The All-In-One Guide to SEO for Contractors

Contractor SEO will help your business appear in relevant searches that drive qualified leads that turn into jobs.

Ready to start? Jump ahead to the section you want to learn about most, or keep scrolling to start from the top:

• What is contractor SEO?
• Benefits of SEO for contractors
• How to do contractor SEO
• Why should I invest in SEO for contractors?

What is contractor SEO?

Contractor SEO involves optimizing your website to rank better in search results, so you can drive more qualified traffic. It involves tactics like integrating relevant contractor keywords, improving user experience on your website, building your local presence, and more.

4 benefits of SEO for contractors

So, why should you bother with contractor SEO? Well, this strategy offers numerous benefits for contractors, including:

1. You generate high quality leads that turn into projects

As a contractor, your ultimate goal is to earn more projects and keep your business busy. Contractor SEO can help you earn more projects by driving high-quality leads to your website.

With SEO, you focus on targeting keywords your audience searchers when trying to find a contractor. So, whether they’re searching “how much does a kitchen remodel cost” or “top-rated contractors in [city],” you have the opportunity to put your business in front of them.

Targeting keywords like these enables you to reach people actively looking for a contractor.

2. SEO is cost-effective

Whether you’re a small or mid-sized contractor, you’re looking to invest in strategies that have low cost but deliver a good return on investment (ROI). SEO is a cost-effective strategy — the average cost is $500 – $7,500 per month.

The cost varies depending upon the provider, but it will generally fall into this range.

But now you’re wondering, okay, what’s the ROI, though? The ROI of SEO varies greatly depending upon your market, competition, and other factors. But, take note of this: 49% of marketers credit organic search for delivering the highest returns compared to other marketing channels.

So, there’s no doubt that SEO is a cost-effective option when it delivers some of the highest returns for businesses.

3. Increased brand awareness

Your market is saturated with contractors offering different services and specializations. Despite the fact that there’s high demand for contractors, it can still be tricky to stand out from your competition.

Contractor SEO is the foundation to increasing your brand awareness and standing out from your competition. It helps you appear in more search results, so people see you in the results when they’re searching for a contractor for their specific job.

4. 24/7 promotion for your company

While advertising your contractor company online is a great way to earn qualified leads, you only reach people as long as your ads run. Once the campaign is over, or you use up your budget, you aren’t reaching people with those ads anymore.

SEO provides constant promotion. If you’re ranking for valuable queries like “New Orleans remodeling contractor” or “How to find the best contractor”, people can find your listings 24/7 when they search. That means you get around-the-clock promotion for your contractor business.

How to do contractor SEO

SEO for contractors can yield great results, but you need to build your campaign for success.

Here’s how to do SEO for contractors successfully:

1. Build your local presence to earn more jobs

As a contractor, you’re primarily servicing your local community. So, if you want to reach qualified leads, you need to build your local presence in search engines.

Whether someone needs an emergency contractor or a one for a long-term project, they’re all going to the same place for information: Search engines.

In fact, 68% of all online experiences start with a search engine.

So, how can you help your business appear in these local results? Here are a few tips you can use to help you earn more local projects:

• Optimize your Google Business Profile: Most people, when looking for a local contractor, will turn to the local map pack to start finding the right contractor. Since this is where your Google Business Profile can appear, you’ll want to ensure that you claim and optimize your profile. People are three times more likely to consider a business reputable if their Business Profile is complete!
• Optimize your website for local keywords: Local keywords can help your company appear in searches related to different locations. For example, creating a service page targeting a local keyword like “Minneapolis HVAC contractor” would help an HVAC contractor operating in that area appear in those results.
• Optimize your NAP information: When people want to book you for jobs, they need to know a few key pieces of information, like your name and contact information. Ensuring that this information is updated across all local directories will help direct more phone calls your way.

2. Research and choose relevant contractor keywords

When searching for a contractor, homeowners and businesses may use a variety of terms — some general like, “contractor,” or, “contracting services,” and some specific ones like, “concrete contractors,” or, “remodeling contractor.”

Choose the best keywords for your business and incorporate them into your pages.

If you aren’t sure what keywords to target, think about what your audience wants to know about contractors. Some topics may include:

1. The average cost of a contract service
2. The expected turnaround time for a renovation
3. The advantages and disadvantages of hiring a contractor
4. The best contractors in the local area

When you’re researching keywords, consider targeting long-tail keywords — not short-tail keywords. Long tail keywords are specific, so you know the people who search them are interested in hiring a contractor.

3. Provide a user-friendly experience

User experience is a crucial component of SEO for contractors because it impacts your ability to rank in search results. If you deliver a poor experience for homeowners, they won’t stay on your website and you’ll miss out on jobs.

So, if you want to ensure you deliver the best user experience, follow these tips:

• Optimize your page speed: Users hate to wait for slow-loading websites. So, if you want to deliver the best user experience, you need to have a fast-loading website. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to identify where you need to make improvements.
• Make pages readable: Nothing is more frustrating than trying to read through a page with walls of text. To create a better user experience, use headings, bulleted lists, and images to create a better experience.
• Focus on relevancy of pages: One of the best ways to provide a positive user experience is to focus on delivering information users want. Providing relevant, helpful information will enbale you to deliver a better experience for your audience.

By focusing on the user’s experience, you can help improve your performance in search results.

4. Create content to drive traffic to your website

If you want to have an effective contractor SEO strategy, you need to create content to drive traffic. Content and SEO work hand in hand —content is what ranks in search results and content needs SEO to rank in search.

So, how do you create content successfully?

• Find topics your audience wants more information on: See what kinds of questions your audience is asking about contractors. Use that as inspiration for your informational articles, blog post topics, and any other content you want to create.
• Publish content regularly: Frequently publishing content creates more opportunities for people to find you. It’s also a great way to continue building your authority and trust with your audience.
• Use a content calendar to stay organized: A content calendar helps you plan when to create, edit, revise, and publish content. It’s a great way to stay organized as you create different pieces of content.

5. Build backlinks to boost your authority

A crucial component of SEO for contractors is building backlinks. Backlinks are links to your website from other websites. You want to earn backlinks from authoritative websites to help build your website’s trust and authority.

If a reputable website links to one of your pages, it signals to Google that you’re a trustworthy source. As a result, it helps boost your performance in search results.

So, how do you earn backlinks?

• Look for broken links on other websites: Broken links hurt SEO performance. You can use an SEO tool to identify broken links on websites you want to earn links from. Then, you can reach out to them to notify them of the broken link and offer one of your pages as a suggested replacement.
• Create linkable content: One of the easiest ways to earn backlinks is to just create good content. If you create informative, insightful, and helpful content, you’ll naturally earn links from authoritative websites.
• Build connections in your industry: Sometimes earning backlinks is a simple as making yourself known to others in similar industries. Building connections with other businesses is a great way to create a mutual partnership that can turn into backlinks for your business.

By building backlinks, you’ll help increase your website’s trust and authority and ultimately improve your rank in search results.

Ready to build your business with SEO for contractors?

As search engines become the primary source for finding contractors, SEO should be a significant part of your marketing strategy. Put a contractor SEO strategy in place to ensure your site is getting the rankings, clicks, and leads it needs to keep your calendar full.

If you’d like to improve your online visibility, trust WebFX, a leading SEO company for contractors.

We bring more than 29 years of experience to SEO. Even better, we feature a talented and dedicated team of Internet marketers that have driven more than $10 billion in revenue for our clients.

Contact us today or call us at 888-601-5359 to chat about your company and goals!

We Drive Results for Contractors

• 24 million leads generated for clients
• Renowned for our communication and transparency

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