SEO for Plumbers: 8 Easy Tips to Help Customers Find You Online
When a potential customer needs a plumbing service, they’re likely going to search Google or Bing and contact one of the first few options they see. If your plumbing business isn’t one of them, you may be missing out on a lot of work.
The way to get your business listed at the top of Google’s search results page is through SEO (or search engine optimization).
In this article, we’ll break down what you need to know about SEO into easy to follow steps you can start doing yourself.
And if you want to go even further and hire an SEO professional, we’ve provided a list of SEO companies who specialize in the plumbing industry.
Try these plumbing SEO strategies:
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Create and optimize your Google Business Profile
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List your business in relevant directories (citations)
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Ask happy customers to leave a review
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Optimize your website pages for local search
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Improve your website speed
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Ensure your website is mobile-friendly
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Invest in professional SEO services
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Use tools to track your performance
Different types of plumbing SEO strategies
Plumbing SEO strategies focus on increasing the online visibility of plumbing businesses. Here are the different types of SEO strategies for plumbing companies:
Local SEO
Local SEO is the process of optimizing your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches. This includes optimizing your Google Business Profile, using local keywords, and getting positive customer reviews to help your business appear higher in search results for local customers.
On page SEO
On-page SEO involves optimizing the content and structure of your website to rank higher in search engine results and attract more relevant traffic. This includes optimizing content, meta tags, headings, and internal links to improve a website’s visibility and relevance to search engines.
Off page SEO
Off-page SEO involves activities outside your website, like getting other websites to link to you, promoting your business on social media, and managing online reviews. These actions help improve your website’s ranking in search results.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO involves optimizing the technical aspects of your website to improve its ranking in search results. This includes improving site speed, ensuring mobile-friendliness, creating a clear site structure, and making sure search engines can easily crawl and index your site.
1. Create and optimize your Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is a free online business listing that can appear on Google Search and Maps results whenever you search for a local business or local service. It includes your business’s contact information, hours, customer reviews, and photos.
Here’s what Guest Plumbing’s Google Business Profile looks like:
To claim your Google Business Profile, type in your plumbing company name on Google Business Profile Manager, and follow the prompts.
Complete your profile by:
- Selecting your business category (Plumber, Heating contractor, Gas installation, etc.)
- Set your service area
- Add your contact information (website, phone number, email address)
- Add your business information (working hours, plumbing services, images)
Once you’ve set up your Google Business Profile, your plumbing business will appear on Google Maps and search results when prospective customers search for local plumbers in your service area.
You can use your Google profile to share your business’s contact information, hours of operations, your plumbing services, and to collect and respond to customer reviews.
Claiming your Google Business Profile is an example of a local SEO strategy to help your business attract potential plumbing customers in your service area.
Claim your Bing Places Business Listing
Similar to your Google Business profile, your Bing business listing helps you appear on Bing search results and Bing Maps. You can also use your listing to share important information about your plumbing business, like your phone number, website, and working hours.
To claim your Bing Places for Business Listing, click “New User” on the Bing Places homepage and follow the prompts.
Here’s an example of a Bing search results for “plumber in Austin”:
2. List your business in relevant directories (citations)
Listing your business name, website, address, and phone number on online directories helps drive traffic to your website and increase your visibility to potential customers.
Here’s how to get started with online directories:
- List your business on all major online directories like Google, Yelp, Bing Places, and Facebook
- Join your local Chamber of Commerce to attract new customers in your service area.
- Search “business directories in your city” or use WhiteSpark or BrightLocal to see what local business directories you should list your plumbing business on.
- Register for lead generation sites like Thumbtack, Angi, or HomeAdvisor.
READ MORE: Angi vs. HomeAdvisor – Which lead generation platform should you use
What is NAP consistency?
NAP Consistency (which stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number) means that your company details remain the same across all your business listings, your website, and your social media profiles.
An important ranking factor for local SEO, NAP Consistency shows search engines like Google that the information for your plumbing business is accurate and trustworthy.
The importance of NAP for SEO
NAP is an important yet easy to miss concept in local SEO. Since Google has to constantly fight fake and spammy websites, it’s important to show that yours is real by including consistent and accurate information.
To get your NAP right, make sure that your website, business listings, and social media profiles always include the same Name, Address, and Phone Number. This will improve your credibility and your SEO efforts.
3. Ask happy customers to leave a review
A collection of five-star reviews helps your plumbing business rank higher on Google’s local search results and stand out from other plumbers in your service area.
Just look at these search results for plumbers in New York City:
This is why you need to deliver fantastic work, provide exceptional customer service, and have a process in place for getting those excellent reviews you know you deserve.
READ MORE: How to Ask For a Review [With Free Templates]
To ensure you ask every satisfied customer for a review, set up automatic review collection in Jobber. Jobber automatically sends a text to the customers you want reviews from.
When you make an invoice in Jobber, you can choose if you want to send the customer a review request.
After paying their invoice, those customers will automatically get a direct link to leave a review on your Google Business Profile.
From your reviews dashboard in Jobber, you can keep an eye on your average Google rating. You’ll also see your latest reviews and resources on how to manage your business’s reputation.
We had about 100 reviews and now have over 250 reviews in the span of 5 months
Making it easy for our customers to leave us a review has meant the world to us, to other people searching online, but also to Google because it jacks up your SEO whenever you get a positive review.
4. Optimize your website pages for local search
In addition to your Google Business Profile, you’ll also need to make some strategic changes to your website to appear closer to the top of Google’s search results page.
Here are a few ways to optimize your website content for SEO:
Perform keyword research
Keywords are the terms or phrases a potential customer would use to search for your plumbing services online. They may be the services you offer, or the area you service—like “plumbers in Dallas” or “water heater repair”.
Include these terms or phrases on your website or blogs to rank higher on search results and help customers find your business.
How to do keyword research for your plumbing business
Follow these steps to conduct your own keyword research:
- Brainstorm basic keywords: Start by listing all the services you offer, such as “emergency plumbing,” “leak repair,” and “drain cleaning.”
- Use keyword research tools: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or SEMrush to find related keywords and see how many potential customers are searching those terms.
- Analyze competitors: Check the websites of your top competitors to see which keywords they are targeting.
- Focus on local keywords: Include location-specific terms like “plumber in [your city]” to attract local customers. This helps in targeting people searching for services in your area.
- Long-tail keywords: Identify long-tail keywords, which are longer and more specific phrases like “how to fix a leaking faucet.” These often have less competition and can attract targeted traffic.
- Check search intent: Ensure the keywords you choose match the intent of your potential customers. For example, someone searching “emergency plumber near me” is looking for immediate help.
- Refine and prioritize: Select the most relevant and high-traffic keywords from your research. Focus on a mix of short and long-tail keywords to cover various search intents.
2. Create service pages
Create individual web pages specific to each service your plumbing business offers, like leak repair, toilet repair, or drain cleaning. This helps your website appear when someone searches online for that service.
Go Green Plumbing has a services page on its website where visitors can click on the specific service they’re looking for and be brought to a page to learn more.
3. Include the locations you serve
Including your service locations helps Google rank your business when potential customers are using local keywords like “plumbers near me”.
If you only serve one area, simply add your location to content on your home page, service pages, and contact page.
Here’s how Guest Plumbing includes their location on their service pages:
If you serve multiple areas, you may consider adding a service area page to your website and listing all of your locations.
Impetus Plumbing uses an interactive map for customers to easily determine whether they cover their location.
4. Show your expertise with an about page
Your website’s about page is one way you can show Google your experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Also known as E-E-A-T, Google considers these qualities as a factor when determining how high or low your website should rank on its search results page.
Here are a few ways to show your expertise on your about page:
- Share your plumbing certifications and accreditations
- Talk about how long you’ve been a plumber and how your business started
- Add reviews or testimonials from past customers
5. Start your own plumbing blog
Adding a plumbing blog to your website shows potential customers (and search engines) that you’re a trusted industry expert—and it improves your search rankings.
You can write and publish your own blog posts, hire a freelancer or agency, or even try Chat GPT to help your plumbing company with content creation.
How to find topics for your plumbing website’s blog posts
To find topic ideas, start by writing and answering a list of the most common questions customers ask, like:
- What should I do when my pipes freeze?
- Why does my water take so long to heat?
- Why does the toilet keep running?
- Is it safe to use chemical drain cleaners?
Don’t forget to share your published content through your social media profiles, or in email campaigns.
Check out other plumbing blogs to find topic or content ideas to write about in your blog.
6. Write SEO-friendly and compelling title tags and meta descriptions
Improve the following elements on all of your web pages to appear higher on the search results and attract more visitors to your website. Usually, you can find these technical SEO elements in your website builder. If you’re not familiar with them, reach out to your web builder for support.
Include a title tag and meta description for each of your web pages.
To optimize your title tag:
- Use the main keywords that describe the content of the page.
- Stick to 50-60 characters to make sure the whole title is visible in search results.
- Create a unique title tag for each page.
- Include your plumbing business name or location at the end if it fits naturally.
To optimize your meta descriptions:
- Write a unique meta description for each page.
- Use relevant keywords naturally within the description
- Keep the length between 150-160 characters to ensure it displays fully in search results.
- Clearly describe what the page is about and include a call to action like “call today” or “learn more”.
Use a clean and simple URL structure that makes it easy for search engines to identify what the page is about.
Add a page header for every page that includes your target keyword
5. Improve website speed
Customers expect speed, especially in a plumbing emergency. If your web page loads too slowly, they’ll move on to the next business in the search results. Make sure your website loads quickly to avoid losing business to your competitors.
To check your site speed on mobile and desktop devices, plug your web address into Google PageSpeed Insights.
Ideally, your website should load in under three seconds. If your load time is longer than five seconds you may need to work with a technical SEO expert or web developer to tackle some of the technical factors to improve your site speed.
6. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly
A mobile-friendly plumbing website keeps visitors on your site longer, which can help improve your search rankings.
To ensure your website is mobile-friendly and improve your plumbing SEO, follow these steps:
- Use a responsive design that automatically adjusts the layout of your web pages based on the screen size. This makes sure your website looks good and functions well on all devices, including smartphones and tablets.
- Simplify your website’s navigation so it’s easy to use on a mobile device. Use clear menus and buttons that are easy to tap, and minimize the number of steps to find important information, like your plumbing service list or contact information.
7. Invest in professional SEO services
The plumbing industry is extremely competitive, which can make SEO difficult. For better results, you may decide to work with professional plumbing SEO services who have the skills and experience to improve your search engine performance.
Here are a few of the top SEO companies for plumbers:
- Blue Corona’s SEO and digital marketing services help increase your plumbing business’s online visibility, drive traffic to your website, and generate more leads.
- Plumbing & HVAC SEO works to improve your online presence, increase your ranking on search results, and attract new leads to your plumbing business,
- Plumbing Webmasters help by optimizing your website, improving your search engine rankings, and boosting your online visibility to attract more customers.
- Thrive‘s SEO services for plumbers focus on improving search rankings, increasing traffic to your website, and helping you generate more leads for your plumbing business.
8. Use tools to help you track your performance
Tracking your SEO performance can help you make effective changes to improve your online visibility, increase the number of visitors to your site, and ultimately get more plumbing leads.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console (GSC) monitors how search engines see and rank your website.
Use Google Search Console to:
- Learn which keywords get the most views and clicks from potential customers
- Track your web page rankings to see how high on the search results page they will appear
- See what web pages are receiving the most visitors over a set period of time
If you’re working with a freelance SEO specialist or a plumber SEO company, they’ll use GSC to improve your website’s technical SEO. This may include adding your sitemap, monitoring core web vitals, and locating errors on your website that need fixing.
To get started, visit Google Search Console, enter the URL of your website, and follow the prompts.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics monitors how potential customers find and use your website.
Use Google Analytics to monitor:
- The number of visitors to your website, how long they spend on your site, and how many web pages they view
- How potential customers are finding your plumbing business (organic search, paid ads, social media, etc.)
An SEO expert or company will also use Google Analytics to find trends in how potential customers are engaging with your plumbing company’s website, and where improvements can be made.
To get started, click “Start Measuring” on Google Analytics and follow the prompts to set up your account.
Remember, SEO is a long-term marketing strategy, which means it can take a while for your plumbing business to see results.
But combined with other marketing strategies (like plumbing ads) SEO is the best way to help new customers find your business online and get more plumbing leads.
Use this guide as a starting point to build a solid SEO strategy and watch your business start climbing Google’s search results.
Originally published in April 2022. Last updated on July 22nd, 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions
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SEO for plumbers is the process of making a plumbing business’s website more visible on search engines like Google. This involves using specific strategies to ensure that when people search for plumbing services online, the business appears near the top of the search results, making it easier for potential customers to find and contact them.
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Yes, you can do SEO for your plumbing business yourself. Start by optimizing your website with relevant keywords, creating quality content, and ensuring your free Google Business profile is complete and up-to-date.
You can also focus on getting positive customer reviews, building backlinks from reputable sites, and making sure your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly.
Use this article as a guide to learn the basics of search engine optimization, appear higher in search rankings, gain more traffic, and connect with more customers.
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Improving your local plumbing SEO strategy involves several key steps:
1. Optimize your Google Business Profile. Ensure all your business information is accurate and up-to-date, add high-quality photos, and regularly post updates.
2. List your business in local directories like Yelp and make sure your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all listings.
3. Ask happy customers to leave positive reviews on Google and other review sites.
4. Use local keywords, like “plumbing services in [town]” or “emergency plumber in [city]” in your website content, meta descriptions, titles, and headers. -
Link building contributes to SEO for plumbers by increasing the number of high-quality, relevant websites that link back to their site. This improves the site’s authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines, helping it rank higher in search results. Higher rankings lead to more traffic, visibility, and potential customers.
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Along with plumbing SEO, you can also use the following marketing strategies to appear higher on Google’s search engine results page:
1. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising – Use Google Ads to create targeted ads that appear at the top of search results (right under Google’s search bar) for specific plumbing-related keywords like “emergency plumbing services,” “plumbing businesses,” or “residential plumbing contractors”.
2. Pay-per-lead advertising – Use Google’s Local Services ads to advertise to potential customers searching for plumbing services in their area. When people search for plumbing services on Google, these ads appear at the top of the search results, above the regular paid Google Ads and the organic search results.
3. Social media marketing – Engage with your audience on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to increase brand visibility and drive more organic traffic to your plumbing website.
4. Online reviews – Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, and other review sites. Don’t forget to respond to reviews promptly and professionally to build trust and improve your online reputation.