"Guttering" gets 27,100 searches a month on Google UK, "lead flashing" 8,100, "roof insulation" 6,600, "flat roof" 5,400. The first page for "guttering" doesn't belong to roofers, though. An AI Overview cites Plastic Centre, JD Pipes, Eurocell and Toolstation, a shopping carousel sells FloPlast, Osma and Marley gutters, and the organic results are Eurocell, gutters.co.uk, GAP, Just Value Doors, Wolseley, About Roofing and two merchants' guides to gutter profiles. The only installers on the page are the two firms in the map.
A roofing company doesn't win on the names of materials, which stay with manufacturers and merchants: it wins on the problems of people whose roof is leaking, on specialist services such as asbestos removal, leadwork and fall protection, and in local maps that a firm can still get into with a few dozen genuine reviews.
Below: how to tell the searches that bring work from those that only bring visits, what the map shows in Manchester and Bristol, the calendar of leaks and the pages most roofers are missing.
The cost per click separates jobs from products
CPC is the quickest way to understand who's searching. If advertisers pay pennies, the people behind the search are comparing materials or looking for a how-to video. If they pay £5 to £10, there's a job to hand out.
| Keyword | Average monthly searches | Peak | Average CPC |
|---|---|---|---|
| roofers near me | 33,100 | 60,500 (Mar) | £5.15 |
| guttering | 27,100 | 40,500 (Sep) | £1.20 |
| roof repair near me | 9,900 | 14,800 (Oct) | £6.96 |
| lead flashing | 8,100 | 8,100 (stable) | £0.45 |
| roof insulation | 6,600 | 9,900 (Nov, Jan) | £1.47 |
| roof repairs | 6,600 | 12,100 (Sep, Oct) | £7.46 |
| flat roof repair | 4,400 | 6,600 (Sep, Jan) | £6.27 |
| lead roofing | 2,900 | 3,600 (Sep-Nov) | £1.70 |
| fascias and soffits | 2,900 | 4,400 (Sep) | £5.84 |
| insulated roof panels | 2,400 | 2,900 (Jan) | £3.42 |
| roof leak repair | 2,400 | 4,400 (Nov) | £7.48 |
| new roof cost | 1,900 | 2,900 (Sep-Nov) | £3.73 |
| roof replacement | 1,300 | 2,900 (Sep) | £5.69 |
| asbestos roof removal | 1,000 | 1,600 (Sep, Jun) | £10.51 |
| flat roof replacement | 720 | 1,000 (Sep-Oct, Jan-Mar) | £8.20 |
| flat roof waterproofing | 480 | 1,000 (Sep) | £1.84 |
| water leaking through ceiling | 320 | 880 (Sep) | £14.14 |
"Lead flashing" costs £0.45 a click, "guttering" £1.20: the searcher wants a product and a trade price, which is a merchant's search, not a roofer's. "Roof leak repair" and "roof repairs" cost about £7.50, "flat roof replacement" £8.20 and "asbestos roof removal" £10.51: the volumes are smaller, but every search is a possible job.
The practical consequence is that a roofing company shouldn't chase keywords with tens of thousands of searches. It needs a solid page for each query above about £5 a click, with the town or county it works in, and it can leave the names of materials to the people who sell materials. The method for finding the local variants is keyword research, filtered by CPC.
In Bristol a few dozen reviews get you into the map, in Manchester about a hundred
On 10 October 2026 we read the first page of "roofers manchester" on a smartphone, with the location set to Manchester. At the top there's a "Find results on" row with five directories (Checkatrade, TrustATrader, MyJobQuote, MyBuilder, FreeIndex), then the local pack with three listings: K.H. Roofing with 5 stars and 150 reviews, LC Roofing (Manchester Roof Repairs) with 5.0 and 86, Manchester Roofs Ltd with 5.0 and 121.
Below come ten organic results. Four are roofers' own websites: Manchester Industrial Roofing, MD Roofing, Manchester Roof Company and Urmston Roofing. A fifth is a roofer's Facebook page. The other five are directories: Which? Trusted Traders, TrustATrader, Quotes By Trades and Checkatrade twice, once with a price range of £386 to £1,444 in the snippet. Checkatrade alone ranks for 187,698 UK keywords, with about 2.5 million estimated visits a month (DataForSEO, October 2026).
In Bristol, on the same day, the bar was lower: S.A.G Roofing Bristol with 4.9 stars and 45 reviews (its booking button leads to Checkatrade), One Call Roofing Solutions with 5.0 and 66, and Roofing Company Bristol with 5.0 and just 3. For comparison, the map for "boiler service manchester" had listings with 85, 293 and 1,600 reviews (more on that trade in SEO for heating engineers). A roofer usually finishes fewer jobs a year than an engineer who services boilers, so collects fewer reviews, and the top of the map stays within reach. In Bristol, around fifty genuine reviews with photos of finished roofs put you level with the firms already there; in Manchester you need nearer a hundred.
Even on a national search with no city, such as "flat roof repair", Google shows a local pack: L&G Roofing & UPVC with 4.9 stars and 19 reviews, Homestyle Roofing with 5.0 and 53, M.E.H Roofing with 4.9 and 60. Those are numbers any roofer can reach by asking for a review at the end of each job.
Leaks are searched for in November, roofers in March
Searches in this trade follow a clear order. "Leaking roof" averages 2,400 searches a month and rises to 4,400 in November and 3,600 in January, against 720 in July. "Roof leak repair" reaches 4,400 in November, "flat roof repair" 6,600 in January. Then come the searches of people who have decided: "roofers near me" goes from an average of 33,100 to 60,500 in March, and "flat roof replacement cost" climbs to 2,400 in January and February.
Someone who finds a damp patch on the ceiling in November doesn't search for "roofing company". They search for the symptom. A page that explains the most common causes of a roof leak (slipped or cracked tiles, torn felt, failed lead flashing, blocked gutters), with real photos of jobs you've handled and an invitation to book an inspection, reaches the customer months before they type "roofers near me" into Google. Among the questions Google shows for "flat roof repair" are "Is it normal for a roof to leak in heavy rain?" and "How much does it cost to repair a flat roof?".
The other peak, in September and October, covers almost every job search: "roof repairs" reached 12,100 in September and October 2025, against 3,600 in May and July 2026, "roof repair near me" 14,800 in October and "roof replacement" 2,900 in September. It's when people want the work done before the winter storms. You can check the same curve on Google Trends for your own region.
Specialist services are worth more than the word roof
"Asbestos removal" gets 8,100 searches a month at £9.41 a click, "asbestos roof removal" 1,000 at £10.51 and "asbestos garage roof removal" 880 at £8.99. "Mansafe system", the brand name many people use for a roof lifeline, gets 880 at £17.00 a click, "fall arrest system" 1,600 at £8.22. "Lead roofing" gets 2,900, "leadworker" 720 at £6.91 and "fascias and soffits" 2,900 at £5.84. City searches add up too: "roofers london" 4,400, "roofers manchester" 2,900, "roofers bristol", "roofers leeds" and "roofers birmingham" 2,400 each. "Commercial roofing" gets 880 at £13.80, a search made by businesses and building managers rather than homeowners.
Many roofing companies really do this work but hide it in a bullet list on the "Services" page. Each service deserves its own page with three things: what the job includes, the rules or certifications that apply where they exist (for asbestos, for example, whether the work is licensed, notifiable non-licensed or non-licensed under HSE guidance, where asbestos cement sheets removed carefully without breaking them up can be non-licensed work) and at least one documented job with the location and before-and-after photos. On the Manchester page, Manchester Roof Company already mentions fall protection testing and installation in its snippet, and Manchester Industrial Roofing puts commercial and industrial roofing in its title.
A photographed job is proof a directory can't copy. We explained how to organise service, town and project pages on the same site in SEO for builders; for paid campaigns on roof replacement, the reasoning in Google Ads for builders applies.
Recommended reading: how to set up your Google Business Profile, starting with the right category between "Roofing contractor" and "Builder".
Frequently asked questions
The ones with a high cost per click, because they point to a job someone wants done: "roof repairs" and "roof leak repair" at about £7.50, "flat roof replacement" at £8.20, "asbestos roof removal" at £10.51. Material words such as "lead flashing" at £0.45 or "guttering" at £1.20 bring visits but few customers.
It depends on the city. In October 2026 the local pack for "roofers bristol" had listings with 3, 45 and 66 reviews, the one for "roofers manchester" 86, 121 and 150. That is still far fewer than heating engineers: the map for "boiler service manchester" had 85, 293 and 1,600.
In September and October, with 12,100 searches a month against an average of 6,600. Leak searches peak in November and January, and "roofers near me" in March, when it goes from an average of 33,100 to 60,500.
Yes, if you do that work. "Asbestos roof removal" gets 1,000 searches a month at £10.51 a click and "mansafe system" 880 at £17.00: these services have their own demand, which a general page about roofs doesn't reach.
It isn't essential. Checkatrade appears twice on page one of "roofers manchester", but four of the ten organic results are roofers' own websites and the map shows roofers' Google profiles: local search in roofing is still open to firms with their own site.
Where to start
Open the photo gallery on your phone and pick the five best jobs from the last twelve months. For each one, write down the location, the type of work and the size of the roof, then call the customer and ask for a Google review with a photo of the finished roof. In a map where the third listing in Bristol had three reviews, five reviews with photos are the quickest way to close the gap on the firms already there.
If you'd like to know which searches in your county are worth a job, take a look at our projects or get in touch.
