Getting a high rank using Google Ads for pest control can result in a significant uptick in clients. Though the process may appear pricey, the return on the investment is well worth the money spent to make a great campaign.
Key Terms for Creating a Google Ads for Pest Control Campaign
Campaign: A campaign consists of all the ad groups, keywords, and preferred settings that make up your advertisement.
Ad Groups: Ad groups are the umbrella that the keywords go under. They are the main themes your keywords will follow.
Keywords: Keywords are the more specific phrases and words that are under the ad groups. This is what people will likely be searching to find your business.
Conversions: A conversion is a set of actions people may take to contact or secure service for your business (i.e. someone calls your company to set an appointment for fumigation).
Landing page: This is the page people will be directed to when they click on your advertisement.
PPC: This is the price-per-click. Every time someone clicks on your advertisement, you will pay this amount to Google Ads.
Starting a Google Ads for Pest Control Campaign
Start by logging into the Gmail account primarily used by your business for easy access to your campaign.
If this is your first time using Google Ads, formerly known as Google Adwords, you should see a similar starting page.
You want to Switch to Expert Mode for this campaign. It allows you to completely adjust the Google Ads for pest control campaign without guidance from Google.
Next, you will be asked to set the goal for your campaign. You will be able to choose among many preset options, but for the case of this campaign, choose to Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance.
This will give you full control of how the Google Ads for pest control campaign will run.
Applying Your Preferred Settings
Next, you should be asked to select a campaign type. We recommend you choose Search.
Considering pest control is not considered a regular service for most people, choosing a campaign other than Search will not generate many clients.
By choosing Search, your pest control services will be shown to the people using the search engine with an immediate need for extermination, meaning they are more likely to follow through with contacting the business.
Next, you will be asked to pick the Results for your campaign. This is essentially asking about the action, or conversion, taken to increase the clientele of your pest control business.
You will pick Websites and Phone Calls as those are the only options relevant to a Google Ads for pest control campaign.
There are no more settings to change on this page, so hit the continue button to move on and save your progress.
You should now be asked to make adjustments to the General Settings. You should see that the campaign type is Search. If it is not, change it appropriately.
Now, you have the chance to name your campaign. While it is up to you how creative you would like to be in the naming process, we recommend that you keep it simple and easy to remember.
For the next set of settings, it should have both Search Network and Display Network pre-selected in your campaign.
Unselect Display Network only. This setting is not beneficial for a Google Ads for pest control campaign.
You should see a small arrow pointing down stating Show more settings directly underneath the Networks box.
Click it to open up the drop-down menu.
Pay attention to the Start and end dates for the campaign. Because rodents and bugs do not follow a seasonal schedule of when to torment your clients, you should not set an end date.
When you want to finish up your Google Ads for pest control campaign, go into the campaign manually to shut it down.
Next, we are going to be editing Targeting and audiences. This is a critical component of any successful campaign, so make sure you follow this portion to the best of your ability.
When you enter into Locations, change the preset to Enter another location.
Enter all locations that your pest control services can really cater to as to not miss out on any potential clients.
To zero in on your location even further, open up the drop-down menu labeled Location options.
Change the pre-set settings to Presence for both Target and Exclude.
This change in settings will allow you to target only those in your location. In short, someone in Dallas with a rat infestation will not be shown your services that are limited to San Francisco.
It will save you the hassle of having to explain that you cannot help someone’s situation.
Next, you will be asked to select the Language you are going to use for your Google Ads for pest control campaign.
If you or your staff can speak other languages, make a note of it, but do not include it in this campaign.
We recommend you create a separate campaign for each language spoken for a better ad experience for your potential customers.
It may seem like a hassle to create multiple campaigns, but this will be incredibly helpful to increase your clientele and to track performance.
You will skip Audiences for now. This will not come into play until your campaign is running for a significant amount of time.
Budget and Bidding
We will now be going into the Budget and bidding.
Normally, we would recommend you budget at least 40 to 50 dollars daily, but this might not work for a Google Ads for pest control campaign.
We recommend you schedule a free consultation with us to help you out with your budget.
You will see this later in the guide, but the bidding for keywords is pricier than a lot of other industries. Furthermore, the price is subject to change depending upon your location.
Locations with a larger population will require a higher bidding price, meaning you are going to have to spend more money to have your ad viewed by the public.
Now, for bidding, set the focus on Clicks. As said before, you should schedule a consultation should you have any issues with setting the daily budgets.
PPC, most commonly known as cost per click, refers to the amount that you will pay each time someone clicks on your ad and ends up on your landing page.
Ad Extensions
Now, we will start working on creating the three necessary ad extensions for your Google Ads for pest control campaign.
You will be asked to enter your Sitelink extensions. This is what will show up underneath your main ad when your services are found through the search engine in Google.
We recommend that you take your service into account when crafting the extensions.
Say you offer a specialized service for the removal of Africanized bees. This is a service that not many offer because of its high-risk factor.
If you offer this service, you are going to want to highlight that within the sitelink extensions. The same can be said for any other specialized service your pest control company has.
You may notice that Google Ads offers four spaces for sitelinks.
Use them all.
The more space you take up, the more likely people will click on your advertisement.
Next, we will get started on the Callout extensions.
This is another chance to highlight the things that make your Google Ads for pest control campaign stand out from the rest.
Think of all of the services you offer, and write them as callouts.
This will show beneath the main URL leading to your landing page.
If you need any help coming up with things that set you apart from the rest, schedule a free consultation with us to help you get started.
Finally, you should fill out the Call extensions. Just enter the number used by your company and click Advanced Options.
When you hit advanced options, it is critical that you add the date and time that your company is available to take calls. If you do not set this up appropriately, you will miss out on potential clients by not picking up the phone.
What this setting does is show the number associated with your business alongside the advertisement. Should you choose a specific set of hours for the number to show up with your ad, there will be a brief period of time throughout the day where your number will not be readily available.
This should only occur during those hours that you or the receptionist are not available to pick up calls.
The example below shows the settings set for a 24-hour 7 day work week.
Save and continue when satisfied with your work.
Using Keyword Planner for Google Ads for Pest Control
For now, we are going to click out of your campaign and go to Google’s Keyword Planner.
The first thing you need to do is enter your Ad Group title.
We recommend using buzzwords like “near me” or “in my area” to generate a higher click thru rate.
Keyword Planner will then fill your ad group with relevant keywords needed for a successful Google Ads for pest control campaign.
We recommend that you bid for your competitors’ brand name. This means that people who will be targeted by your ad are in the buying phase and have a chance to choose your business over the brand name.
Make sure to look to the right to see how the PPC ads up.
As we have said before, the budget for this campaign will require more money. The average PPC for these keywords are in the higher range regarding price.
On average, for one click you will be paying $41. This could be due to a myriad of factors such as your location, the average price of services, and the demand.
Be prepared to spend money to make money.
We will discuss a tactic to lower this price later on in the guide.
Create as many ad groups as necessary to your Google Ads for pest control campaign then save and continue.
Creating Your Pest Control Ads
You’ll begin by entering in your landing page as well as what you would like to name your Display path.
We recommend you use relevant keywords in your ad groups throughout the entire process to increase the click thru rate.
Following the same idea of using a high volume of relevant keywords, write up your headlines. You only have 30 characters, so you want to make it count.
Use all 15 headlines to occupy as much space as you can.
Finally, you will write up the descriptions. Use as many high volume keywords as you can while still sounding natural and highlighting the best services of your pest control company.
Now, you will save the campaign, enter in your billing information, and congratulations! You have now created your first Google Ads for pest control campaign.
When published, your ads should look something like this below.
Adjusting Your Landing Page for PPC Purposes
The landing page is another critical part of your Google Ads for pest control campaign that is not typically addressed.
Though your campaign ads may be filled with keywords that increase relevance to the service, the same needs to be said for your landing page.
Like before, you want to include a high volume of keywords in your landing page in a natural way that attracts potential customers to both choose and recommend your services.
Below is an example of a landing page that uses keywords to increase both relevance and click thru rate.
Increasing Your Quality Score Through Keyword Relevancy
When making a Google Ads for pest control campaign, there are multiple factors that contribute to the overall success of the ads.
One of these things is the quality score, and as mentioned before, this can also help lower the PPC. It can ultimately lead to saving a few dollars while increasing your ad and click thru rank.
The equation for the PPC is as follows.
Increasing your quality score decreases the price. It is critical to do everything possible to increase the quality score.
For more information on how google ads ranking works.
How to Review the Results of Your Google Ads for Pest Control Campaign
To optimize your campaign in the future, you will need to set up Google Analytics.
This process is more difficult than setting up a Google Ads for pest control campaign, so we recommend you use the free consultation to your advantage.
Need help with campaign optimization?
Remember that this might not be helpful at the beginning of your campaign, but in the future, you will rely on this almost every day.
Go into the Tools & Settings in your Google Ads for pest control campaign and hit Conversions.
Hit the large plus button on the page to get started.
You are going to be setting up multiple methods of campaign tracking, but for this example, we will focus on Phone calls. This is because this is going to be the main point of contact between you and your potential clients.
For the purposes of this guide, we will be selecting the option Calls from ads using call extensions or call-only ads, but you should go back in and create a tracker for each of the options shown.
Hit next and title the conversion.
As for the value of the conversion, this will be based upon the price of your services, so it is up to your discretion. For this example, we used $100.
Next, you will choose how many conversions to count per interaction. Hopefully, your pest control company will only need to be called one time per household to rid the infestation, so we will select One.
Ignore the next few settings, as the preselected options will work for your Google Ads for pest control campaign.
Hit create and continue.
Hit Done.
Congratulations! You are now able to track phone call conversions for your Google Ads for pest control campaign.
Estimating Ad Spend for Keywords in Your Campaign
If you are feeling put off by the price, we encourage you to schedule a call with us and consider the information below.
Based upon what we have seen so far for the keywords, the PPC is going to be expensive even with a high Quality Score.
If this is something that turns you away from Google Ads, we heavily recommend you reconsider.
Using the Ad Spend Equation
The equation that we will show below will show you the cost per conversion. This is different from PPC because it takes into account the action taken to secure your services.
We will tweak the numbers below to reflect a Google Ads for pest control campaign.
We will give two examples: one for the low price service keyword and one for a high price service keyword.
Here is the price per conversion when using the keyword “exterminator near me.” This is a keyword in the higher bid range.
$34 CPC x 10 (Conversion Rate) = $340 per customer
Here is the price per conversion when using the keyword “groundhog removal near me.” This is a keyword in the lower bid range.
$60 CPC x 10 (Conversion Rate) = $600 per customer
For the CPC, this is the average that Google Adwords charges for the keyword mentioned in the area. The Conversion Rate comes from how many clicks generate an actual purchase of your services.
We estimate the Conversion Rate to be 10%. This means that for every ten people that click on your ad, one person is going to follow through with a purchase.
In sum, the price of investing 600 dollars per conversion may seem expensive, but using the Customer Lifetime Value can help put things into perspective.
Estimating Customer Lifetime Value
Say you have a customer who needs termite fumigation, bed bug extermination, rodent removal, and flea extermination over the course of four years. On the higher price end, it can be $13,900 to perform these services. This makes the average yearly revenue $3,475.
We will use this number to plug into the Customer Lifetime Value equation below.
CLV = (Yearly Revenue x Retention Rate) – Ad Costs
Using the average of the ad spend above, we find that the CLV is $13,430.
That is almost 29 times the initial investment.
If this is something that you would like to learn more about, schedule a free consultation with us today.
