SEO for Contractors

What is SEO for Contractors?

Contractors can benefit from SEO as SEO can help them target people who are looking to hire a contractor. We use SEO to help contractors generate more, high-quality leads.

 

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is the process of optimizing your website and marketing to increase the traffic to your website. It includes all of the things that you can do to increase your traffic and when people refer to it as SEO in essence they are usually referring to generating traffic to your website organically. SEM refers to Search Engine Marketing which includes SEO and advertising including PPC (Pay-Per-Click).

 

Sometimes people refer to SEO and Local SEO as two separate types of SEO when in reality if you are doing SEO then you are also optimizing for “Local Searches”. We talk more about the “Local” aspect of SEO later in this article.

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Our Proven and Measurable Approach to SEO for Contractors

If you could describe our SEO strategy for contractors, in fairly simple terms, it would be this: We help contractors identify and target the most valuable searches organically. We do not focus on targeting searches based on the volumes of those searches.

 

Here is a more in-depth description. First, we conduct research and determine the most valuable searches for each contractor. These are the searches being done by people who have the intent to hire a contractor. It has nothing to do with “volumes of searches”.

 

How do we target these searches with SEO for contractors?

 

We add/modify content and on-site issues on your website so that you rank high. We do this without ads. We have found that by tracking your organic rankings as well as the rankings for your competitors, we can then use this actionable data to perform SEO in a systematic and prioritized fashion. We perform content updates which have an impact on your rankings. We measure and track everything in our client dashboards.

Business Intelligence & Data for Contractor SEO

We understand SEO data. We know how to create actionable data which allows us to make SEO edits that generate measurable results for contractors. We don’t just use Google Analytics. We build an SEO dashboard that allows us to make prioritized edits and improve your rankings for the most valuable searches. We also believe in 100% transparency. This is why we provide our clients with access to their dashboards as well. Our SEO clients can see how they rank for each of these most valuable searches and how their rankings compare to their competitors.

seo for contractors organic google rankings

Organic SEO Rankings

seo for contractors competitor analysis

Organic Rankings vs Competitors

organic rankings by search

Rankings by Search

Using Data to Improve Rankings

Our SEO dashboards allow us to track the rankings for our clients. When it comes to reporting and data it is important to understand that Google Analytics can help you measure traffic to your website. It does not track your rankings. Therefore it does not help you when you are trying to use the data in an actionable way. Many SEO companies only provide their clients with reports from Google Analytics. If they are not tracking your rankings, and those of your competitors, they will be less likely to create measurable results.

Let’s outrank your competitors!

Factors Affecting SEO Results for Contractors

There are many factors that affect how your website ranks for searches. The search engines periodically change their algorithms which determine rankings. We have included some of the more important factors which affect your rankings. Factors can be categorized into two basic categories: On-site and Off-site. There are many subcategories and we are discussing some of them here.

On-Site Factors for Contractors

These are the factors related to the content and coding of your website.

Technical
The technical factors are such things as page URL’s, titles, descriptions, heading tags, schema, image names, image alt text and more. Page loading speeds are a factor and this can be affected by image sizes and improving other things that will decrease how much time it takes to load your pages.

Content
Content includes all text, images, videos, and other content that you may have on your website. Your content, and how relative it is to any topic, are important when it comes to SEO. You should be thinking “Specificity & Relativity” when thinking about your content.

Content should be created with the user in mind. The search engines try to reward those websites which are valuable to the people who are searching. This is why it is important to think of your website users. Plan content that will be of value to them and imparts your “authority” on whatever the topic is of your content.

Content Strategy

Careful thought should be given to your content strategy. This strategy will determine what content you are going to have on your website as well as when you will be editing your content. The search engines reward websites which are updated frequently. You should strive to improve your content over time. In doing so your rankings should improve if you are adding good content.

You need to make sure that your content strategy includes optimizing your content related to your services and the areas in which you work. Having one “Services” page with 10 different services listed is not good. Web pages perform better by being specific and relevant to the topic. You can have one “Services” page but if you do then you need to link to a separate page for each service. By doing it this way your pages will rank better as they will be very specific and relevant to one topic.

The same is true for your locations. Don’t just have one page that has your locations listed. Again, you can but you should have links to a page for each location. These pages will be very specific and will help you target people who are searching for specific types of contractors in very specific areas.

Off-Site Factors for Contractors

These are the factors that are not issues on your website, They are the issues related to all of the links to your website and any profiles that you have.

Backlinks
Backlinks are the links to your website throughout the internet. The best approach, when it comes to links, is to consider quality vs quantity. Whenever possible try to get high-quality links. The search engines do not value low-quality links as much as they value high-quality links.

Profiles
Contractors can benefit from various profiles. These profiles create high-quality links to their website and can improve their exposure.

Social Media Profiles

Contractors should have profiles on various social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for example. Having these profiles can present a way to increase your exposure and also create high-quality links to your website.

Google Business Profile

Every contractor should have a Google Business Profile. A Google Business Profile can have a huge impact on your SEO. This is especially true if you can optimize your profile so that it shows up in the first three profiles. Make sure that you have a well-written business description and that you have a plan to generate reviews as these are some of the determining factors used to determine the first three. Also, please note that you can have one profile for each location or office that you have. Doing so will allow you to reach more people in each area.

Bing Places for Business Listing

Bing Places for Business is the Bing equivalent to Google Business Profiles. If you do not have one you should. You can even make the process of creating one easy as they allow you to import your info from Google Business Profiles.

Other Directories

Another good place for contractors to get backlinks to their websites is directories. Make sure you create profiles in the various directories. Again, make sure to have complete information about your practice.

organic rankings by search
Understanding Local SEO for Contractors

For some SEO companies that provide Local SEO services the extent of their Local SEO services is optimizing a client’s Google Business Profile. That, in our opinion, is the wrong approach. Sure, we do optimize our clients’ Google Business Profiles and we also create and optimize one for them on Bing as well.

We have found that an effective Local SEO Strategy has to include content on your website and the optimization of your website. Our Local SEO strategies include identifying and targeting the most valuable “local” searches for each contractor.

You can see the “Rankings by Search” section of our dashboard includes a breakdown of these valuable searches and includes many that are local.

Contractors, and other SEO agencies, often don’t take advantage of this opportunity. We have found that by focusing on this aspect of Local SEO that we have been able to eliminate PPC ads for our clients. We’ve done that for 100% of our clients, btw.

// LOCAL SEO – Your Website & Local Searches

Contractors can generate high-quality traffic to their websites by adopting an SEO strategy that aligns the content of their website with the most valuable searches for them. These are the searches being done by people with the intent to hire a contractor. Trying to optimize your website too broadly will not allow you to rank well. For example, it is more difficult to rank for “contractors” but it will be easier to rank for “Pittsburgh home builders”. You want to make sure to optimize your site using the most valuable searches.

// LOCAL SEO – Improving Your Exposure – Google Business Profile

In addition to having your website rank for searches, contractors whose Google Business Profile shows up in the first 3 results will receive more calls as well as more traffic to their website. You can improve the quality of your profile, including writing a description that is complete and not too brief. Your description should explain your services and the locations that you work in. Generating reviews will also improve your exposure.