Why HVAC Companies Should Invest in Pay-Per-Click Advertising

HVAC companies are all competing for the attention of potential customers, both online and offline. With mobile search on the rise, it is critical that you are present in the search results in order to get relevant customer traffic. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns are one way for you to get noticed in the search results without having to wait for the long-term impact of SEO. Pay-per-click ads, where ads are placed on search engine results pages through an advertising network that’s auction based, can be incredibly valuable for any small business, which is why we recommend PPC for HVAC companies.

What is PPC Advertising?

PPC is a digital marketing practice where you advertise your services through text ads or banner ads and you pay each time your ad is clicked. This is often referred to as cost-per-click (CPC) advertising. Think of PPC like this: If you buy ad space on a billboard, you pay for the billboard regardless if you get any leads from it. With a PPC campaign though, you only pay for each phone call or click to your website regardless of how many people saw your ad on Google or Bing. Also, unlike billboards or commercials, you aren’t committed to run PPC ads for a determined length of time. You have complete control over when your ads show, where they show, how much you’ll pay, and can tweak ad copy as you go.

Types of Paid Advertising

There are three main types of pay-per-click advertising campaigns your HVAC company can leverage: paid search ads, display ads, and remarketing ads.

Paid Search Ads

Paid search ads are the most common type of PPC ads. These text ads appear when someone searches for a product/service in Google, Bing, or Yahoo. For example, when a potential customer searches “Air Conditioning Repair,” the first few results will be paid search ads. These ads put your company at the top of the search results (ahead of organic listings!), boosting your brand awareness and increasing your chance of getting noticed.

Display Ads

Display ads are images ads that show on third-party sites in the Google Display Network or Microsoft Audience Network, depending on where you’re running ads. These ads are carefully targeted to sites where your customers hang out on the web. These ads are shown based on:

• Placement Targeting – Specifically choose where you want your ads to show
• Contextual Targeting – Using keywords related to your HVAC company
• Topic Targeting – Choose topics where you want your display ads to show. For instance, you can say Home and Real Estate related websites.
• Interest Targeting – Instead of topics, choose your user’s interests to decide where your ads should show.

Remarketing Ads

Remarketing ads show to people who have visited your website but didn’t complete a form or contact you. These ads essentially ‘follow’ former website visitors around the web, leading them back to your website and reaching out to you.

Choosing the Right Ad Platform for Your HVAC Company

Google Ads

Formerly Google Adwords, Google Ads is the most popular PPC platform for two reasons:

1. Google Chrome has more users than any other web browser
2. Google is the most commonly used search engine.

However, it’s popularity can make ad space competitive and costly.

Microsoft Advertising

Formerly Bing Ads, Microsoft Advertising is often less competitive than Google Ads. This means you have a higher chance of being seen on Bing and across the Microsoft Audience Network.

3 Ways Your HVAC Company Benefit From PPC

You may have the best HVAC company in Raleigh, but if customers can’t find you online, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to capture the traffic you need to grow your business. Here’s how your HVAC company will benefit from PPC advertising:

Strengthens Brand Awareness

While your ranking isn’t dependent on pay-per-click advertising, studies show that doing PPC ads AND having a good organic ranking can mean higher click through rates and website traffic. Your brand takes up more search engine real estate this way – making it easier for customers to click on your ad or organic placement.

Lead Generation

One of the best benefits of a pay-per-click ad is getting your business name in front of your audience immediately from the minute you start your PPC campaign. Unlike SEO for HVAC companies, where you have to wait for accumulated value to deliver better ranking for your site, PPC ads will start showing immediately – as long as you are paying for them within your budget. You also have the ability to serve up targeted advertising to mobile users, desktop users, and tablet users – a lot more effective than advertising on TV, radio, or print. Using PPC ads, you can drive traffic to a contact form, a testimonials page or a landing page dedicated to a special marketing promotion for new customers to generate leads for your company.

Increase Phone Calls

PPC ads can be dynamically created to match not only what a potential customer searches, but also by the city, state, or zip code they are searching from. You can write compelling ad copy to entice searchers to click and you can also include click to call ad extensions to increase phone calls from your ad. It is an effective feature, especially for customers that are searching from a mobile phone. The click to call ad extension is an absolute must for local HVAC companies. Google reports that 79% of local mobile searches result in offline purchases. Consumers tend to take action on location-based ads, which means that ads that are targeted to a service area are likely to perform better. Additionally, Google states that including a phone number in your PPC ad can be vital to your PPC campaign’s success. We also recommend using call tracking to measure your results. Pay-per-click Advertising is a powerful tool that fundamentally changes how advertising is done. Our digital marketing team has experience serving the HVAC industry, as well as the knowledge needed to get you the best possible return on investment.

Tags: HVAC Marketing