SEO for a plumber?
-
Hello,
How does a small, local business win at SEO (without abusing directories, articles, and paid links)? It seems that everyone is saying "create unique content", but that just doesn't seem realistic for a small plumber in a big metro area. One might suggest coming up with helpful articles about plumbing tips, etc., but there are thousands of spun articles on article directories already.
On page optimization is in place, we are listed in the main directories, we've asked the people we know to link to us, and we are engaged in social media.
What would you recommend next?
Thanks,
Will
-
Also, I suggest you read this article about what to do with Google Places: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-you-may-need-to-hide-your-google-places-address-asap
The essence is that if you want to expand your local reach, you might have to hide the address in Google local results (as plumbers usually visit their customers and not the other way round).
-
When it comes to small business that have more to do with services in a particular area, I always recommed 2 things as most important!
- Get Local! This dosent mean only Google but all business listing websites, not only that but optimize the listings properly and get reviews on it… Once you will have more reviews people who are finding you will more likely to convert in to sales.
- Content! This never means writing 450 words of content every day and put it on Ezine articles… but content can be in any shape Videos, Images, Articles or anything… if you can make tips and suggestion videos in a formate like DIY tips or something that will have a great impact on conversions…
My Recommendations for a small business website that offer services within the limited area!
-
Are there any local publications (on-line/off-line/both) that would appreciate guest articles? Remember direct traffic is also good!
Are their options for seasonal content? Frost, students going into their first rented accommodation at the start of the academic year...
Another way you can stand apart from the spun content is by carefully defining your target audience and then writing content that specifically addresses the needs of that audience.
Are there any trends/patterns in the types of customers/types of problems they have?
Where do each of these customer types congregate? Can you create awareness of your offering in this place?
As James mentions, capturing content (video/testimonies,pictures etc) as part of they day job makes it a lot less of a burden.
What are your competition doing? Remember you don't have to build the most awesome plumbing information portal - you just need to be better than the competition! What are they doing right? What could you do better.
Are there any news worthy stories? We regularly get stories about the left of copper pipes etc in the local press - are there any way you can help out local journalists?
Good luck!
-
Did some consulting for a plumber a while ago.
It is a very competitive area that is for sure.
- Some advice from what has worked:
1. Get people in the office to make a blog, take photos of jobs, document things online, write blog posts online.
2. Take photos of jobs - Upload them to flickr and other websites, drive traffic back to the website.
3. Take videos of testimonials/jobs and put them on Facebook/ YouTube (link back to the site)
4. Find associations and build badges back to your website, suppliers anything.
5. Do some community work if you have time and get links back from community websites.
- Make sure you pick jobs which look good I know plumbing is a dirty job
I mean all this stuff is not easy but even with a budget of under $1,000 you can do it you just have to be wise with the money.
Kind Regards,
James Norquay
-
The same old crap spun articles that are posted on crap directories are of no value to your customers because they are not from YOU!!!
YOUR customers/friends/colleagues/mom/ WILL take the cool stuff you write & post to your site and they will pass it around, that is the true value. Not just to be posted on someone else's blog to have your client base engage with your site through your writings...
Other ideas are to become involved with chamber of commerce, local co-ops, parent organizations...
If you are a small local business become involved in small local business events, and venues.
Almost every metro area has several "buy local" charters go find them and join up, not only is it good SEO but it is great person to person networking too...If I meet YOU at my local business networking event & I like you, YOU are the plumber I'm going to call when I need one...
Another thing, I have notice the small businesses might not be as computer/SEO/net savvy as the larger ones, so by learning good SEO that you are doing now it automatically puts you in league with the big boys...How many other small plumbers have hCard microformat? It takes some study but it puts you ahead of the pack.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Brightcove SEO Best Practices?
My company has decided to go with Brightcove as a video platform so we can better monetize all of the video content we create and better customize the experience as well. We have a pretty decent YouTube presence, and I won't let them stop using that because it would totally alienate us from part of our audience. So I was hoping someone could help me with the following: Are we able to keep videos hosted on YouTube as well as Brightcove without any risk of duplicate content? If we use the Brightcove player to embed videos in our on-site content, are we hindering potential organic search visibility? On the embeds, it's looking like it's using an iframe in our content (https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/sativa-indica-and-hybrid-whats-the-difference-between-cannabis-ty) - We're using a Brightcove WP plugin for the embed, but I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on a better way to implement/if this is even an issue at all. Are there any other general best practices/insights anyone has working with this platform? I found this article on their site, but I was wondering if there was anything else I should consider. Thank you in advance for any insights/answers!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | davidkaralisjr0 -
International SEO Options?
Hi we currently have a site which is a example.com domain in the Australian market (we have geo-targeted to Australia within search console). We are looking to expand to United States. I have added the potential options down below, just wondering which one you guys think would be best from a SEO and practical standpoint? Or if there are other options i should consider? Option 1 The Australian domain is strong so this option takes this into consideration. Keep example.com (Australian) Add on: Sub-Directory for US Which would be: example.com/us/ In Search Console set the sub-folder to target US and also setup hreflang tags. Setup the US site on the sub-directory. Option 2 Add sub-folders for both Aus and US example/au/ (Australian)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jaynamarino
example/us/ (United States) Setup hreflang targeting. Cons
Need to set up redirects for the current site to new location which is .com/au/ might also see drop in performance due to redirects. Cheers.0 -
SEO Experts: Where did you start?
Hi all! I'm beginning to travel down the road of becoming an SEO expert! I've attended the latest few webinars on Moz, and have started watching the White Board Fridays. However I'm wondering, for the current SEO Experts, how did you get to where you are today? I.e. What books did you read? Did you pay for classes or just learn everything from Moz? Where is a good place to get an SEO Expert Certification/Is it necessary? How long did it take you to become an expert? (Stuff like that) I suppose I'm looking to make a list for myself, organizing what I should learn first, and then create a timeline moving forward. Thanks for your help Mozzers! - Briana B.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JCWhelan13 -
How to find a good seo company?
Hello there, Can anyone recommend how to go about finding a good seo company?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | edward-may0 -
Yoast seo title question
I was referred to this plugin and have found it to be the most irritating and poorly designed plugin in the world. I want to be able to set my titles without it changing my page headers as well. For instance - If I set my title to be "This is my article name | site name" it will make my H1 tag read the same. I do not want or desire this nonsense. Why would they think this is something wise? Why would I want my site name on every single H1 tag on my site? How can I fix this? I only want my title to be my title. I want my H1 tag to remain the post/page name that I define in wordpress.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Atomicx0 -
SEO frustration...is my website too busy?
My real estate website, www.RiverValleyGroup.com, is currently not ranked in the top-50 for any of the keywords that I am currently targeting. I am targeting keywords such as 'Louisville homes', 'homes for sale in Louisville KY', etc....I am starting to think maybe my site needs to be revamped? I'm fairly new to SEO and have no idea how to get on the 1st page of Google for targeted keywords. Please help!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | gohawks77900 -
Server Migration, Does it effect SEO?
About to go through a server migration. My intitial thought is that a change in servers shouldn't really change my rankings. But I've heard rumors... Can a server migration change rankings? Why?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Thos0030 -
Do widgets and gadgets affect SEO?
I have added a number of widgets and gadgets to my site that I suspect act like Iframes. If true do these widgets and gadgets and the content that they are linked to help or hurt my site from an SEO perspective? Examples are facebook gadget, wordpress blidget, weather gadget, google maps widget.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | casper4340