Not every person who clicks your ad is shopping for a new construction home. Some are renters doing wishful thinking. Some are real estate investors looking for bulk deals. Some are people who just like browsing Zillow at midnight.
The good news is that Google Ads gives you enough control to target the people who are actually ready to buy – if you know how to use it. This post breaks down exactly how I approach that, including the campaign structure I use and the specific filters that make a real difference.
Start With a Campaign Structure That Actually Reflects Buyer Intent
Before you touch a single audience setting, your campaign structure needs to be built around how buyers actually search. I run a few distinct campaign types for home builder accounts, and each one serves a different purpose.
My brand campaign uses manual bidding and captures people already searching the builder’s name. My community name campaigns also use manual bidding – I treat community names as branded searches because someone typing in a specific community name already knows what they want.
Then I have a location-intent campaign targeting searches like new home in [city] or home builder in [city], typically running on Maximize Conversions. Finally, for situations where the community draws buyers from a wider area, I use a radius-based campaign targeting broader terms like new homes near me that do not contain a specific city name. Each layer captures a different level of intent.
The Keywords That Attract Real Buyers (and the Ones That Do Not)
High-intent buyer keywords tend to be specific and action-oriented. Think new construction homes in [city], move-in ready homes [city], new home communities [area], or home builder in [city]. These phrases signal someone actively looking to purchase.
Lower-quality keywords that tend to attract the wrong crowd include things like cheap houses, homes for sale without any qualifier, rent to own, or anything with investment property in it. Broad, unqualified searches drag in renters, investors, and people at the very beginning of a vague housing curiosity spiral.
Match types matter here too. Broad match in the wrong hands will blow your budget on irrelevant searches fast. I tend to lean on phrase and exact match for new home builder campaigns, especially in the location-intent and radius-based campaigns where intent needs to be tighter.
Build Your Negative Keyword List Like It Is Your First Line of Defense
This is where most home builder campaigns leak money. A solid negative keyword list is not a one-time setup – it is something you add to regularly as your Search Terms report reveals what Google is actually matching your ads to.
Here are categories to build out from day one:
- Renter signals: rent, rental, apartment, lease, section 8, low income housing
- Investor signals: investment property, rental property, fix and flip, wholesale, off market, foreclosure, REO
- Resale signals: used homes, existing homes, resale, FSBO, for sale by owner
- DIY / unrelated: how to build a house yourself, tiny home plans, home blueprints, modular home kit
- Job seekers: construction jobs, home builder jobs, builder careers
- Competitor research only: reviews, complaints, lawsuit, BBB
Check your Search Terms report at least once a week, especially in the first 60 days of a campaign. Google will surprise you with what it decides your ads are relevant for.
Layer Audience Signals Without Over-Restricting Reach
Google Ads lets you layer audiences on top of your keyword targeting. For home builder campaigns, the most useful ones are in-market audiences like Residential Properties for Sale, New Construction Homes, and related real estate categories.
I add these as observation audiences first, not targeting. That means your ads still show to everyone matching your keywords, but you collect data on how different audience segments perform. Over time, you can adjust bids or shift to targeting if one segment consistently converts better.
You can also exclude certain audiences. Excluding people in the Rental Apartments and Listings in-market audience, for example, can quietly reduce the number of renters clicking your ads. It is not a perfect filter, but it helps at the margins.
How Location Targeting and Radius Campaigns Work Together
One of the trickier problems in new home builder PPC is that buyers do not always search using the city where the homes are located. Someone might be relocating from out of state and searching new homes near [their current city] or just new homes from a location within driving distance of your community.
That is where the radius-based campaign earns its place. By targeting a geographic radius around the community and bidding on broader terms without a city name, you can capture buyers who are physically close or researching from nearby areas – without cannibalizing your location-specific campaign.
Keep these two campaigns separate. Different match types, different bid strategies, and different budget allocations make sense here because the intent signals are different. Someone typing home builder in Raleigh is further along than someone typing new homes from inside Raleigh. Budget allocation in PPC for homebuilders covers this in more depth if you want to think through how to split spend between campaigns.
Ad Copy That Qualifies the Click Before It Happens
Your ad copy is a filtering tool, not just a sales pitch. If you write generic ad copy, you will get generic clicks. If you write copy that speaks directly to a buyer ready to make a move, you pre-qualify the traffic before they even reach your landing page.
Include price points if they are competitive and relevant. Mention move-in ready availability, quick move-in timelines, or specific community names. Phrases like Tour Model Homes This Weekend or Homes From the $300s – Schedule a Visit signal to a casual browser that this ad is not for them – and that is exactly what you want.
Avoid vague phrases like find your dream home that could apply to any housing search from any type of searcher. Specific beats generic every time in high-intent PPC.
What to Watch in the Search Terms Report
The Search Terms report is where you find out what is actually happening versus what you intended. Pull it weekly and look for patterns, not just individual bad keywords.
If you see a cluster of rental-related searches slipping through, add a broad negative for that theme. If you see people searching for competitor community names and clicking your ads, decide whether that is intentional or wasteful. If you see searches for builder jobs or construction careers, add those job-related terms as negatives at the account level.
Think of campaign optimization as ongoing, not a launch-and-leave setup. The first 90 days especially will teach you a lot about how your specific market searches and what irrelevant traffic looks like for your particular builder.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I directly exclude renters or investors using Google Ads audience targeting?
You can exclude in-market audiences associated with rentals, which helps at the margins. But there is no perfect filter. The best defense is combining tight keyword targeting, a strong negative keyword list, and ad copy that speaks specifically to buyers with intent to purchase new construction.
Should I use broad match keywords in new home builder campaigns?
I generally avoid broad match in location-intent and radius campaigns unless there is a compelling reason and a very thorough negative keyword list already in place. Phrase and exact match give you much better control over who sees your ads.
How often should I update my negative keyword list?
Check your Search Terms report at least weekly for the first 60 to 90 days. After that, bi-weekly is usually fine unless you see spend or performance shifting unexpectedly.
Why do I need separate campaigns for branded and non-branded searches?
Branded searches – including community names – convert at a much higher rate and typically cost less per click. Keeping them separate lets you protect that budget with manual bidding while giving your non-branded campaigns room to run with automated bid strategies without cannibalizing performance data.