Local SEO For Contractors So They Can Beat Their Local Competition Online

Local SEO for contractors. Websites for contractors. Neither of those are probably are likely things you thought of when you decided to go into business. Yes, you know your skills, and you know them well. Perhaps your reputation has been established in the local community through word-of-mouth. 

But, contractor websites and SEO services for contractors can really enhance your local game. If you provide licensed and insured contractor services for your local community and want to stand above the competition, even your larger, wealthier competitors, you can do it. You just need to know where to start. 

1. What is Local SEO and How Can it Help Your Contractor Website?
2. SEO for Contractors – A Local Flavor
3. How Many Locations do You Need to Target for a Successful Contractor SEO Strategy?
4. Your Content Should be Clear and Concise
5. Other Benefits of SEO for Builders and Contractors
6. Local SEO Guide for Contractors: 9 Steps
   1. Step 1: Maximize Your Google My Business Page
      • Optimizing Your Listing for a Google Business Profile
   2. Step 2: Utilize Local Directories for Your Website
   3. Step 3: Use Local Keywords to Optimize Your Website 
      • Optimizing Your Website for Local Searches
   4. Step 4: Creating Location-Specific Pages
   5. Step 5: Maximize Your Website for Mobile Users
   6. Step 6: Add Local Content
   7. Step 7: Obtain Links from Independent Websites
   8. Step 8: Build Positive Reviews
   9. Step 9: Social Media
7. Blue Seven Content is Your SEO Company for Contractors

What is Local SEO and How Can it Help Your Contractor Website?

Local SEO should be part of the digital marketing strategy for construction companies and contractors. The very nature of the business model for this industry means there should be a focus on local client acquisition, as opposed to a website focusing on selling kitchen appliances. 

Local SEO is a strategy to rise above your competitors in a specific geographic area. This can include targeting a specific state, region, county, or town. In many cases, a contractor could benefit from targeting multiple locations for each service they offer, but more on that later. 

Your goals with a local contractor SEO strategy are multifaceted and include:

• Improving organic search results traffic from local customers
• Rank higher in local search results on Google and other search engines
• Optimizing the website for specific geographic locations
• Building trust and reputation
• Gaining an understanding of the evolving nature of local search

To be sure, a contractor SEO approach with a local focus should involve more than just your website’s written pages. As someone who depends on reputation and reviews, your focus will also include:

• Optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) and other review websites like Yelp
• Creating and maintaining a strong reputation on websites like Angie
• Getting placed on local business directories 
• Creating and maintaining a strong social media presence

If this sounds like something you didn’t sign up for, we get it. You know your stuff. You know valuable trade skills, and you’re good at it. The last thing you have time to focus on is building your construction SEO strategy. But this is important. Whether you’ve been in business for a while or are just starting, you can benefit from a local SEO strategy. You don’t have to do all of this at once, but you shouldn’t put off the next steps, either. 

SEO for Contractors – A Local Flavor

As a contractor or handyman, you’re already well aware of the power of word-of-mouth but think about the process your prospective clients take before they pick up the phone and call. It may look something like the client:

• Having a need (they want a new deck, need a kitchen counter remodel, want to install a new toilet, etc.).
• Asking friends or family members if they’ve used someone they would recommend.
• Checking online directories like Angie (formerly Angie’s List) for trusted local help.
• Typing in their exact problem into Google or another search engine. 

That last point is where Local SEO plays a major role, and one you should capitalize on, especially because many people jump right to the last point anyway. Whether you specialize in installing toilets, weatherizing homes, or pressure washing condos, it is crucial that you show up above your competition on the search engine results page (SERP) when your prospective client performs their search.

How Many Locations do You Need to Target for a Successful Contractor SEO Strategy?

Where do you want to work?

Seriously. What geographic area do you want to draw your customers from?

If you’re a local handyman in, say, Charleston, SC, chances are you’re going to want to target your local SEO strategy around Charleston. But we can also dig a little deeper, particularly as we learn more about your needs. As we discuss the following line of thinking for a local SEO strategy for contractors, we want you to think about your particular geographic area and all of the towns, counties, or regions that people refer to in your area. 

Let’s make a theoretical scenario for a local handyman who handles a range of types of home repairs, but specifically on gutter cleaning and repair. If this handyman lives in Charleston, it makes sense to target the Charleston audience with the website. However, Charleston likely isn’t the only area the handyman wants to look for clients. 

Think about all of the other areas around Charleston that are within reasonable driving distance that could also have the desired market:

• North Charleston
• Mt. Pleasant
• Folly Beach
• Summerville
• Goose Creek
• James Island
• West Ashley
• and more…

It’s all about understanding your local clientele. You know your area, and you know what people are looking for and where they’re looking from. You may be based in Charleston, but you want the search results to show your services when someone types in “Folly Beach gutter cleaning” or “Mt. Pleasant gutter repair,” you want to show up. Yes, there’s a chance your Charleston page will make it to the SERP of a Folly Beach or Mt. Pleasant search, but that’s no guarantee. 

In many cases, a Charleston gutter cleaning handyman would benefit from creating website pages for their services for multiple locations around Charleston as well. A good strategy in these situations is using your personal knowledge about where most of your clients have come from before and also analyzing population data. If your budget allows for five solid local SEO pages, it may be wise to target the five most populated towns around your area. 

This whole example was made based on one area and a very specific type of handyman, but this applies to just about any other type of local contractor or construction outfit. You have specific areas you serve and specific services you offer. Your website content should focus on that to increase your organic search results power. 

Wait, do we really want you to have five of the same type of page on your website?

Maybe. Maybe two, three, four, six, or more. All for the same service.

Okay, it’s not the same page. We don’t want you to copy your services webpage for one area, swap one local name for another, and then paste it into a new webpage. Copy and pasting website content is one of the fastest ways to guarantee none of your website pages show up in the search results.

Each page needs to be original, even if they convey basically the same information to the reader. What this does is create a whole page for your particular service that’s targeted to each different area you want to gain clients from. You’re trying to improve your chances of landing in a prospective client’s SERP, no matter where they’re looking in your targeted areas. 

Your Content Should be Clear and Concise

Simply having content on your website isn’t enough. You need content that’s at the appropriate reading level for your desired audience, and you need to make sure the page is formatted well. 

Think about how you read a webpage. Whether you’re browsing on your computer or phone, you’re likely skimming the pages until you find the information you need. You probably haven’t thought about it much, but creating a good, local SEO page for contractors involves a deeper understanding of website content writing.

Your page should have relatively short paragraphs. Walls of text aren’t going to help. There should be bullet points when they’re relevant, easily identifiable, and relevant headings and content that is easy to read. What reading level is appropriate for your construction or contractor website? It’s probably somewhere in the seventh or eighth-grade reading level. 

Believe it or not, it can be challenging to craft a webpage that hits all of these marks. You need to convey industry-specific information in a way that any prospective client will understand immediately. 

Construction and contractor SEO writers can help you do this.

Other Benefits of SEO for Builders and Contractors

Building trust with a prospective client is like giving them the pieces to a puzzle. Each piece assembled builds a more complete picture of the type of business you operate. The more details a prospective client has, the more trustworthy you appear. 

Your website needs to be more than just service pages targeted to locations. Once a client lands on your website, there are other ways to convey a sense of trust and calm. 

The process of talking to and hiring a local contractor is intimidating for many people. Prospective clients are reaching out because they need help with something they don’t know how to do, but they also don’t know where to start their search. Clients don’t want to get taken advantage of, so they are going to need more pieces of the puzzle before making a decision. 

Essentially, whichever local contractor or company created the clearer “trust picture” with those puzzle pieces is going to win.

Your website will benefit from:

• A complete GBP. Any local business that wants to succeed really needs to have a complete Google Business Profile. This gets you onto Google Maps and in the local search results. Your prospective clients will use the GBP to check out reviews, your business hours, a quick glimpse of your services, your phone number and website, and more. 
• Highlighting local community involvement. Prospective local clients will respond well to businesses involved with the local community. If you’ve been in the area for a long time, you probably have some deep roots and connections. If you participate in local charity events, your website can show that. Locals want to support locals. 
• A solid “About Us” page. One of the most trafficked pages on most websites is the “About Us” or “Team” page. People want to know who they’re getting when they hire a local business. They want another piece of that trust puzzle completed before they make a decision. 
• Showing licensing and insurance. You’re licensed and insured. If you aren’t, then local SEO is the least of your concerns. You can not only discuss your licenses and insurance, but you can also provide links to official websites (if available in your state) so prospective clients can check for themselves—another piece of the trust puzzle.
• Reviews and testimonials. Yes, your GBP and other places like Yelp and Angie’s have review sections, but you can also have a separate testimonial page on your website. Ask satisfied customers if they wouldn’t mind providing a written review. You can include these on your website with photos of finished projects. 

Local SEO Guide for Contractors: 9 Steps

Step 1: Maximize Your Google My Business Page

In addition to “near me” searches, an essential aspect of Google searches is the local pack results. A local pack is a little but powerful pop-up box triggered when someone does a local business search through Google that contains website listings sorted by intent, review, and geography.

In order to be listed in a local pack search, you must create a Google Business Profile. These local pack “near me” searches generate at least 44% of website clicks, which drives an enormous source of online traffic to your webpage. 

Optimizing your Google business profile will help you rank for local pack searches. It is super easy and free to create a Google Business Profile.

Optimizing Your Listing for a Google Business Profile

After you have created your Google business profile, the following tips ensure that your profile remains optimized for local search rankings:

1. Maintain a consistent business name, phone number, and address
2. Provide several ways for consumers to contact your company (website, store hours, phone number, etc.)
3. Under the About section, prepare a brief description of your company
4. If applicable, supply a list of your products, including prices and quotes
5. Provide your customers with updates about the content you create or upcoming events

In general, when a “near me” search is conducted, a list of company results is generated based on distance and keyword variations (even slight variations), so it is critical to be thorough with the account information you provide.

Step 2: Utilize Local Directories for Your Website

Next, you will want consumers to locate your construction company via trusted websites that are utilized by many consumers to find contractors. For general contractors and construction companies, these websites may include:

• Yelp
• Angi
• Blue Book
• Construct Connect
• Iambuilders.com
• Construction.com
• Better Business Bureau
• Home Advisor

When listing this information, follow the above rules for filling out account information on each website to ensure contact information is correct and easily accessible. The use of local directories can considerably boost referral traffic to your webpage.

Step 3: Use Local Keywords to Optimize Your Website 

Websites for contractors can be optimized by using local keywords and help you to rank for:

1. Region-specific and city keywords
2. “Near Me” searches

For example, if a consumer were to search for sandwiches in Las Vegas, Nevada, they would find themselves with a plethora of results from Google Business Profile listings and Google’s traditional search page. Therefore, you can optimize your website ranking by using location-specific keywords, such as “Las Vegas Sandwiches.”

Optimizing Your Website for Local Searches

Google Ads is free to users when they sign their business up for a free advertising account. This keyword search tool will help you decide which keywords are best for you.

1. Choose relevant keywords: By choosing keywords with a lower volume and better intent, such as “highway construction company Tampa” or “ commercial construction company Tampa,” you will bring the more qualified traffic, but not necessarily the highest traffic.
2. Filter Your Search By Intent: Keywords with lower Top-Of-Page bids are typically more informative, while higher bids are more commercial. 
3. Find Keywords of Competitors: You are able to search which competitor’s keywords are ranking through Google Ads.

Step 4: Creating Location-Specific Pages

Skipping this step is the top mistake that companies repeatedly make. You should never ignore how important location-specific pages are when creating SEO for construction companies. Let’s say your contracting business is based out in Atlanta but serves the surrounding suburban and metropolitan areas.

Many companies choose to have one webpage (i.e., their homepage) that covers the entire Atlanta region. If you are a consumer in Sandy Springs and search for local contractors, you will most likely see top results for the contractors headquartered in Sandy Springs. Companies can account for this search issue by creating location-specific pages within their website for each city they are trying to target.

Step 5: Maximize Your Website for Mobile Users

The majority of searches done through mobile phones are for local businesses. It is crucial for mobile users to easily access your website. You can optimize your webpage for mobile users by following these steps:

• Limit the click conversion
• Limit the scrolling amount
• For easy contact, add click-to-call buttons on each page
• Location information should be clearly visible
• Limit the number of top-navigation pages
• Build a fast webpage
• Utilize high-quality photos
• The front of your homepage should have a clear CTA

Step 6: Add Local Content

Adding a section on your website for a local blog is a fantastic way to highlight community engagement and to help educate your customer base on various construction topics. By using keyword research, you can discover which topics are trending in your local area.

Step 7: Obtain Links from Independent Websites

As you continue creating content, you will naturally gain links over time. Backlinks help to build authority for your webpage while generating traffic.

Often, construction companies have to reach out to local bloggers and websites to manually build links. This can happen by conducting an interview or requesting a business mention on their blog to earn you an easy link.

Step 8: Build Positive Reviews

Once you have created a user-friendly webpage with the correct keywords, you want to create good exposure for your construction business by building positive reviews. It is not unethical to ask customers for a review after a successful business or contract engagement.

Reviews on external websites, like Yelp, Facebook, and other local directories, must be managed by adding solutions to negative and positive reviews.

Customers tend to purchase a product after they have seen a positive business review. Reviews are crucial to the success of construction SEO because projects and contracts are often expensive and require a higher upfront trust than some other service-based businesses. It is essential for contractors to cultivate positive reviews on all online platforms.

Step 9: Social Media

Social media may not be the most important place to gain customers, but it is still a great way to showcase current and past projects. Facebook provides an easy way to invite people to like your page and gain word-of-mouth referrals in your area.

Blue Seven Content is Your SEO Company for Contractors

Blue Seven Content has extensive experience handling written SEO content for contractors and construction companies. Our team carefully selects writers with knowledge in the industry to write content for clients. We want to help get your content game up to speed so you can improve your local customer acquisition processes. 

SEO services for contractors is a long game – there’s no such thing as overnight success with this, but there is such a thing as real success that can put your contractor services on the local map. You can fill out the contact form on this page or call us at (843) 580-3158 for more information about how we can help you today.

Written by Allen Watson – Founder and CEO of Blue Seven Content and Dianna Mason – Legal and Construction Content Writer