SEO for Tradesmen

The trades are a lucrative way to make a living while doing fulfilling work on a daily basis, from plumbing to electrical, carpentry to welding, bricklaying, painting, and a whole lot more. 

But finding a way to stand out from all the other tradesmen in your town can be virtually impossible since you all do the same thing – even if you do it for cheaper, serve a higher-end audience, or provide better customer service.

The best way to win more business over your competition is to invest in local SEO for tradesmen, getting your site ranking high in Google. 

After all, people who need to hire a tradesman will almost always run a quick internet search if they aren’t able to get a referral from someone they trust. They’ll typically choose one of the first 2-3 options they see.

Successfully executing an SEO campaign can turn your website into your most valuable asset, bringing in qualified leads on autopilot without having to dump money into advertising. We’ll cover the basics of SEO that tradesmen need to know and share tips on getting started.

Your time is better spent serving clients, though. Leave the local SEO to the experts at Proactive Online Marketing. With more than 15 years of SEO success, we’re equipped to get your site ranking quickly so your phone starts ringing more often!

The Basics of SEO That Tradesmen Need to Know

Let’s start with some of the basics of SEO that tradesmen need to know. This stands for search engine optimization, and it’s basically how you show up online when someone in your area searches for the service you offer. 

Whether it’s “emergency plumber near me,” “local roofer,” or “electrician in [your town],” Google decides which businesses to show based on how well their websites are built, what kind of content they have, how accurate their listings are, and how trustworthy they seem.

Search engines like Google use bots to crawl websites and extract information, then organize them into a giant index. Google quickly sorts through that index to show the most relevant and helpful results when someone types in a search.

While you could just build a website and hope for the best, smart tradesmen recognize the massive potential SEO has to offer. If you don’t already know why SEO is important for small businesses, we’ll take a look below.

Should You Invest in SEO as a Tradesman?

The short answer is yes. Investing in SEO for tradesmen means more phone calls, more quotes, and more booked jobs at a far lower cost per lead than through traditional advertising methods.

Tradesmen SEO brings the right people to you without constant effort, ongoing ad spend, or playing middleman with lead gen companies. Chances are, most of your leads right now come from a mix of referrals, paid ads, and third-party lead platforms.

But referrals are unpredictable, ads are expensive, and lead platforms sell the same job to multiple businesses, creating a race to the bottom. SEO flips that script because it prevents you from chasing after leads. Instead, they come to you. 

They’re more qualified leads too, because they know what they need – they just don’t know who they’re going to hire for it yet. If you’re not investing in tradesmen SEO you’re letting your competitors who are investing in it capture these leads from you.

Be clear, SEO isn’t going to deliver an overnight ROI. It’s a long-term game which means you need to be committed to putting the work in for weeks or months, or hire an agency to do it for you so you can focus on the day-to-day of running your business.

Here’s the best part about local SEO for tradesmen, though. Once you do the early legwork and get your site ranking, your efforts will compound, and you’ll continue to see an ROI without having to put forth much additional effort!

You want a more predictable flow of work, fewer slow weeks, and less stress about where the next job is coming from. SEO is the answer. We’ll show you how to get started below.

How to Do Local SEO for Tradesmen

We want to reiterate that most tradesmen should not run their own local SEO campaign. You’ve got better things to focus on than spending days or weeks learning the principles and then actually doing all the heavy lifting to get the strategy implemented.

Just as your customers are better off calling you to handle a job than trying the DIY approach, we highly recommend you get in touch with our team today at Proactive Online Marketing. We can help you see better results in less time, allowing you to focus on what you do best.

But if you’re passionate about taking matters into your own hands or just want to see what goes into doing local SEO for tradesmen, here’s a 30,000-foot view of the process.

Set Up and Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

If you only have time to do one thing for your local SEO, this is it. Your Google My Business (now called Google Business Profile) is what helps you show up in map results when people search for things like “roofer near me” or “emergency electrician.”

It’s free, quick, and brain-dead easy. Yet, so few tradesmen have their GBP fully set up and optimized. Worse, many don’t claim it at all! Start by verifying your profile, then add accurate details: your business name, phone number, website, hours, and service areas.

Make sure you choose the right category, whether you’re a roofer, plumber, electrician, etc., and upload real photos of your work, your team, and your trucks to build trust and authority. 

It also helps to post updates and respond to every review you earn. Speaking of which, you’ll want to reach out to previous clients and get reviews if you don’t have any yet. This is a huge trust signal not just for real users reading your profile but also for Google.

Find the Best Keywords for Your Business

The real foundation of SEO tradesmen need to get right is keyword research, especially if you’re doing keyword research for multiple locations. This can make or break your success. 

Keywords are phrases people type into Google when they need help, such as “fence repair in Sacramento” or “licensed plumber Fresno.” You can imagine how valuable being the #1 result for these types of terms is as a tradesman.

Start by using tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or Ahrefs to see what people are searching for in your area. Look at the search volume (how many people are looking for that term) and the competition (how hard it’ll be to rank).

Don’t fall into the trap of chasing volume, though. Relevance is the most important thing to consider, and we recommend focusing on long-tail variations. These are more specific phrases with lower competition, and they tend to convert better.

For instance, it could be more valuable to rank for “bathroom tiler in [your town]” than to be buried on page 7 for a general term like “tiler.” 

Here’s a shortcut: you can take a competitor in your town who’s doing really well in Google and plug their site into a tool like Ahrefs to see which pages drive the most traffic and which keywords those pages are ranking for. 

Then, mirror your site architecture accordingly! There’s no need to reinvent the wheel with SEO.

Creating Landing Pages for Services and Educational Blog Content

Your website needs two types of content: landing pages and blog posts. Each plays an important part in bringing in more qualified leads for your business.

Landing pages, also called service or location pages, are built to convert users who are ready to hire for a job now. This is where you’ll target keywords like “Roof Repairs in [City],” “Domestic Electrical Work,” “24/7 Emergency Plumber,” or whatever your trade is.

Each of these pages should focus on one specific service in a single location and include the basics: what do you do, where do you do it, why should someone choose you, and how do they take the next step? The content is pretty concise, and you’ll want to use graphics and CTAs.

Blog content, on the other hand, helps bring in users who may not be quite ready to hire for a job, but they’re somewhere in the decision-making journey. This type of content is still essential for search visibility and trust.

These pages answer common questions or explain parts of the job: “How much does it cost to rewire a house?” or “What to do if your boiler stops working in winter.” 

You’re not selling here, at least, not directly. That’s what separates good blog content from great blog content – the ability to provide so much value and build trust that customers end up coming back to choose you when they do need to hire for a job.

You can also get service pages ranking higher by linking back to them in your blog content and then, going out and building backlinks to those blog posts. Wait, what are backlinks, and how do they impact SEO for tradesmen? 

Acquire Backlinks to Rank Faster

If landing pages and blog content symbolize the engine in a vehicle, backlinks are the fuel that make the car go. These are links from other websites pointing to yours. Google looks at them as votes of confidence. 

The more quality sites linking to you, the more authority your site gains, and in turn, the better you rank. Start with the easy wins, like submitting your business to local directories like Yelp, Checkatrade, Rated People, and your local Chamber of Commerce.

After that you can look for higher-quality opportunities, like reaching out to local news outlets, writing guest posts for home improvement blogs, or partnering with real estate agents and property managers who might be willing to link to your site.

Even one or two strong links from reputable sources can move the needle in local rankings. Be careful about the types of links you acquire, though. The wrong links can have the opposite intended effect and send negative trust signals.

This is just another example of how much nuance goes into running a successful tradesmen SEO campaign, and why it’s worth hiring an expert to avoid causing more harm than good. 

Focus on Technical SEO Last

 Technical SEO matters, but only once the foundation for your tradesmen SEO strategy has been laid out. That means keyword targeting, service pages, blog content, and backlinks should come first. Then, you can focus on making sure your site loads quickly and is mobile-friendly.

Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix and confirm your site works smoothly on phones and tablets since that’s how most people will find you. Fix broken links, tidy up page URLs, and use clear headings on each page.

Don’t get lost chasing minor technical tweaks. The biggest levers you can pull with SEO for tradesmen are content and links, so focus most of your effort there as we wrap this guide up. 

Better yet, press the fast-forward button on your tradesmen SEO strategy with a seasoned professional, like the team here at Proactive Online Marketing!

Stop Chasing Leads; Let Them Come to You With the Help of the #1 Local Tradesmen SEO Agency!

There’s no question about why SEO is worth it for small businesses, it’s just a matter of figuring out how you’re going to harness the power of SEO for your business. 

While you can take our tradesmen SEO tips and hit the ground running right now, this really is something best left to the experts at Proactive Online Marketing.

Think about it like this – would you recommend one of your customers try to handle their own plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roofing, or any other trade you might specialize in? Absolutely not! 

The same applies to trying to run your own SEO campaign as a tradesman, albeit with fewer safety concerns. You could just end up spinning your tires and wasting hours, days, and weeks of work. The opportunity cost of not hiring a tradesmen SEO agency is too high.

From SEO for junk removal companies to plumbers, roofers, electricians, carpenters, and every trade in between, our success rate speaks for itself. Get in touch today to take the next step towards dominating your city and earning a reputation as the go-to tradesman around!

Bryan Halverson

Bryan Halverson is the Owner of Proactive Online Marketing, an SEO-focused Digital Marketing Agency that covers the Central Valley and beyond. For any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out at bhalverson@proactiveonlinemarketing.com