SEO Strategy for Builders
Google can be an incredibly helpful tool in attracting more customers to your website and ultimately securing more business – but like so many great pursuits, it only works if you work at it. Getting your website to the top of Google is no modest goal, but the right strategy and a consistent, dedicated approach make it attainable.
Read on for the nuts and bolts of an SEO strategy for builders that you can implement yourself – or skip the DIY and book a Game Plan Call to get our experts on your side.
Step 1: Choose the right keywords
Keywords are the foundation of every SEO strategy for builders, and there are literally THOUSANDS you could rank for at any given time. The good news is, you don’t have to rank for all of them – in fact, achieving a ranking for the right group of keywords can lift your whole website through the rankings – and the even better news? Finding those brilliant search terms is simpler than you might think. Just take the suburb you want to rank for and the service your ideal clients are searching for, and pair them together – for example, in our suburb, you might pair the terms “Lavender Bay” and “builder”. Repeat this for all of the suburbs and services you want to rank for, add the plural forms of each term to your list, and you’ll be on your way to search engine domination. This approach also helps your Google My Business ranking, which is essential to a strong ranking. You can also add keywords with adjectival phrases attached (e.g. “affordable builder Lavender Bay”), as long as you’re mindful of the impression it may make – the right language is key to attracting your dream clients and keeping tyre kickers and undercutters at bay.
Step 2: Build out your pages
Every website needs a set of pages that fulfil the basic requirements of informing and persuading visitors to complete a set of actions. For example, after landing on the home page, most visitors will check out your “about” page, your services, and testimonials before contacting you or responding to a call to action. These pages make up the basic navigation flow on your site – but you also need to have a page for each service you offer. For example, if you build homes, you might include “home builder” and “residential builder” amongst your essential pages, as well as a page for each location you want to rank in – and this is where the list of keywords from step one comes in very handy. Of course, this means that there will likely be a LOT of pages to write before your website is primed for SEO greatness. If you’re willing to dedicate the time, it’s doable – and if not, it may be that hiring an SEO specialist for tradies to manage your content is the best strategy of all.
Step 3: Nail the basics
Once you’ve got your basic keyword research down and created a page for each search term, your work is done, right? Not quite – an effective SEO strategy for builders also requires a few standard inclusions on each page, as in the following checklist:
SEO basics:
Make sure each page includes:
- Title tags
- H1 tags
- Image-alt tags
- A keyword in the URL
- Anchor text built into the footer
Contact information:
- Add the phone number in the top right corner.
- Position your social media links in the bottom right.
- Include a user-friendly contact form on your contact page.
Credibility builders:
- Include videos of you and your team on your website. This way, your potential clients can get to know (and like) you and your team before calling.
- Get your Google My Business listing in order.
- Show off relevant qualifications, awards and insurances in a banner somewhere prominent on your site.
Sales inclusions:
- Make your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – the thing that sets you apart from your competitors – very clear on the home page.
- Include reviews, either as a section of the home page, as its own page, or both – or, for bonus points, use testimonial videos from your clients. Also give people the option to leave a review on the site.
- Include a call to action on every page. It may sound oversimplified, but telling people what you want them to do really is the most efficient way to make it happen.
Step 4: Keep working on it
The most challenging thing about creating an SEO strategy for builders is that it’s never really done. Even a well-built website, a strong catalogue of relevant content, and an XML sitemap on Google webmaster tools and Bing webmaster tools won’t guarantee you that coveted top spot. The secret lies in ongoing re-optimisation – building inbound links, tweaking your existing content in line with the latest search trends, and of course, creating new content that follows steps 1 to 3. The latter is the key to showing your visitors (and the search engine bots) that you’re a subject matter expert, deserving of a top ranking.
When you’re new to the space, the process of creating and implementing an SEO strategy for builders can seem more than a little overwhelming – but it doesn’t have to be. The team at Tradies GO are experts in the art and science of SEO, and we’re here to make sure that you nail it. To get our brains on your business, grab your spot in our 20-minute Growth Strategy sessions.
