“Why did the Plumber retire early? He was flushed with success!”
Nothing like a plumbing joke to kick things off, and hopefully help your plumbing business send YOU into an early retirement due to Google driven business growth!
There is no doubt about it – service businesses like Plumbers can grow significantly if they are prominent on search engines like Google.
With plumbing in particular, emergencies happen, and people grab their phone and search for a plumber in a hurry. Think burst pipes, failing hot water heaters, laundry flooding, and overflowing toilets!
Being up the top of Google and other search engines is a huge advantage for business growth.
The aim of this article is to give any plumbing businesses a blueprint to follow – a guide to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – so you can do the work, and win on Google, and grow your business!
Let’s walk through the steps required:
1. Keyword / Keyphrase Research:
Identify relevant keywords and phrases that potential customers might use when searching for plumbing services.
You might have one general phrase that will really move the needle for your business, for example “Plumber {your city}”, but you’ll have others as well.
You might find “Plumber {nearest suburb}” is useful, or “Emergency Plumber”, or even something like “Blocked Toilet”
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to find high-value keywords. Focus on a mix of local and plumbing-related keywords, including long-tail keywords, for example “how to change a washer in my shower”.
We’ll recommend KW Finder here, which looks like this:
Once you enter your main phrase, for example “Plumber Tauranga”, you’ll get some data and other word suggestions, as shown below:
You’ll find the search volume to be interesting, essentially “how many Google Searches are being undertaken each month, for this keyphrase”
Here is a sample of keywords that we find are common for plumbers in various cities:
- Plumber
- Plumbers near me
- Emergency Plumber
- Emergency Plumber near me
- Plumbing services near me
- Plumbing Services
- Plumbing companies near me
- local Plumbers
- Best Plumbers near me
- 24 hour plumber near me
- Cheap plumbers near me
- Hot water heater repair
- 24 hour plumber
- Plumbing companies
⇒ Grab a free version of KW Finder HERE 👈 – you’ll be able to do the work required.
Summary: What do you want to “win” on Google for? Do your keyword research.
👇
2. Competitor Analysis:
Analyse your competitors’ websites and SEO strategies.
Identify what keywords they are targeting, their on-page optimization, and backlink strategies. This will help you find opportunities and gaps in their approach.
A very easy way to do this is via the free Mangools SEO Extension – grab it HERE.
You’ll see from the example above that the SEO extension will give you quite a bit of free information about the website you are researching.
The best plumbing websites in your area will have clear keywords they are targeting, they’ll have content and tools on their website that you can learn from, and you’ll also find out more about how many backlinks (websites that link TO them) they have.
Summary: Figure out what the current leaders are doing, and reverse engineer that.
👇
3. On-Page Optimization:
- Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions: Craft unique and compelling titles and meta descriptions for each page on your website, incorporating relevant keywords.
- Header Tags: Use H1, H2, and H3 tags to structure your content and include keywords where relevant. H1 means “main header” on the page, and each page should only have 1 of these. H2 is subheadings, and then H3 would be sub headings under those subheadings. Google likes an article to have 1 H1, and several H2’s under that, then H3’s within the H2’s if required.
- Content: Create high-quality, informative, and engaging content related to plumbing services. Make sure to include your target keywords naturally within the content.
- Images: Optimise images with descriptive file names and alt text. Images can help improve user experience and website load times.
⇒ Cool Free on-page SEO tool here 👈 that tool by Wincher will quickly tell you if your website needs work in regards to the words and titles etc.
Summary: The headings, titles, and words ON your website pages have to support your goals – what you are trying to rank on Google for.
👇
4. Local SEO:
- Google Business Profile (GBP): Claim and optimise your GMB listing. Ensure that your business name, address, and phone number are consistent with your website and other online listings.
- NAP Citations: Ensure that your Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) is consistent across all online directories and listings, including Yelp, Yellow Pages, and local business directories.
- Local Content: Create content that is specific to your service area, such as city-specific blog posts or case studies related to plumbing services in your area.
- Be sure to get as many Google Reviews as possible, and don’t forget about other review platforms like Facebook and Yelp as well.
- Include a well written “about us” page on your website, and talk about any local associations or sponsorships you have as well.
Learn more about Google Business Profile and Local SEO via the tools below:
⇒ Good Oil Marketing Articles 👈
⇒ Good Oil Marketing YouTube Videos 👈
⇒ 20 Best NZ SEO Blogs and Websites 👈
Summary: For some businesses, simply ranking up the top of Google Business Profile is enough to explode your business growth via more enquiries and sales.
👇
5. Mobile Optimization:
Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Google prioritises mobile-friendly websites in search rankings, and has done for quite some time now.
Run your website through this tool:
⇒ https://smallseotools.com/mobile-friendly-test/ 👈
Most modern websites are mobile friendly.
If not, talk to your developer and get it fixed.
👇
6. Technical SEO:
Any technical issues with your website will stop your website from ranking as well as possible. Google just doesn’t like certain things like slow websites etc.
Run your website through the checker websites below. List out the issues that arise, and either fix them yourself, or get them fixed by a professional:
⭐ Ahrefs Site Audit – very thorough – may need to verify site ownership
⭐ SEOMator – awesome, simple, and fast
⭐ SEOPtimer – another fast and easy one.
⭐ Website Grader – been around for ages, and still free.
⭐ Woorank – also a simple one to use.
Summary: Any slight technical issue with your website can be the difference between page 1 of Google and “the other pages that nobody looks at”.
👇
7. Backlink Building:
Acquire high-quality backlinks from relevant, authoritative websites.
Consider guest posting on industry-related blogs and reaching out to local businesses for partnerships or link opportunities.
The reality of SEO – ranking higher on Google – is that once you have a technically sound website, and some good content, getting backlinks IS a must for ranking higher on Google.
Learn more about backlinks here ⇒ http://goodoil.marketing/blog/how-to-get-safe-backlinks/ 👈
As mentioned earlier as well, you need to list your business on all of the best local business directory websites as well.
If your business happens to be in New Zealand or Australia, we have a wonderful free resource available for directory websites – you’ll find that resource here ⇒ https://coreyhinde.gumroad.com/l/backlinks 👈
If you Google “best business citations {your country}” you’ll come up with a good list of these. You’ll probably need to list on more than 20 of these if you want to be on page 1 of Google.
👇
8. Content Marketing:
Publish blog articles, videos, checklists, how-to guides, product reviews and more, often.
Use your website for this, but also your social media accounts eg Facebook and LinkedIn, and Google Business Profile as well.
To make this easier, consider using a social media tool like Publer – we have a useful guide about Publer HERE 👈 (in the article linked there to your left, focus on point #8 – the “how”)
The video below will help you get faster and more effective at creating content for your business:
👇
9. Keep an eye on things:
Some musts for data, and tracking results:
⇒ Google Search Console – watch your search results on Google.
⇒ Mangools – for tracking your Keyword rankings. There are other tools, we just recommend Mangools because its simple and doesn’t overwhelm.
⇒ Google Business Profile – keep an eye on your performance data.
👇
Summary Points:
- This article is a starting point. Once you work through these tasks, depending on how good your opposition is, you might rank first, or you might still be languishing on page 3 – so much of your success is dependant on your opposition and how thorough they are.
- It can often take up to or more than a year to rank high enough on Google to get significant business outcomes via SEO, so we always advise Plumbing businesses to focus on their Google Business Profile as soon as possible.
- You are welcome to contact us HERE for help.
More Resources from Good Oil Digital Marketing and Corey Hinde:
➡️ Google Uncomplicated – Free Articles about Google and SEO
➡️ YouTube Channel – mostly Google Business Profile tutorials