- Google can show your roofing ads for searches that will never turn into a job, like roofing jobs, DIY repairs, or towns you don’t serve.
- Negative keywords tell Google which searches to skip, so your budget goes to homeowners who need a roofer.
- The search terms report shows the exact searches you paid for. Reviewing it at least weekly is how you find new negatives. Fully Armed checks our clients’ search terms every day.
- Fully Armed keeps shared negative keyword lists built across the roofing accounts we manage, so a new account starts with the junk already blocked.
Every click on your Google Ads costs money, but not every person who clicks is looking to hire a roofer. Some are looking for a job on a roofing crew. Some want to fix a leak themselves. Some live three states away. If nobody tells Google to skip those searches, you pay for them.
This guide covers the kinds of searches roofers should block, how negative keywords work, and how to keep your list current so your budget keeps reaching homeowners who are ready to call.
What are negative keywords in Google Ads?
Negative keywords are words or phrases you tell Google not to show your ads for. If you add jobs as a negative, someone searching roofing jobs near me won’t see your ad. They work like a filter, keeping your budget away from searches that have no chance of becoming a paying roofing customer.
Your regular keywords decide which searches you want to show up for. Negatives decide which ones you don’t. Both matter, because broad keywords and Google’s matching can pull in searches you never meant to target.
Which searches should roofers never pay for?
Roofers should block searches from job seekers, do-it-yourselfers, people looking for free information, shoppers buying materials, and anyone outside your service area. Also block services you don’t offer, like commercial work if you only do residential. None of these people are likely to hire you for a roof.
- Job seekers. Words like jobs, hiring, careers, salary, apprentice and training.
- DIY searches. How to, DIY, tutorial, video, YouTube and step by step.
- Materials shoppers. Searches for shingles for sale, roofing nails, or a big-box store name.
- Free or research-only searches. Free, definition, what is, and school or course terms.
- Work you don’t do. Services, roof types or property types outside what your crews handle.
- Places you don’t serve. Town and county names outside your service area.
Be careful with words that can go either way. A search like roof leak repair cost can come from a homeowner who’s about to call. Block the clear junk, and judge the gray areas by whether they’ve turned into real leads.
How do you find wasted searches in your roofing account?
Open the search terms report in Google Ads. It lists the actual searches that triggered your ad, with clicks and cost for each. Google hides some low-volume searches for privacy, so it won’t show every one. Sort by cost or clicks, then look for searches that didn’t lead to calls or forms and clearly don’t match the work you do.
- In Google Ads, open your campaign, then Insights and reports, then Search terms.
- Set the date range to the last week or month.
- Sort by cost so the most expensive searches are at the top.
- Mark any search that doesn’t fit a homeowner hiring a roofer in your area.
- Add the word or phrase that makes it junk as a negative keyword.
Performance Max campaigns have their own view in the search terms report, and you can add negative keywords to them at the campaign or account level. Those negatives only block Search and Shopping placements, not Display or YouTube.
How often should roofers review their search terms?
Review search terms at least once a week. That’s the bare minimum for a busy roofer, and many owners don’t know the report exists. At Fully Armed, we check our clients’ search terms every day, weekends included. Storm season, new services and budget increases all bring in new searches, so check more often during those times. Waiting months lets wasted clicks pile up quietly.
Even a weekly review doesn’t need to take long. Most of the value comes from catching a handful of new junk searches before they eat into another week of budget.
What’s the difference between broad, phrase, and exact match negatives?
A broad match negative blocks searches that contain all the words in any order. A phrase match negative blocks searches containing those words in that order. An exact match negative blocks only that exact search. Most roofers use broad negatives for clear junk words and exact negatives for specific searches they want to stop.
- Broad match negative: jobs blocks roofing jobs, jobs at roofing company and similar searches.
- Phrase match negative: “roof repair class” blocks searches with that phrase in that order.
- Exact match negative: [roofing salary] blocks only that exact search.
Unlike regular keywords, negatives don’t cover close variants like plurals or synonyms, so add job and jobs separately. Google does handle capitalization and misspellings for you.
Can negative keywords block good leads by mistake?
Yes. A negative that’s too broad can stop your ads from showing to homeowners you want. Blocking cost, for example, could hide your ad from people pricing a new roof before they hire. Check each negative against real searches, and review your list when leads drop without an obvious reason.
This is why a negative list needs judgment, not just a download. A word that’s junk for one roofer may be a good lead for another, depending on the services and areas they cover.
How does Fully Armed handle negative keywords for roofers?
Fully Armed reviews search terms on a regular schedule and keeps shared negative keyword lists built across the roofing accounts we manage. When a new junk search shows up in one account, it can be blocked across the others. New accounts start with those lists applied, then get tuned to their own services and area.
That shared list is one of the advantages of working with a team that focuses on Google Ads management for roofers. You don’t have to discover every junk search the expensive way yourself.
Curious about pricing? Our guide to what Google Ads management costs for roofers lays out how we charge: a $500 one-time setup fee with the first month’s management and ad-spend fees waived, then $700 per month plus 10% of ad spend, billed after the month’s work is done. No long-term contract, and 30 days’ notice to cancel.
Negative keywords work in Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns. Local Services Ads work differently. There are no keywords to block, so you control them through your job types and service area, and Google automatically credits leads it finds were low quality. Our guide to setting up and optimizing Local Services Ads covers that. We help roofers set up LSAs and coach them on optimizing, while the roofing company runs them day to day.
Is your Google Ads account set up to bring in the jobs you want?
Get the free Roofing Google Ads Health Checklist: 8 quick checks you can run in about five minutes, with no login or technical skills needed.
Rather talk it through? Call (888) 593-9326 for a free account review.
Frequently asked questions
What is a negative keyword list?
A negative keyword list is a saved group of negative keywords you can apply to one or more campaigns at once. It saves time, keeps your blocks consistent, and makes it easy to add a new junk search everywhere in one step instead of campaign by campaign.
Should I add jobs as a negative keyword for my roofing ads?
In most cases, yes. Searches with jobs, hiring, careers or salary usually come from people looking for work, not homeowners hiring a roofer. If you’re running ads to recruit crew members, keep those in a separate campaign and leave the negative off that one.
Do negative keywords work for Local Services Ads?
No. Local Services Ads don’t use keywords or negative keywords the way Search campaigns do. Google matches them to searches based on your business profile, service categories and service area. If you get leads that don’t fit, tighten your job types and service area. Google automatically credits leads it finds were low quality, and you can rate a lead to send feedback, but it no longer credits leads for work or areas you didn’t select.
How many negative keywords should a roofing account have?
There’s no right number. What matters is that the list blocks the searches showing up in your own search terms report without blocking real homeowners. A new account usually adds negatives quickly at first, then slows down as the junk gets filtered out.
Want a second set of eyes on your search terms?
Call (888) 593-9326 and we’ll walk through which searches your roofing ads are paying for and which ones you should block. Straight answers, no jargon.
Know a roofer who’d benefit? Refer them to Fully Armed and get paid every month they stay. See the referral program →
