Keyword Research

If you are reading an SEO guide, you probably want to do your own search engine optimization. However, if your focus is getting found on Google, it’s important to understand that SEO is more than keywords and links. Plumbers will have better results if they focus on creating a website that people like and share, as well as create content that addresses their customers’ problems directly. In other words, plumbers should care about UX and not just search-ability.

For example,

someone searching for plumbing repair San Francisco is unlikely to stumble upon a site simply by typing in San Francisco plumbing repair. But someone looking for best San Francisco plumbing company near me might be happy with either of those options (and there are many more variations). For plumbers who don’t live or work in large cities, these differences can make all of the difference between being discovered or going out of business altogether.

On-page SEO

Optimizing your site, product pages, and resources with SEO is one of the most impactful SEO strategies a plumber can use. Make sure to optimize your on-page SEO for plumbers by including keywords and phrases such as plumbing or plumbing services in an H1 heading, meta title tag, and meta description.

Off-Page SEO

Another important category of off-page SEO is link building. If you’ve been following my stuff over on Search Engine Journal , you already know I think links are one of, if not THE most important ranking factors. You can rank without a lot of links, but it’s extremely difficult (and not sustainable). From what I hear, Google is getting better at understanding that good links are good while bad links can hurt. Still, it’s a best practice to avoid going too crazy with link building schemes and putting all your eggs in that basket.

If you really want to succeed online as a plumber, your best bet is to focus on creating great content and earning natural backlinks from authoritative sites across the web. Here are some tactics for doing just that.

Local Listings

SEO is not a straight-line process, but don’t be discouraged. Optimizing your site on Google is a marathon, not a sprint. Be patient and stay focused and you will achieve results! The hardest part about SEO for plumbers isn’t making progress toward getting traffic. Ranking is difficult because results fluctuate greatly depending on outside factors (see above) that are often impossible to control.

Advanced SEO (SEM, blogging, influencer marketing)

Nothing matters more than rankings. If you’re a plumber, your top priority should be ranking as high as possible in Google search results for keywords related to plumbing. While it may sound obvious, that advice is really important. In our business SEO tactics come and go, but there are three things which will never change.

1) Rankings matter more than anything else.

2) Rankings drive traffic, leads and customers

3) Rankings can be controlled (ranked higher).

That’s why ranking reports are so important—they help you understand how well you’re doing at ranking high in Google search results and show you what needs improvement.

This post will break down everything you need to know about advanced SEO strategies, including:

• keyword research
• local optimization
• blogging
• influencer marketing
• digital PR/guerilla marketing
• link building and social media

We’ll also explain what makes each strategy work, who it works best for and give examples of how other plumbers have used them successfully. Here’s a quick breakdown of what we’ll cover: Keyword Research Local Optimization Influencer Marketing Digital PR/Guerilla Marketing Link Building Social Media Advanced SEO Tools To keep things simple we won’t dive into any one strategy too deeply but instead just give an overview of each technique.

Ranking Reports

Keyword ranking reports are a big reason why so many Internet marketers rely on Google’s Webmaster Tools. This free resource lets you see where your pages rank across any keyword, which is especially helpful if you sell products and services online. Use it to learn more about your customers’ interests, monitor changes in rankings and track what content your competitors are generating.

You can also check out Google Trends to get some background information on how relevant search terms are trending, such as pizza, laptops or even plumbing. Keyword ranking reports are a big reason why so many Internet marketers rely on Google’s Webmaster Tools. This free resource lets you see where your pages rank across any keyword, which is especially helpful if you sell products and services online. Use it to learn more about your customers’ interests, monitor changes in rankings and track what content your competitors are generating.