Like many other entrepreneurs, general contractors are heavily dependent on an influx of new leads. Back then, companies relied on word-of-mouth marketing and traditional advertising to reach potential customers. However, as technology changes, so do the marketing requirements.
Nowadays, you’ll have much more luck using search engine optimization than any other tactic. By implementing this marketing process, potential clients can easily find you on Google and other search engines. This makes SEO for general contractors the most unassuming inbound marketing tactic, as you won’t have to beg anyone to visit your shop.
In this article, we’ll talk about SEO benefits for general contractors, how it can help local contractors, and how to get the most out of your marketing effort.
How does SEO for general contractors work?
Most contractors understand what is search engine optimization and what it does. Unfortunately, only a handful of them understand the underlying process. This can be tricky because if you don’t have any basic knowledge, it will be hard to assess the provider’s work. Even worse, some marketers might take advantage of you.
Google has more than 200 ranking factors that determine the quality of a website and its web pages. These metrics can be categorized into several groups, such as site-level factors, page-level factors, user engagement, and backlinks. By improving all these elements, you increase the likelihood of ranking on top of Google searches for profitable keywords.
While there are numerous factors to consider, they have significantly different values. Traditionally, SEO companies have been prioritizing links, but as of late, user satisfaction factors have become every bit as important. Of course, you also need to consider other things such as page speed, indexability, mobile-friendliness, high-quality content, and so on.
Why is SEO important for general contractors?
SEO provides numerous benefits that other channels cannot. In terms of volume, this tactic can provide the biggest gains out of all other marketing approaches. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s without flaws. That being said, here are a few things you need to consider before hiring an SEO agency:
Benefits of SEO for general contractors
- SEO can bring lots of organic traffic to your website
- SEO traffic converts at a higher rate than other marketing channels
- A well-optimized site helps a company survive longer in a market
- SEO sets the basis for long-term brand awareness and increases credibility and trust
- Even if you temporarily abandon the project, you can get back to it and build up on the previous efforts
SEO for contractors drawbacks
- It takes time to yield results
- Mistakes during hiring can be costly
- Changing strategies or providers can lead to various issues
- Requires constant control from the contractor client
SEO vs. SMM for contractors
Both SEO and SMM can be considered long-term approaches. However, unlike SMM, where you depend on a third-party platform, SEO gives you full proprietorship (no one can influence your site). That way, you don’t have to think whether social media will go out of fashion or if they’ll change their policies.
Although different in nature, SEO and SMM are long-term approaches. As a contractor, it’s much better to go with search engine optimization, given that most of your clients will seek out your brand via Google. Local search, in particular, is especially useful for closing deals.
On the other hand, brands rarely do any business via social platforms. Even if a client is interested in your services, they’ll still need to follow the link to your site. So, whether you like it or not, you’ll need an SEO expert for basic website optimization and to improve user experience.
Based on our extensive experience working with general contractors, social media marketing tends to be less effective for this industry. The nature of social channels often attracts passive users rather than those actively seeking contractor services. In contrast, SEO drives highly motivated traffic – users who are specifically searching for solutions that your business offers.
SEO vs. PPC for contractors
The choice between SEO and PPC is a choice between long-term and short-term benefits. SEO is notorious for requiring time to make an impact. On the other hand, the pay-per-click approach via Google, Bing, and Facebook yields much quicker results. So, if you need to generate leads asap, PPC could be a better choice.
The biggest issue with paid ads is that competitive companies understand how much a service is worth. Some of them are willing to bid to the very budget limit just to snatch a client under your nose. Even if they lose money on paid advertising, they believe they can recuperate it through retention and word-of-mouth benefits.
In other words, while PPC can generate quality leads for your contractor company, it might be much more expensive than you initially predicted. What’s worse, all the benefits will vanish as soon as you stop paying for the service.
SEO vs. other tactics
Of course, SEO, SMM, and PPC aren’t the only approaches you can use. You can also tinker with email marketing, influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, and even traditional channels.
While each one of them has a certain worth, they aren’t ideal for local contractors. Just try to remember when was the last time you hired a person after an email back-and-forth. Similarly, influencers won’t help you push this kind of service. Out of all these secondary tactics, traditional marketing might be the best one, as long as it’s properly implemented.
Categorizing key SEO processes for general contractors
Due to a large number of factors, a contractor SEO company needs to make sense of all these things. They can’t simply start optimizing one by one factor, as it would take too much time and lead to confusion. Instead, they segment processes into four distinct categories:
- Technical SEO
- On-page SEO
- Off-page SEO
- Local SEO
Here’s a breakdown of what each one of these entails:
Technical SEO
Technical optimization is generally performed at the very start of the project. During this time, an agency is looking for ways to improve the technical aspects of the website.
For the most part, the process revolves around site architecture, crawling/indexing/rendering (the ability for search crawlers to reach content). The marketing team needs to ensure that visitors and Google’s robots can easily reach all pages on the site. Indexing is especially important because, without it, Google can’t show pages within the search.
However, technical optimization doesn’t stop there. It also involves a thorough checkup of existing content, links, and other performance-related factors. The marketing team needs to ensure that the contractor’s website can easily open on all devices within a few seconds.
On-page SEO
Once the team has set the basis by introducing technical improvements, they can transition to on-page SEO. This process mainly refers to content marketing, that is, content creation and optimization.
On-page SEO starts with keyword research. At Miromind, we utilize in-depth, granular keyword research tailored specifically to the contracting industry. Thanks to our extensive experience in SEO for general contractors, we have accumulated a vast database of keywords and insights into which keywords are most likely to convert.
Once the keyword research is done, it’s time to plan on-page strategy. During this phase, the website’s structure is outlined, new pages are planned, and existing pages are optimized for better performance. The primary goal of this phase is to ensure that each page is semantically aligned with the specific keyword clusters identified during the keyword research phase and effectively meets users’ intent. The general rule is that you shouldn’t overlap topics or overoptimize your pages. Most importantly, each article that the company creates should fit user intent while potentially driving sales.
Off-page SEO
The term ‘off-site SEO’ specifically refers to link-building tactics, which involve acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable sources to boost a website’s authority.
As mentioned, Google has long relied on links to determine the relevancy of content. The general principle is that reputable sites won’t link to low-quality content. Therefore, it’s crucial to focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative and niche relevant sources rather than simply amassing a large number of links. Prioritizing quality over quantity is essential because the wrong backlinks can actually harm your site’s reputation and rankings, potentially leading to penalties from Google.
Due to its importance, link-building is perhaps the trickiest process to execute. Basically, you can never get enough links to scale the tactic for as much as possible. However, contractors should also be careful with this approach, as overoptimization can get them in trouble with Google.
Local SEO for general contractors
Traditionally, local SEO isn’t considered one of the integral parts of optimization, because it involves optimizing external properties, such as your Google My Business profile, rather than just your website. However, its growing importance has made it essential to include in any comprehensive SEO strategy. With effective local SEO, your general contractor company can rank in Google’s local pack and tap into substantial local organic traffic.
First off, we need to mention that local SEO for contractors is very different from traditional optimization. By optimizing your site and external profiles for local queries, you can attract a large number of highly qualified leads, making it invaluable for businesses like handymen, construction contractors, plumbers, roofers, electricians, remodeling contractors, HVAC specialists, carpenters, landscapers, excavators and concrete contractors.
The entire process starts by creating a Google My Business Profile. The marketing provider needs to add the company’s data, such as address and phone number, email, and location, to corroborate that the contractor’s business is legit. After that, the process of GMB profile optimization begins. In addition to the basic information, it’s crucial to include geotagged photos, a semantically relevant profile description, and a detailed list of services offered. It’s also crucial to implement properly optimized Schema markup on your website and to ensure that your company’s citations are published in niche-specific and local directories.
Local SEO for contractors is significantly different from other optimization processes and hinges on the company’s real-world performance. Google’s algorithms use online feedback to allocate placement within the search engines. So, to rank on top, you basically need to provide good service to users.
3 Secrets of efficient SEO for contractors
Like most other digital marketing activities nowadays, SEO is a highly competitive field. Ranking on top of search engines for lucrative keywords is a tough goal, usually taking companies several years to achieve. Because of that, not only should you implement an efficient SEO strategy, but you also need to analyze other surrounding factors such as:
SEO provider’s expertise
Whether or not you can reach the top of Google search engine rankings hinges on the provider’s experience and expertise. In the end, if a contractor SEO company doesn’t know what it’s doing, it doesn’t matter whether you have a cool-looking site or if you buy hundreds of high-quality backlinks. There are also many cases of SEO agencies using risky strategies that ruin clients’ sites and result in Google’s penalties.
To properly assess a contractor SEO agency’s expertise, you’ll need to check the following aspects:
Tackling different tasks
One thing that most people don’t realize is that SEO is a granular process consisting of several diametrically opposed procedures. For example, doing technical optimization is completely different from content writing or link-building. So, when looking for contractor SEO services, look for brands that can execute each task at a high level.
Sense of urgency
Being proactive might seem just like a thing you need from a contractor marketing provider. But the thing with search engine optimization is that the process can’t be rushed. A custom contractor SEO strategy needs time to yield results, and if a provider rushes things, this might indicate they use risky tactics.
Keep in mind that many companies work based on performance or milestones (number of articles or links). When a provider is too hasty, this usually shows they wish to upsell you. Quick work would affect the quality of provided services but might also trigger a warning with Google’s algorithms.
Self-optimization
Another way to tell if a company is legit is by checking its SEO rankings and traffic. If they can’t penetrate the page one of Google for relevant keywords, there’s a good chance they won’t move the needle for your brand. Of course, performing this kind of SEO audit might be a bit tricky if you have limited knowledge, but it will allow you to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Realistic timelines and goals
Most people don’t understand that SEO for contractors is a long-term investment. It is a meticulous process that requires lots of time and effort and is based on healthy brand-building policies. In terms of timelines and expected returns, it’s much more similar to social media marketing than paid advertising.
Many people fail with their SEO strategies, not because the provider was bad, but because they couldn’t wait for the results to start trickling in. In other words, they set themselves up for failure. Here are a few tricks that would help you moderate expectations and set realistic milestones:
- First, you have to understand that other contractors are also investing in SEO. Your SEO agency has to go against all these competitors to get you to the top of search engine rankings. Even if the agency is great at its job, they’re still limited by the budget
- Speaking of the budget, the provider needs to clearly explain what you’re getting for your money. This includes the number and quality of links and the number of written articles
- Don’t expect a major burst in organic traffic during the first few months. A good SEO strategy will first focus on smaller wins (so-called long-tail keywords) and then progress to keywords with higher volume. However, at Miromind, we have a unique phase aimed at providing an initial boost to your keywords by quickly optimizing pages that already have some visibility.
- Keep in mind that rushing a contractor SEO agency usually won’t make a difference. As mentioned, these agencies are limited by the amount of money you spend as they also incur associated expenses. Most services within the SEO field are charged based on unit, article, or link
- As for the goals, you should measure results based on website traffic, rankings for relevant keywords, and impressions. Conversions should also be one of the focal points, although they aren’t necessarily SEO experts’ domain
If you wish to boost your contractor business by investing in a global or local SEO strategy, make sure to curb your expectations. Having a good general contractor SEO agency can go a long way, but only if you can endure until the results kick in. Pulling the plug too early is the worst thing you can do, as it will render the previous investment useless.
Real-world activities
Another thing that many contractors don’t understand is that SEO is a continuation of your real-world efforts. Companies that have already built brand awareness with their clients have a much easier time promoting their websites. Thus, getting to the top of search engine results pages every bit has to do with your daily operations as with marketing.
Specifically, real-world interactions have the biggest impact on off-page SEO. Other businesses that work with your brand are more likely to share your content on social media and link to it. As such, these connections can serve as the basis for your future PR and link-building efforts. Of course, the more and better connections you have, the better the gains.
Your current partners and fans can also boost average user engagement on the website. For example, if you have a lot of followers on social media, their long interactions with the site will send a strong quality signal to Google. Nowadays, search engines understand that articles with higher click-through rates and longer time on the page are generally better and should rank higher.
Conclusion
If you’re serious about your contractor business, you should definitely consider hiring an SEO agency. Search engine optimization and, specifically, local search results are perfect for promoting your brand. This marketing tactic can provide a high number of qualified leads while also improving the long-term sustainability of your business.