What is SEO and How Can it Help Plumbers?

plumbing photo
Photo by J D Mack

If you are interested in growing your business beyond its current size, search engine optimization (SEO) is the latest technology most businesses are using to get an edge on the competition.  “Most businesses” may or may not be an accurate term.  Not everyone is aware of the benefits of SEO, although many are.

If your curiosity is peaked by SEO, the main point of interest to you is that it can substantially increase the size of your business by helping you become more easily found online by potential clients.  You don’t need to know how it works because it’s so time-consuming that you simply won’t have time to do it on your own.

However, most people find it helpful to learn more about how this process works, as it gives them more confidence that the process will be of benefit to them.

Very basically, here is how SEO, also called internet marketing, works

You work with an SEO company to identify keywords for which you believe your clients are searching.  Good SEO companies don’t recommend broad terms like “plumber,” but rather more targeted niche terms.  So, if you are a plumber in New York City, a recommended term might be “New York City plumber.”

If you target the more general and shorter terms like “plumber,” it can take many months and a ton of money, or even years, to rank highly enough to actually receive online leads.  Targeting the longer and geographically-targeted keywords means fewer people are searching for that term, but you will more likely receive a higher percentage of leads coming through because people are looking for your services in their area.

After about three months, you should notice an increase in leads.  After 6, you should definitely receive increased leads, and after a year, your company should notice an increase in its revenue.

Why Does Generating Online Leads take so Long?

Internet marketing takes a few months to take effect because that’s how fast Google works.  You can cheat the system to make the process work faster, but when Google catches you, and it’s great at catching cheaters, you will be pushed to the bottom of its rankings for several years, or longer.

One aspect of SEO is creating high-quality links to your site.  The more links pointing to your site, the more important Google thinks it is.  You could build links on your own, but internet marketing agencies know which sites will help your rankings the most.  It will take them much less time to achieve the same ranking you would on your own.

What are the Realistic Benefits of SEO?

Search engine optimization will help your business – it’s not a question of if, but when.  The degree to which it helps your business is unknown.  There is a certain element of chance to the whole game.  However, businesses are willing to pay for the service because it does generate profits in excess of its costs.

At Devenia, we have been in the industry for several years already, and like any other industry, you can’t stay around unless you produce great results for your clients.  If you are a plumber looking to expand your business, consider what search engine optimization can do for you.

Last Updated on February 26, 2023 by Dan Stelter

3 thoughts on “What is SEO and How Can it Help Plumbers?”

  1. Agree with you there. That was our main reason to start publishing articles about the different professions. Since we have several clients that are typical craftsmen, we have seen very clear what internet marketing can do for them.

    One of our clients in the trade has gone from being one guy working alone, to have seven full time employees to be able to handle all the requests they get. So yes. it really works!

    Reply
  2. Good to see this article…not many articles are focused on tradespeople – who, may not being too comfortable with computers/internet or the ‘fun’ of SEO. Its a tough subject for most people to grasp!

    Reply
  3. I totally agree with you Dan. Well laid out, and useful information to all the plumbers out there that are considering SEO as a way to get new clients. We know for sure that all craftsmen can get great benefit from being active on internet with their businesses.

    Reply

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