A survey by the Construction Marketing Association found that 73.1% of contractors planned to increase their SEO budget.
Eighty-one percent stated that their search engine optimization strategy resulted in more leads. The majority believed that SEO for builders, plumbers, and home services was more effective than PPC ads.
This article provides a step-by-step guide to SEO for contractors that wish to increase sales.
Learn of the benefits of SEO and how it affects home improvement leads. Discover the difference in pay per click marketing and SEO and why you should consider both strategies.
Read on to see why two-thirds of contractors outsource their website SEO needs to achieve the best results.
What Is SEO?
SEO or search engine optimization has one main goal – to drive high-quality traffic to your website from a search engine like Google.
Every website wants to rank on page one but how does Google decide which page gets the top spot? The answer lies with the search phrase or keyword its users enter and how that relates to its results.
For example, a potential customer searches for ‘bathroom remodeling’. Google checks its database of sites and presents the most-suited at the top of the list.
You cannot pay to be placed higher on these organic listings as they’re open to everyone. Yet to reach that #1 spot means optimizing or editing your site to match Google’s expectations.
Search Engine Optimization in a Nutshell
SEO techniques fall into 4 key areas:
- On-page SEO – focuses on your website content
- Off-page SEO – quality backlinks from third-party sites to your pages
- Technical SEO – issues like loading speed and security
- Local SEO – optimizing for local search phrases like ‘near me’
Web design maintenance forms an important role in moving up the rankings.
Many small business owners tend to create a website then abandon it. They wonder why they don’t receive any leads but haven’t provided fresh content in years.
Not only does your contractor website require constant updates but it needs a digital marketing strategy. Combining SEO with online adverts, email marketing, and social media will generate more inquiries.
Benefits of SEO for Contractors
Why invest in SEO for builders or SEO for plumbers? Can optimizing your content or gaining inbound links really lead to home improvement leads?
In short, the answer is yes.
SEO has a proven track record of:
- increasing company visibility and gaining quality traffic
- providing invaluable insight into your customers’ behavior
- gaining a competitive advantage
- establishing a higher level of trust
Most importantly, SEO contractor marketing produces high conversion rates and an excellent ROI.
Statistics show a 14.6% return on investment for SEO-generated leads. The average ROI for outbound marketing strategies is 1.7% in comparison.
Local SEO for Builders and Home Services
SEO produces quality visitor traffic due to proximity or local searches.
A local search keyword includes a phrase relating to geography. For example, ‘siding contractor near me’ or ‘sink repairs in Raleigh’.
Forty-six percent of all Google searches are location-based.
Google analyses your website content for these phrases along with your address and contact details. If it finds a match it pushes those pages higher up its results page.
However, if your site isn’t optimized, you risk losing siding leads to your competitors whose sites incorporate SEO.
Google My Business
Google offers a free business listing service that works alongside your website as a digital marketing tool.
Google My Business lets you add your business name and contact details, web address, location, and latest news. Results appear above organic listings and get displayed on an interactive map. You can also track mobile calls and see who has clicked on your website link.
FatCat Strategies can help create the perfect My Business listing. We provide a free competitor analysis that leads to an optimized entry to promote your company.
SEO Contractor Marketing vs Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay Per Click or PPC markets your company through online adverts.
Open Google.com and search for a keyword/phrase relating to your contractor business. Notice that the top results often show the word Ad. They look like normal organic results but actually form part of the Google Ads network.
Unlike SEO, PPC costs money to advertise. However, you don’t pay when your advert gets shown, only when a visitor clicks on the link.
This digital marketing format helps to manage your budget more effectively. You allocate a daily amount and Google will hide your ad if it reaches that threshold.
Cost Per Click vs SEO Spend
How much does PPC for contractors cost in comparison to SEO? What are the benefits and which offers the best leads?
CPC or cost per click ties with the level of competition for a particular keyword.
For generic terms like ‘plumbing’ or ‘building work’ expect to pay a premium as businesses compete for those phrases. Google offers a free keyword tool where you can view keyword traffic and CPC rates. It’s a great way to estimate costs and arrange your budget.
PPC ads tend to work best for short-term goals and time-sensitive marketing.
You can run an advert in spring, for example, when more people want to move home and require renovations. Or you could promote a special discount during periods of lower leads.
The issue of PPC in the longer term is cost, especially for highly competitive keywords.
SEO for home services and SEO for plumbers takes time but bears more fruit in the long run. It leads to higher home improvement sales and you can track results using Google Analytics.
Digital Marketing and SEO for Home Improvement Services
Improving SEO for contractors like plumbers and builders will result in quality leads.
Due to a greater level of competition, adding keywords to your content no longer works. You require an SEO marketing strategy that targets your specific market. And you need a team of digital marketing professionals who can implement it and track the results.
FatCat Strategies is a dedicated contractor marketing SEO specialist.
Our sole aim is contractor lead generation. That includes building optimized websites, managing local SEO, email newsletters, and PPC ads. We also offer a social media management package to combine SEO with the likes of Facebook.
Contact us today to discover how FatCat can generate more quality leads to your website.
Other SEO for Home Improvement Topics
- 9 Tips to Help Your Home Improvement Website Generate More Leads
- SEO for Remodelers: Why and How to Get Started
- Why Your Location Pages Hurt Your Website’s SEO & What You Can do Instead
- What is a Google Business Profile and Why Do I Need It?
- Google Business Profile and Local SEO for Home Improvement
- 6 Ideas for Generating More Online Reviews
- Updating to Google Analytics 4 – FatCat Strategies
