06/25/2026
Google Display Ads has the worst reputation in marketing — and for prospecting cold audiences, that reputation is completely deserved.
Bot clicks. Overseas traffic. Placements on websites nobody reads. When you use display to find brand new customers who have never heard of your roofing company, the money goes straight down the drain. Marketers have been burned by it enough times to know better and they're right to warn you away from it.
But here's what those same marketers miss.
For retargeting — for going back after people who have already visited your website or landed on one of your pages — display is the most powerful weapon in your entire marketing stack.
It is not a prospecting tool. It is terrible at finding potential roofing clients who don't know you exist. Don't use it for that.
But the homeowner who watched your video, clicked over to your site, spent four minutes reading your roof replacement page and then closed the tab to go make dinner? Display will follow that person everywhere they go online. Gmail. News sites. Sports scores. Google Maps. Over and over again until your name is the first one that comes to mind when they're finally ready to make a call.
Same tool. Completely different use case. Completely different result.
Prospecting — terrible. Retargeting warm website visitors — nothing beats it.