not provide at this time. Finally, you can compare the difficulty of your desired keywords with your competition’s. This way you can strategize to rank higher for a popular search that maybe your competitors aren’t using.
3. Develop Your Campaign & Ad Group Structure
With campaign ad group structure, you can target your ads by several different variables to get leads that are most relevant to you. You can build a campaign for specific demographics like geographic location, language, age, and more. You can structure your ads by keywords in a single ad group, but a word of caution: try not to add more than 20 keywords in each of your ad groups for the best results.
You can also test the performance of your ads by having multiple variations of your ad in an ad group. The most we’d recommend is about 3 per ad group. This way you can easily A/B test and not get too confused. An additional note: it’s important not to create more than seven ad groups per campaign.
4. Write Interesting Ads
A great Google Ad is more than just the perfect keywords and execution. Your ad also has to be interesting and eye-catching so your potential customers will click on it. A lot of the previous information mentioned comes into play. Remember user intent? You have to think like a customer and ask yourself not only what you’d be typing into the search, but that kind of results would catch your eye. Figuring out the best ad copy for your campaigns can be tricky but here we have some tactics you can use to get better conversion and overall click through rates.
- Offers and Services
- Keywords In Ad Copy
- Questions In Headlines
- Call To Action
5. Include Targeted Offers And Services
Include offers and specific services to catch the eye of your customers. This can be anything from free consultations, a special sale, or just a valuable service you offer that you’re looking to get customers for. This will help attract potential customers to your ad!
6. Use Keywords In Ad Copy
Use the same keywords you used in your campaign in your ad copy. This will help Google to serve your ad to more relevant people.
7. Ask A Question In Headlines
Most people type their searches in the form of a question. For example, “Why is my AC unit making a banging noise?” or “Why does my heater smell bad?” Knowing this, it’s a great idea to include your ad copy in the form of question/answer. You could title your ad copy with something like “Is your AC system making a grinding noise?” and then follow up with who they can get to help them… you! If a potential customer was searching for what the cause of a grinding noise in their AC system was, your ad could appear!
8. Call To Action
Always include a specific call to action sentence at the end of your ad copy to let people know how they can reach you if they’re interested in your services!
Additional Ways To Maximize Your Google Ads Campaign
Of course, that’s not all there is to know about creating a Google Ads Campaign that works for you! We want to help you get the absolute most out of your marketing efforts.
Optimize Your Landing Pages
You’ve done your keyword research, written an eye-catching ad, and now a potential customer has come to your landing page…now what? Your landing page should be optimized for easy use and have all the information a customer would need to request a service or contact you for questions. If your page loads slowly, is buggy, hard to read, and isn’t clear and straightforward, your bounce rate is going to increase. There’s really no point in creating great ads if your landing pages can’t convert. Below, we’ve listed some factors that will make a big difference in the success of your conversions via landing page.
1. Contact Information
You’ll want all methods of contact available on your landing page such as your company phone number, the address of this specific location, your hours of operation and whether or not you provide 24/7 emergency services. Some HVAC companies only operate during standard business hours and won’t be someone’s choice if they have something go wrong in the middle of the night. If you offer emergency service, you’ll stand out from the competition. Your contact information should be easy to find, easy to read and even clickable for mobile users.
2. Make It Mobile-Friendly
Speaking of mobile users, most searchers find what they’re looking for online through their mobile phone. So your landing page and website overall should be easily accessible through a mobile device. It shouldn’t be clunky, be overpowered with images or unneeded text. Your customers need to be able to get to what they’re looking for fast or they’ll move on to the next choice.
3. Reduce Bounce Rate
If your website (be it desktop or mobile) takes forever to load in and is very buggy, your bounce rate is going to skyrocket. No one wants to wait forever to get to the information they need, this isn’t like the old school dial-up days after all! Your page load seed should always be about 3 seconds or less for both the mobile and desktop versions. Poor website performance will result in lost business and fewer leads.
4. Include Keywords
Repeating the same keywords you used in your campaigns all the way up to your landing page will help optimize your website’s relevance score and help you rank higher in search. Remember to do your keyword research and choose words and phrases that make the most sense for your business but are also not saturated by the competition.
5. Testimonials & Reviews
Include testimonials and reviews on each of your landing pages to build trust and showcase your success to new customers. Potential customers will always want to see reviews of your work before committing. If you can connect your best Google reviews to your landing page that will encourage clients to get in touch with you because they know they can trust you. Businesses with little to no reviews are just as likely to be forgotten about as businesses with a list of bad reviews.
Don’t Forget To Configure Tracking In Google Ads
When your ads are up and running, it’s important to keep an eye on their performance so you can re-strategize if needed. You can have Google Ads track the leads you acquire from your campaigns. This includes phone calls, lead forms, direct messages and emails. By doing this, you can see which method of contact is most effective and which ads are bringing more leads than others. You can double down on your more successful campaigns to increase your leads. When you know what’s working, you can focus your ad budget on effective ads instead of simply testing.
Utilize Ad Extensions
Ad Extensions are additional pieces of data that you can add to your pay-per-click
ads to make it easier for your potential customers to reach out or find your business.
Here are some of the benefits ad extensions offer:
- Brand Awareness
- More Clicks
- Increase Conversions
- Add Phone Number
- Add Physical Location
Google Ad extensions can increase your online presence and better the results of your ads. By using the right kinds of ad extensions, you can connect with customers faster and ensure conversions for your business.
Drive Profit For Your HVAC Business With Google Ads
With these tips listed above, you’ll be able to create Google Ads that bring in business and continue to generate leads as long as you’re running them. The most successful Google Ads in the HVAC business are the ones that utilize every single detail and strategize the best keywords, A/B tests, best ad copy, and a decent budget.
If you need help running Google Ads for your HVAC business, you can reach out to our expert digital marketing team at RYNO Strategic Solutions! We’ll learn everything there is to know about your company, ask discovery questions to establish your goals, and come up with an ad strategy that works for you. Contact us today to learn more!
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