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Plumber SEO: The 4 Pillars of Successful SEO Campaigns
How To Drive More Website Traffic & Qualified Leads With SEO for Plumbing Companies
Search engine optimization is a crucial part to a plumbing company’s marketing strategy. Search engines like Google and Bing are constantly updating their algorithms to better serve people searching for goods and services — including how to repair leaky pipes and where to find the best local plumbers in their area.
Therefore, it’s crucial for plumbing companies to stay on top of the ever-changing search landscape. Investing in an ongoing plumber SEO campaign is the best way to get your business’s website in front of your potential customers searching the internet.
An effective SEO campaign for plumbers is built around four main pillars:
- Site Structure & Site Health
- On-Page Content
- Off-site SEO
- Local SEO
When your plumbing company focuses on each of these pillars, there is a good chance your website will soar to the top of search results and drive more qualified leads for your business.
Pillar #1 – Website Structure & Health
How your website is coded and structured is a critical foundation to how your plumbing website performs. Think of your website like a house — if the bones are strong, then it will stand the test of time.
Plumbing websites that rank high on Google are coded and designed in a way that allows search engines to find, crawl, and rank your website easily. Important questions to consider when looking at your website include:
- Is my website mobile-friendly? Take out your phone and go to your website. Is the text large enough to read? Are images sized appropriately and easy to read? Since 2015, Google has been using metrics like these to determine which sites rank well in Search. With the number of smartphones, tablets, and screen sizes out there, it’s extremely important that your site works on all mobile devices.
- How quickly is my website loading? Believe it or not, studies have shown 53% of website visitors will leave a webpage if it doesn’t load in the first three seconds. To keep these potential customers on your site, make sure your content is optimized to load quickly and hold the user’s attention.
- How easily can I find what I’m looking for? When searchers land on your site, where do they go? A well-designed plumber website will have easy access to important information, such as services offered, service area, and contact information.
How You Can Optimize Your Plumbing Company Website Design & Structure
Design for phone users first
We already know that having a rock-solid mobile website is a major aspect of getting your plumber SEO strategy ranking at the top of Google Search.
One way to ensure your website looks good on small screens is to use a mobile-first design technique. This is where your website is designed for a phone screen before expanding out to accommodate larger devices. After the mobile screen is done, move on to designing for an iPad or tablet, and finally a large desktop or laptop screen.
Keep an eye on your Core Web Vital metrics
In the summer of 2021, Google announced that it will begin using a site’s “core web vitals” as a ranking factor. These metrics will measure how quickly a page loads and becomes usable for a user. The three main aspects of a website’s core web vitals are:
- Loading time (Largest Contentful Paint/LCP) – This will investigate how fast the largest image or visual element on your webpage loads.
- Interactivity (First Input Delay/FID) – As your webpage loads, this metric will inform you on how quickly a user will be able to interact with elements on the page (scrolling, clicking, etc.).
- Visual stability (Cumulative Layout Shift/CLS) – Have you ever been to a site where a button moves right as you were trying to click on it? It can be annoying. Google prefers webpages that avoid having shifting elements after it is fully loaded.
Make your website intuitive and easy to use
Imagine your drain gets clogged and you need the help of a professional plumber. Now, navigate to your site on your phone or computer and see how quickly you can find information on why your drain might be clogged and how you can get help.
Were you able to find what you were looking for? Consider these things when reviewing the usability of your site:
- Does my plumbing website provide the service I need? – If you got to your website’s homepage, were you able to find information that addresses your issue? Your site should clearly highlight your priority services and provide links to pages with more information.
- If you got to a drain service page, how did you know you were in the right place? – Site structure and URL structure go hand in hand. Make sure your URLs are optimized so searchers and search engines know what a page is about without even seeing the content on the page.
- How easy was it to get in touch with you? – Were there prominent phone numbers on the website? Were contact forms in a place where you could easily find them? Attracting searchers to your website is a key part of SEO, but getting them to pick up the phone and call is the main goal of a successful plumber SEO campaign.
- What sets my company apart from other local plumbers? Trust-builders and differentiators are important aspects of content marketing. If there are guarantees, offers, promotions, or other unique aspects to your plumbing company, make sure these are highlighted throughout your website.
Pillar #2 – On-Page Content
Effective SEO on-page content should follow the E.A.T. principle. E.A.T. stands for:
- Expertise: Does your content make your plumbing company look like the experts in your field? Does your content answer the questions and address the needs of a searcher?
- Authoritativeness: Do other companies refer to you as experts? Does your content get shared on other sites and social media accounts? Having shareable content can boost your authority in your field.
- Trustworthiness: Remember those trust-builders we mentioned? Making sure those are present on pages throughout your website will increase the likelihood searchers choose your service and continue to return to you for all their plumbing needs.
With E.A.T. in mind, time to look at your current website. Do you have pages for all your priority services? For example, a plumber’s SEO strategy should include building pages for services such as:
- Plumbing services
- Drain and sewer repairs
- Pipe replacements
- Pipe repairs
- Drain cleanings
- Water heater installations and replacements
In addition to relevant service pages, you should consider building out additional content that searchers would find relevant and beneficial. This content can help you look like the experts in your field and can help build trust in your service. Consider including the following on your website:
- Frequently asked questions and answers
- Blog posts that take a deep dive into common plumbing topics
- Branded images and videos of your company
- Reviews or testimonials from happy customers
Pillar #3 – Off-Site SEO for Plumbers
A successful plumber SEO campaign shouldn’t just focus on on-site optimizations. To bolster the authority of your on-page content, your campaign should include some off-site SEO tactics.
Off-site SEO consists of things you do outside of your own website that can increase the perceived authority of your brand. Google and other search engines look at a variety of signals that indicate a website can be trusted. If your site is authoritative in the eyes of a search engine, then you are more likely to rank higher in search results pages.
Tips to build your off-site authority in your plumber SEO campaign:
Link building
Link building is one of the most important off-site SEO tactics for plumber websites. Link building is when third-party websites include links that point to content on your site. The goal with any link-building campaign is to generate more links from other reputable and authoritative websites — this will help boost your own authority.
Generally, there are three different types of links you can acquire:
- Natural backlinks: These links are also referred to as earned links. For example, if you have a blog post that explains common household plumbing issues, other websites could reference this information and include a link to your blog.
- Manual backlinks: These links are generated by pitching your content to third-party sites. This is done by directly contacting the owners of that site and requesting they supplement their own content with links back to your site.
- Self–created backlinks: These links are built on third-party websites where you have direct control. Examples include adding a link from your Yelp profile or BBB listing.
Link building can be difficult. The best link-building strategy is what works best for your website — and this may include building out high-quality content that people want to share.
Creating infographics that supplement blog posts is a great way to add authoritative content that searchers and search engines will see as relevant and trustworthy.
Don’t forget about other marketing channels
- Social Media for Plumbers: Does your plumbing company have a social media presence? Believe it or not, social media activity can have a direct effect on SEO.
- Social media can increase brand awareness and recognition
- Posts can send more traffic to your website
- Sharing blog content or visuals on social media can increase content distribution and opportunity to earn backlinks
- Give search engines a better idea of your service area, which can increase local SEO performance.
- OTT (Over-the-Top) Advertising: OTT advertising refers to video or movie content that is shared on streaming services or TV network apps.
With the rise in popularity of streaming television, OTT is a common way plumbers have expanded their reach and positioned their brand in front of qualified customers. OTT can increase the number of branded searches of your company, which can improve the performance of your SEO strategy.
Pillar #4 – Local SEO
The final pillar of your plumbing company’s SEO strategy should include a healthy dose of local SEO optimizations. Actively optimizing for local SEO will help your business rank higher for localized searches and in Google’s local pack (aka Google Maps listings that appear on the top of search results).
There are four things that you should be doing to improve your local SEO search rankings and clicks:
Use geotargeting throughout your website’s content
Your priority plumbing service pages should include geo-modifiers, or references to your service area. Including these locations in your page’s title tags, headers, and throughout the page’s written content will improve your rankings for searchers in that area.
Optimize your Google Business Profile
A well-optimized Google Business Profile (GBP, also formerly known as Google My Business or GMB) listing is major player in a plumbing company’s SEO campaign. After you claim and verify your GBP, make sure you fill out all applicable fields on the listing. This includes:
- Name, address, and phone number
- Service area
- Business description
- Business categories and subcategories
- Business hours (and holiday hours)
- A link to your site
- A link to book appointments
- Special offers
- Products
- Specific services
- Health and safety requirements
Optimizing your GBP should not be a set-it-and-forget-it local SEO strategy. Your Business Profile offers “Google Posts” that allow you to promote services, offers, and updates on your business. Additionally, as reviews of your service come in, you can respond to these testimonials and cultivate customer relationships.
For these reasons, it is important that you regularly track your GBP listing’s performance and adjust strategy accordingly. However, be careful in what changes you make as a wrong move can end up in a Google Business Profile suspension. Learn more about how to reinstate your suspended GBP listing.
Submit Business Name, Address, and Phone Number Information to Local Directories
Like GBP, online local directories can provide search engines with more information regarding your business, its service area, and the services provided. Some popular directories include:
- Nextdoor
- Better Business Bureau
- HomeAdvisor
- Angi
- Yelp
- Bing Places
- Apple Maps
Identifying these listings and ensuring all information is accurate is an important aspect of enhancing your local SEO presence.
Generate More Reviews & Participate in Review Management Strategies
Both the quantity and quality of reviews of your plumbing business can affect your SEO strategy. Highly rated companies on Google and other listings can greatly increase clicks in local search results and can improve your local SEO rankings.
Reviews on Google Business Profiles are a great place to start cultivating positive reviews on your plumbing business since these can help drive performance on Google Maps as well as in Google Search since the local pack is found at the top of search results pages.
As reviews of your plumbing services start to come in, it is recommended that you respond to these reviews. This shows Google and other searchers that you are active online and that you value both the customer and the quality of service you provide.
Wrapping It Up: The 4 Pillars of Successful Plumbing SEO Campaigns
When your plumbing company embraces these pillars of plumbing SEO, you will begin to see a healthy marketing campaign grow. SEO can take time to gain traction, but when done well, results will continue to grow upon themselves and you will see an increase in leads, booked appointments, and revenue.
Grow Your Plumbing Business With Blue Corona
At Blue Corona, we specialize in helping local home service companies grow qualified leads and revenue from the web. We have helped many local plumbing companies fine-tune their plumbing SEO strategies that measurably improve their brand awareness, increase keyword rankings and organic traffic, and generate qualified leads that boost revenue.
If you’re struggling to nail down your plumbing marketing strategy, Blue Corona can help! Send us a message online if you’re ready to increase your organic leads.
About The Author: Mike is an SEO Analyst at Blue Corona, where he facilitates his client’s organic growth by creating and executing well-rounded SEO strategies that are designed to increase rankings and drive organic leads. Outside of work, Mike enjoys photography and hiking in North Carolina with his family and basset hound, Louie.
View more blogs by Mike Hemstreet
The information on this website is for informational purposes only; it is deemed accurate but not guaranteed. It does not constitute professional advice. All information is subject to change at any time without notice. Contact us for complete details.
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