Plumbers, electricians, drywallers, and more, all of these trades are the backbone of any economy. They do a lot of work each day and may be too busy to think about using SEO for tradesmen to get even more work.

But not all tradesmen are busy and one way to boost your workload would be to add SEO for trades to your online activities. Building a website to showcase your work and talent is easy.

Getting it to rank high enough to pick up more work is not. It takes as much work and time to employ the right SEO strategies to get your website and company name in front of internet users.

Local SEO For Trades- Google My Business

When homeowners and business owners need electrical, plumbing, or other trade work, they are not going to look for a company that has a national internet presence.

They want a local company they can count on. What that means is that your website should be optimized for local searches. People want tradesmen they can trust, they can rely on, and be able to contact at a moment’s notice.

One of the best ways to get your business in front of their eyes is to sign up for a Google My Business account (GMB). This account will work with Google Maps searches and places your name on those local maps so internet users can see if you are close enough to them to help them out.

All you have to do is sign up and fill out all the pertinent information. Then do regular posts so Google knows you are actively managing your account. It is simple and should not take a lot of your time.

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SEO For Tradesmen- Trades Directories

Not everyone likes Google so it would be a good idea to register your business in other online local directories. That way you stand a better chance of popping up in internet users’ searches.

There are a lot of these directories, and here are just a few of them to get you started:

  • Yelp
  • FourSquare
  • Angie’s List
  • Bing Places
  • HotFrog
  • Best of the Web
  • About Us

As with Google, make sure to fill in all the boxes and make sure your profile is 100% complete. You do not want to put all your eggs in one basket, if you do, then you may be missing out on job bids, contract work, or long-term employment.

Keep your business name and trade out there so you can be contacted for a variety of job opportunities. With your name in local directories, chances are your company will be seen by far more people and your website or phone should get a lot more traffic.

Local SEO For Trades Tips

Besides these directories, there are different SEO options you can utilize. While these strategies take time to research and implement, in the long run, the work will be worth it. Here are some good local SEO for trades tips:

1. Keep your company’s location and name up-to-date

One aspect of this tip is to make sure Google can trust your information. If the name and location are the same, then Google knows the information is correct and they can trust it.

But if it is different in different directories, Google will not know which name or address is the real one. Even if there is a mistake in your phone number, Google can stop listing your GMB information.

Make sure everything is the same in every directory you sign up at. Then keep the information consistent. What that means is do not write street on one directory and ST on another. Use one or the other all the time.

If you make a change, then update the information as soon as possible.

2. Target local keywords

You want the people in your town or city to find you. That means you need to use those keywords that direct them to your location in the same town. Be as specific as possible with those long-tailed keywords.

For example, if you say plumber, Michigan, you may not get a lot of local people calling you. A better long-tailed keyword would be plumber, Grand Rapids Michigan, or something similar.

You want your website to be in front of the people in your town who need a plumber. There are good keyword tools that will help you generate the right local keywords.

3. Use those local keywords correctly

In other words, place them in key but natural spots on your website. These can go in the following locations:

  • Headings- one time and in one H1 heading on one page
  • Title tags
  • Meta description
  • Content body – but do not stuff the keyword in your content. Nor use those keywords unnaturally. Both can get your website penalized
  • Footer- not often and probably just once

Another good spot to incorporate a top keyword will be in your website’s URL. Just remember to keep it short and sweet.

4. Create local content

Do some blogs about a local project you were involved in, what local organizations you support, key local events that you helped organize, and so on. Keep the content local for the most part.

The key to this activity is to keep it fresh and unique. This means you will have to do regular posting on your website to achieve this objective. Some examples of local blog posts would be how to find the best plumber, carpenter, and so on.

Or do some how-tos incorporating local locations. Then write about local news stories or special events. The idea is to make sure your content is 99% local. Every once in a while write something n a broader scale to provide some variety as well as bring some news to your community that will affect them.

5. Optimize your website for mobile

When people have emergency electrical, or plumbing issues, they are not going to wait till their PC warms up and gets ready to work. They will reach for their mobile [phones and use them to search for the tradesman they need.

That means your website needs to be mobile-phone-ready and friendly. If it isn’t they will move on to a website that is. If your website can’t be read on a mobile phone then you will be missing important work.

In times when there are no emergencies, about one-third of all internet searches are conducted on mobile phones. People find it easier to use their phones because they can use them just about anywhere.

Take advantage of this need for convenience and optimize your website to be mobile phone ready.

6. Optimize your website for voice

There will be those times when people have their hands full. If they are using any device that takes voice commands, like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant, then, they will call out what they need.

Those voice commands may be something like ‘local electrician near me’. If your website does not have vocal keywords included in it, you may miss out on more work you need at the moment.

Since your competition may not be optimized for voice, and most are not, then this move will give you that edge over your competition.

7. Use location pages

If your trade company has offices in a variety of towns and cities, then look to create location pages. Instead of grouping them all together on one web page, put them on separate pages.

This should increase your visibility in those local areas and boost your traffic in many cases. Do the same thing for each page, optimize for their local areas, and make sure they are mobile-friendly as well as voice ready.

8. Manage your reviews

Word of mouth is a business boost or a business killer. Your GMB account and other directories should have spaces for customer reviews. The positive ones you do not have to worry about as Google will see that as a reputation builder as well as being an authority.

It is the negative reviews that you need to manage. One way to do that is to contact those people who gave you those bad reviews. Find ways to resolve the problems they listed.

Taking the time to reach out to dissatisfied customers is one way to keep those customers instead of having them go to your competition. This effort shows everyone that you are doing your best to keep your customers happy.

Some Final Words

You may not think that as a tradesman, SEO for tradesman is not for you. That is not the case anymore. You and your business need to change with the times and improve your online presence.

To do that, just contact our company. We have over 10 years of SEO consulting experience and we can help expand your internet presence. All it takes is one phone call and asking a few questions to see what our company offers your trade business.

When you need a boost come to the best. Call us today.

SEO for tradesmen

Last Updated in 2023-02-27T23:07:57+00:00 by Lukasz Zelezny

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