7 Benefits of SEO for Plumbing and HVAC Businesses
Ryan Redding • November 22, 2020
Before I launch into today’s post about SEO for plumbing and HVAC shops, I want to acknowledge something: This year has been really rough for some home services companies.
I know many of you adapted rather quickly after the bottom fell out in the spring- and some of you have had record-breaking numbers. But I also
know many of you are tired and stressed and wondering how many more waves your shop can weather. Keeping up with new health and safety practices is exhausting. Wondering which tech might call out next is keeping you up at night.
It’s a lot. Please know I’m cheering you on.
But I want to do more than just rah-rah from the sidelines here. I want to offer you tangible, useful, practical advice to help your shop grow through this challenging season. And that’s what today’s post is about: how search engine optimization (SEO) can benefit your business.
For those of you just joining us, let’s do a super-quick recap on what SEO is, and then we’ll get into the why.
What is SEO?
If you own a home services business, chances are good you want more customers. (Call me Captain Obvious.) But there’s so much competition out there, and it can be super frustrating trying to figure out how to attract more customers to your shop.
To be honest, your potential customers are similarly frustrated.
There are so many home services companies out there. How can they know whom to trust? Where do they even start their search?
You know where they start their search: Google.
Let’s say John comes home to a freezing cold house. He’s going to pull out his phone and type, “Why isn’t my furnace working?” Or maybe Alice wakes up to a nasty mystery smell in her kitchen, so she says, “Hey, Siri. Find me a plumber for my garbage disposal.”
Google takes those keywords (“furnace” and “plumber,” for example) and searches billions and billions and billions of webpages for them. It then ranks those webpages by how helpful they might be to your customer and spits out a list of possibilities—the search engine results page (SERP).
John and Sue read through the SERP—focusing on the top of that list. If your competitor’s among those top few results and you’re not, guess whose phone’s about to ring.
“But Ryan! We’re at the top of page 2! That’s good, right?”
Nope. When was the last time you clicked the NEXT button on a SERP? Page 2—and all the pages following—are a wasteland. You can bury a dead body there, and no one will ever see it.
If you’re not on page 1 of the SERP, you don’t exist.
And you get there through SEO for HVAC and plumbing.
SEO makes it more obvious to Google that you are the best shop to handle your customers’ problems. Google uses more than 200 characteristics
to make that determination, including things like:
- Bounce rates—How long do people stay on your site?
- Site activity—What are people doing on your site?
- Security—Are there any possible security risks for customers who visit your site?
- Mobile-friendliness—Can people use your website just as easily on their phone?
Not all 200 characteristics are equally important, but they all work together. For example, your website copy might be the most incredible thing your customers have ever read. But if they can’t read it on their phone, Google won’t rank you as high. And without Google’s high ranking, you’re going to lose customers to your competitors.
7 Benefits of SEO for Home Services Businesses
The bottom line is, SEO can get you more customers—in more ways than you might think.
#1 SEO creates a better user experience.
Once upon a time, advertising was all about the advertiser. We did everything we could to attract attention, basically jumping up and down and shouting, “Look at me!” through spam emails and other outbound
strategies. It turns out, these tactics actually drive customers away
from your business. (Who would’ve guessed, huh?)
SEO is all about the customer.
As an inbound
strategy, SEO provides a more targeted experience for customers already looking for you. And by implementing SEO best practices on your site, those customers have a better experience when they get there. Better user experience = happy customers = more service calls.
#2 SEO brings you more qualified leads.
Another benefit of an inbound marketing strategy like SEO is your target customer comes to you. Your leads come looking for your services—and find you easily, thanks to your Google ranking—when they’re ready. This means your business is attracting qualified leads. These potential customers already want your services, and they’ve already started buying into your business before you even talk to them.
#3 SEO helps you close more sales.
Obviously, more qualified leads mean more opportunities to sell. But SEO also helps close more sales.
About 50% of shoppers
report using Google to research a product or service before buying it. By using SEO strategies to increase your Google rank, you’re more likely to be involved in the customer’s research. And if you have a storefront, customers are more likely to physically enter your business if they’ve seen your services during their online research.
#4 SEO allows you to spend less money for better advertising.
With an optimized site Google loves, you simply won’t have to rely as much on pay-per-click
and pay-per-lead strategies. That doesn’t mean you can kill your ad spend right now, of course; developing organic clout with Google takes time. But eventually, you’ll be able to dramatically decrease your ads budget and invest those dollars back into your business in other ways.
#5 SEO builds credibility and awareness.
The better the Google ranking—literally the higher you are on the SERP—the more Google says, “We trust this company will meet your needs.” If Google says so, it must be true (so thinks your customer).
Now lean in, because this next part is essential: Getting Google to “trust you” isn’t just about keywords and backlinks
and fancy, backend SEO strategies. Nope. Google also wants to know from your actual customers if you’re trustworthy. What I’m talking about, of course, is online reviews.
Especially in the wake of COVID, reputation and reviews are more important than ever. Aside from the natural benefit of customer referrals, reviews also benefit SEO ranking, maps ranking on the map pack, and ranking on Google Local Services.
#6 SEO boosts your other marketing efforts.
Let’s say you’re rebranding your HVAC or plumbing business. You decide to invest in a couple of billboards, wrap your trucks, and run a radio campaign. That’s great if your customer needs your services while on the road or listening to the radio. They see your name and number, and they call.
But when their toilet backs up at 3:00 am, your potential customers won’t search for you by your business name.
In fact, customers do most of their research with unbranded searches, like a general question about their problem, several generic keywords, or “X service near me.” If you use SEO strategies, you’ll come up in those unbranded searches more often. And when your customers recognize your name on the SERP—because they saw your truck or billboard—they’ll be more inclined to click on it.
#7 SEO decreases customer acquisition cost.
In a cost-benefit analysis, SEO can drive leads at a lower cost than other marketing options.
SEO is a long-play, though. It might take six months to a year to build and maintain your optimal SEO ranking. But after that? It’s nearly impossible to slide off page 1. When the effects of SEO take hold, they’re long-lasting and cost-effective.
Struggling with SEO? We can help.
We’ve only scratched the surface of SEO for plumbing and HVAC, and the right approach depends on your current situation and goals. It’s complicated, but it’s worth it.
SEO can help future-proof your business, and I’d love to help. Let’s get on a call today!
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Ryan Redding
CEO Levergy
Author of The Book on Digital Marketing for Plumbing and HVAC Contractors
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