Increase Website Traffic & Book More Jobs With These 7 Local SEO Tips for HVAC Companies
In today’s world, there are only a handful of ways for someone to know who to call when they need help if their furnace won’t turn on. If you know a friend or family member that provides that service, you may turn to them. If you don’t, you might ask a neighbor or an acquaintance if they’d recommend someone to make it happen. Those options are great, but if those references aren’t reliable, or you don’t have those as options, you’re turning to Google to find someone in your vicinity who can handle that project for you and offer advice along the way.
HVAC contractors are not immune to this and may, in fact, be more reliant on someone Googling what they do than a lot of other types of businesses. If you own an HVAC company, or you’re employed by one, what can you do for your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign to book more jobs?
We’ll provide you with the top seven local SEO tips for HVAC companies to book more jobs here, so you can get started on your company growth:
1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Many new HVAC business owners aren’t familiar with Google’s free service offering of Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business), an area for them to portray their hours, contact information, photos of work done, business descriptions, and a lot more.
A well-optimized Google Business Profile can lead to more website traffic, more qualified leads, and increases in booked jobs. If you haven’t already built a Google Business Profile, that needs to be priority number one, and if that listing exists already, “just the basics” won’t cut it. Fill out every bit of information on that listing to the best of your abilities; add photos and a logo, build out the services list (air conditioning repair, furnace maintenance, indoor air quality, thermostat installation, etc.), ensure the hours match what is listed on your website, and above all else — make sure the name, address, and phone number are all correct.
Blue Corona specializes in the tracking and optimization of the Google Business Profile to take full advantage of everything that can be offered. If this listing is not in prime condition for your HVAC business, take care of that immediately so that you’re not missing out on jobs.
2. Claim and Optimize Your Major Online Directories
We’re all familiar with websites such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, Whitepages, HomeAdvisor, and the Better Business Bureau. Those are considered online directory listings, and there are many sites out there like those that can make a positive impact on your business’s online presence.
For any HVAC business, getting the major well-known listings claimed and optimized can help to boost the brand awareness, which can directly lead to leads. What’s often missed with online directory listings is that it’s not just your potential customers/clients that see those. Google also values those listings, as they’re just several more places shouting out your online consistency and contact information to them to verify your expertise better.
3. Put Together a Focused List of Keywords
The one thing most people can associate with Search Engine Optimization is typically “keywords.” Keywords help to communicate to search engines what your business emphasizes for products and services so that they know to use you as a reliable option when they need something related to those keywords.
Keywords are best utilized within:
- Published content throughout the website
- Blog articles
- Google Business Profiles
- Online directories
While keywords are important when it comes to building out content on your business, having a refined “focused” list of keywords is even more essential. Instead of throwing every HVAC-related phrase and keyword that you think could eventually be searched by someone somewhere, really narrow that list down to the most important services, geographies, and questions that searches would look for when trying to find an HVAC company near them.
“HVAC company near me” might be a phrase that’s searched, but what are people really looking for with that search? They’re looking for “HVAC company” or “AC replacement,” and Google’s algorithm is intelligent enough to know that if a business is ranking for those types of keywords, they’re going to be a good recommendation for someone looking for “HVAC company near me.” Refine and focus those keyword lists.
4. Build Out Your Website’s Geo-Targeted Content
A lot can be lost in the weeds with geo-targeted content, or content that is focused on a particular city or county. When it comes to geo-targeted content, it’s important to note that there are different strategies that work for different HVAC businesses.
Sometimes, building out specific pages dedicated to important service cities works best, and other times, getting narrower and creating service-specific city pages works best.
For your business, no matter what, make sure you have geo-targeted content for your “backyard” first, so Google can emphasize your physical location to searchers. Before you can start to show up for that huge city an hour away, or those suburbs that are surrounding you, Google needs to be able to verify that you are masters of your craft in your physical location first. Beyond that, representing your locations on the website will help you avoid missing out on leads from those areas as well.
5. Pay Attention to Your Metadata
Apart from keywords, “Title Tags” and “Meta Descriptions” are typically the terms people have heard the most. These two pieces of optimization fall under the category of “metadata,” and while they may be small in size, they can be very impactful in terms of converting searchers to actual website clicks — and as you know, more clicks help your chances of getting more leads.
In addition to title tags and meta descriptions, make sure that your website has all of its important pages being crawled and indexed by Google. Having a great-looking website with valuable content is great, but if Google has somehow not seen those pages or isn’t telling searchers they exist, then it won’t do you any good!
6. Stand Out With Unique Content
This category has two separate yet equal tips. The first is to ensure your content is unique in comparison to your competitors in the area and competitors across the country.
There’s no reason to have Google penalize the content you’ve written simply because it came from another website. The services and ideas across the HVAC industry are fairly universal, so when writing your content, make sure to focus on what makes your business stand out in comparison to the rest.
The second tip is to do your best to make your content unique from your own pages on your website. Having identical pages written for two separate cities you service while just swapping out the city name is unlikely to pay the dividends you’d be looking for compared to having two unique pages — each speaking to the city they’re referencing and the people in that city.
7. Match Your Content, Aesthetics, and Overall SEO to Searcher’s Intent
It’s important to have your potential leads in mind when writing content. Ask yourself, “what are they looking for?” and “does my content answer that?” If an individual is searching for “heating repair” and they get to a page on your website that talks about “thermostat repair” due to a mention of repairing heating tools, then that individual will leave the page and find help elsewhere.
The intent of searchers is just as important to represent through images and other aesthetics as well. How many times have you been to a website with an image that wasn’t what you were looking for and reacted by immediately leaving the page? Match your webpages with your searchers in mind.
Blue Corona: The Leader in HVAC Marketing
Becoming an expert in local SEO for HVAC companies industry takes a lot of hard work, dedication to clients, and a lot of know-how. Becoming an expert in the HVAC industry online for locals to see takes all of the same things! Build out your Google Business Profile and online directories, focus your keywords and your content to what searchers are truly looking for, get your technical side of the website in order with your metadata and geo-targeted content, and make sure you stand out with unique content.
Grow Your Business With Blue Corona
For more information on having our team of HVAC SEO experts take you and your business to the next level, contact us online or give us a call!
