Regardless of the industry, every company can benefit from SEO. Reaching the top spots in Google will significantly increase traffic to your website but can also help with other marketing efforts. For example, it makes it easier to promote the brand on social media.
Most businesses don’t understand all the potential benefits of hiring a plumbing SEO company. They usually focus on web traffic while disregarding everything else.
The truth is that SEO providers can do wonders for your brand awareness. This marketing approach is, first and foremost, vital for building your authority and reputation within the industry. When talking about plumbing services, in particular, search engine optimization can position you as the first result in Google Maps.
In this article, we’ll talk about SEO for plumbing companies and how it can help improve your business.
What is plumbing SEO?
Basically, this is a marketing method where your company tries to reach top spots in Google for target keywords. These are the most common terms that your potential clients are googling and are usually the ones that bring the most profit.
Search engine optimization experts can help you reach the top spots for global and, more importantly, local searches. Their main task is to get a snippet for phrases such as “plumber near me.” So, when a potential client opens a page, they’ll immediately see your company, review scores, experience, address, and working hours.
As you well know, most clients find providers via search engines. Unlike the good old days, when you had a booklet with the numbers of different handymen, nowadays, customers rely on Google to find services in close vicinity. Word-of-mouth is less effective than ever because younger generations prefer using the browser instead of calling their friends for assistance.
Why is search engine optimization important for plumbing businesses?
Plumbers are heavily dependent on local SEO. When a person opens the first page of Google, they’re usually looking for local companies that can quickly fix their plumbing issue. If you don’t appear among the first few results, there is a good chance you’ll get any job.
In fact, if you don’t have an optimized plumbing website, your only choice is to pick up the crumbs other companies are leaving. Yes, you can always develop your business through recommendation, but even for that, you’ll need the first initial clients.
Here are a few excellent reasons to hire an SEO company today:
- An SEO professional can help you rank for highly lucrative plumbing keywords such as “plumbing company,” “plumber near me,” “plumber in (YOUR CITY),” “local plumbers,” etc. As a result, you can gain significantly more traffic to your website.
- An SEO company can help out with various errors on your site. They can make the user experience much more enjoyable, thus increasing the number of qualified leads.
- They will add you to all local directories, which would increase your online presence.
- Running an extensive SEO campaign can help with your other marketing efforts. As previously mentioned, it will make it easier to develop social media profiles and increase overall brand awareness.
- Besides increasing your revenues, this approach can also increase your profitability per client and client retention rate.
As you can see, there’s much more to SEO than it meets the eye. This isn’t some cash grab that only works in theory. Instead, it’s a calculated marketing approach meant to increase the long-term viability of your company.
Types of SEO for plumbing services
We can classify all plumbing SEO into four distinct categories:
Technical SEO
If you have a website, you need to ensure it runs smoothly. With technical SEO, you can make various improvements on the backend, making it easier for web pages to be indexed. Technical optimization improves the architecture of your site but can also help mobile users and increase response speed.
During the audit, you should also address other issues such as duplicate content, content cannibalization, enabling AMP, adding structured data markup, etc. An SEO expert should also create an account for Google Analytics and Google Search Console, allowing you to track and analyze online traffic.
Local SEO
Local SEO is the most important aspect of optimization for plumbers, but it shouldn’t be your only focus. Instead, you should implement this strategy once you ensure that all other technical requirements are met and that your site works as intended.
First off, the company will create Google My Business for you. This is basically a free Google business profile that puts you on the local maps. Although Bing isn’t that popular, you should still create Bing Places, which serves the same purpose as Google’s counterpart.
On-page SEO
On-page SEO pertains to a series of activities that should improve individual pages on your site. During the process, an SEO company makes your articles and product pages more relevant for the search engine. They can enhance meta descriptions, title tags, page headings, URLs, and content in general.
An SEO company can also add new content to your plumbing website. First, they’ll perform keyword research that will help them analyze the most important queries for your business. After that, they’ll create a blog post for each one of these phrases in an attempt to reach the top spots in Google. Lastly, they’ll add internal links to connect everything together.
Off-page SEO
Lastly, we have off-page SEO. People commonly use this term to refer to link building. During this process, an SEO agency will implement several different strategies to increase the number of quality, relevant inbound links. Each one of these links tells Google that your pages are of high quality.
In some cases, off-page SEO might also tackle reputation management, something that is crucial for plumbers and other local businesses. However, this isn’t its main focus.
Can I perform SEO for plumbing business by myself?
Some plumbers are reluctant to hire marketing companies as they’re worried about giving website access to outsiders. They’re also worried about how the prices of SEO services will affect their budget and if they’ll get a proper return on investment.
In theory, plumbers can perform search engine optimization by themselves. If you choose this route, keep in mind that things are going to be very hard. In the end, there’s a good reason why optimization experts have nice paychecks.
So, if you’re willing to learn all the basics, you might get the hang of it after a while. That way, you don’t have to give access to third-party providers. Here is a step-by-step process that will help you master search engine optimization for plumbers.
1. Technical SEO for plumbing website
As previously mentioned, everything starts with technical SEO. You need to make sure that your website runs smoothly before starting link-building campaigns and content creation. Otherwise, if you don’t create a good basis, you’ll have much more work later on.
In theory, you don’t actually need a website as a local business owner. You can run a successful company by creating Google My Business and having a dedicated Facebook or Instagram page. Nevertheless, having a website will make things easier by building trust and increasing brand awareness. Furthermore, you won’t have to rely on third-party social networks for your marketing.
Website architecture
A person should be able to reach any page on your site in just three clicks. So, having an extremely complex website structure can go against you. The proper organization also makes it easier for Google’s robots to find your pages.
HTTPS
Unlike the old HTTP, HTTPS is safe encryption. It doesn’t take much to convert your site into HTTPS, and it’s something that can have a major impact on search engines.
Mobile friendly
Nowadays, most users browse the web via phones, so having a mobile-friendly site is extremely important for Google. By having mobile-optimized pages, visitors can see all website elements as intended.
Structured data markup
If you have a plumbing business, it’s crucial to have structured data markup or schema markup. It’s a type of code that helps Google understand the content on your pages. Local Business Schema Markup is especially important for local businesses allowing users to find your business on the map and see other relevant data.
Errors
During this process, you should also pay attention to any other errors on the site. Good examples are broken links, non-existing pages, duplicate content, broken web design, etc. Keep in mind that some of these issues will only appear on websites that already have content (such as duplicate content).
2. Keyword research for plumbing company
Keyword research is valuable for several reasons. First off, it helps you understand the user intent. Performing keyword research is also necessary if you wish to increase your traffic via organic search.
Among others, doing extensive research and creating content for all these terms will help you get as much traffic as possible. Even if you can’t rank for some more relevant keywords, you can still get lots of qualified leads by focusing on less popular phrases.
Find relevant phrases
First off, you should find all the relevant phrases pertaining to your industry. If you’re a plumber, this will be keywords such as “plumber near me” or “plumber in (YOUR CITY).” You should first generate a comprehensive list that includes everything that is relevant to your business.
Prioritize keywords
Once you’ve created a list, it’s time to sift through it. Soon than later, you should write pages revolving around these keywords. Given that you can’t write hundreds of pages, you should prioritize a few lucrative ones. Focus on those that have large traffic volume and low difficulty.
3. Content creation
Now that you have all these keywords in one place, you’re ready to create content for the site.
When we talk about content creation, this pertains not only to blog articles, but also homepage, About Us page, and all other pages on the site. It can also refer to the creation of images, videos, and other multimedia.
When people land on your website, it’s important to keep them there for as long as possible. This sends a strong, positive signal to Google to improve your optimization efforts. Your pages should also exude confidence and authority. The visitors need to be certain that you’re the right person for the job.
Homepage
The homepage is the most important page on your site and is usually the main reason why companies convert leads or lose potential clients. Although homepages shouldn’t necessarily be flashy, they need to be well-designed and have precise information. After reading them, customers should have a full understanding of your business.
Service pages
In a way, service pages are an extension of your homepage. They need to provide additional information about every service your company offers. Like the homepage, they need to provide clear info and instill confidence in visitors.
Contact page
After the homepage and service pages, the contact page is the most important section on your site. Without it, people can’t get in touch with your representatives. Aside from your phone and email, this page should also include a contact form, your location on the map, and other valuable information about your brand.
About Us page
Although many business owners think the About Us page is irrelevant, there’s a good reason why companies add it. Simply put, it helps instill confidence in local consumers. Most notably, it’s a good way to talk about your experience and everything you’ve done in the past. The About Us page is especially important for closing larger clients.
Blog articles
Articles aren’t that important for plumbing companies. Still, they can help you get some extra visibility and MOFU/TOFU traffic. These are usually informative pages that provide tips on how you can do plumbing yourself while pointing out the most common issues.
4. On-page SEO for plumbing website
Once you create all these pages, it’s the right time to invest some time in on-page SEO. These are best practices that will improve your standings in Google and enhance user experience. They build upon previous keyword research and content creation. In a way, on-page SEO is the icing on the cake.
Metadata
Metadata refers to title tags and meta descriptions. This type of unique content appears in search engine ranking pages, further describing your page. Title tags are shorter and refer to the service, while meta description further describes that service.
URL slugs
URL slugs can also help users by describing the content on a page. They are like titles, but the only difference is that you place them in the search bar.
Images and multimedia
Images, infographics, videos, and other multimedia are good ways to improve user experience and improve conversion. Not only should you use them for all your content, but you need to be certain they’re well-optimized. Otherwise, they can hamper your web page speed, thus sending a negative signal to Google.
5. Google My Business optimization for plumbing company
The search engine shows two categories of results to users: regular organic results and map pack results. Local handymen are more dependent on map results, as people usually look for plumbers close to their location. However, as previously mentioned, you can also get lots of qualified leads through organic searches.
Google Business profile
You can claim a Google Business profile for free. It will allow your company to be placed in the local search results. Among others, you need to add a business category, available services, service area, and other relevant data. All this information will be presented to people when they browse plumbers on Google.
Directories
According to SEO experts, getting listed in directories is a good way to reach top spots for map pack queries. Start by adding your company to large data aggregators such as Foursquare, Localeze, Data Axle, Bing Places, Yelp, Apple Maps, etc.
After you’re done with that, add your company to city-specific and industry directories. This will increase your chances of increasing local search rankings for specific services.
Reviews
Reviews are crucial for boosting your position locally. In fact, most SEO experts agree that the number and quality of reviews is the most important thing for ranking on top of Google. Although an SEO expert can help you with reputation management, it’s up to the plumber to provide excellent service and ask for online feedback.
6. Off-page SEO for plumbers
Once you’ve set up your pages and have created Google My Business profile, it’s time to work on external factors.
Off-page SEO remains one of the most important things for optimizing your pages. Given that most companies can create solid content, the number and quality of links is the thing separating successful from unsuccessful businesses.
When you get a backlink from another site, especially if they’re from the plumbing industry, it sends a strong signal to Google. It shows that other organizations perceive you as an authority and, as such, you should be at the top of search engine rankings.
Guest posting
The reason why guest posting is so fantastic is that it’s a win-win for both sides. Most companies are reluctant to link out to other websites, especially if they don’t know the company. With guest posting, their blog gets a free piece of content and some cash, and you get a backlink.
Organic outreach
Organic outreach is an extremely tricky approach. With this method, you try to pitch websites with a piece of content they could potentially link to you. SEO professionals commonly use studies, statistical articles, and other quality posts to attract people’s attention. Unfortunately, even if you made an incredible piece, there are no guarantees websites will actually link to it.
Broken link building
Over the years, millions of web pages have been moved or deleted. As a result, posts that were linking to them now have broken links pointing to non-existing pages. To remedy this issue, you can create a similar type of post and offer it as a substitution.
7. Monitoring your progress in search engines
SEO is not a linear process. Even if you’re a seasoned veteran, there are always things that can surprise you. Every industry has different participants and specifics, which makes it even harder.
When optimizing your pages, you should continuously pay attention to your progress. Make sure to modify pages that are showing no results. Tackle duplicate and cannibalized content issues as soon as you notice them. Perform continuous audits to see potential errors on the site and stay on top of your reputation management.
Most importantly, you should see if your pages are converting or not. If people are showing no interest in your services, then there is probably something wrong with your website or prices. Alternatively, you might be suffering from low review scores.
If you’re still struggling with optimization, contact Miromind, a top-tier marketing company that provides local SEO services.