What Homeowners Really Ask Before They Hire a Roofer

What Changed

• We measured 18,178 roofing keywords, 108 Google result pages, 400 map listings and 40,000 posts from r/Roofing.
• Roof repair clicks cost about $35 on average in our data, and roofer searches are worth the most money.
• Reddit showed up in the top ten on 80 of the 108 result pages we checked.
• The top question homeowners post is some form of is this quote fair.
• Half of the roofers in our map sample had fewer than 50 Google reviews.

What We Measured

Most advice for roofers starts with what roofers want to say. We wanted to start with what homeowners actually type, ask and complain about. So we pulled the data and read it as a whole, from the first drip in the ceiling to the insurance check.

This is our own research, measured on October 1, 2026, for the United States. We pulled 18,178 roofing keywords with their monthly Google searches and ad costs. We checked 108 Google result pages for roofing searches and logged who ranked, which questions Google showed and which sites its AI answers cited. We pulled 400 roofer listings from Google Maps across ten cities. We also sorted 40,000 posts from the r/Roofing community on Reddit, from October 2024 to September 2026.

The search and map data came from the DataForSEO Labs API and its search results tools. The Reddit posts came from Arctic Shift, a public Reddit archive. We sorted the posts with keyword rules, not by reading each one, so treat those counts as a guide to what is common, not as exact totals. We kept no usernames.

One honest warning about the search numbers. Google rounds search volume into buckets, and some months in the data had odd one month spikes. We replaced the worst of those spikes with each keyword's normal level, and the full report lists how. You can download the full report to see every table, chart and caveat.

The Five Findings

1. The Money Is in Repair, Replacement and Finding a Roofer

In our research, homeowners ran about 7.8 million roofing searches a month. The three most valuable groups were people looking for a roofer, people who need a repair and people pricing a new roof. Roof repair clicks cost an average of $35.37 in our keyword data. The search "roof repair near me" alone had about 90,500 searches a month at $39.02 a click, with a low difficulty score of 12 out of 100.

That last number is the useful one. A low difficulty score means the pages ranking for that search are not hard to beat. For most roofers, the fight for repair calls is local, and it is winnable.

2. Reddit Answers Roofing Questions on Google, Not Roofers

On the 108 Google result pages we checked for this research, Reddit was in the top ten on 80 of them and ranked first on 33. Forum posts held a top three spot on 67 pages. Directories like Yelp, Angi and Thumbtack held most of the national spots for "near me" searches. Roofing companies were mostly missing outside the map.

This is not because Reddit is a great source on roofs. It is because homeowners trust people who have no reason to sell them anything. When a roofer's site does not answer the question, Google shows the thread that does.

3. Google's AI Answers Lean on YouTube

In our research, Google showed an AI answer on 75 of the 108 roofing searches. YouTube was cited in 38 of those 75, more than any other site. Of the 967 "People also ask" answers we opened, Google's AI wrote 954 of them with no single source link.

Google says its AI Overviews give a snapshot with links to dig deeper. For a roofer, that means the old trick of a short blog post with five tips does not get quoted. A real video of a real job, and a page that reads like real experience, has a much better chance.

4. Price and Honesty Are the Real Questions

Of the 21,231 question posts we sorted from r/Roofing for this research, 3,828 asked some version of "is this quote fair" or "what should a roof cost". That is 18 percent, the largest group by far. On Google, the questions we saw most often across result pages were "What is the 25% rule in roofing?" on 48 pages, "Is $30,000 too much for a roof?" on 30 pages and "How to tell if a roofer is lying?" on 21 pages.

The angriest posts in our Reddit sample were not about leaks. They were about deposits taken for work that never started, final bills above the signed contract and roofers who stopped answering the phone. Insurance was close behind, with 2,048 posts about a claim.

Read those two paragraphs together. Homeowners are not mainly shopping for shingles. They are shopping for someone who will not cheat them. The roofer who explains the price wins the job before the first ladder goes up.

5. Storm Work Is Rising and the Map Is Still Open

In our keyword data, searches about storm and hail damage were up about 81 percent on the year before. The search "emergency roof repair near me" was up 241 percent, at $46.21 a click. Leak searches ran highest in January and February.

In our Google Maps sample of 400 roofer listings across ten cities, the median roofer had 47 reviews and a 4.9 star rating. About half had fewer than 50 reviews. Some of the top three map spots went to roofers with fewer than ten.

Google's own help page says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking. When almost everyone has close to five stars, the star rating stops setting anyone apart. The number of reviews, how recent they are and what they say still do.

Why It Matters for a Roofing Company

Put the five findings side by side and one pattern shows up. Homeowners have money to spend and a problem they cannot judge on their own. They cannot see the roof. They cannot read a quote. They do not know if the adjuster is right. So they go looking for a second opinion, and today that second opinion comes from strangers on Reddit and from YouTube.

That is an opening. A roofer who answers those questions in public, with photos and real numbers, becomes the second opinion. Google has good reasons to show that page. The homeowner has good reasons to call. Most of your competitors are still running pages that say "quality roofing at an affordable price" and nothing else.

There is also a risk worth naming. Storm work is growing, and so are the complaints about storm chasers and deposits. Every roofer pays for that bad behavior through lower trust. The roofers who stand out will be the ones who make their process easy to check.

The roofer who explains the price wins the job before the first ladder goes up.

What to Do This Week

1. Put price ranges on your site. Write one page for repairs, one for leaks and one for replacement. Give a real range for your area and list what moves the price. This answers the top question homeowners ask.
2. Write the three honest answers. Explain the 25 percent rule, whether a big quote is fair, and how to spot a roofer who is not telling the truth. Keep each answer short and lead with a straight answer.
3. Explain the insurance claim in plain words. Cover wear and tear versus storm damage, what depreciation means and why you cannot pay a deductible. Homeowners ask about this all the time.
4. Film one real job. Use a phone. Show the leak, the cause and the fix. Put the video on YouTube and on the matching page of your site.
5. Ask every customer for a review this week. Send the link the day the job ends, with a photo of their finished roof. Our guide to claiming and setting up a Google Business Profile covers the basics.
6. Answer the phone fast in leak season. January and February bring the most leak searches. A missed call in a storm is a job for the next roofer. Our piece on why a site can rank and still never ring covers the call side.

Get the Full Report

The full report has the search demand by category, a month by month calendar of when each type of job peaks, the 15 easiest searches to win, the top questions on Google and Reddit, the pain points ranked, the brands homeowners trust and the YouTube channels that rank. It also lists every limit in the data, so you know what to lean on and what to treat with care.

You can download the full report as a free PDF. No form, no email. If you want the basics of how local search works first, start with what local SEO is and how it works.

Sources

Every number in this story comes from one of these. If a figure is ours, the paragraph says so.

• Google Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
• Google Search Help, AI Overviews in Google Search
• DataForSEO, DataForSEO Labs API
• Arctic Shift, Reddit data archive on GitHub
• Clickflame, Roofing Customer Research 2026 (full PDF)

Common Questions

Should I put prices on my roofing website?

Yes, as ranges. You do not need a fixed price. Show what a repair, a leak fix and a full replacement usually cost in your area, and say what moves the number, like roof size, layers and material. A range answers the question homeowners ask most, and it filters out people who were never going to buy.

Is Reddit really where my customers look for roofing advice?

Many of them, yes. In our research Reddit was in the top ten Google results on 80 of 108 roofing searches. Homeowners post photos of their roof and their quote and ask strangers to judge both. You cannot control those threads, but you can publish clear answers that Google can show next to them.

Can I pay or waive a customer's insurance deductible to win the job?

Do not do it. In many states it is illegal, and it can be treated as insurance fraud. Homeowners ask about it a lot, so the honest move is a plain page that explains why you cannot, and what you can do instead, like documenting the damage well.

How many Google reviews does a roofer need to show up on the map?

There is no set number. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. In our map sample the median roofer had 47 reviews, and some top three spots went to roofers with fewer than ten. Steady new reviews with photos matter more than a single push.

Is it worth making YouTube videos as a small roofing company?

Yes, if they show real jobs. In our research the roofing channels that ranked best on YouTube were working roofers, not shingle brands, and Google's AI answers cited YouTube more than any other site. A phone video of a leak you found and fixed is enough to start.