When it comes to SEO for contractors, is your company losing potential customers to your competitors when they search for these popular contractor search terms?
"general contractor"
"home remodeling contractor"
"residential contractor"
"commercial contractor"
"construction contractor"
"kitchen remodeling contractor"
"bathroom remodeling contractor"
"home renovation contractor"
"room addition contractor"
"custom home builder contractor"
These contractor SEO terms are being searched thousands of times a day by potential customers looking for contractor services that you provide. This has resulted in the contractor industry being estimated to bring in over $100 Billion next year. Great time to be a contractor!
We talked with some of our most successful contractors about how effective SEO has been for their contractor company and what they did to move the needle.
The feedback was nothing short of amazing. Almost every single contractor associated their accelerated growth with how they ranked in the search engines. They also mentioned it's 'need it now' action item that cutomer is taking in real time.
Think about it, potential customers are taking physical action in real time to search Google for construction contractor, kitchen remodeling contractor, contractor [your city], or other contractor services that you provide- and if your website is not listed on the 1st page of the search results, you are basically handing customers to your competitors every single day- 24/7, 365.
On the other hand, if you are in the tops spots when potential customers search for those contractor keywords, you are primed to dominate- and your competitors are giving you customers every, single, day.
Good news though, we here to make sure your contractor company shows up, big time. In this ultimate guide to SEO for contractors, we're going to get you pointed in the right direction, so your customers start to find your contractor services, and not your competitors. In this article, we'll go over the key strategies that you can implement right away to get your contractor website moving in the right direction- immediately.
Optimize Your Contractor Website for UX
(On-page SEO and Technical SEO)
When it comes to SEO for contractor contractors, we start with optimizing for user experience (UX) because it's vitally important that your website is providing a good user experience to your contractor customers.
Happy Google, Happy Rankings
If your site is not providing a good user experience, all the best contractor SEO in the world isn't going to make a difference. It would be like putting weights on your site as you try to move it up search engine rankings.
Why? Simple answer: When it comes to search engine optimization for a contractor company website, this is one direct measure that Google has insight to. Google starts tracking the UX of a user from the moment they first appear on their search engine.
For instance, a user starts on Google's servers to type in a search term like bathroom remodeling contractor, custom home builder contractor or some other contractor service that you provide. Next, the user clicks on a search result to visit the listed contractor company that was on the 1st page. Now comes to crucial step, this is where Google sits and waits to see what this user does next. The dreaded 'back button' is at play here!
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Great user experience: Google user searches for 'home renovation contractor', finds your company, clicks to visit your website, and then, never returns to Google's servers. Yay! They found what they were looking for, liked it a lot and Google is happy! Great contractor SEO and your website stays where it is or travels up the rankings.
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Good user experience: Google user searches for 'residential contractor', finds your site, clicks to visit and then, returns to Google's servers after a couple minutes or more. Ok, that's good. They obviously liked your site but still might need to look more and Google is still happy. Good SEO for your contractor services and your site stays where it is or moves up the rankings.
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'OK' user experience: Google user searches for 'home remodeling contractor', finds your site, clicks to visit your website and then, returns to Google's servers around 30 seconds to around a minute. Eh, ok. They stuck around for a little bit but not a definitive signal. Most likely stays the same or moves down/up compared to other sites UX signals to Google.
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Bad user experience: Google user searches for 'SEO for Contractors', finds your contractor company, clicks to visit your website and then, returns to Google's servers after a couple minutes or more. Almost 100% they didn't like what they found and are looking immediately for another search result. Not good and this site will most likely move down the rankings- no matter how good the contractors SEO is.
When it comes to search engine optimization for contractors, Google has been using UX signals more and more to determine which contractor company is deserving of their top spots. However, you still have to get there because if you're not on the 1st page, users won't find you and therefore, Google won't know about the UX of your site.
Action item: Optimize your site using the below tips and strategy.
Here are a several things to get you started with the correct UX optimization:
Keyword Research for Laser Focused Relevancy
Successful SEO for contractor contractors and making sure you site is relevant to the users search term relies heaving on keyword research.
When it comes to targeting effective search terms for the contractor industry, the focus should be on keywords that consumers are actually searching for, not what you think they are searching for.
We want to eliminate 'assuming' when it comes to keyword research for contractor SEO and go straight to the hard facts. Using tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can show you exactly what your customers are searching for.
"We wasted 6 months targeting the wrong keywords for our local area. Ranking #1 for contractor keywords nobody is searching for doesn't make the phone ring." - Tim (C.A.T)
Oftentimes, after doing keyword research with a trusted tool, you will find that what you thought people were searching for, actually doesn't get searched at all.
Could you imagine spending significant effort and resources on targeting keywords that nobody was searching for? Yes, you might get to #1, but you'll go crazy wondering why your phone isn't ringing. This is why hiring a quality SEO company for contractor services is vital.
Once you have identified the top keywords or search terms for your contractor business, you'll want to dedicate a page for each different one.
For example: If your keyword research shows that users are searching for 'construction contractor', then you will want to have a page dedicated solely to 'construction contractor'. With this search term, you will want to:
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Include "construction contractor" in the title and headlines of your website.
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Including the search term 'construction contractor' in the meta tags and descriptions, as well as in the alt text for images.
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Use the 'construction contractor' prominently and naturally throughout your website or content. Avoid stuffing the term excessively, as this can hurt the quality of your content.
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Use variations of 'construction contractor' and related terms throughout your website or content. This can help your content rank for a broader range of search queries.
Site Speed for Optimal Contractor SEO
Get your site loading fast. Then, make it faster. Research shows that users that leave your site increase by 32% when your site increases load time from 1 to 3 seconds.
Mobile Friendly
Around 64% of users search for contractor services from a mobile device. If your site doesn't display correctly for a mobile user searching for contractor services, they are gone faster than cake in our lounge room. Contractor search engine optimization depends heavily on mobile optimization.
Call to Action
Make sure your site has a great call-to-action when it first loads and is visible without having to scroll down. Our contractor companies say having a nice headline with a 'Quick Quote' or 'Free Estimate' button has increased their leads.
Example >
Headline: Contractor Specialists in [Your Location]
Button: Get a Free Contractor Estimate
Test and Analyze
Successful contractor SEO will consist of a lot of testing and analyzing. Test all of your links and buttons to make sure they are working. One contractor learned the hard way after launching a site without working links.
"It wasn't until after a full week of low contractor lead generation that they realized nobody could get to the form." - Mike (Contractor Co.)
Dive deep into your visitor's behaviors by analyzing analytics and heat maps. A particular contractor increased their contractor services lead generation by simply changing the color of a button. What color? Test and you'll find out what works best for your brand.
Get started with these UX optimization tips and you'll be on your way with a great foundation of SEO for your contractor services.
Contractor Location Pages
(Local SEO and On-page SEO)
Creating location/city pages for your contractor website is an important step for successful contractor SEO strategies, especially if you operate in multiple locations.
Contractor location page structure should look like this:
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Home Page: General contractor terms that are do not target a specific city or local area. Usually this is targeted for the State or country (if multiple states). but can target the entire state.
Home page title example: [Your State(s)] Premier Contractor Company
Home page should talk about your general contractor services and the state in general (no city or location pages). Include overall state information like landmarks, population, sports teams, etc. This will provide more relevancy to the page.
URL Example: https://www.awesomecontractorcompany.com/
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Location Pages (Inner pages): Contractor terms targeting a specific city or location.
Inner city page example: Premier Contractors in [Your City]
Inner city pages should talk about the contractor services offered in that location as well as information about that particular location. Include items like location specific landmarks, population, sports teams, etc. This will provide more relevancy to the location page.
URL Example: https://www.awesomecontractorcompany.com/locations/cityname
Action Item: You'll want to create as many inner city pages you are able to service and link to them all from the home page. In addition, add a 'locations' page to your site and add all the inner city pages to that main locations page.
'Win' Contractor's Featured Snippets
(On-page SEO and Off-page SEO)
Ok, so you're asking what are contractor featured snippets, how are they related to SEO for contractors and how the heck do you 'win' them?
Featured snippets for the contractor industry are what you see at the top of the search results that are relevant topics related to the industry, often known as position 0.
They usually appear when a question that is relevant to the contractor is searched for by a Google user. Google will show an answer box with a snippet of the high quality article that answers the contractor question.
Google loves showing them and users love seeing them.
Quality contractor content that targets featured snippet topics is what Google wants. When you rank for featured snippets, you're giving Google what the want and they'll reward you with higher rankings overall.
A few of Servgrow contractors reported that that when they ranked for more featured snippets, they ranked better for their service pages too.
So what we're saying here is, 'win' the featured snippets relevant to contractor questions and Google will reward you with higher ranking service pages.
So what we're saying here is, 'win' the featured snippets relevant to contractor questions and Google will reward you with higher ranking service pages.
Here are a several featured snippets relavent to the contractor industry:
This contractor questions are being searched a lot by Google users, which means you get a big 'high five' from Google if you're 'winning' them.
The contractor companies shown above are 'winning' these featured snippets and this plays a huge role in SEO for those contractors. When Google shows an article from your contractor company as the featured snippet, then Google is giving you the proverbial thumbs up- and we all know that a thumbs up from Google is always good for ranking on their search engine.
How Did The Contractors SEO 'Win' the Featured Snippet?
'Winning' the featured snippet means to have Google show your contractor article as the featured snippet. Talking with Servgrow contractors and a leading contractor SEO company for them, Soderman mentioned 2 critical areas you need to focus on to be successful:
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1. High quality contractor article covering the featured snippet question. This is the 'easy' part. Take a look at the article that currently has the featured snippet and simply write a better one. More detail about the question, provide expert opinions, make the article longer, images with alt text, proper headings, meta dat, longer, etc.
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2. Build Contractor Authority (Backlinks) This is the not so easy part. According to a study, backlinks were the #1 contributing factor to high rankings in the contractor industry. That goes for HVAC SEO and 'winning' featured snippets as well. With all things being equal, for Google to differentiate between two pieces of information, evaluating backlinks from other websites is the main way. Authority is built from backlinks.
So, how do you get backlinks to build contractor authority in the industry?
According to Soderman SEO, two tactics can generate quite a bit of authority to outrank the competition.
Building backlinks and authority for successful contractor SEO and can be done by anyone. It just takes time- a lot of time, which is why most businesses turn to contractor SEO companies to handle their authority and backlink building.
Action item: Contact an SEO company, or get to work building those relationships!
Contractor 'EAT' (Advanced SEO Tip)
(On-page SEO)
Mastering the EAT principle for the contractor industry can help you with long term SEO success.
So what is EAT and how is it related to contractor SEO?
EAT stands for expertise, authority and trustworthiness.
EAT has impacted SEO noticeably following a major 2018 algorithm update, known as the Medic Algorithm Update.
It was initially rolled out to medical and health related websites but has since moved on to encompass just about any business website. We'll break down EAT for the HVAC industry.
Prioritizing for EAT will set your website up for massive contractor SEO success. Get started today to make improvements and you'll be rewarded.
Off-Page SEO for Contractors (Authority Building)
(Off-page SEO)
We saved this particluar contractor SEO component for last. Why? Because this is the hardest one to implement as it takes quite a bit of time and resources.
High level off-page SEO for contractor companies consists of actions taken to build authority (backlinks) from relevant, quality and trusted 3rd party websites. This stage is similar to how we build authority in the 'featured snippet' section.
Think of contractor links from other home service websites as votes for a popularity contest. The more quality votes your contractor company gets, the higher you rank in the search engines.
If fact, it doesn't matter how good or high quality your website is, without votes or backlinks from other sites, your contractor company will not rank at the top. Google needs to see relevant websites vouching/voting for your site, and backlinks are the #1 way to do this.
Here are a couple ways of acquiring backlinks to build that contractor authority:
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Publish high-quality contractor content on your website that other websites and bloggers will want to link to. This can include blog posts, articles, infographics, and other types of resources relavent to the contractor industry that provide value to your audience.
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Reach out to other websites and bloggers in the home services industry and ask them to link to your website. This can be done through email, social media, or by leaving comments on their blog posts or articles.
Pro Tip: It's extremely important that you use only white hat contractor SEO strategies to gain backlinks. Over the years, Google has gotten stricter in what backlinks they reward and which ones they ignore.
The last thing you want to do is spend time and resources building contractor SEO authority only to have Google ingore it because it wasn't quality. Below are a few things to consider when going after those votes of confidence:
Off-site SEO for contractor companies is the most powerful stage in the SEO process.
Action Item: Hire an SEO company to help build that authority, or start building the authority yourself.
Track SEO Results
Now, it's all about tracking your SEO results for your contractor company. Similiar to the contractor tools you leverage in the field, Google search console is a bit different as it's an online website tool. You'll want to set up Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
Google Search Console: (GSC) monitors how search engines like Google sees and ranks your contractor website.
Google offers Google Search Console as a free tool offered by Google to help website owners in the contractor industry monitor their SEO results and to maintain their website's presence in Google Search results.
Contractor can use it to submit their website to Google for indexing, see how their website is performing in search results, and get alerts when there are issues with their website that need to be addressed.
Use GSC for:
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Tracking what keywords your website shows up for the most and what keywords are sending the most visitors to your site. For example: Are customers coming to your contractor website by searching for general contractor, construction contractor, room addition contractor, or from custom home builder contractor and commercial contractor?
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Tracking how high on the search results page your web page appears. For example: Where do you rank when someone types in the keywords; home renovation contractor, bathroom remodeling contractor, kitchen remodeling contractor, residential contractor, home remodeling contractor and other contractor services related keywords?
Google Analytics: (GA) monitors how potential customers find and interact with your site.
Google Analytics is another free tool by Google that helps contractors track and analyze how visitors interact with their website. contractors can use it to gain insights into their website traffic, including where their visitors are coming from, how long they stay on the site, and which pages they view.
Google Analytics is vital in helping contractors understand what aspects of their contractor SEO is working well on their website and what might need improvement.
Use GA for:
If you're working with an contractor SEO specialist, they'll use GSC, GA and other tools to track this vital information.
Action Item: Set up Google Search Console and Google Analytics for your website.
Combined with other marketing avenues, SEO services for contractors is hands down the best way to grow your online visibility and comes with the industries best ROI.
You should know though, investing into contractor SEO is a long-term strategy and will take some time to see results. However, if you focus on these key SEO strategies that are laid out in this article, your contractor company see major long-term success.
