PPC for Plumbers: 7 Tips for Exceptional Campaign Management

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising for plumbers can be a challenge because of the many competitors that are out there. And managing those campaigns can usually be difficult because it requires keeping up with updates while trying to increase leads.

There are ways to get this done efficiently and spend less time managing your campaigns. So, that will free you up from logging in to your campaigns everyday to try and understand what is taking place.

I’ve listed below guidelines to help you manage your Google Ads campaigns and improve your targeting and leads and enquiries. And you can reach out to me below if you have any questions.

 

1. Setup conversion tracking

Effective PPC advertising for plumbers should include setting up conversion tracking. And that tracking should work correctly and help you to see which assets are driving your leads and enquiries.

To set up conversion tracking, visit the Conversions page. You’ll find it under the Tools & Settings section in the top right corner in your Google Ads account. In there you’ll be able to set up website conversions, for when people use a form on your website. And you’ll be able to set up call tracking on your website and your ads.

Another option is to set up goal tracking in Google Analytics and then import this into your Google Ads account. First make sure the two accounts are linked, and you can do that in the Admin section in your Analytics account. And in there you’ll also be able to set up goal tracking by clicking the Goals link and then follow the instructions to set up a goal.

 

2. Add new negative keywords

If you regularly check your search terms report you’ll find some searches that are not relevant. This is normal especially as you manage your campaigns and as you add other keywords in broad and phrase match types.

Any searches that you find that are not relevant, select them and then add them in a negative keyword list or at the campaign or ad group levels.

 

3. Check Recommendations

In the navigation you’ll see the Recommendations page which lists opportunities to improve your campaigns. The most important, which will have the most impact on your campaigns are at the top and the list important at the bottom.

So, you should apply the relevant recommendations and dismiss those that are not. And that will help to increase your Optimisation score and lead to a better performing campaign.

 

4. Find new keywords

For PPC campaigns to continue to improve for plumbers, it’s important that they continue to do keyword research to find new keywords. And adding these keywords will help to increase clicks and will likely lead to an increase in leads and enquiries if they are well targeted.

Use the Keyword Planner tool to find new keywords. You can find it in Tools & Settings and also use all its features including forecasting to see what you are likely to spend per month.

Also, the Recommendations page mentioned above will reveal some new keywords to add if it finds any keyword opportunities.

 

5. Update bid strategy

Another recommendation you are likely to find in the Recommendations page, is to update your bid strategy. However, you need to be very careful with this one. Don’t just blindly add any bid strategy recommendation without reviewing it first.

First, remember your goals and check to see if you are still on track to achieving them in your campaign. And check if there are other bid strategies to use instead of the recommended one and see if any others will help you achieve your goals.

For example, if you want to get a specific cost per acquisition, then change to Maximise Conversions with a target cost per action (tCPA). Or if you would like to get more impressions then use the Target Impression Share bid strategy.

 

6. Do competitor analysis

You can find out what other plumbers are spending in Google Ads with some helpful online tools. They’ll help you see what your competitors are spending per month on average in their PPC campaigns.

There are a few good tools you can use and one of them is the Competitor tool in SERanking. It shows you what keywords they are bidding on and what positions they appear in on average and what the average cost per click is. And you will see what they pay per month on average.

 

7. Consider broad match type keywords

Adding broad match keywords will help to increase your impressions and clicks. That’s because broad match targets many other search queries that your phrase and exact match keywords are not targeting.

And it also helps you to increase conversions from long tail searches that drive better conversions than short tail most of the time.

You can change some of your keywords from phrase to broad match for example. Or you can check the Recommendations page as described above to see if there are any broad match keywords to add, that could improve performance.

 

Case Study

Am2pm Plumbers is a London based plumbing business that specialises in offering their services during non-business hours. They contacted me because they had no experience with Google Ads or any form of online advertising. I taught them the basics of the system and set up a new Search campaign for their business that saw an increase in the metrics they were most interested in. Read the full case study.

 

Get in Touch

PPC advertising for Plumbers is an area I have experience in, having worked with many in the 13+ years I’ve been setting up and managing campaigns for plumbers. To find out how I can help you with PPC advertising for your plumbing business, contact me below.