Local SEO Strategies For Plumbers And Other Trades

One of the biggest barriers to entering new markets is the removal of customers from the competition.

It’s difficult to break into certain markets because of the relationships homeowners have with plumbing and contractors.

Plumbing can excel in a new market if they capture new homeowners or perform emergency services when other plumbing services are unavailable.

If you want to improve your visibility, you can use local search and use the best sources for seizing these opportunities.

Plumbing, electricians, contractors, and other businesses will find tips and tricks in this guide to help them break into a new market, build a customer base, and expand their brand.

Off-Site SEO Essentials

Mobile phones are one of the biggest traffic sources for businesses.

By increasing the number of incoming calls to your business, you can build your business’s exposure and increase the number of incoming calls.

Google Business Profile Optimization

The results of your local search are displayed in the results of your Maps searches.

Customers can call your business, drive to its location, or visit its website with just one click, if your business’s listing on the internet is improved.

Screenshot from Google, July 2022

Follow the tips in this guide and you will be able to improve your business profile listing.

• Ensure consistent NAP information (i.e., name, address, and phone number).
• Verify your business on Google Maps.
• Respond to customer reviews on your profile with helpful advice or kind responses.
• Write a description of your business and its services.
• Use high-resolution and relevant photos to showcase your brand and company.

Local Directories

You will want to improve your brand’s business profile on other third-party sites that customers frequently use to find plumbing.

• The Better Business Bureau.
• Yellow Pages.
• Angie’s List.
• Yelp.
• Houzz.
• Home Advisor.
• LinkedIn.
• Iambuilders.com.
• Blue Book.

These directory sites are still important sources of business referrals despite the fact that some sites have waned.

If you get enough positive reviews for your business, you can get a ranked list of different businesses on some websites.

If you want to manually claim each business of your own, follow the tips above to maximize your social media presence.

Build A Social Media Presence

While engaging with customers on social media is not important for many contractors or trades, sources like Facebook can be valuable for customers looking for special announcements.

Provide high-resolution photos and clear NAP info for easy contact on a social media page for Facebook.

Managing Reviews

You will need to manage reviews on third-party websites to build customer trust.

You should analyze each third-party site at least once a month to see what people are saying about your business.

Personal referrals are already a large source of revenue for your business.

According to one survey, 84% of customers of service businesses and tradespersons say reviews are very important in their decision-making process.

There are tips to manage online reviews for plumbing businesses.

• Encourage customers to leave a review after a positive service or engagement.
• Encourage customers to leave reviews on your website and all marketing materials.
• Respond to positive reviews.
• Respond to negative reviews with solutions or an apology.

Most customers will be dismayed by harsh reviews, so don’t worry about negative reviews.

Customer trust could be built by responding to negative reviews with positive service engagement.

You can show off your customer service skills.

On-Page SEO Essentials

Now that your business listing is on strategic third-party websites, it is time to improve your website for local search engine results.

Local Keyword Research

To begin, you need to conduct local research to see which terms drive the most qualified traffic to your website.

If you don’t already have a free account, open one and use the tool to search for phrases in your area.

If you operate in Houston, you could use the phrase “plumbers houston” as your seed phrase and use it to search for further ideas.

Screenshot from Google Ads, July 2022

The plumbing services of Houston can be easily won in local search results based on this list.

You can look at the highest bids for the most commercially relevant words on this list.

You can use a competitor’s URL to see their ranking in your initial list.

Adding a semantic filter will adjust your results for plumbing-related words.

Screenshot from Google Ads, July 2022

It’s important to build a list of these words so that meta tags on top-level pages can be found more easily.

Meta Tag Optimization

We need to use the seeds on our web pages now that we have them.

The first area is where you can modify the title tag to include your brand name and a seed word.

To make pages more likely to rank for search results, you will need to improve the Metadata on each page.

This will include some information.

• Title Tag/H1: The primary keyword related to a page and the page’s topic. Title tags must be between 50-60 characters, or titles will be truncated in SERPs (search engine results page).
• Meta Description: A brief description of your webpage, which includes your seed keyword and a call-to-action to read or find out more. Meta descriptions are ideally between 145–160 characters.
• Header Tags: The subtopics or dividing headers across each page. Each header should include a relevant long-tail keyword.
• URLs: URLs should retain a simple structure with your site name followed by the name of the title of the webpage.
• Keyword Usage: Seed keywords should be used in the webpage’s introduction and 1–5% throughout the text document.

Local Schema

It is possible for your website to be included in local search results, but nothing is assured.

To help search engines index your website properly, you need to label and index your website.

The Structured Data Tool can be used to simplify the task.

If you want your website to be found by search engines, you need to insert your URL and add the appropriate Schema markup.

Some common data that will apply to your plumbing business.

• Geo.
• Type.
• Opening Hours.
• Telephone.
• Address.
• Review.
• Price.

For more useful tips, see the Complete Guide to Local Schema.

Mobile Responsiveness

Mobile search is a part of local search.

Many local searches for your business will be conducted via smartphones, so you can’t ignore the importance of mobile

Responsive web design is one of the most modern options for modern cms.

To make sure your website runs smoothly on mobile, consider the following tips:

• Compress all images.
• Reduce clicks and leverage scrolling.
• Keep webpages short and simple.
• Insert click-to-call buttons and icons.
• Limit the amount of JavaScript.
• Avoid large videos (leverage YouTube instead!)

Site Speed Optimization

You will also beOptimizing for page speed by doing that.

Consider the following tips to increase page speeds.

• Minify CSS.
• Enable file compression.
• Use browser caching.
• Clean up redirects.

You should still look for page speed issues using Page Speed Insights.

Creating Consistent NAP

Ensuring that all contact information is consistent across all pages is a final tip for this section.

If you place a click-to-call button and your address in the top corner of each page, customers will be able to contact you whenever they want.

Content Essentials

It is time to build landing pages for your most important services and service regions with your website ready to rock.

Service Pages

All auxiliary services should be retained as secondary or service pages in order to retain very simple navigation.

These pages could have services.

• Emergency Plumbing.
• Toilet Repairs.
• Pipe Leaks.
• Garbage Disposal Repair.
• Water Heater Services.
• Sewage.
• Drain Cleaning.
• Gas Piping.

Under a general Plumbing Services top-navigation page, users can explore different services, find out pricing, repair specifics, and so on.

Regional Pages

Whether your business serves a large metro area or different locations is another important consideration for plumbing and contractors.

If you provide plumbing services to most of New York City, you could create regional pages for Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens with a list of services.

Regional pages for neighborhoods in New York, such as the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and SoHo, could be created if there is enough volume to warrant those pages.

The pages may rank for searches near me.

Creating A Blog

If you feel a blog will give you a leg up on the competition, then you could start one.

The benefits of Blogs for local businesses include:

• Providing customers with easy DIY tips and repairs.
• Separating your brand from other plumbers as a local authority.
• Providing you with engaging content to share on your social channels.
• Ranking for long-tail keywords relevant to your business to drive traffic.

You can link to your website from the videos you share on platforms like YouTube.

Video content is easy to consume and give your business exposure.

Link Building Strategies

Link building is an extremely useful tool in your arsenal to give your business a leg-up on the competition.

Link building directs qualified traffic to your site and customers to your business, regardless of whether it is using rel= follow or no follow links.

If you don’t have the money to spend on a tool like Ahrefs, here are some free local link building tips to help you drive traffic to your website.

• Reach out to newspapers in your town that list local contractors and ask for a link to your site.
• Reach out to local bloggers who have interviewed local businesses in your area to contribute a quote or interview.
• Write guest posts on websites with local influencers to contribute some DIY repair tips and other related content.
• Sponsor a local team, volunteer, or host an event that forces journalists and bloggers to write about your business.

The tips will help give your brand exposure, which will drive more customers to your business over time.

Digital Advertising

If you want to drive exposure and calls to your business, online advertising can be very effective.

For example, if you are trying to rank for a specific phrase on the internet, you can use advertising on the internet to get your website in front of the search engines.

Screenshot from Google Ads, July 2022

Here are some helpful tips to help you promote your plumbing business on the internet.

• Use geotargeting to narrow your audience to a specific region.
• Insert negative keywords to reduce ad spend.
• Leverage location-specific keywords to compete with ‘“near me” and organic results.
• Enable ad extensions that provide easy call options and list your business address.
• Create landing page copy that’s relevant to your ad and includes relevant keywords, high-quality images, and an easy way to contact your business.
• A/B test ads to see which ad copy generates the best performance.
• Use longer tail keywords with less competition or change your bid strategy to limit CPC (cost per click).

Facebook provides sophisticated audience research tools that allow you to advertise to customers based on demographic information, such as whether they’re a homeowner, over a certain age, or own residential/commercial real estate.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for local businesses.

If you work with residential and commercial residents, you can benefit from email marketing by sending re-engagement emails.

Emails can be used to promote local promotions such as discounted inspections or preventative maintenance.

Email marketing is expensive for a trade that relies on emergency repairs.

Email marketing isn’t necessary for a plumbing company unless they actively create content, engage with the community, or run promotions.

Conclusion

Many of the same strategies are used by local businesses.

Special consideration needs to be given to the unique business model of tradespeople.

Some forms of marketing, such as social media and email marketing, may not be as effective.

If you follow these tips, you can establish a positive web presence for your business and get more phone calls.

There are more resources.

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