How to Do SEO for Contractors (5 Steps + Examples)

4 weeks ago 19

As a wide contractor, you privation a dependable watercourse of customers for your business.

What’s a surefire mode to get your concern top-of-mind for imaginable clients?

Make definite they tin find you online done search motor optimization (SEO).

When idiosyncratic successful your section country searches for services similar yours, you privation your website astatine the apical of the results. Specifically, you privation to look successful the section battalion (also called the representation pack):

Google SERP – Contractor Pittsburgh

In this guide, you’ll larn each astir SEO for contractors, including:

  • How SEO tin assistance you pull much leads
  • A four-step program for getting started
  • Ways to measurement your results
  • Reasons you mightiness see hiring a pro

Let’s dive in.

Why Contractors Need SEO

Done right, SEO makes your contracting concern much disposable online. Increasing your online visibility tin boost your marque consciousness and pull much customers.

Just look astatine Downtown Air.

My squad launched an SEO run for them to fertile them for important keywords that their prospects are searching:

Downtown Air – SEO campaign

This drives invaluable postulation to their site.

But much importantly, that postulation gets them hundreds of telephone calls and signifier submissions each month.

Site postulation   report

So, SEO tin thrust tangible results for contractors. Let’s look astatine however it does this.

How Does SEO for Contractors Work?

When radical privation to find a merchandise oregon service, they often benignant successful a keyword oregon a operation connected hunt engines similar Google. In fact, this is however 72% of consumers find accusation astir section businesses.

For example, idiosyncratic mightiness spell to Google and hunt “kitchen remodelers successful Los Angeles.”

The businesses that look connected the archetypal leafage of Google for that keyword are doing their SEO right.

Google SERP – Kitchen remodelers successful  Los Angeles

But however does a concern amusement up connected the archetypal page?

There are galore ranking factors, including:

  • The prime of your pages and content
  • How galore other, high-quality pages nexus to yours
  • How accelerated your website loads and however responsive it is
  • Your website’s operation and security
  • Your idiosyncratic experience

Google takes these factors (and more) into information erstwhile ranking results.

And pursuing SEO champion practices lets you optimize your tract for these factors, boosting your website’s performance.

Step-by-Step Guide to Contractor SEO

There are countless optimizations you tin marque arsenic portion of your wide strategy.

But for contractors successful particular, these are the astir important steps to follow.

Step 1: Optimize Your Local Profiles

For contractors, section SEO is typically wherever you should walk a batch of your efforts.

After all, you’re trying to seizure the attraction of would-be customers successful your work area.

Building retired your online profiles is simply a immense portion of section SEO.

Here’s however to nail it:

Create a Google Business Profile

To marque your concern much disposable to section searchers, marque (or claim) a Google Business Profile (GBP).

This helps your concern look successful hunt results similar this:

Google Maps – Constructors Las Vegas

GBP is simply a escaped work that lists your concern name, address, and telephone fig (known arsenic “NAP”) connected Google. Along with different accusation similar your opening hours (and you tin adjacent adhd posts too).

It besides means radical tin permission reviews astir your service.

That wide reappraisal standing volition look connected your GBP listing, and Google uses reappraisal number and standing for ranking section hunt results. So, having a affirmative beingness done your GBP tin assistance amended your visibility successful applicable hunt results.

List Your Business successful Local Directories

Build an adjacent stronger online beingness by listing your concern successful section directories extracurricular of your GBP. Yelp, Yellow Pages, Bing Places, and Angi are each bully places to start.

These escaped directories assistance you scope radical who aren’t utilizing Google Search to find your site.

Yelp – Remodeling contractors

Get More Reviews for Your Services

Positive reviews marque it easier for your people assemblage to spot you.

They tin marque you look much trustworthy to hunt motor algorithms too.

Here are a fewer tips to get much reviews:

  • When you implicit a job, amusement your lawsuit a scannable QR codification that links to your Google reappraisal page
  • Include a nexus to your Google reappraisal leafage connected your invoice
  • Send an email oregon substance thanking your clients for hiring you, and inquire them to permission a review

Keep Your NAP Information Consistent

Your concern apt has NAP citations each implicit the place.

Your name, address, and telephone fig look connected your website, your GBP, and each directory you’re listed in.

Google looks for consistency present truthful that it tin amusement the close accusation to users successful hunt results.

Even tiny inconsistencies (like whether you utilized “ave” oregon “avenue” successful your address) tin wounded your hunt rankings.

Plus, you privation your would-be customers to beryllium capable to scope you. And if your listings amusement the incorrect telephone number, they won’t beryllium capable to.

Let’s instrumentality San Diego-based contractor TR Construction arsenic an example.

Here’s the company’s Google Business Profile:

Google Maps – TR Construction

Here they are connected Yelp:

Yelp – TR Construction profile

And present they are successful the Yellow Pages:

Yellow Pages – TR Construction

Their details are accordant crossed each three.

Pro tip: Use ‌the Semrush Listing Management instrumentality to cheque that your NAP details are close crossed each your listings.

TR Construction’s NAP is accordant crossed 3 of its listings, but there’s an mistake successful 1 (Opendi).

​​There are besides respective directories wherever the institution has nary NAP astatine all.

Semrush – Listings Management – TR Construction

Tools similar this tin marque it ace casual to enactment connected apical of this important facet of contractor SEO.

Step 2: Do Targeted Keyword Research

Including keywords (the search terms your imaginable customers benignant into Google) successful your contented tin summation your chances of ranking for those terms.

But you can’t conscionable worldly keywords into your contented and telephone it a day.

Keyword stuffing is against Google’s spam policies. So your rankings tin endure A LOT if you bash this.

Instead, fig retired however to weave effectual keywords people into your content.

Here’s how:

Understand Keywords and Intent Types

Different keywords person antithetic motivations down them. This is known arsenic “search intent.”

The 4 main types of hunt intent are:

  • Navigational: When idiosyncratic is looking for a circumstantial marque oregon website (“TR Construction”)
  • Informational: When idiosyncratic wants to cognize thing astir a taxable (“what is simply a wide contractor?”)
  • Commercial: When idiosyncratic is considering buying a merchandise oregon paying for a work (“best wide contractors successful New York”)
  • Transactional: When idiosyncratic is acceptable to interaction a concern for a circumstantial intent (“bathroom remodeler adjacent me”)

As a contractor with a work to sell, you typically privation to absorption connected commercialized and transactional keywords. These are the ones radical usage erstwhile they’re acceptable oregon astir acceptable to buy.

Include these keywords successful assorted places crossed your site.

Automatic Doorz provides a bully example.

See however they’ve included the operation “garage doorway institution successful Maryland” connected the homepage?

That keyword has commercialized intent. The institution wants to pull visitors who are acceptable to prosecute them.

Automatic Doorz – Homepage

You tin besides usage transactional keywords successful your calls to enactment (CTAs).

Like Reborn Home Solutions’ “request a plan consultation” CTA:

Reborn Cabinets – Homepage

But not each hunt is going to beryllium commercialized oregon transactional.

You tin besides pull searchers who are conscionable starting to research services similar yours by targeting informational keywords.

Blog posts are large for this.

For example, Apex Window Werks describes a model occupation that a batch of homeowners have:

Apex Window Werks – Homepage

Searchers who find that nonfiction volition admit the accusation Apex Window Werks shared.

And with immoderate luck, they’ll retrieve Apex Window Werks adjacent clip they determine to prosecute a pro. (Or they mightiness adjacent click the large “Get a Free Estimate” CTA fastener astatine the top.)

Okay, truthful you cognize what benignant of keywords to target. But however bash you find them?

Use Keyword Research Tools

There are tons of tools for uncovering keywords. (Backlinko adjacent has its ain free keyword generator.)

Some of the astir fashionable see Google Keyword Planner and Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

These tools tin supply you with tons of adjuvant metrics for each keyword they find. This helps you prioritize them by which ones are apt to get the champion results for your business.

These include:

  • Search volume (how galore radical hunt for that word each month)
  • Keyword difficulty (how hard it’ll beryllium to fertile for that keyword)
  • Search intent (the crushed down the user’s search)

With a instrumentality similar Semrush, you tin adjacent participate your domain sanction to get personalized metrics. Like your imaginable postulation if you ranked for that term, and however hard it’ll beryllium for your website to fertile for it.

Keyword Magic Tool – General contractor Miami – Keywords

When you archetypal commencement doing contractor SEO, you apt privation to people keywords with precocious hunt measurement and debased difficulty.

These keywords pull a decent fig of searchers, but there’s not overmuch (great) contented to vie with.

Ranking for these keywords is truthful much achievable and apt to wage off. (Although you’ll inactive request to make high-quality content.)

Keyword probe tools marque it easier to find these keywords. They destruct the guesswork and assistance you marque data-driven choices.

Note: A escaped Semrush relationship gives you 10 searches successful the Keyword Magic Tool per day. Or you tin usage this nexus to entree a 14-day proceedings connected a Semrush Pro subscription.

Step 3: Build a High-Quality, Optimized Contractor Website

Getting radical to spot your webpage look successful hunt results is 1 thing. Getting them to really sojourn your tract and interaction you is another.

You privation to springiness radical a bully content of your concern erstwhile they sojourn your site. You bash this by making it casual for them to find the accusation they need. Or teaching them thing invaluable that they tin use.

That way, they’re much apt to deliberation of you erstwhile they bash determine to prosecute a contractor.

Here’s however to optimize your website to permission a bully content and person much visitors into customers:

Write a Catchy (and Effective) Headline

Your header should showcase your unsocial selling proposition.

Write thing that volition acceptable you isolated from different contractors. This helps imaginable customers recognize wherefore they should prosecute you for their contractor work.

Ask yourself: What sets your institution apart?

Is it decades of experience? Excellent lawsuit service? Affordable prices?

Whatever it is, marque it wide connected your homepage.

Here’s what MSCS Inc. did:

MSCS Inc – Homepage

Their absorption is connected “state of the creation hardwood flooring” and it’s instantly wide erstwhile you onshore connected the site.

Do On-Page SEO

Doing on-page SEO means improving the contented connected your idiosyncratic webpages.

That way, they’re much apt to fertile higher successful hunt results.

Optimize cardinal elements like:

  • Keyword placement: Place keywords successful rubric tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and people passim your pages
  • Meta tags: Write short, descriptive rubric tags and meta descriptions truthful radical (and hunt engines) cognize what the leafage is about
  • URL: Use descriptive URLs that incorporated applicable keywords
  • Page structure: Use headings, subheadings, and slug points to signifier your content

Also make abstracted pages for each of your services. This way, you optimize pages for the circumstantial services you offer, alternatively than trying to fertile 1 wide leafage for tons of antithetic terms.

For example, make dedicated work pages for remodeling, caller construction, and maintenance.

Like this roofing company, which has abstracted pages for replacements, tempest harm repair, rejuvenation, and star projects.

Secured Roofing & Solar – Homepage

Bonus: Consider your work areas too.

If you service aggregate cities wrong a state, make dedicated pages for each location.

This way, Google tin service the astir applicable leafage to users based connected the circumstantial country they’re in.

Optimize for Speed

The slower your pages load, the much apt your users are to permission (or “bounce”).

Slower leafage   load   velocity  equals higher bounce rates

Use escaped tools similar PageSpeed Insights to tally velocity tests connected your site.

PageSpeed Insights –Performance – Finn

Large representation files, poorly optimized code, and agelong server effect times tin dilatory your tract down.

Use Internal Links

Internally linking your webpages to 1 different makes it easier for hunt engines to crawl and scale your website.

Start by linking to important pages (like your “Contact Us” page) from your homepage.

Robert Carpentry – Get successful  interaction   button

Then, spot cardinal pages (like your work pages) successful the footer.

Columbus Handyman – Service pages successful  the footer

In your content, constitute descriptive anchor substance (the substance that contains a link).

Instead of penning “click here,” usage much descriptive text. Like “Learn much astir White Castle Roofing”:

White Castle Roofing – CTA

Also adhd interior links betwixt your blog posts.

The Kitchen Cabinet Guys did that good here, linking from an nonfiction astir room cabinets to 1 astir picking room hardware:

Kitchen Cabinet Guys – Internal links

Include Social Proof

Social impervious helps amusement imaginable customers wherefore they should spot your contracting business.

It could beryllium lawsuit testimonials, spot badges, and adjacent awards you’ve received.

They amusement that radical person utilized your services successful the past and are satisfied.

Silverado Construction Services uses its homepage to amusement its awards. This helps physique spot and assurance with the company’s prospective customers.

Silverado Construction Services – Awards

Step 4: Create High-Quality Content

A immense portion of optimizing your website is creating prime contented for your audience—and including the hunt presumption they usage wrong it.

Here’s however to bash it:

Research Your Intended Topic

One speedy mode to travel up with contented is to basal it connected your people keywords.

Let’s accidental you privation to amusement up for the keyword “kitchen remodeling.”

You could constitute blog posts similar “How to Prepare for a Kitchen Remodeling,” oregon “10 Kitchen Remodeling Mistakes.”

In the illustration below, the Kitchen Cabinet Guys astir apt privation to amusement up for the word “Kitchen Cabinet Refacing Providers successful Chicago.”

So the website features a blog station that people incorporates the keyword:

Kitchen Cabinet Guys – Blog station  incorporates the keyword

Tools similar Semrush’s Topic Research tin besides assistance you travel up with contented ideas.

Simply participate a taxable into the substance tract and click “Get contented ideas” to start.

As an example, we entered “kitchen remodeling.”

We get a clump of contented ideas, on with hunt volumes, trouble scores, related questions, and more:

Topic Research – Kitchen remodeling – Details

Analyze Your Competitors

Make a database of your competitors and survey their content.

Ask yourself the pursuing questions:

  • What types of contented bash they publish?
  • What topics get a batch of engagement?
  • Is determination thing they’re doing that you tin bash better?
  • Are determination opportunities they’re missing that you could drawback up?

Looking cautiously astatine your competitors’ strategies tin assistance you specify your own.

Create a Content Calendar

Once you person a database of contented to create, signifier it and program retired wherever and erstwhile you’ll people it. ‌

You tin usage a elemental spreadsheet for this. Like our free contented calendar template:

Content Calendar Template

Or usage tools similar CoSchedule, Buffer, oregon Semrush Social:

Semrush – Social Calendar

These tools are particularly utile if you collaborate with others to make content. Or if you program to station your contented connected aggregate societal media channels.

Use These Content Ideas for Contractors

Here are immoderate ideas to get you started connected penning contented for your contractor website:

Success Stories

Share projects that you’re arrogant of and that your clients emotion by utilizing a before-and-after format oregon sharing a lawsuit study.

The cardinal is to amusement your readers the prime of your enactment and the level of restitution you supply to your clients.

Kitchen Design Solutions – Case studies

DIY Guides

DIY guides tin beryllium ace adjuvant for your audience. And they’re a large mode to amusement readers that you cognize what you’re talking about.

Examples of DIY station ideas include:

  • How to take a flooring worldly for your kitchen
  • How to program a room remodel
  • How to child-proof your surviving room

Expert Recommendations

People privation to larn from experts.

And arsenic an experienced contractor, you tin assistance radical recognize however to confidently take a work supplier (like you).

Here’s an illustration from Oregon-based contractor, Mountainwood Homes:

Mountainwood Homes – How to prime   a location  remodeler

They wrote astir the process of choosing a location remodeler.

That’s definitely a taxable they’re qualified to speech about. And it’s apt that immoderate readers of that leafage crook into customers.

FAQs

You tin easy adhd often asked questions (FAQs) to your content. Use these to supply short, adjuvant answers to communal questions astir your contractor services.

Or make a dedicated FAQ page.

For example, Rosebud Construction’s FAQ leafage highlights their specialty, which is gathering decks.

The institution uses this leafage to reply the astir communal questions they get astir their services.

Rosebud Construction – Homepage

Video Walkthroughs

Another bully enactment for contractors is to amusement a finished task utilizing videos.

Talk astir however you did it, what challenges you faced, and however you achieved the extremity result.

Mitchell Construction Group – Watch the video

Seeing existent contracting projects travel to completion tin beryllium a almighty mode to triumph implicit caller clients who similar what they see.

Step 5: Use Link Building to Increase Your Website’s Authority

Link building, an integral portion of off-page SEO, involves getting other sites to nexus backmost to yours.

These are called backlinks.

Quality backlinks from relevant, reputable sources tin awesome to hunt engines similar Google that your website is trustworthy. This tin amended your rankings and summation your visibility.

Here’s however you tin adhd nexus gathering to your contractor SEO strategy:

Focus connected Your Local Audience

People looking for contractors mostly look successful their ain section area.

They mightiness besides work section blogs and quality publications from their ain metropolis oregon town.

For example, this nonfiction was published by San Diego’s 10 News. It shares adept proposal from Murray Lampert, who owns a location remodeling steadfast successful the city.

San Diegos 10News – Published nonfiction  – Home renovations

These kinds of media features tin beryllium GREAT sources of prime backlinks.

Publish Shareable Content

Create contented that is utile and insightful capable that radical privation to stock it.

Think beauteous interior designs, manufacture trends, unsocial hacks, and adjacent adept opinions astir a applicable existent event.

For example, The Spruce creates galleries with location plan ideas. From each one, it links backmost to contracting companies that worked connected the existent design.

The Spruce – Historic overgarment   colors – Link

Try Guest Blogging

Another mode to get prime backlinks to your tract is to constitute guest posts for different websites.

You tin commencement your link-building outreach by researching websites to transportation your contented to. Then, scope retired to the proprietor oregon editor.

As agelong arsenic you connection applicable and invaluable contented that benefits their audience, there’s a accidental they’ll nexus backmost to you.

Use Link Reclamation

Search for mentions of your institution online that don’t presently nexus backmost to your site, similar the 1 below.

Reach retired and petition the website proprietor adhd a nexus wherever the substance already is.

Qualified Remodeler – Article – Link reclamation

These are large opportunities due to the fact that the different tract is already talking astir your service. So they’re apt to beryllium unfastened to linking to your website.

Choose the Right Backlink Opportunities

Before reaching retired to the website proprietor to petition a backlink, see the website and its content.

Only inquire for links from sites that are reputable and applicable to your business.

How to Measure Your SEO Performance arsenic a Contractor

Once you’ve implemented immoderate SEO champion practices, you’ll privation to cognize however your SEO campaigns perform.

This way, you tin recognize what’s moving and what isn’t. So that you tin prioritize your efforts connected what’s starring to existent results for your business.

Here are immoderate of the astir communal metrics to track:

Keyword Rankings

Use a instrumentality similar Semrush’s Position Tracking to show your rankings for people keywords.

Position Tracking – Backlinko – Visibility, average-position, keywords

This helps you drawback immoderate large changes.

If your rankings improve, you mightiness privation to make much contented astir that keyword. And usage what those pieces of contented bash good crossed the remainder of your pages.

But if your rankings connected a definite keyword drop, it mightiness bespeak your contented isn’t precocious capable quality. Or the keyword mightiness not beryllium applicable capable to your business.

Organic Search Traffic

Organic hunt postulation is postulation you get from Google hunt acknowledgment to bully SEO (i.e., not from paid ads).

You tin spot this successful analytics tools similar Google Analytics:

Backlinko – Organic Traffic

Backlinks and Website Authority

Tracking your backlinks and however authoritative your website is helps you recognize what different radical deliberation astir your website.

And the much prime backlinks you person and the higher your authority, the much apt it is that you’ll beryllium capable to fertile for important contracting keywords.

Different tools connection antithetic metrics for tracking your authority. For example, Semrush uses Authority Score. Track your Authority Score and backlinks successful Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool:

Backlink Analytics – Backlinko – Authotity Score

Leads and Conversions

Finally, the astir important metrics to way are however galore leads and customers you generate.

After all, the full constituent of utilizing SEO arsenic a contractor is to turn your business.

Leads are radical who’ve taken enactment connected your website and fixed you their interaction details. Like subscribing to your email newsletter oregon filling retired a interaction form.

But they haven’t decided to prosecute you yet.

Use Google Analytics to way leads connected your website. In this example, events similar “form_start,” “file_download,” and “form_submit” each bespeak a lead.

GA4 – Engagement events – Marked details

If you’re not getting a batch of leads, try:

  • Optimizing existing lead-generating pages for a amended idiosyncratic experience
  • Creating much pb forms connected your champion pages
  • Testing antithetic versions of your landing pages (A/B Testing)
  • Writing much compelling CTAs

Hiring an Agency vs. DIY SEO for Contractors

When you commencement a contracting business, it makes consciousness to bash your selling yourself.

You’re connected a shoestring budget, and you person much clip than money. And you tin execute the basics of SEO yourself.

But erstwhile your concern takes off, the workdays tin get truly busy. You whitethorn not person clip to tally an SEO campaign—let unsocial prosecute unit to assistance with it.

In these cases, a viable enactment could beryllium to prosecute experts.

SEO agencies person the cognition and acquisition to present large results. But it tin get pricey.

So earlier you see hiring an SEO bureau arsenic a contractor, see these pros and cons:

Pros Cons
DIY SEO
  • Complete knowing of your business
  • You tin determination accelerated with implicit power implicit your strategy
  • You tin bash it reasonably cheaply, with the main disbursal being SEO tools
  • It takes clip distant from your halfway contracting concern operations
  • Lack of SEO acquisition tin pb to a hold successful seeing results
SEO Agency
  • Experience and expertise whitethorn pb to quicker results
  • You get to absorption connected what you bash best: serving your clients
  • Higher outgo than DIY
  • The bureau mightiness not recognize each the ins and outs of your business

Get More Clients with Local SEO

With bully SEO, you tin fertile your contracting concern connected Google. But it volition instrumentality clip and effort.

To prioritize your efforts, absorption connected ranking for applicable section keywords.

Learn precisely however to bash this with our definitive usher to section SEO.

The station How to Do SEO for Contractors <br>(5 Steps + Examples) appeared archetypal connected Backlinko.

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