Market saturation in the HVAC industry is a common problem. Creating and maintaining a strong online presence can help, but it requires more than just designing an eye-catching website, curating reviews, and staying active on social media. Search engine optimization (SEO) for HVAC companies can increase online visibility, drive traffic to websites, and create more quality leads.
The goal of any company's website should be to attract more customers. In competitive industries, meeting this goal in a cost-efficient way can be a challenge. HVAC SEO services can create and implement solid strategies for attracting more attention to your website instead of other local competitors.
There are many benefits to utilizing SEO for HVAC companies, but these lead the pack in terms of practical results:
SEO helps businesses reach new customers by improving search engine rankings organically. Unlike pay-per-click ads, SEO will continue to generate results indefinitely. Once a page begins to rank in the top results on Google and other search engines, it takes only a minimal investment of time and money to keep it there.
Engaging in HVAC SEO helps to improve the quality of inbound leads you'll get from the company's website. The reasoning behind this improvement is simple. When people see a site ranking organically for relevant keywords like "local HVAC contractors," they tend to perceive it as being more authoritative than the paid ads that come up after the same search. Getting the people who are most likely to actually request HVAC services to your website can improve the efficiency of your sales and marketing teams and increase the chances of lead conversion.
Some forms of search engine optimization for HVAC contractors offer a better return on investment (ROI) than others. Trying to rank for general keywords like "HVAC services" can be tough since it will place you in direct competition with huge corporations and nationwide franchise chains. Focusing on more geographically specific SEO keywords and strategies, on the other hand, can help you rank in the Local Pack and outperform the competition.
It's not enough to drive traffic to a website. To improve customer conversion rates, you need the people visiting the company's site to be homeowners in the area who are looking for HVAC services. Targeted SEO campaigns will allow you to reach the audiences that matter most without wasting marketing dollars on getting the site in front of people who are never going to call to ask about your company's services.
Because effective SEO drives the right traffic to your site and generates more quality leads, it provides an excellent return on investment. You won't just benefit from increased exposure. As an SEO campaign begins to produce long-term results, it may also be possible to scale back on paid ads. Lower costs plus increased online exposure add up to a better bottom line for your company.
Having an effective SEO strategy in place is the only way for local HVAC companies to stand out in what is typically a very competitive field. There are over 100,000 HVAC companies in America offering niche services, plus more generalized home services contractors, handyman services, and other experts to contend with.
The good news here is that developing an effective SEO strategy won't just make your HVAC business stand out today. It will keep the traffic coming, helping you generate more traffic for less. Don't believe the hype around local HVAC SEO? Here are a few statistics that might change your mind:
A solid SEO strategy can send your company's website straight to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) and keep it there so that you can stand above the competition.
It's common for HVAC companies to start out by relying primarily on pay-per-click (PPC) marketing strategies. While this is a fine short-term solution, it isn't the best way to generate serious profits. Here's why:
For HVAC contractors that are new to the scene, combining a short-term investment in PPC marketing with a long-term SEO strategy can produce amazing results. Over time, companies can cut paid advertising out of their marketing budgets completely to stretch each dollar further and increase the longevity of every campaign.
Local SEO strategies are designed to increase a website's online visibility within a specific city, town, or community. Some local SEO campaigns target entire metropolitan areas while hyperlocal SEO could target just one community, neighborhood, or even a city block. These strategies are uniquely effective for attracting the traffic you need the most: the homeowners and landlords living in the surrounding area.
Google My Business (GMB) pages don't just tell potential customers where your company is located and when it's open. They also serve as valuable tools for improving local SEO. Without a GMB page, a business can't even rank in the Local Pack, which means the chances of its being seen by local customers are next to zero.
When you create a GMB page that includes the company's address, phone number, website link, and hours, it sends a signal to Google's search algorithm that the site should be prioritized in local search results. According to Google, the number of people using "near me" as part of their search queries increased by 136% last year alone. Given that half of these searches create qualified inbound leads, you shouldn't ignore those statistics.
What's nice about Google's current generation of search algorithms is that you no longer have to include the phrase "near me" in long-tail keywords as part of a local SEO strategy. As long as your company has an accurate GMB page and an effective optimization strategy in place, the bots will know to prioritize the company's website in local search results.
It used to be the case that Google's algorithms prioritized sites that contained the greatest concentrations of relevant keywords. This led to a process known as "keyword stuffing" that often left users with borderline unreadable content. Thankfully, all of that has changed.
These days, Google's algorithms are far more sophisticated. It's still important to target the right keywords, but you don't need to stuff as many of them as possible into every page and article. Instead, the focus should be on producing high-quality, easy-to-read content that provides an actual value to the site's visitors.
The web crawlers built into Google and other search engines' algorithms are designed to evaluate the information on HVAC websites to determine which of them are providing valuable content to users. In this case, "content" doesn't refer just to the text and images on each page. Google's algorithm also prioritizes well-designed and technically sound back-end coding.
To make sure Google's web crawlers can accurately interpret the information offered on your website, you should:
As you can see, on-page optimization isn't just about choosing the best HVAC keywords. You'll also need the help of an SEO specialist who can evaluate each page's back-end performance and how it will stand up to scrutiny by Google's web crawlers.
While back-end optimization is essential to creating an impression of authority, so is providing valuable content to users. These days, Google's algorithm is designed primarily with user experience in mind. That means the content on each page will need to provide distinct value to readers, whether in the form of product guides, industry advice, how-to articles, or other types of relevant content.
Unlike the creation of GMB pages and performing on-page optimization, content creation needs to be an ongoing process. Every successful HVAC website has not just separate pages that describe all of the different services available through the company but also a blog that offers distinct value to its visitors. Smart business owners hire content creation teams to take care of this aspect of SEO for the HVAC industry.
Pages that both attract plenty of traffic, especially through backlinks, and keep users on-site for as long as possible look more authoritative and user-friendly to Google's algorithms. Keeping users on an HVAC site requires more than just on-page optimization and providing valuable content, though. Your website should also be:
Finally, you'll want to provide users with a properly optimized contact form. After all, even the most effective calls to action won't do much good if there's not an easy way for potential customers to follow through.
As an HVAC business owner, you've built a successful company by focusing on what's most important: providing valuable HVAC services to local customers. Chances are good that you haven't had much spare time outside of growing the business to learn the ins and outs of search engine optimization. That's where we come in.
Our team of SEO experts can handle everything from on-page optimization to content creation to help you gain a competitive edge and keep it. We offer a full range of HVAC SEO services, so all you have to worry about is continuing to serve your own company's customers and watching it grow.
It takes just as much work to learn the ins and outs of SEO as it does to start an HVAC business. If you're not sure whether working with a specialist will be worth the investment, just think of the last time one of your company's contractors was called out to a job to fix a rookie mistake made by an inexperienced homeowner. That's the kind of damage you could be doing to the company's online visibility and reputation by refusing to work with an SEO professional.
We don't want you to make a rushed choice about whether SEO services will be worthwhile for your business. First, read through the answers to other HVAC contractors' most frequently asked questions about search engine optimization services to make a more informed decision.
HVAC SEO services vary significantly in cost. Every SEO strategy will need to be tailored to the client's audience, desired outcomes, and budget. Reach out to request a quote if you want a better idea of what to expect in terms of pricing.
SEO for HVAC companies provides an excellent ROI. Experienced SEO service providers will be able to prove that they're generating results, too. Periodic audits, data analytics, and ongoing SEO reporting will all offer an accurate idea of what you're getting for your money.
It can take some time to implement an effective SEO strategy, but the results will be visible for years. Just keep in mind that Google's algorithms prioritize websites that follow industry best practices, which include ongoing content creation.
Ready to get started? Reach out to one of our team members to discuss your company's needs and request an estimate today.