Last Updated: February 20, 2023 • Visit Blog Homepage


Google AdWords is one of the most effective ways to reach potential customers for dog daycare and boarding kennel businesses. It puts your directly in front of potential clients in a way that most other forms of advertising can't even come close. When someone searches 'Dog Daycare in Chicago' and you're a dog daycare in Chicago, you get to put your ad RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES. Does it get any better than that?

However, it is not enough to just create an AdWords campaign and then forget about it; you need to make sure you're maximizing your return on investment (ROI) so that your marketing dollars are being well spent. If there's one thing you need to know about Google AdWords is that it's easy to spend a lot of money quickly if you're not careful about how you're advertising.

In this blog post, we will explore the best ways to maximize your ROI with Google AdWords for your dog daycare business.

1. Keyword Research

Before you start your AdWords campaign, it's essential to do thorough keyword research to identify the keywords that potential customers are using to search for dog daycare and boarding services in your area. You want to make sure you're targeting the right audience with your ads, so it's critical to get this right. If you're located in Chicago, you're going to want to make sure that your ads are only showing to pet owners in that area. If someone in Milwaukee searches for a dog daycare, you don't want your ad to show for them, since if they click on it, you end up paying. You can use negative keywords as well. If someone searches for "free dog daycare in Chicago" you most likely don't want your ad to show for them, since they seem like the kind of person that doesn't want to pay for services. Adding "free" as a negative keyword will make sure your ad doesn't show for them.

2. Ad Relevance & Copy

Your AdWords ads should be highly relevant to the keywords you're targeting, as well as to your dog daycare business. This will help ensure that your ads are seen by potential customers who are most likely to take action, such as booking a stay for their furry friend. You'll want to create a variety of ads that cater to different keywords that people search for. At the start, it's best to just use a basic ad. Your ad copy and creatives play a crucial role in attracting potential customers and driving conversions. Make sure that your ads are attention-grabbing, clear, and concise, with a strong call-to-action that motivates potential customers to take action. Maybe you want to include an attention grabber like First Day Free! or something similar to grab their attention?

3. Ad Placement

Make sure your ads are placed in the right locations. For example, you can choose to show your ads on Google's search results pages, on websites within the Google Display Network, or on YouTube. You should consider your target audience and their behavior when choosing the right placement for your ads. More often than not, you're going to want to avoid the display network, since this is more about building brand awareness. These are the attractive visual ads that you see on various websites. Stick to the search results page for now, since you want to be directly in front of people that are searching for your service. You can use remarketing on the display network, but we'll talk about that later.

4. Bid Management

You need to set your bids for each keyword you're targeting carefully, to ensure that your ads are seen by the right people at the right time. You should also regularly review and adjust your bids based on performance, as well as competition and market trends. An important thing to note that is that just because you have the highest bid, doesn't mean your ad will always show up at the top of the page. This would give big spenders an unfair advantage, as they would always outbid you. The relevance of the search term plays a role in which ad shows up first. If your ad is most similar to what the person was searching for, you will show up before the big spender.

5. Landing Pages

Your landing pages are an important part of your AdWords campaign, as they are the first point of contact for potential customers. Make sure that your landing pages are relevant to your ads, with clear and concise messaging, and that they load quickly. If someone is searching for dog boarding, you're going to want to direct them to your booking page, since that will give you the best chance of them actually contacting you. If you direct them to your homepage, they might not find your contact form and move onto another website. Going from ad click to contact form submission needs to be as smooth as possible.

6. Ad Extensions

Ad extensions can be used to enhance your ads and make them more compelling. For example, you could use call extensions to allow potential customers to call you directly from your ad, or location extensions to show your business address and phone number. Since most dog daycares are small businesses, I personally think it's a great idea to get people on the phone as soon as possible. Including your phone number will incentivize your potential clients to give you a call. Once they call, you can explain your policies, get their info and ideally sign them up for their appointment over the phone.

7. Testing and Optimization

Regular testing and optimization of your AdWords campaign is critical for maximizing your ROI. You should regularly test different ad copy and creatives, landing pages, and bid strategies, to see what works best for your business. More often than not, you're not going to be able to set it and forget it with AdWords. It's always a good policy to occasionally audit your account to see how your ads are performing.

8. Analytics

Make sure you're tracking the performance of your AdWords campaign, so that you can see what's working and what's not. Google AdWords provides detailed analytics, including cost-per-click, conversion rates, and return on ad spend, to help you measure the success of your campaign. If you're seeing that your cost-per-click is too high, you might want to work on creating more attractive copy or reducing your bids to start showing up a little bit lower on the search page.

9. Budget Management

Make sure you're managing your AdWords budget effectively, so that you're not spending more than you can afford. You can choose to set a daily budget or a campaign budget, depending on your preference. It's extremely easy to go over your budget with AdWords, so make sure you have restrictions in place so that you don't end up spending all $100 in the first few days and then have nothing left for the rest of the month.

10. Remarketing

Remarketing allows you to target people who have already interacted with your website or business, with ads that are more relevant to them. This can be a powerful way to increase conversions, as people are more likely to take action when they are already familiar with your business. With remarketing, you can show display ads around the internet to people that have visited your website. Have you ever looked at something on Amazon and then noticed that you see those same products on ads throughout the internet. That's remarketing in action and it can have great results.

Phew! That was one long blog post. Hopefully these tips will get you pointed in the right direction as you start using Google Adwords to advertise your dog daycare and boarding kennel.

608 Page Views since March 1, 2023