11 SEO tips for the construction industry

Getting ranked high in Google can often times make or break your business. Being on page 4 instead of page 1 can mean your missing on meaning your missing out on hundreds if not thousands of website visitors that never go past page 1.

Here are 9 SEO (search engine optimization) for the local contractor to get yourself ranked higher in Google.

1) Start with Google My Business

Google My Business is Google app that indicates to Google your business hours, business location, and business categories.  With this information Google can more accurately rank your business, and provide your business on Google maps.  Does not mean your going to be on page 1 for local searches but it’s a start.

2) Make sure your NAP(name, address,phone) is accurate

To build trust with Google you need to have citations of your name, address, phone number across the web. If your NAP is different websites on varying websites this indicates to Google you are untrustworthy and could have negative impact on your search rankings.

It’s a good idea to Google yourself.  Check all your name, address and phone number (NAP) citations and make sure they are accurate.

3) Always include meta tags

Meta tags such as title and meta description are HTML tags that should be included in each page of your website. These tags tell Google what you are trying to rank for, and are key factors in Googles search algorithm.

Check all pages for meta tags and make sure they are accurate to the search terms you are hoping to rank for.

4) More pages more chances to rank

Often many websites will just have a home pages, service page and a contact page.  However, having such few pages limits the amount of keywords you can rank for.

To increases your chances of getting ranked for various search terms on Google we need to have lots of pages such as: location pages, service pages and blog pages.

But why blog? potential customers do a lot of research before making phone calls and continually blogging increases chances of getting seen. Furthermore, when a potential customer does find us having a resourceful blog will help us be seen as resourceful, and consequently we get the call.

There are many SEO tools we can use to understand what people are searching for and how difficult it is to rank for those keywords.  Make a list of possible blog topics and get blogging.

5) Create local content

Often times it can be difficult to rank for competitive keywords. For example terms with city and service i.e. Vancouver Plumber are going to be hard to rank for. But customers are searching for everything, and having other local content might have greater chances of getting ranked high in Google. Ideas for blog topics include:

• City permit information
• Local rebates
• Local design trends in your neighbourhoods.
• Local zoning regulations i.e how to turn house into a duplex.

6) Having good content will also lower your bounce ratio 

When people click on your url in search engine and immediately come back to Google after a few seconds.  This tells Google your content was not of quality, and did not satisfy search intent.  And because of this Google will often drop you down in the rankings.  In addition, Google has a tendency to increase your position in the rankings for a short time to test bounce ratio.  If viewers keep bouncing from your site this tells Google your content is of low quality. Often because of this Google will move you back down the SERP’s.

7) Get quality backlinks

Whether it’s review sites, blogs or the local lumber yard. Always try to get good quality backlinks.

Backlinks indicate to Google that you are a legit business.  And often times the more quality backlinks you have, the higher you will be in Google rankings.

In turn, is a good idea to reach out to businesses:

• Write reviews for products you use.
• Take at look at competitors backlinks for link ideas. There could be niche directories or niche blogs that you could get links from that you have missed.
• Use the skyscraper technique.  Suggest your content to other webmasters if they have broken links or content they’re currently linking to is not as good as yours.
• Suggest your content on forums and social media.  Also, a good marketing technique to be helpful and offer solutions to peoples problems

Get in the habit of checking niche blogs, follow industry writers and looking for ways to participate and share content.

8) Get reviews and testimonials

Reviews are essential to show potential customers that your are a respectable business. And the same can be said for Google who uses them as a key ranking factor in its algorithm.  Often times the business with most good reviews is going to be at the top of Google.

Get in the habit of asking for reviews. It is also a way to communicate with your client and to constantly improve business processes.

There are many directories in construction industry that we sign up for as well as get Google reviews.  These include: Yelp, Homestars, Houzz, and Rrusted Pros.

9) Have a portfolio that includes location

A portfolio is needed to display your projects. However portfolio descriptions and titles are a good way of using keywords.

Every project that is placed on your website, specify the location where you completed the project. This is a good way of including keywords in a non spammy, awkward way that tells Google the locations of your services

Also you never know. You do a commercial project and the client post a link to their portfolio project getting you a backlinks.

Furthermore, having a good descriptive portfolio is a good way to keep bounce ratio low and people checking out your site.

10) Create shareable content

Bloggers are always looking for content to share or to link to in their articles. Often articles that are interesting and stat based get a lot shares.  Examples include:

• Infographics
• Checklists
• How to guides

After completing content we should post this on social media.  And reach out to people in your industry and ask them to post on their resources you can do the same for their content.

Also, many SEO specialists suggest using the skyscraper technique. This technique where you find broken links on others site and suggest replacing broken links on their site with your content.

11) Participate and create roundabout posts

Roundabout posts are commonly found on blogs.  Usually, the author of the post will ask professionals in their industry to share a tidbit on a certain topic.  For example, in the construction industry a topic for a roundabout post could be –  share your favourite project management tool and why.  The author would then post on his blog everybody’s answer to the question in one post.

Roundabout posts are good in partake in and create them for your blog because:

• They help you develop relationships with others in your industry
• You can share links with the participants
• You and the participants can share on social media
• Often these are interesting to readers get shares and backlinks from readers