Why contractor SEO is a different job
SEO (search engine optimization) means showing up in Google without paying per click. If you've read advice on SEO for contractors, most of it was written for trades where someone needs help today. You're probably not in that business.
A plumber gets a call within minutes of a search. A homeowner planning a kitchen, an addition or a whole-house remodel might start in January, save photos through spring, and call you in June. They'll look at your site several times, show it to a spouse, and check you against two other firms. So the searches that matter are spread out over months:
- Early on: how much does a kitchen remodel cost, how long does an addition take, do I need a permit to move a wall.
- Comparing: general contractor versus design-build, what to ask a contractor, how contractor payments should work.
- Ready to talk: kitchen remodeler plus a town, home addition contractor plus a town.
Most contractors only write for that last group. You can earn the early readers cheaply, because a good cost guide is hard to write unless you've actually priced the work. If you take on general construction with no remodels, or build custom homes, your market will look different, and our page on SEO for home builders may fit better.
Show the work, one project at a time
A gallery of 60 unlabeled photos does less than eight real project write-ups. A project page gives Google and the homeowner something specific: what the house was like, what the owner wanted, what went wrong behind the wall, how long it took, and what town it was in.
Say you're a made-up two-crew remodeler outside Portland. "1950s ranch kitchen in Beaverton: load-bearing wall out, new LVL beam, 11 weeks start to finish" is a far better page than "Kitchen Remodel Project #14". Anyone with a 1950s ranch in Beaverton will read every word. Don't publish a budget without the owner's OK, and give a range if you do. Ask permission for photos and addresses too, and never show a house number.
These pages can also do the job that town pages do badly. A service-area page saying you work in Beaverton is thin. A Beaverton page linking to five Beaverton jobs, with notes on the local permit process and what the housing stock is like, is genuinely useful. Google's spam policies warn against substantially similar pages aimed at different cities, so if you've got nothing to say about a town yet, don't write the page.
Build one solid page per service you sell, too: kitchens, baths, additions, basements, whole-house. Drop any you don't want more of. Each of those pages should link to its related projects, so the proof sits next to the pitch.
Use your site to turn away the wrong jobs
This is the thing generic SEO advice never mentions. More traffic isn't the aim if it means more calls about small repairs when your crews need full remodels to stay busy.
So say it. "Most of our projects start at [your number]" on your service pages and contact form will cost you some inquiries, and those are the ones you wanted to lose. A contact form that asks about the project type, rough budget, timeline and town tells you who to call back first. You'll get fewer leads and better ones, which is the trade most small contractors want.
Some contractors worry that publishing a number scares off good customers. Sometimes it will. It's a judgment call, and if your work really does vary from small to huge, use ranges instead. But a page that dodges the question sends people to a competitor who answered it.
Write the cost guide nobody else will
Pricing is what people want to know first, and most contractors won't touch it. Write one honest guide for each major service. What drives the cost? What separates a modest bath from a high-end one? What surprises come up in older houses? Use ranges from your own recent jobs in your own market, date them, and update them once a year. If you're not sure about a figure, leave it out.
Do the same for permit questions. Say your county needs a structural engineer's letter for wall removals: a short page explaining that, written from having done it, is exactly what national sites can't produce. Look up the rules before you publish, and link to the local permit office. Our article drafts feature can start these from real search data, and marks the spots where your own numbers go. You can also write them yourself, from your estimating notes.
Your Google profile, and what to get right
You need a verified Google Business Profile, which is your free listing on Google Maps. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence partly comes from links and reviews, and for high-ticket work reviews do double duty, since they're what the spouse reads.
- Showroom or no showroom. If customers visit your office or showroom, keep the address and also add a service area, making you what Google calls a hybrid business. If they don't, remove the address.
- Service area. Up to 20 areas, not a radius, and no more than about two hours' drive. List where you really work.
- Categories. Google asks for as few as possible, describing what the business is. A remodeler adding every trade it subcontracts is doing what Google tells you not to do.
- The name. No "Kitchen Remodeling Experts" added to it unless that's on your sign. Google can suspend you.
Reviews are harder here because you've got fewer customers per year. A contractor finishing 15 jobs a year can't afford to forget one. Ask at the final walk-through, using the direct link Google provides, and ask everyone. Google doesn't allow you to pick only the happy ones. A short personal note from the owner is also harder to ignore than an automated message.
Licensing, and where your website can get you in trouble
Your state decides what your site must and can't say. California makes a clear example. Its Contractors State License Board says licensed contractors must include their license number in all forms of advertising, and the definition of advertising includes websites. It says you can't advertise work outside your license classification, though "A" and "B" contractors can advertise as general contractors. It also bars mentioning in ads that you're bonded, because that could suggest more protection than it gives.
Other states have different rules, so check with your own licensing board before publishing. This isn't legal advice. Even in a state with no such rule, put your license number on every page: the FTC tells homeowners to check a contractor's license and ask for proof of insurance, so make that check easy. If you're a roofer, our guide also covers the insurance wording some states restrict.
What to expect, and when to do something else
Your sales cycle is long, so your SEO results will show up late. A page published in winter might bring a call in spring and a signed contract in summer, and any report that only counts last month's leads will undersell it. Ask every lead how they found you. It's rough, but it'll beat most dashboards.
SEO is a poor fit if you have a full year's backlog from referrals. Keep your site tidy and your profile accurate, and don't spend more than that. It's also a poor fit if your work comes from competitive bids and developers, where relationships, prequalification and plan rooms matter more than Google.
Sojig, our product, suits an owner who wants this done without adding it to their week. It drafts articles and pages from real search data, tracks Google Maps rankings from each city you serve, and drafts review replies and profile fixes for you to approve. It can't write the project stories, since it doesn't know what was behind your clients' walls: drafts mark those spots for you. If you don't have time to add those, the pages won't be any good, and you'd be better off with one good write-up a month from your own notes.