When it comes to growing your auto repair shop, you already know that your online presence is the key to success—but getting your business in front of the right people at the right time is easier said than done. So, what’s the best tactic to cut through the digital noise without draining thousands of dollars? Local PPC marketing.
Why should I use paid search ads when I can do local SEO without spending a dime?, you’re thinking. Sure, local SEO is a great strategy to get your auto repair shop in front of more people, but you need a comprehensive local search strategy to win. With the pandemic reshaping how people search for local businesses, you need to use every tool at your disposal to crush the competition.
It’s time to tap into the potential of paid search to grow your business, reach more leads, and close more sales. Here’s everything you need to know about local PPC marketing to hit the ground running.
Why invest in local search? It’s in the numbers. According to Restoration Rocket, 46 percent of all Google searches are now local, and approximately 97 percent of consumers use online search to find a local business. The average number of monthly local searches is 97 billion, or 1.17 trillion a year. If we want to break this down, we’re looking at 3.2 billion local searches a day—or 37,000 local searches every second.
There’s no denying the power of local search. That’s why you need to level up your local search strategy to avoid getting left behind. So, how can you rise above the competition on Google’s search results page? You need to start harnessing the power of PPC.
Why invest in paid search when you can just use SEO? Because paid ads are:
Sure, targeting the entire world with your ads might seem tempting. After all, your goal is to reach more people, right? Wrong. In reality, targeting everyone doesn’t mean you’re reaching everyone. You don’t want people across the world to click on your ads because they’re never going to convert.
With a well-planned, targeted local PPC strategy as part of your wider PPC campaign, you can put your message in front of the right people so you can build your online presence and capture more leads.
Paid search marketing might sound intimidating, but it’s relatively simple: Businesses bid on certain keywords that they want their ads to show up for. Paid search ads appear based on auction, which determines where and which ads are shown. There are a few different factors that influence where your ad will rank—from the quality of your landing page to the relevance of the ad to the search query.
So, where does local search come into play? Geotargeting, or local PPC, is a paid ad strategy designed to target an audience within a specific geographic area. Geotargeting is your secret weapon when it comes to creating highly targeted, customized ad campaigns. By using geotargeting strategies in Google Ads, you can get your brand noticed by prospective customers in your shop’s service area.
Local Services Ads are pay-per-lead ads that appear at the top of search results, above organic search results and traditional Google Ads. To run local ads, your business must first pass a screening process that includes background checks, insurance checks, and license checks.
Compared to traditional Google Ads, Local Services Ads are more of a “set it and forget it” campaign. All you have to do is set your budget and run ads. In contrast, Google Ads depend on a few different factors to rank, including your quality score and click-through rate, so they require continuous optimization to keep running at their full potential.
The biggest difference? With Local Services Ads, you’re paying per lead instead of per click. In other words, you’re only charged if a prospective customer contacts you via the Local Services Ad.
If you’re on the fence about Local Services Ads, make sure the ROI is worthwhile—a cost per lead can range anywhere from $25 to $45 depending on your campaign type. But if you acquire a new auto repair client who turns into a loyal customer, the investment can be well worth it. Thanks to their flat-fee model, Local Services Ads can help lower your ad spend, which can help lower your cost-per-lead and boost your advertising ROI.
Ready to start running Local Services Ads? Here’s how to set your search strategy up for success.
You can check eligibility in your area here before looking into setting these up. The eligibility for Local Services Ads changes often, so we highly recommend looking into it and coming back to it in a couple of months if you are not yet eligible.
A calculated PPC strategy can have a dramatic impact on your business, but it’s not going to happen overnight. Any successful geotargeting campaign requires knowledge, experimentation, and testing. Even the smallest changes can make a huge difference in your campaign’s performance.
Here are the strategies you need to step out in front of the local competition, make the most of your advertising efforts, and start reaching your target audience.
Choosing the right target locations is key to your campaign’s success, but you already know that. When you’re finished targeting your service area, it’s time to start excluding locations. Location exclusion is just as important to your PPC strategy because it stretches your ad spend, ensuring your ads are only shown to the right audience.
Using the exclusion option in Google Ads prevents your ads from being shown in certain parts of your targeted areas, for example, a specific region within a county. Maybe there’s higher competition in a specific city for auto repair services. If ad rates are higher in that area, you might choose to focus on lower competition cities.
Auto repair pros plan their advertising strategies based on how people search for their business. Some people narrow down their search by adding a city or location name to the search query. By targeting location-specific terms in your ads along with your keywords, you’ll specify your target audience and minimize low-quality leads.
Let’s say you’re running an auto repair shop in Cleveland, Ohio. Some keywords you might target include:
If your ad budget allows, try experimenting with other location terms, like ZIP codes, area codes, and neighborhoods. Setting your keyword match types can also help you laser-focus your ads. With location-specific terms, you can target both by geographical location and by search intent. This way, people who see your local ads will be more qualified and more likely to convert.
To connect with your target audience, you need to start speaking their language. In addition to targeting location-specific keywords, incorporate words and phrases that your local audience knows to create hyper-local, ultra-relevant ad copy.
Take some time to research local search trends. Find out what your community is talking about and how they’re doing it. Don’t forget to follow local news and other local events so you can create relevant, effective, and engaging ads that boost your click-through rate. This way, you can leverage local language and trends to write ad copy that resonates with local customers.
At the end of the day, personalized, hyper-local ads build your brand’s reputation in the local community—and that can put you miles ahead of the competition.
Sometimes, the smallest details can make the biggest impact on your PPC campaign. We see it all the time: Our clients ask us how to optimize their PPC campaign, but they’re not using ad extensions.
Ad extensions might seem like a waste of time, but they’re indispensable to any local PPC strategy. They showcase key details about your business in your PPC ads, from your brick-and-mortar location to your phone number. The more details you add, the better your ads will perform—and the more you’ll get out of your budget. Sounds like a win-win, right?
The must-have ad extensions for auto repair companies include:
Now that your ads are running, how can you make sure they’re performing at their full potential? Making the most of your geotargeting strategy is all about testing, measuring your results, and optimizing your ads.
Try using A/B testing to identify which ads perform better. You can try testing variations of your ad copy, headline, ad extensions, or call-to-action. With careful testing, you’ll be able to make the necessary tweaks to finetune your strategy and win at local search.
Local search is a must-have, but a comprehensive local PPC strategy is built on automation. In a nutshell, PPC automation uses technology, AI, and machine learning to make the most of your advertising efforts. With so many networks and platforms available for PPC advertising, finding the time to manage your paid ad campaigns can feel impossible. That’s where automation swoops in and saves the day.
Marketing automation can help you start boosting conversions, optimizing your ads, and capturing the right traffic—all while using data you already have at your disposal.
Wondering how automation can transform your workflow? At its core, marketing automation streamlines your efforts so you can run your business more effectively. Here’s how.
When done right, a comprehensive geotargeting strategy can be your secret weapon in the PPC battle for local customers. When you align your brand with your local audience, you can start reaching the right people at the right time. That means more leads, more conversions, and more sales.
Going local might seem tricky, but it doesn’t have to be. At Company 119, we keep a close eye on the constantly evolving world of paid search to provide your auto repair business with the best ROI. From conversion-driving landing pages to Local Search Ads, we’re here to help you dominate the competition and win at local search. Contact us today to start building a powerful local PPC strategy.
