How Can I Use Google Ads to Close More Leads?

Many HVAC and Solar companies mistakenly value exposure and visibility over attracting quality traffic. Our advice to these companies is always the same: If your goal is to increase conversions, drop the “quantity over quality” mentality and instead intentionally narrow down your ad campaign traffic with high-intent keywords.

High intent keywords are those that indicate a strong intent to purchase. Focusing on these keywords almost always means less traffic but also means higher click-through and conversion rates.

Here are a few tips to ensure your ads are targeting high-intent traffic:

• Prioritize product- or service-specific keywords. Examples might include “HVAC installation,” “Heating repair,” “Solar installation quote,” “Affordable AC installs,” etc.
• Select the right keyword match types. Our suggestion is to experiment with implementing phrase match and exact match into your campaigns. Typically, companies implement broad match, which means they set up their selected keywords to display for the broadest possible searches. This strategy casts a wide net in terms of traffic but also means a lot of that traffic likely isn’t conversion-ready, or worse, they’re not even interested in your services. Instead, implementing phrase match and exact match gives you lower but more qualified traffic because your ads only display for searches that very closely match your keywords.
• Use dynamic location insertion. Dynamic location insertion is a tool that customizes the exact content of your ad by inserting the user’s location while they are searching for your products and services. This is a great strategy considering that nearly 30% of searches for something in a specific location will result in a purchase. Plus, this can be done at scale by aligning the geo-targeting instantly with the ad copy.

These are just a few of the strategies we’ve seen work well for HVAC and Solar companies. There are many other ways to target conversion-ready traffic, such as implementing negative keywords, building campaigns for different demographics, etc.

Many companies focus solely on the copy and strategy of their Google ad campaigns and neglect their landing page copy. And this is a huge travesty as the quality and relevance of your landing page copy can make or break your conversion rate.

Even if you manage to generate a solid amount of high-intent, high-quality traffic via your ads, if you’re sending that traffic to a landing page that offers a poor experience, you’ll likely lose all that potential business.

Remember: The ad gets the click, but the landing page gets the lead.

To ensure your landing page is optimized for conversions, make sure it:

• Functions as expected. This is a bare minimum but make sure that your landing page provides an overall positive experience. Factors that will impact the experience of a landing page include page loading speed, whether it’s mobile-friendly, whether it’s secure, etc.
• Answers questions. Customers with high intent to purchase still have questions they want answered before they pull the trigger. When they land on your page, they’re expecting to find answers to their questions—fast. Questions that you will want to make sure your landing page answers include: “How much do you charge?”, “Are your estimates/consultations/diagnostics free?”, “How do I book an appointment?”, “How long does the service take?” etc.
• Gains trust. Customers want to know that they are investing their time and money with a company that won’t disrespect them. Your landing page must persuade potential customers that your company is the right choice. Aside from being transparent with your landing page copy (by answering their questions), you can ensure your HVAC/Solar company stands out by adding reviews, certifications, awards, and more trust-building content to the landing page.
• Prompts action. It should be immediately apparent to any customer landing on your page what their next step is. A landing page that buries the form or contact information makes it hard for a customer to convert. That said, it’s important to make sure your phone number and form/CTA button is highly visible throughout the landing page.