Let's get one thing straight right off the top: Search engine optimization (SEO) is no longer optional for plumbers in 2019.

Yellow Pages books are out and search engines like Google are now the place your potential customers depend on to look for plumbing services.

In fact, 40% of all mobile searches are for local businesses, with 73% of those users taking additional action such as calling a business or a converting to a sale.

So how can you implement SEO to drive leads and sales for your business?

Read on to discover the three biggest plumber SEO tips to grow your business in 2019.

Claim Your Google My Business Listing

More than other SEO tips and tricks, perhaps the most important action you can take is to claim your Google My Business page.

This one page alone can potentially result in numerous daily leads for your plumbing services.

Google My Business allows you to manage your profile on Google.

It's how consumers find you when searching on Google or on Google Maps. Present your company in the best light with quality images, current contact information and hours of operation. 

One of the great benefits of Google My Business is they provide analytics to help you see how effective your page is performing.

You can see how many searches your company appears for and how many visits your page receives. Even better, you can see how many actions, such as phone calls or texts, your listing generates.

Create a Blog

Creating a blog for your business gives you the most chances to be found on the internet.

Remember, each blog post is a doorway to your website. The more posts you create the more opportunities you have to attract potential customers. 

Of course, you want to write content that addresses your potential customers leads. Write articles based on targeted keywords your customers are searching for.

Refer to your daily interactions with your customers.

What questions do you answer the most? That's where you'll find your best topics.

For example, you could create a post discussing the difference between copper and brass pipes or another post on the signs that indicate you need a new toilet.

Incorporate keywords that are in demand and local specific keywords such as  "plumbers near me" and "plumbers in ____" (your town).

Optimize Your Technical SEO

If you want to appear at the top of Google searches, a few key considerations must be met.

Google rewards sites that provide a great user experience. With that in mind, your site will rise up the rankings if you give the user what they want easily and quickly.

Make sure your site's key services pages are easy to find in your search navigation.

Similarly, your services page should clearly outline what your business does to help your customers.

Reference: Here's a great example of a service page that leaves no question about the plumbing services offered and how they benefit clients: https://www.benfranklinclt.com/charlotte-plumbing-services/

In 2018 Google announced they are showing "mobile-first" search results. In other words, when a user conducts a search, Google displays results that include websites that are optimized for the mobile experience.

To that end, make sure your website displays properly on phones without errors and is as easy to navigate.

You also want to ensure the pages on your site load quickly. The biggest culprit for slow loading pages is your images.

Here are a couple tips you can implement with your images to speed up your page loading times.

Upload images at their intended display size.

In other words, if your services page includes a 300 x 500 pixels image, there's no need to upload a full-size picture which is 1200 x 2000 pixels. That wastes bandwidth and will slow your page immensely. 

Before uploading your images, convert them to JPEG and make them 50kb or less. If you have high-quality images, they will still look great but your page will load considerably faster.

Quick loading pages are useful for an equally important reason. Your visitors will leave a site that takes longer than four seconds to load, resulting in lost sales opportunities. 

THE BOTTOM LINE ABOUT PLUMBER SEO

When it comes to plumber SEO strategies, consistency is the key to success.

Keep your Google My Business page current. One underutilized tip by most businesses is to update your page when you have a new promotion or news to announce.

Create new blog posts at least once a week and make sure your website delivers a great user experience. Over time, your SEO efforts will pay off with more exposure, more leads and more sales.

If you found this article helpful, we invite you to check out more search engine optimization news now.