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Local SEO Strategies For Plumbers And Other Trades

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Plumbers and other tradespeople are essential in modern society, yet they face one huge barrier to entering new markets: Peeling away customers from the competition.

Many homeowners have established relationships with plumbers and contractors, making breaking into certain markets difficult.

Thankfully, plumbers have ways to excel in a new market, particularly when capturing new homeowners or performing emergency services where other plumbers are unavailable.

The best sources for seizing these opportunities are Google Search, and you can improve your visibility there using local SEO.

In this guide, you’ll find tips and tactics to help plumbers, electricians, contractors, and other tradespeople and businesses break into a new market, build a customer base, and expand your brand.

Off-Site SEO Essentials

One of the biggest traffic sources for all businesses comes from ‘near me’ searches, particularly on mobile phones.

By optimizing your Google Business Profile listing and third-party directory listings, you can build your business’s exposure and increase the number of incoming calls to your business.

Google Business Profile Optimization

Your Google Business Profile shows in local search pack results and is displayed in Google Maps searches.

As a result, optimizing your Google Business Profile listing enables customers to call your business, drive to its location, or visit its website with just one click.

Screenshot from Google, July 2022

To optimize your Google Business Profile listing correctly, follow these tips and dive deeper with this guide.

  • Ensure consistent NAP information (i.e., name, address, and phone number).
  • Verify your business on Google Maps.
  • Respond to customer reviews on your profile with helpful advice or kind responses.
  • Write a description of your business and its services.
  • Use high-resolution and relevant photos to showcase your brand and company.

Local Directories

Next, you’ll want to optimize your brand’s business profile on other third-party sites that customers frequently use to find plumbers, including:

  • The Better Business Bureau.
  • Yellow Pages.
  • Angie’s List.
  • Yelp.
  • Houzz.
  • Home Advisor.
  • LinkedIn.
  • Iambuilders.com.
  • Blue Book.

While some sites like Yelp have waned over the years, these directory sites are still important business referral sources.

Some sites provide ranked lists of different businesses based on customer reviews, which can furnish social proof and trust for your business (if you get enough positive reviews).

Moz offers tools for local citation building, or you can manually claim each business yourself, following the tips above to optimize your social media presence.

Build A Social Media Presence

While engaging with customers on social media is not critical for many contractors or trades, sources like Facebook can be valuable for customers looking for special announcements, business hours, and reviews.

Build a social media page for Facebook and LinkedIn, providing high-resolution photos and clear NAP info for easy contact.

Managing Reviews

Finally, you’ll need to manage reviews on external third-party websites to build customer trust.

Generally, you should analyze each third-party site at least once a month, if not more, to see what people are saying about your business and how you can improve.

Think of reviews like personal referrals – which are already a massive source of revenue for your business.

According to one survey, 84% of customers of service businesses and tradespersons said reviews are ‘important’ or ‘very important’ in their decision-making process.

Follow these tips to manage online reviews for your plumbing business:

  • Encourage customers to leave a review after a positive service or engagement.
  • Encourage customers to leave reviews on your website and all marketing materials.
  • Respond to positive reviews.
  • Respond to negative reviews with solutions or an apology.

Don’t worry too much about negative reviews, as most customers will be equally dismayed by overtly harsh reviews.

However, responding to negative reviews with a positive service engagement could build more customer trust over time.

It also helps you show off your customer service skills.

On-Page SEO Essentials

Now that you’ve optimized your business listing on strategic third-party websites, it’s time to optimize your website for local SEO results.

Local Keyword Research

To begin, you’ll need to conduct local keyword research to see which terms drive the most qualified traffic to your website.

Open up a free Google Ads account and use the Keyword Planner tool to search for keywords in your area.

For example, if you operate in Houston, you could use “plumbers houston” as your seed keyword and filter your search for Houston, Texas, to uncover further ideas:

conduct local keyword researchScreenshot from Google Ads, July 2022

Based on this list, “plumber houston tx” and “houston plumbing services” have less competition and can be easily won in local search results.

You can also filter this list by “top of page bid” and look at the highest bids for the most commercially relevant keywords.

You can also take a competitor from your initial keyword list and plug in their URL to see which keywords they rank for.

You can add a semantic filter to adjust your results for strictly plumbing-related keywords.

Building a list of these keywordsScreenshot from Google Ads, July 2022

Building a list of these keywords will be critical for optimizing meta tags on top-level pages and developing content ideas.

Meta Tag Optimization

Now that we have our list of seed keywords, we need to apply them to our web pages.

The first area will be your homepage, where you can customize the title tag to include your brand name and a seed keyword, such as “Matt’s Plumbing Company | Plumbers Houston.”

You will need to optimize the metadata on each page with relevant keyword data to make pages more likely to rank for search results.

This metadata will include:

  • Title Tag/H1: The primary keyword related to a page and the page’s topic. Title tags must be between 50-60 characters, or titles will be truncated in SERPs (search engine results page).
  • Meta Description: A brief description of your webpage, which includes your seed keyword and a call-to-action to read or find out more. Meta descriptions are ideally between 145–160 characters.
  • Header Tags: The subtopics or dividing headers across each page. Each header should include a relevant long-tail keyword.
  • URLs: URLs should retain a simple structure with your site name followed by the name of the title of the webpage.
  • Keyword Usage: Seed keywords should be used in the webpage’s introduction and 1–5% throughout the text document.

Local Schema

While local keyword research will certainly help Google or Bing index your website for local search results, nothing is guaranteed.

To help search engines index your website properly, use schema markup on web pages to properly label and index them.

While schema markup can be complicated, Google’s Structured Data Tool simplifies the task.

Insert your URL and add the appropriate schema markup to ensure each page on your website is properly indexed by Google.

Some common schema markup data that will apply to your plumbing business include:

  • Geo.
  • Type.
  • Opening Hours.
  • Telephone.
  • Address.
  • Review.
  • Price.

See our Complete Guide to Local Schema for more useful tips.

Mobile Responsiveness

Another big component of local search is mobile search.

Many local searches for your business will be conducted via smartphones, so you can’t ignore the importance of mobile.

Thankfully, most modern CMS options come with responsive web design.

However, to ensure your website runs smoothly on mobile, consider the following tips:

  • Compress all images.
  • Reduce clicks and leverage scrolling.
  • Keep webpages short and simple.
  • Insert click-to-call buttons and icons.
  • Limit the amount of JavaScript.
  • Avoid large videos (leverage YouTube instead!)

Site Speed Optimization

Fortunately, by optimizing for mobile, you’ll also be optimizing for page speed.

To increase page speeds, consider the following tips:

  • Minify CSS.
  • Enable file compression.
  • Use browser caching.
  • Clean up redirects.

You should still identify page speed issues using Google’s Page Speed Insights for more helpful information.

Creating Consistent NAP

As a final tip for this section, it’s crucial to ensure that all contact information (name, address, phone number = NAP) and branding are consistent across all your pages.

For example, inserting a click-to-call button and your address in the top corner of each page (or the footer) will ensure customers can contact you whenever they’re ready.

Content Essentials

With your website in place and ready to rock, it’s time to build landing pages for your most important services and service regions.

Service Pages

Ideally, your UX should retain very simple navigation, with your target keyword (such as “Plumbers Houston”) and all auxiliary services as secondary or service pages.

These pages could include services, such as:

  • Emergency Plumbing.
  • Toilet Repairs.
  • Pipe Leaks.
  • Garbage Disposal Repair.
  • Water Heater Services.
  • Sewage.
  • Drain Cleaning.
  • Gas Piping.

These should all be located under a general Plumbing Services top-navigation page where users can explore different services, find out pricing, repair specifics, etc.

Regional Pages

Another important consideration for plumbers and contractors is whether your business serves a large metro area or different locations.

For example, if you provide plumbing services to most of New York City, you could create regional pages for Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens with a list of various services.

Furthermore, if there is enough keyword volume to warrant those pages, you could create regional pages for neighborhoods in New York, such as the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and SoHo.

These pages may also rank for ‘near me’ searches in those neighborhoods.

Creating A Blog

Finally, you could also consider starting a blog if you feel it will give you a leg up on the competition.

Blogs provide several benefits for local businesses, including plumbers, such as:

  • Providing customers with easy DIY tips and repairs.
  • Separating your brand from other plumbers as a local authority.
  • Providing you with engaging content to share on your social channels.
  • Ranking for long-tail keywords relevant to your business to drive traffic.

You can also consider sharing DIY and tutorial videos on platforms like YouTube, which link back to your website.

Video content is highly shareable and easy to consume, giving your business much-needed exposure.

Link Building Strategies

While we discussed ways to drive traffic from third-party websites, link building can be an exceptionally useful tool in your arsenal to give your business a leg-up on the competition.

Link building – whether it’s using rel=follow or nofollow links – directs qualified traffic to your site and customers to your business.

If you don’t have the money to spend on a tool like Ahrefs, here are some free local link building tips to help you drive traffic to your website:

  • Reach out to newspapers in your town that list local contractors and ask for a link to your site.
  • Reach out to local bloggers who have interviewed local businesses in your area to contribute a quote or interview.
  • Write guest posts on websites with local influencers to contribute some DIY repair tips and other related content.
  • Sponsor a local team, volunteer, or host an event that forces journalists and bloggers to write about your business.

These tips will help give your brand exposure, which, in turn, will drive more customers to your business over time.

Digital Advertising

Online advertising can also be very effective if you want to drive quick exposure and calls to your business.

For example, advertising on Google Ads allows you to bid on the keywords you’re trying to rank for, so your website shows up above the local search pack.

online advertising can be very effective. Screenshot from Google Ads, July 2022

While I suggest enlisting help or taking a course to begin advertising on Google, here are a few helpful tips to help you promote your plumbing business on Google:

  • Use geotargeting to narrow your audience to a specific region.
  • Insert negative keywords to reduce ad spend.
  • Leverage location-specific keywords to compete with ‘“near me” and organic results.
  • Enable ad extensions that provide easy call options and list your business address.
  • Create landing page copy that’s relevant to your ad and includes relevant keywords, high-quality images, and an easy way to contact your business.
  • A/B test ads to see which ad copy generates the best performance.
  • Use longer tail keywords with less competition or change your bid strategy to limit CPC (cost per click).

In addition, Facebook provides sophisticated audience research tools that allow you to advertise to customers based on demographic information, such as whether they’re a homeowner, over a certain age, or own residential/commercial real estate.

Email Marketing

Finally, I want to mention email marketing, as it can be a powerful tool for local businesses.

Plumbers can benefit from email marketing by sending re-engagement emails that remind previous customers of your business, especially if you work with residential and commercial residents.

You can send emails to advertise local promotions in your area, such as discounted inspections or preventative maintenance.

However, email marketing can be expensive, especially for a trade that relies heavily on emergency repairs.

For this reason, email marketing is not truly necessary for plumbers unless you actively create content, engage with the community, or run promotions.

Conclusion

SEO for tradespeople and their businesses involves many of the same strategies as with other local businesses.

However, tradespeople require special consideration for their unique business model.

Some forms of marketing, such as social media and email marketing, may not be as effective as advertising or reputation management.

Hopefully, by following these tips, you can establish a positive web presence for your business and start getting more phone calls.

More resources:


Featured Image: Khosro/Shutterstock



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Google Updating Cryptocurrency Advertising Policy For 2024

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Google Updating Cryptocurrency Advertising Policy For 2024

Google published an announcement of upcoming changes to their cryptocurrency advertising policies and advises advertisers to make themselves aware of the changes and prepare to be in compliance with the new requirements.

The upcoming updates are to Google’s Cryptocurrencies and related products policy for the advertisement of Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts. The changes are set to take effect on January 29th, 2024.

Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts are financial products that enable investors to trade shares in trusts holding substantial amounts of digital currency. These trusts provide investors with equity in cryptocurrencies without having direct ownership. They are also an option for creating a more diversified portfolio.

The policy updates by Google that are coming in 2024 aim to describe the scope and requirements for the advertisement of Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts. Advertisers targeting the United States will be able to promote these products and services as long as they abide by specific policies outlined in the updated requirements and that they also obtain certification from Google.

The updated policy changes are not limited to the United States. They will apply globally to all accounts advertising Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts.

Google’s announcement also reminded advertisers of their obligation for compliance to local laws in the areas where the ads are targeted.

Google’s approach for violations of the new policy will be to first give a warning before imposing an account suspension.

Advertisers that fail to comply with the updated policy will receive a warning at least seven days before a potential account suspension. This time period provides advertisers with an opportunity to fix non-compliance issues and to get back into compliance with the revised guidelines.

Advertisers are encouraged to refer to Google’s documentation on “About restricted financial products certification.”

The deadline for the change in policy is January 29th, 2024. Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts advertisers will need to pay close attention to the updated policies in order to ensure compliance.

Read Google’s announcement:

Updates to Cryptocurrencies and related products policy (December 2023)

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SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore In 2024

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SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore In 2024

Most SEO trends fade quickly. But some of them stick and deserve your attention.

Let’s explore what those are and how to take advantage of them.

If you give ChatGPT a title and ask it to write a blog post, it will—in seconds.

This is super impressive, but there are a couple of issues:

  • Everyone else using ChatGPT is creating the same content. It’s the same for users of other GPT-powered AI writing tools, too—which is basically all of them.
  • The content is extremely dull. Sure, you can ask ChatGPT to “make it more entertaining,” but it usually overcompensates and hands back a cringe version of the same boring content.

In the words of Gael Breton:

How to take advantage of this SEO trend

Don’t use AI to write entire articles. They’ll be boring as heck. Instead, use it as a creative sparring partner to help you write better content and automate monotonous tasks.

For example, you can ask ChatGPT To write an outline from a working title and a list of keywords (which you can pull from Ahrefs)—and it does a pretty decent job.

Prompt:

Create an outline for a post entitled “[working title]” based on these keywords: [list]

Result:

ChatGPT's outline for a blog post. Pretty good!ChatGPT's outline for a blog post. Pretty good!

When you’ve written your draft, you can ask to polish it in seconds by asking ChatGPT to proofread it.

ChatGPT proofreading my content and making it betterChatGPT proofreading my content and making it better

Then you can automate the boring stuff, like creating more enticing title tags…

ChatGPT writing enticing title tagsChatGPT writing enticing title tags

… and writing a meta description:

ChatGPT writing a meta descriptionChatGPT writing a meta description

If you notice a few months down the line that your content ranks well but hasn’t won the featured snippet, ChatGPT can help with that, too.

For example, Ahrefs tells us we rank in position 3 for “affiliate marketing” but don’t own the snippet.

Ahrefs showing featured snippets that we don't own, despite ranking in the top 3Ahrefs showing featured snippets that we don't own, despite ranking in the top 3

If we check Google, the snippet is a definition. Asking ChatGPT to simplify our definition may solve this problem.

ChatGPT rewriting a definition and making it betterChatGPT rewriting a definition and making it better

In short, there are a near-infinite number of ways to use ChatGPT (and other AI writing tools) to create better content. And all of them buck the trend of asking it to write boring, boilerplate articles from scratch.

Programmatic SEO refers to the creation of keyword-targeted pages in an automatic (or near automatic) way.

Nomadlist’s location pages are a perfect example:

Example of a page from NomadListExample of a page from NomadList

Each page focuses on a specific city and shares the same core information—internet speeds, cost, temperature, etc. All of this information is pulled programmatically from a database and the site gets an estimated 46k monthly search visits in total.

Estimated monthly search traffic to NomadListEstimated monthly search traffic to NomadList

Programmatic SEO is nothing new. It’s been around forever. It’s just the hot thing right now because AI tools like ChatGPT make it easier and more accessible than ever before.

The problem? As John Mueller pointed out on Twitter X, much of it is spam:

How to take advantage of this SEO trend

Don’t use programmatic SEO to publish insane amounts of spam that’ll probably get hit in the next Google update. Use it to scale valuable content that will stand the test of time.

For example, Wise’s currency conversion pages currently get an estimated 31.7M monthly search visits:

Estimated monthly search traffic to Wise's currently conversion pages (insane!)Estimated monthly search traffic to Wise's currently conversion pages (insane!)

This is because the content is actually useful. Each page features an interactive tool showing the live exchange rate for any amount…

The interactive currently conversion tool on Wise's pagesThe interactive currently conversion tool on Wise's pages

… the exchange rate over time…

The exchange rate over time graph on Wise's pagesThe exchange rate over time graph on Wise's pages

… a handy email notification option when the exchange rates exceed a certain amount…

The email notification option on Wise's pagesThe email notification option on Wise's pages

… handy conversion charts for popular amounts…

The handy conversion charts on Wise's pagesThe handy conversion charts on Wise's pages

… and a comparison of the cheapest ways to send money abroad in your chosen currency:

The useful comparison table on Wise's pagesThe useful comparison table on Wise's pages

It doesn’t matter that all of these pages use the same template. The data is exactly what you want to see when you search [currency 1] to [currency 2].

That’s probably why Wise ranks in the top 10 for over 66,000 of these keywords:

Wise's keyword rankings for currency conversion pagesWise's keyword rankings for currency conversion pages

Looking to take advantage of programmatic content in 2024 like Wise? Check out the guide below.

People love ChatGPT because it answers questions fast and succinctly, so it’s no surprise that generative AI is already making its way into search.

For example, if you ask Bing for a definition or how to do something basic, AI will generate an answer on the fly right there in the search results.

Bing's search results for "definition of mental health"Bing's search results for "definition of mental health"
Bing's search results for "how to add drop down list in google sheets"Bing's search results for "how to add drop down list in google sheets"

In other words, thanks to AI, users no longer have to click on a search result for answers to simple questions. It’s like featured snippets on steroids.

This might not be a huge deal right now, but when Google’s version of this (Search Generative Experience) comes out of beta, many websites will see clicks fall off a cliff.

How to take advantage of this SEO trend

Don’t invest too much in topics that generative AI can easily answer. You’ll only lose clicks like crazy to AI in the long run. Instead, start prioritizing topics that AI will struggle to answer.

How do you know which topics it will struggle to answer? Try asking ChatGPT. If it gives a good and concise answer, it’s clearly an easy question.

For example, there are hundreds of searches for how to calculate a percentage in Google Sheets every month in the US:

Estimated monthly search volume for "google sheets percentage formula" via Ahrefs' Keywords ExplorerEstimated monthly search volume for "google sheets percentage formula" via Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer

If you ask ChatGPT for the solution, it gives you a perfect answer in about fifty words.

ChatGPT's answer to the Google Sheets percentage calculation formulaChatGPT's answer to the Google Sheets percentage calculation formula

This is the perfect example of a topic where generative AI will remove the need to click on a search result for many.

That’s probably not going to be the case for a topic like this:

Example of a topic that AI shouldn't impact too muchExample of a topic that AI shouldn't impact too much

Sure. Generative AI might be able to tell you how to create a template—but it can’t make one for you. And even if it can in the future, it will never be a personal finance expert with experience. You’ll always have to click on a search result for a template created by that person.

These are the kinds of topics to prioritize in 2024 and beyond.

Sidenote.

None of this means you should stop targeting “simple” topics altogether. You’ll always be able to get some traffic from them. My point is not to be obsessed with ranking for keywords whose days are numbered. Prioritize topics with long-term value instead.

Bonus: 3 SEO trends to ignore in 2024

Not all SEO trends move the needle. Here are just a few of those trends and why you should ignore them.

People are using voice search more than ever

In 2014, Google revealed that 41% of Americans use voice search daily. According to research by UpCity, that number was up to 50% as of 2022. I haven’t seen any data for 2023 yet, but I’d imagine it’s above 50%.

Why you should ignore this SEO trend

75% of voice search results come from a page ranking in the top 3, and 40.7% come from a featured snippet. If you’re already optimizing for those things, there’s not much more you can do.

People are using visual search for shopping more than ever

In 2022, Insider Intelligence reported that 22% of US adults have shopped with visual search (Google Lens, Bing Visual Search, etc.). That number is up from just 15% in 2021.

Why you should ignore this SEO trend

Much like voice search, there’s no real way to optimize for visual search. Sure, it helps to have good quality product images, optimized filenames and alt text, and product schema markup on your pages—but you should be doing this stuff anyway as it’s been a best practice since forever.

People are using Bing more than ever before

Bing’s Yusuf Mehdi announced in March 2023 that the search engine had surpassed 100M daily active users for the first time ever. This came just one month after the launch of AI-powered Bing.

Why you should ignore this SEO trend

Bing might be more popular than ever, but its market share still only stands at around ~3% according to estimates by Statcounter. Google’s market share stands at roughly 92%, so that’s the one you should be optimizing for.

Plus, it’s often the case that if you rank in Google, you also rank in Bing—so it really doesn’t deserve any focus.

Final thoughts

Keeping your finger on the pulse and taking advantage of trends makes sense, but don’t let them distract you from the boring stuff that’s always worked: find what people are searching for > create content about it > build backlinks > repeat.

Got questions? Ping me on Twitter X.



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Mozilla VPN Security Risks Discovered

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Mozilla VPN Security Risks Discovered

Mozilla published the results of a recent third-party security audit of its VPN services as part of it’s commitment to user privacy and security. The survey revealed security issues which were presented to Mozilla to be addressed with fixes to ensure user privacy and security.

Many search marketers use VPNs during the course of their business especially when using a Wi-Fi connection in order to protect sensitive data, so the  trustworthiness of a VNP is essential.

Mozilla VPN

A Virtual Private Network (VPN), is a service that hides (encrypts) a user’s Internet traffic so that no third party (like an ISP) can snoop and see what sites a user is visiting.

VPNs also add a layer of security from malicious activities such as session hijacking which can give an attacker full access to the websites a user is visiting.

There is a high expectation from users that the VPN will protect their privacy when they are browsing on the Internet.

Mozilla thus employs the services of a third party to conduct a security audit to make sure their VPN is thoroughly locked down.

Security Risks Discovered

The audit revealed vulnerabilities of medium or higher severity, ranging from Denial of Service (DoS). risks to keychain access leaks (related to encryption) and the lack of access controls.

Cure53, the third party security firm, discovered and addressed several risks. Among the issues were potential VPN leaks to the vulnerability of a rogue extension that disabled the VPN.

The scope of the audit encompassed the following products:

  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for macOS
  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Linux
  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Windows
  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for iOS
  • Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Androi

These are the risks identified by the security audit:

  • FVP-03-003: DoS via serialized intent
  • FVP-03-008: Keychain access level leaks WG private key to iCloud
  • VP-03-010: VPN leak via captive portal detection
  • FVP-03-011: Lack of local TCP server access controls
  • FVP-03-012: Rogue extension can disable VPN using mozillavpnnp (High)

The rogue extension issue was rated as high severity. Each risk was subsequently addressed by Mozilla.

Mozilla presented the results of the security audit as part of their commitment to transparency and to maintain the trust and security of their users. Conducting a third party security audit is a best practice for a VPN provider that helps assure that the VPN is trustworthy and reliable.

Read Mozilla’s announcement:
Mozilla VPN Security Audit 2023

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Meilun

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