If you operate a plumbing or HVAC business and are facing a lot of stiff competition in your local area, you need to do everything you can to give yourself an advantage. Fortunately, search engine optimization (SEO) fits the bill perfectly. By using local SEO techniques, you'll be able to pull ahead of your competition, get more visitors to your website, and boost your organic search traffic.
If you want to boost the presence of your business online, read on. Below we'll tell you how to increase your search rankings with local SEO.
1. Claim Your Google My Business Account
One of the most important things you need to do to increase local rankings for your plumbing business is to claim a Google My Business (GMB) account.
Google My Business is a service that allows you to manage your business listing across Google services and verify all of the information that Google has regarding your business. By optimizing this account correctly, you can increase your rankings in Google and ensure customers have the most up-to-date information about your business.
Using your GMB account, you can update your business hours, contact information, and website address. You can also add photos, reply to customer reviews, and update other important information such as whether your business accepts appointments.
2. Get Local Citations
Another major part of boosting the local SEO of your plumbing business is to get local citations. Citations are any mentions of your local business across the web, and when you have a lot of them, it can positively influence your search rankings.
You can get citations for your business in many ways, but one of the best things you can do is to sign up for accounts on online directories. Aside from your Google My Business page, make sure that you have claimed other online directory profiles as well and added up-to-date business information to each of them.
You may want to create business profiles on Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, and other popular online directories. It's also a great idea to add your information to local directories or to directories that are specifically for plumbers or HVAC professionals.
3. Build Backlinks
In addition to getting web citations, you should also aim to get relevant and high-authority links to your business website from other sites on the web.
Getting backlinks is a big part of basic SEO, both for national and local businesses. For local businesses, it's ideal to get links from other locally-relevant sites or from websites that are related to plumbing or HVAC in some way. The more relevant the links are and the higher-quality the website is, the better effect it will have on your rankings.
You can get backlinks in a variety of ways, but guest posting is one of the best. Simply adding plenty of sharable content to your website and blog can also go a long way in getting natural backlinks as well.
4. Verify That Business Information is Accurate
Once you've created and claimed some online directory sites for your plumbing business, you should verify that the information is accurate.
It's important to add and edit your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on these directories to ensure that they are all exactly the same on each one. You should also make sure that the same information is on your website as well.
Having this consistency will serve as a signal to Google that your business is legitimate and can help search engines to determine the relevance of your business during searches.
5. Improve Technical SEO
If you want to improve your website rankings, it's also important to improve your technical SEO and to ensure that your website is functioning well.
You should ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and that your site loads as quickly as possible. You should also ensure your website is secure by installing a security certificate and using an HTTPS protocol. Improving your site's URL structure and optimizing site metadata is also essential.
6. Launch Your Business Blog
Launching a business blog is essential when trying to rank your local business online and is well worth the time, effort, and money you'll spend doing it. When your website has a lot of content, there will be more opportunities for Google and other search engines to link to your business in search pages.
By posting educational and engaging content on a regular basis, you'll attract more potential customers to your website. Once they're there, you can then work to take them further through the sales funnel and encourage them to hire you.
7. Target Localized Keywords
When creating a great blog for your business, you should ensure that the content you create is interesting to your target customer. You can do this by centering your content around keywords that your customers are likely to be searching for.
For example, ranking your website for keywords such as "how to choose a good plumber" or "how to fix a leaky faucet" can help you attract customers to your site who currently need plumbing services.
Taking this a step further, it's also important to add local terms to your keywords as well. Add keywords to website pages and blog content that include your city name, your region, and other local signals. Using keywords such as "how to choose a plumber in Atlanta" or "HVAC services in Detroit" will be even more effective for bringing local search traffic your way.
8. Build Your Online Reputation
Another way to improve local SEO for your plumbing or HVAC business is to get online social proof. This will primarily be done through collecting positive reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and other business directory sites.
The best way to get more online reviews is to get into the practice of asking your customers to leave them for you after a job is completed. Many of them will be happy to oblige.
When you have a lot of positive reviews for your business online, they'll serve as a ranking signal to Google. If Google recognizes that people have great experiences with your plumbing or HVAC business, it will be more likely that your site will rank well.
Using These Tips to Increase Local Rankings
If you want to increase local rankings for your business, you need to take action. By following the above steps when marketing your plumbing or HVAC business online, you'll be well ahead of your competition and will get more business than you know what to do with.
Want to increase your local SEO rankings? Reach out to us today for a FREE digital marketing audit!
