Blog > Google Ads for Hair Transplant Surgeons
Effective Google Ads Strategies for Hair & Beauty Salons
By Cullen E
Why do we advertise our hair & beauty salon?
Whether it’s to raise brand awareness, find new business or introduce existing clients to different treatments, the ultimate goal is to book in more appointments and fill up our diary.
And when it comes to booking appointments, there is no better lead generator than Google Ads.
That’s why, in this guide, I give you all the tools you need to set up effective Google Ads campaigns and drive consistent bookings for your hair & beauty salon.
No vague or generic advice - only industry-specific strategies that you can apply today.
What is Google Ads?
Feel free to skip this section if you want to jump straight into the industry-specific strategies.
But, for those who are not aware, Google Ads is a ‘pay-per-click’ advertising suite that encompasses the entire Google network.
This includes ads on Google Search, Google Shopping, YouTube, as well as Gmail and display coverage on millions of websites across the world wide web.
As the term ‘pay-per-click’ (PPC) suggests, you only pay for clicks generated by your campaigns.
Which is why it is so important you set up campaigns that are effective in your specific industry.
If you do not know how to set up a Google Ads account, you can follow the step-by-step guide written by Google here.
Why Run Google Ads for Your Hair & Beauty Salon
The short answer - to book more appointments and drive new clients into your salon.
Google Ads is unique to all other marketing platforms as it gives you the power to show ads to people who are searching for a hair & beauty salon, in the moment they are searching.
By targeting searches like ‘beauty salon near me’ or ‘hair salon in x’, you can bring new leads to your business from users who are ready to book in for an appointment.
Google Ads Strategy for Hair & Beauty Salons
The strategies below give you a basis to build your campaigns upon and ideas on how to maximise the effectiveness of your Google Ads.
Whilst I try to provide you with ideas unique to your industry, you should always consult with a Google Ads expert or freelancer (or take training) before investing into PPC.
Relevant Keywords & Search Terms
Search Term | Monthly Search Volume (UK) | Estimated CPC |
|---|---|---|
Nail salon near me | 93000 | £0.35 |
Salon services | 32000 | £0.60 |
Beauty salon near me | 26000 | £0.45 |
nail salon london | 2200 | £0.35 |
beauty salon | 1100 | £0.45 |
Hair and beauty salon near me | 800 | £0.45 |
Keyword data imported from Ahrefs (January 24)
Understanding Your Keywords
It’s one thing to know your keywords, but profitable ads come from understanding the intent behind the search.
Look at the searches above, which of these signal the highest possible intent?
If you answered ‘nail salon near me’ or ‘beauty salon near me’, you were right! The fact that users are searching for salons in their area shows they are ready to book an appointment, and are now looking for the right salon for them.
On the other hand, terms like ‘beauty salon’ are much broader and could mean things other than finding a nearby salon.
For example, users could still be in the consideration phase of their journey.
They may be wondering how much treatments will cost or how long each session will take.
Ensuring your landing page has all the information this kind of search needs is the best way to inform the user and increase the likelihood of them booking in with you.
Recommended Campaign Type (Google Search)
Hair & beauty salons will want to focus on Google Search ads in order to find users that are:
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Looking for a local salon
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Ready to book in for treatment
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Seeking more information on the service(s)
Quick tip on building effective search campaigns - start with keyword research and group keyword themes into individual ad groups.
For example, if you offer nail services and makeup treatments, you’ll want to pool all your nail-based keywords into one campaign, and your makeup-based keywords into another.
This allows you to craft ads unique to each service and make them more relevant to the search.
Recommended Conversion Goal (Leads)
The success of your Google Ads campaigns ultimately depends on the number of people booking into your salon for a treatment.
And that’s why you want to make sure your campaign goals are always set to ‘leads’.
This will help Google optimise for what matters most to your business - bookings and appointments!
Location Targeting
It’s safe to say that most users won’t want to travel hours for a hair appointment or beauty treatment (unless they really love you!).
So to get the best result out of your ads, make sure you’re only targeting a service area that’s local to you.
You can choose from targeting areas such as cities, towns, postcodes or simply place a few-miles radius around your salon.
Local Search Ads on Google Maps
How many times have you used Google Maps to find a local business in your area?
I'll guess *almost* every time you want to find something local.
Not only is it the best (and quickest) way to find local businesses, it also gives critical information that users need in order to make their decision such as location, reviews, opening times, phone numbers etc.
Local search ads on Google Maps are great for this, as it gives you placement at the top of the Maps listings, granting massive visibility for your salon:
How to Set Up Local Search Ads
Here’s how to show local search ads on Google Maps:
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Enable location assets for your Google account
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Set up a Google Business profile listing
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Bulk up your Google Business profile with reviews, images, location, website and opening hours
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Use location targeting and set bids by location
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Add keywords related to your location e.g. ‘beauty salon in manchester’
More instructions on how to implement the steps above can be found here.
The Absolute 'MUSTs' of ANY Google Ads Account
The following tips tell you the two most important things that need to be in place before spending any of your hard-earned cash into Google Ads.
Conversion Tracking on Google Ads & Your Website
Running Google Ads without conversion tracking is like throwing a dart with a blindfold on.
Not only is it essential to understanding your return on ad spend, but without it, you’ll have no idea which areas of your account are driving the most success and which areas need work.
What’s worse, you could be pouring money into a completely unprofitable channel which will only hold your salon back from success over the long-term.
Make it your number one priority to set up conversion tracking on your website via a website tracking platform like Google Analytics.
Once that’s done, you need to set up conversion tracking inside Google Ads too so that data is reported back to your campaigns.
A Relevant Landing Page
Every woman and her dog has a website in 2024. To truly be successful with Google Ads, you need to have a relevant landing page with a trackable contact form that users can fill out.
What do I mean by relevant?
Showing the key information that drives users to book an appointment.
That means including:
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A page title relevant to the users’ search e.g. ‘Tailored Beauty Treatments for Men & Women in Manchester’
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Your salon’s address (bonus points if you can add an interactive map)
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Opening times
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Contact information like phone number & email
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Years of service
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Services & treatments
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A button or link that users click to book an appointment
Try & avoid at all times sending users to a generic home page and leaving them to find the service they need themselves.
If you send users directly to the page they’re looking for, based on the search they made, you’ll be ahead of 90% of your competition.
Google Ads Tips for Hair & Beauty Salons
Now we’re onto the good stuff - personalized Google Ads tips specific to hair & beauty salons.
How to Create Headlines that Stand Out From Other Salons
Before writing any ad or headline, you NEED to do this - sift through all of your reviews (as well as your competitors) and create a tally sheet of what people mention the most.
It’s amazing how many insights you’ll find from doing this.
For example, in your research you might find the thing customers mention the most is the customer service they receive in the salon.
Since you know this is so important to new clients, you can make this a prominent part of your ad by adding headlines such as ‘Friendly & Personable Service’ or ‘10+ Years of Excellent Customer Service’.
Take advantage of what your competitor’s aren’t seeing and leverage that in your ads!
Level Up Your Ad Copy with Location Customisers
Location customisers work at ad level and allow your ads to change dynamically based on where the user searched from.
In essence, Google will match your ad copy with the town or city the user resides in.
This really makes the user feel like your brand is right for them as they can see in an instant that you operate in their area.
Location customisers are really simple to set up too, here’s how:
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Create a new ad or open up an existing one
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Type a headline out like ‘Nail Salon in …’
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After the word 'in', type the ‘{‘ symbol to open up the customiser feature
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Select ‘Location Insertion’
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Select the most relevant option from the dropdown and fill in the default text (this is the backup Google will use if it can’t match the users location)
Choose the Right Extensions
Extensions (now known as Assets), are additional features that you add onto your ads to give users important information they need to make their decision.
For hair & beauty salons, the two that are most important are - location extensions, and call extensions.
Both do what they say on the tin.
Location extensions show your location, and call extensions show your phone number.
A whopping 60% of mobile users contact local businesses from the search results page which you do NOT want to miss out on.
A simple call extension removes the inconvenience and allows them to straight up call you to book their appointment.
Landing Page Recommendations
If you’re going to run ads, then you’re going to need a landing page that succeeds in getting new customers to fill in your contact form and book an appointment.
Here’s a checklist of info to include on your landing page:
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A relevant image (ideally with your target audience pictured)
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Your services list
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Location info (where to find you)
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Contact Number
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Contact Form
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USPs (years of experience, trained specialists etc.)
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FAQ (get these from your current customers/ask your staff for ideas)
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Call-to-Action Buttons that link to your contact form e.g. ‘Get in Touch’
Summary
There you have it, an absolute bucket full of salon-specific tips & tricks for your Google Ads campaigns to succeed (and blast away your competitors).
If there is one thing to take away from this guide, it’s to make sure that you always lead with location-based targeting where you can, and create a landing page that is prepped & ready to acquire new leads for your salon.
And don’t start ANYTHING until you have conversion tracking in place!