Are you having trouble breaking into your local market as a plumber? Having trouble figuring out what SEO is? You're not the only one.
In the plumbing industry, competition is fierce — and simply having a website isn't enough to get your plumbing business in front of new customers.
When homeowners in your service area search for "plumbers near me,” and your website doesn't rank on page one, you lose business to your competitors.
In this article, you will learn:
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SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” and is a set of practices designed to improve visibility and ranking of web pages in organic search results.
In simple terms, it means the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business on Google, Bing, and other search engines. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you will garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business.
The most common way people discover and access online content is through organic search. Hence, a good SEO strategy is critical for increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website.
Local SEO is a marketing technique that involves optimizing your online presence for better visibility within local search results.
Enhanced visibility is achieved through a variety of tasks, such as:
Over the last decade, local SEO has become increasingly critical. For example, among the top industries for local SEO are plumbing services.
Because Google has integrated location data such as geo-coordinates into their search algorithm, they can now display results dynamically based on a searcher’s current location.
In addition, mobile devices and WiFi internet access have made it easier for people to search more frequently and with more relevant results.
Local SEO for plumbing companies includes the following four components:
The main goal of local SEO is to increase …
… by increasing local visibility on Google.
SEO for plumbing companies helps you get in front of this target audience. Ranking organically for valuable keywords on Google will yield a much higher conversion rate than a social media ad with a short campaign lifetime.
Try to imagine yourself in your target audience's shoes. For example, how would you search for a plumber?
Most likely, you'd use your smartphone to search for something like "plumbers in my area.” You will immediately see a map area called Google Local Pack. SEO professionals call it "beachfront real estate.” Plumbers who show up here will "win" the most website clicks and phone calls.
50% of users typing in localized searches will click on one of three businesses listed here.
Additional keywords for plumbing companies popular for ranking in Google Local Packs include:
Your target audience is also likely to search for keywords such as “best remodeler near me” or “best remodeler in XYZ.”
Again, Google Local Pack will be the first section to pop up on the results page, and those businesses in Google Local Pack are likely to receive the most website clicks and phone calls.
How do you rank in Google Local Pack? The following will help you find out.
You must have a Google Business Profile to rank in Google Local Pack.
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) allows small businesses (and nonprofits) to promote their business information on Google Search and Maps for free.
Google Business Profile lets you:
It’s super important to be as comprehensive as possible when filling out your Google My Business listing.
Almost every Google My Business makes sure to take care of essentials, like listing:
But if you want to out-rank your competition, you need to go above and beyond the basics.
Have you added descriptions of your services? Are all the applicable secondary categories for your business listed? Have you added all the relevant attributes to your company? If not, add this information!
Perhaps you have five photos posted on your Google My Business. Take it to the next level and post 20. Take a picture of the outside of your business and parking lot. Want to be extra comprehensive? Add a video explaining what your business is about and what makes it unique.
Google LOVES seeing as much information about your business as possible. And clients do, too!
Comprehensiveness is one of Google's favorite things. So take advantage of every opportunity to maximize the number of characters in your business description and include as many relevant attributes as possible.
Having as much comprehensive information as possible is the best way to optimize your Google My Business listing.
Here’s a quick crash course on what is considered comprehensive and what isn't:
For your main description, you may have written a sentence along the lines of, “We are an experienced team of plumbers ready to make your remodeling as painless as possible.”
This is just ONE sentence. Google allows 750 characters for your main description. Use every amount of that character space to share as much information about your business as possible. What types of home remodeling projects do you do? How long have you been in the industry? What communities do you serve?
Google Business Profile allows you to add up to 20 service areas (make sure you are willing to service all areas you add). Adding services will help you rank for more local searches.
Say you have a page with a bulleted list of all your remodeling company's services. This would be a wasted opportunity to maximize ranking for valuable keywords and comprehensive content.
Instead, create an individual page for each of your services. For example, your URL for a service page should look like this: [website]/services/kitchen-remodel.
Think about potential clients searching for keywords like “kitchen remodeling near me.” Does the information on your page answer their questions? For an extra layer of comprehensiveness, maybe you can add an FAQ section at the bottom.
Imagine you live in a suburb north of Denver. However, specify Denver as your service area if you want people who discover you to know you serve all of Denver and not just your small town. As a result, when someone in the greater Denver area searches "plumber near me," you'll get hits from a larger service area.
Two important facts to remember:
It is essential to add as many as possible when adding services and categories.
For example, your first category should be “Plumber.”
Include any other relevant services you provide in addition to the Plumber category. This can increase ranking opportunities for service-related keywords.
These items may be on the list:
A plumber who writes a separate page for each service significantly benefits search engine rankings.
You can build topical authority on your website by crafting original content for each service type. The key is to link service pages together so Google crawls your website and understands its depth.
The more services you can cover, the more authority you will gain.
Ensure your business's Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) are consistent across Google and other local directories.
NAP inconsistencies can adversely affect your local SEO because search engines won’t be confident about information you are providing. Basically, search engines won’t trust you.
You must prove to Google you are who you say you are. To establish authority and trust with Google, NAP consistency is crucial.
In December 2021, Google released an algorithm update that stated Google reviews would now have a more significant impact on visibility and ranking.
What is the reason for this? Simply put, Google trusts the power of word-of-mouth marketing. It considers the quantity and quality of reviews when determining a search position. Consumers use online reviews to validate their purchase decisions and search engines such as Google. Search engines and users have similar objectives, so it should not come as a surprise. The goal of Google is to provide you with the correct:
… as quickly as possible. This aligns with our goals as users! User reviews function like crowd-sourced recommendations.
Here’s a plumbing company with 100+ reviews!
Overall, star rating alone doesn’t determine your search ranking. A high overall star rating shows customers value your business, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. For instance, a company can have an overall rating of 5 stars but only three reviews. That’s not a very big sample size, so it’s hard to tell if this business provides excellent services or if those three reviewers are just outliers.
That’s why it is so important to add more reviews continuously. Remember, Google uses reviews to understand the quality of your services. The more reviews you have, the higher likelihood your overall rating accurately depicts your customer experience.
How can you get Google reviews? First, you can get your technicians to leave postcards with clients (or happy clients). As another option, ask contractors you regularly work with (i.e., roofers, etc.) to leave positive reviews.
Searching for “HVAC Contractors Near Me” …
How does your business rank in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)?
First things first; what is a landing page? A landing page, also known as a “lead capture page,” “static page,” “squeeze page,” or a “destination page,” is a standalone page in your website explicitly created for a marketing or advertising campaign.
While a homepage encourages exploration and tries to lead the visitor towards many different goals, a landing page is designed with a single focus or goal, known as a CTA (call-to-action).
The magic happens on your homepage if you're a "single location" plumber (meaning you have just one Google Business Profile, whether it's a legit office or a home address).
Multi-location plumbers (those with more than one Google Business Profile, for example, Portland, OR, Beaverton, OR, and Vancouver, WA) should make their homepages more conversion-driven and their local landing pages more powerful.
In the case of a multi-location plumbing business, and one of your locations is Portland, your Portland landing page should rank for "Portland plumber,” etc. But, again, it would be best if you started with your homepage. It should have sections for "our locations/cities" with links to those pages and sections for "our services" with links to those services.
Technical SEO refers to behind-the-scenes elements that power your organic growth engines — such as site architecture, mobile optimization, and page speed.
The technical SEO process includes optimizing your website and server to make search engine spiders more likely to crawl and index your site (to improve organic rankings).
In search results, search engines prefer websites that feature specific technical characteristics. For example:
Technical SEO is the process of making sure your website meets these criteria.
You can use the following checklist to ensure your technical SEO is good. This checklist will help you ensure the security and structure of your site meet expectations of search engine algorithms and are rewarded accordingly in search results.
On-page SEO (also known as on-site SEO) is a practice of optimizing web pages to improve a site's search engine rankings and increase organic traffic.
Besides publishing relevant, high-quality content, on-page SEO involves optimizing your headlines, HTML tags (title, meta, and header), and images. It also implies ensuring your website has a high degree of authority, trustworthiness, and expertise.
On-page SEO aims to help search engines understand your website and its content and identify whether the content is relevant to a searcher's query. So it’s important to conduct keyword research and creative, comprehensive content.
Local keywords contain location-specific phrases and produce results specific to that location. Therefore, local SEO strategies can be optimized by using these keywords to drive people in your area to your business.
You should ensure all services available in your local market are listed on your service pages.
Are you a plumber who offers emergency services? Can you provide AC service? Make sure to include this.
Having a service page about "Bathtubs" that mentions "leaks" will give you an edge when someone searches for "plumber in Portland for bathtub leaking" if they're looking for that.
Creating high-performing, comprehensive blog content helps increase organic traffic and exposure on Google and increases website authority.
Here is where things get fun. Remember people searching for remodeling services type thousands of questions into Google every day.
Some searchers are local, such as:
Some searches are more generic:
Answering these types of questions through comprehensive blog articles will do two things:
For plumbers to gain extra performance from your search phrases, you must put some thought into your SEO and specific keyword phrases you want to target.
Creating content around keywords like these lets you rank in the SERPs when people type these questions into their preferred search engine.
