You may have heard of search engine optimization (SEO) before, but why do contractors need it?
SEO will increase online traffic to your website by positioning it at the top of organic and map searches. An increase in traffic for key search terms will result in more clicks, more form submissions, and calls from prospects that are actively looking for your service.
Whether you are looking to improve your website on your own or hire a company who specializes in contractor SEO, these eight points will help you understand SEO a little better and guide you through the process of getting your website to #1!
Getting web page speed to load fast will keep users engaged on your site and less likely to leave. Make sure images/video sizes are optimized, bulky coding is reduced, and get some optimization plugins for your development platform.
If you aren't going after specific keywords in your niche on your pages, no one will be able to find you in Google! Use a free keyword research tool and find the most relevant keywords for your niche. Once you have compiled your keyword research, assign focus keywords to all of your pages. Your home page should be optimized for the highest search volume term related to the services you provide.
Your URL structure should be logically constructed, especially if you have a large site with many pages. Use overview pages to group your services and service areas together under a /services or /service-areas page off of your home page. Then, use the keyword in the URL for your main service pages. So, if you are a foundation repair contractor in Los Angeles, an internal page URL might be ...com/services/foundation-repair-los-angeles.
Your SEO title and meta description should be within the appropriate character limits, contain the focus keyword for each page, and be highly engaging. After all, this will appear on the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) and will be what potential customers see first--make a good impression!
Your content is important! Don't just say generic things about your service and company that everyone else is putting out there. You want to be as specific as possible about why customers should choose your company, what you do differently, and provide as much information as possible about your services. Google and other search engines will prefer your site over others if you have an abundance of keyword rich content that is also educational in nature.
You want to link your pages together to spread the "love" around your website. Your home page is the most important page, and the most powerful. Therefore, you want to link from your home page to overview pages, from overview pages to internal pages, and finally from internal pages back to the home page--think of it like a circle. You can also link out to blog articles, projects you've completed, contact pages, etc. Just make sure that you don't link out to other websites on any main pages.
Backlinks are links from other websites that link back to yours. They establish trust with Google and other search engines, so getting backlinks from good sources is important. You can rate backlinks by a measure of trust flow (TF) and citation flow (CF) using software. Common best practices are to get links where TF and CF are balanced at a 1:1 ratio, avoid "no follow" links, and set anchor texts to be a variety of keywords, your domain url, and other terms such as "click here".
Citations are just like a listing in a phone book, just online. Directories like yelp, yellow pages, bing, houzz, google, and bing are all places where you want your business listed online. For citations, you want to ensure your contact information (business name, address, and phone number -- NAP for short) is accurately submitted to the citation source and is the same as what is published on your contact page.
If you are a contractor that provides a great service but just doesn't have the time to dedicate to improving the SEO on your own website, let us help. LeadsForward offers contractor SEO and lead generation services for those serious about unlocking the potential of their market and increasing the value of their digital assets. Our contractor SEO services have been used to help generate more high-quality leads in all types of home improvement industries, such as foundation repair, remodeling, roofing, tree services, carpet cleaning, water damage, and pressure washing, to name a few. Get started today by filling out our demo request form!
