Outrank Your Plumbing Competition in Google

Google is a dominant force in all of our everyday lives. If you think about it, when was the last day you didn’t Google something? You may use Google to check the news, ask a random question in your head. You might even schedule all your appointments for clients’ plumbing work on Google Drive!

When Google is this dominant, regular-old advertisement is increasingly becoming obsolete. To stay ahead of the game, you have to dip your hands into the digital marketing world.

Did you know that Google receives over 13 BILLION search inquires per day while 75% of those inquiries never go past the first page of Google?

If that doesn’t shock you, let’s read off some numbers about local searches.

46% of ALL search inquires are for local intent, meaning, when someone in your area Googles something, they’re usually looking for a local good or service within proximity. While 75% of searchers never venture off the first page, a whopping 55% of ALL searchers never go past the top three search results.

For your plumbing business to survive, getting to the top of the search results should be a priority, but how is that done?

That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play.

SEO is an “organic” way to grow your presence on relevant searches without having to pay for advertising. The word “grow” essentially means SEO strategy won’t show results overnight. You must cultivate a relationship between your business’ website and the Google algorithm. Once this is achieved, you’ll be sitting at the top of the search engine results indefinitely.

However, it is important to note that this relationship needs to be maintained. Regardless of maintenance or not, let’s start talking about the “grow” part instead.

Here are four SEO tips for outranking your competition!

Know Your Keywords

Keywords are the focal point of your website and the archetype of your business. The keywords are your business in a nutshell and should be chosen carefully. Look for the words about your trade that best describes the overall experience of your service and details of your craftsmanship.

There are three types of keywords you can use:

1. General keywords are bread and butter. These keywords will appear on every page of your website, whether it’s blogs or service pages.
   
   A great example would be “Emergency Plumbing Services Minneapolis.”
2. Specific keywords are more refined keywords that may help with more niche searches on plumbing services.
   
   Let’s say a young married couple just bought a house a year ago. They notice their hot water almost disappears one day. They know it’s the water heater, but that’s all the knowledge they possess. Their next step is to Google “water heater repair near me.”
   
   If you offer that type of service and your pages on your website match the search inquiry, you’ll be shot to the top of the search results since Google is trying to find them a solution in the shortest time possible.
3. Structured keywords are a balance of the first two types of keywords. Maybe your plumbing business offers custom sink or toilet installation. Formulating keywords that state your business but also show off any secondary services would fall under the category of structured keywords.

Link Building

Link building is one of the most important features of growing good SEO, albeit being one of the biggest challenges. This is where your website and business will gain credibility with the Google algorithm. By citing sources and backing up your services, linking building doubles back to your websites and relies on the facts.

There are two types of links you can use:

1. Internal Links are like exit ramps to the rest of your website. These types of links keep customers on your website for longer, which will generally lead to a sale. Words you will generally find hosting an internal link are your keywords.
2. External Links are generally any factual content you want to share to reinforce that what you’re saying is the truth, and the truth is effective.
   
   In fact, 99% of all top results on search results have at least one external link. So even if you’re writing a blog post about “local plumbing codes,” you should link out to the government website, which has a public record of those codes. It ensures the Google algorithm your upfront knowledge of the plumbing codes while taking the time to add trust by verification.
   
   Never link out to your competitors, as this will surely drive business to them!

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Would you believe that 60% of all web searches come from a mobile device? This number won’t be going down anytime soon, as it is expected to be at about 70% by the year 2025.

Yup, mobile devices are one of the number one tools in modern society. It’s almost impossible to navigate through life without one these days. What this means is that your plumbing business should optimize its mobile friendliness!

Start by compressing the images on your website. Doing so will help mobile devices load it faster. The next step would be to leverage your cache and to use accelerated mobile pages as your HTML.

Location Is Key

As you know by now, Google searches are for local intent over half the time. That’s why local search engine optimization is a must. Continuously stating your location and your service areas is a key way Google will trust your business for relevant local searches.

A great way to grow your location is by utilizing “Google My Business.” Chances are, there’s already a GMB account for your business – all you have to do is verify!

Once verified, add your content! Add links to your websites and photos of past services. Putting your location, services areas, and your service hours are great additions to full optimization.