8 Key Local SEO Strategies That Can Benefit Your HVAC Company

For companies that serve a specific region, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) must focus on creating content and executing technical strategies that rank high in local organic searches. More than 75% of all purchase decisions begin with Google searches.

While you can pay for ads on search engine results pages, statistics show that the vast majority of people prefer to click through native results. When your business relies on reaching new customers, Google rankings are vital to this success. This is even more important for local search terms that use transactional keywords.

A local SEO campaign can increase your visibility in Google search results and, when executed intelligently, save you a tremendous amount of money and effort.

A clear example of how a local business succeeds with SEO is HVAC websites. An HVAC contractor needs to be relevant for searches within a limited area. Instead of competing for broad HVAC keywords and analyzing your HVAC company against every HVAC website, a local SEO strategy considers your visibility in the area you serve. Online visibility is only adequate if you can serve potential customers.

To put it clearly, your business listings are only relevant to the leads you can serve. An HVAC contractor in Pittsburgh will not install air conditioning in a home in Dallas.

Executing local SEO for HVAC companies and other small to medium-sized businesses is a specialty of Valve+Meter Performance Marketing. Our team of SEO specialists and content writers use cutting-edge techniques and data to ensure that you’re getting good traffic to your website and the local traffic you need.

When all your potential customers live within your company’s service areas, your HVAC keyword research, technical SEO, website structure, and even your understanding of Google search are unique.

Google does not publish ranking factors and algorithms are constantly changing. However, there are some general best practices and principles that can help improve a website’s search engine optimization (SEO) and increase its chances of ranking higher in Google search results. Strategies to win local SEO include:

• Create a Google Business Profile (GBP)
• Obtain reviews
• Create content for each area your serve
• Write helpful blog content centered around high search volume keywords
• Perform on-page keyword optimization
• Join high domain authority directories
• Perform link building
• Conduct a technical SEO analysis

Creating high-quality content that is helpful and people-focused can help your website reach a more relevant audience. For local SEO, you should prioritize distance, relevance, and prominence. Distance refers to clearly stating where you offer products and services. Relevance clearly states what you do or the services you offer. Prominence describes scaling all your marketing efforts into a continuous local SEO campaign. You will succeed in search results when you create great content that provides solutions for people in the area you serve.

Search engine optimization is not a magic wand. It is a logical and accurate proclamation of who you are, what you do, and who you help. Local search engine optimization is even more specific. For an HVAC website should state, your HVAC business installs, maintains, and repairs air conditioning and heating in your hometown. When local homeowners seek HVAC services you are more likely to rank in Google search.

There is far more nuance to understanding the best SEO for HVAC companies, though. Local SEO for HVAC includes optimizing Google Business Profile, Google maps, online directory citations, link building, continuous technical SEO analysis, and fresh content across all your digital media.

A Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the most important things that HVAC businesses can do in attempting to increase local traffic. Formerly known as Google My Business or a GMB listing, Google Business Profiles are often the first contact point for potential customers. Since you never get a second chance to make a first impression, your GBP is more important than your HVAC company homepage. When you properly optimize and manage this business listing, local searches will display readers with your phone number, website url, address, hours of operation, and all of the services you provide. The more rich and accurate your GBP is, the more likely you are to appear in local Google search rankings for HVAC contractors.

Maintaining your profile includes consistently posting to your profile. These posts provide updates on products or events to keep searchers aware of everything happening at your HVAC company. Aim to post at least once a week to show Google that your profile is remaining active. This free business listing can link to most important web pages and dramatically increase your online visibility.

For many small to medium-sized businesses with a single location or a regional service area, the vast majority of organic traffic will result from appearing in either the local pack in Google Maps or in native search results. A strong GBP gives you the chance to appear in both local map results.

Few things are more relevant and important to searchers looking for a local product or service than company reviews. In fact, 93% of searches will look for reviews of a product, service, or business before taking the next steps. HVAC contractors are always looking for ways to stand out amongst the competition, so it’s incredibly important that your business is getting a steady flow of high-quality reviews from previous customers.

Not only do searchers rely on reviews, but search engines also place high importance on reviews when ranking websites within the local search engine results pages (SERPs) for a given keyword. Google, for example, would rather rank a company with 500 high-quality reviews across their Google Business Profile, rather than one with 100, as they’ll believe the first company to be more authoritative than the second. As part of your HVAC SEO strategy, you should be trying to reel in as many reviews as possible.

After a customer has had service performed by your company, provide them with incentives to leave your company a review. Something as simple as a free second opinion, for example, could be enough to incentivize previous customers to leave a review. This also enhances your Google Business Profile (GBP) and helps you stand out from other competitors in the local pack.

Local SEO on your website should include stating the areas your HVAC services are available. Service area pages are great ways to increase local traffic for HVAC companies. You should create separate service area pages for each location that you serve. For some local businesses, you can create an SEO strategy that serves specific counties or cities. For HVAC companies that are located in densely populated areas, you may pinpoint specific neighborhoods or even zip codes that you serve. Doing so will increase your ability to rank for your services in each of the locations that you serve.

For example, your customers are likely making local searches like “HVAC services in (city)”. To capture clicks and traffic in those areas, it’s paramount that you build out service area pages for each location where you provide services. This seems simple but there are many types of searches and keyword research reveals there are many target keywords related to HVAC.

At the end of the day, no HVAC businesses have figured out how to offer HVAC services online. This means that when a homeowner has a problem with their heating and cooling system, they need to find a local contractor. When creating pages for each of the HVAC services that your company offers, you make it as easy as possible for your visitors to find you. Again, there is no magic wand to improve SEO ranking for HVAC contractors. People are searching for help and your content provides a solution. Search engine algorithms want to connect people with problems to business with solutions.

While your pillar pages will likely use transactional keywords to capture the attention of local homeowners, blog content can be a forum for informational content. Blogs play an important role in any HVAC SEO strategy. Creating high-quality blog posts based on solid keyword research can increase organic traffic to your website, allowing Google and other search engines to view your site as more authoritative. The more authoritative your website is, the higher the chances of Google ranking your site for a given local keyword you’re targeting.

Additionally, creating quality blog content will make it easier to gain backlinks. If other readers find your content helpful, they can provide a backlink from their content to yours. Google essentially reads this as a vote of confidence between two websites, helping to improve the overall authority of your domain and making it easier to rank within the local search results.

On page optimization refers to creating fresh content across your web pages. Optimizing your content around a certain keyword is crucial for helping it rank well. Begin by performing keyword research around the keyword you want to target. From there, create a list of supporting target keywords to include in your content.

Once a list has been created, you can begin implementing them throughout your content. Make sure to do so in a way that seems natural to the reader and doesn’t subtract from the overall user experience. Implementing relevant keywords for any term you’re targeting will help Google determine that your content is a greater resource than a competitor’s piece of content that hasn’t been as thoroughly optimized.

Put simply, you should be joining any established and trusted directories relevant to your industry. Directories like Yelp and Mapquest are great examples of local directories that you should be joining. When a searcher goes to websites like those and looks for local services within their area, they’ll immediately see your profile within the results.

Online directories provide additional value in the form of a local citation. These can build up your website’s domain authority, helping it more easily rank for the local keywords you’re targeting.

Your profile should be complete with information including your address, phone number, email address, and a backlink to your HVAC website to help them conveniently find you and get in touch.

Beyond just signing up for local directories, you should make a concerted effort to backlink to your website. Whether through directories, a link in a blog post, or any other backlink, a backlink is essentially a signal of approval from one website to another

A backlink from another website to yours tells Google and other search engines that the referring domain trusts your website. The more backlinks that you earn, the more Google believes that others trust your website and the higher they will rank your content in a Google search, as they believe the content on your website will be helpful and relevant to others.

A technical SEO analysis will ensure your website can be properly crawled and indexed by search engines. Additionally, you’ll be able to find and identify errors that might be affecting website speed and performance. Make sure to use a website crawling tool, such as Screaming Frog, to thoroughly crawl your site.

Other SEO tools, such as Google Analytics, Moz, Ahrefs, Semrush, and more can make the process simpler and provide greater results. Make sure to check out each service in detail to find which would yield the best results for your desired outcome.

Technical SEO analysis can provide your HVAC company with the following benefits:

1. Improved Website Speed and Performance
2. Identified and Solved Technical Issues
3. Optimized Website Architecture
4. Improved Mobile Optimization
5. Stay Up-to-Date with Search Engine Algorithm Updates

The marketing experts at Valve+Meter Performance Marketing have helped many HVAC companies improve their organic reach by utilizing tried and true SEO strategies. We know that no two businesses are the same and each grow at different rates, and we’ll help your business grow at a rate that is profitable and sustainable for your current situation.

We’re proud to help our clients achieve repeatable, scalable, and profitable results that help them grow to new heights. When you first contact us for services, we’ll discuss your goals and current marketing strategies in detail to learn more about you, your business, and its goals. We’ll even take a look at your current organic search engine rankings to see how your current strategies have been yielding results for you. This will let us see what works, and what doesn’t, within your current scope.

Get in contact with our team today to take advantage of SEO strategies that actually work and to ensure you never waste another marketing dollar.

For help in implementing local SEO strategies that will provide your company with more traffic and qualified leads, contact Valve+Meter. We know that SEO is a time-consuming process, and one that you might not have time for, given your busy schedule. Let Valve+Meter help. Our professionals have demonstrated knowledge and experience in providing local SEO for HVAC companies just like yours. We’ve helped many companies in the HVAC industry create a local SEO strategy to find transformational results and scalable growth.