SEO for plumbers
Nobody standing in water reads three websites.
A good share of plumbing work is an emergency, and emergencies do not shop around. They ring whoever looks closest and open. If you are not in the first handful on the map, the job is gone before you knew it existed.
What’s different about plumbing
Two completely different customers.
There is the burst pipe at seven in the morning, and there is the bathroom somebody has been planning for six months. They search differently, they decide differently, and they are worth very different money.
The emergency searcher wants close, open and answering. Proximity and hours do most of the work, and speed of contact does the rest. The planned-job searcher will actually read, compare and look at photos, and will happily wait for somebody they trust.
Most plumbers are set up for one and lose the other.Usually they are visible for emergencies and invisible for the bathroom fit, which is the job that pays.
What I’d do
The plumbing-specific bits.
The map, for the work you want
Run for the jobs worth having, not just “plumber”. Where you show up for a bathroom fit is often not where you show up for a leak.
Hours you will actually keep
Emergency searches favour businesses that look open. Claiming 24 hours and not answering is worse than honest hours.
Emergency and planned work, separated
Different pages for different jobs, so the person planning a bathroom is not reading about burst pipes.
Gas Safe and credentials, up front
They will not rank you, they will get you chosen. Say it plainly where a worried person will see it.
One tap to call
No forms for emergency work. The number at the top, ready to dial, on every page.
The same map, sixty days on
Same grid, same words. The only honest way to see whether any of it worked.
Being straight with you
Proximity beats everything in an emergency.
For urgent work, distance decides more than I ever can.
Somebody with water coming through a ceiling gets shown plumbers near them, and no amount of work makes you near somebody you are not near. That is a real ceiling on emergency work outside your immediate area. The planned jobs are a different story, because people will travel and wait for the right person, and that is where the work I do earns its keep.
Questions
Worth asking.
I'm already busy. Why would I want more calls?
You might not. But busy and profitable are different things, and most plumbers I speak to are full of small jobs while the bigger ones go elsewhere. Being visible for the work you actually want, rather than whatever comes through, is usually the more useful change.
Should I be listed as open 24 hours?
Only if you genuinely answer at 3am. Emergency searches do favour businesses that look open, but a missed call at 3am is worse than not appearing: you get the click, they get voicemail, and they ring the next one and remember you as the one who did not answer. Set hours you will actually keep.
Does being Gas Safe registered help me rank?
Not directly, Google does not rank you for it. It helps you get chosen once you are seen, which is a different and equally useful thing. Put it on the listing and the site, plainly, because the person deciding is nervous about who they let near their boiler.
Do you cover my area?
I am in Paisley and work across the west of Scotland in person, so I can come out and see the setup. Further afield the same work can be done remotely. I would rather say that plainly than pretend distance is irrelevant. Ring me and I will tell you if it is worth it.
Related
Have a look at these too.
Where you stand
Find out where you actually rank.
Send me your business name and the areas you cover, and I’ll check where you’re showing up across your patch and where you’re not. There’s no charge for it, and if you’re already doing well I’ll tell you that.