The HVAC industry relies on online visibility and website traffic to bring in a steady flow of clients. Like roofers, carpenters, electricians, and welders, HVAC technicians primarily work within a service area, so search engine optimization (SEO) is necessary to increase the website’s presence with a rank at the top of the search engine results page (SERPs).
SEO strategy includes internet marketing and deliberate tactics to improve your website’s ranking, establish your industry authority, and drive qualified leads to your business.
HVAC SEO is a strategy to optimize HVAC websites to earn a higher ranking in the SERPs. Most people look for HVAC contractors with an online search, often typing in search terms and phrases like “HVAC near me” or “plumber near [city],” as well as specific services like “AC repair” or “furnace replacement.”
The search engine returns organic results and paid advertisements that best match the search intent. With SEO, you’re targeting those terms and intent to show up higher in the SERPs, driving more visitors to your site.
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Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies used to rely on print advertising and referrals to bring in new business. With the rise of digital platforms, that strategy has gone online, with most potential customers looking for HVAC services on a search engine like Google or Bing.
Virtually every business needs an online presence to survive, and HVAC companies are no different. In fact, most of your competitors are likely investing in SEO and other digital marketing strategies, so if you’re not, you could fall behind.
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SEO brings a lot of things together to improve your ranking, including keywords, content, and technical aspects of your site.
Keywords are the foundation of SEO and focus on the terms and phrases that HVAC customers use to search for companies and services online. Without keyword research, much of your SEO campaign will fall flat.
Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help you build a list of targeted keywords that consider search volume, difficulty, and search intent.
You want to target customers who are actively searching for businesses or services. For example, someone searching for “why is my AC leaking?” is looking for information, while someone looking for “AC repair” is looking to make a transaction.
The keywords should have enough search volume to drive traffic but not so much competition that you’ll fall behind a slew of other businesses. Adding a local term like the name of a city or town will reduce the difficulty and target more local searchers.
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Once you have your keywords, you can put them to use with content. Quality content marketing helps your website rank for targeted search phrases like “furnace repair” or “Los Angeles HVAC company” with targeted pages.
For example, service pages are ideal for specific HVAC services like furnace repair or central HVAC installation. You can use city pages to target HVAC services in your geographic service area. Blog posts and articles are best used for information like “X signs you need to replace your furnace” or “ductless vs. ducted HVAC.”
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Building backlinks is essential to your SEO and overall brand authority. When authoritative sites link to yours, it’s like a vote of confidence that your business is credible – and Google notices.
Earning external links from credible sites takes time and effort, but it’s worth the payoff. Resist the urge to use black-hat tactics like paying for links, which not only hurt your credibility but could lead to a penalty from Google.
The best way to build links is by creating content that other sites want to link to you. Use keywords, images, infographics, frequently asked questions, and links to sources for your claims to create valuable content that encourages linking.
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On-page optimization, or on-site SEO, includes your content and keyword implementation to help Google understand how your site and content is structured. Your target keywords should be included in the title tag, meta description, headers, and URL to improve your Google ranking.
Be careful not to stuff your content with keywords. Instead, use keyword variants that reference the same concept differently, and keep keywords flowing naturally in your content.
This is all a lot for someone new to SEO to take on, especially if you have no technical experience. If you’re not sure, an SEO agency can help you tighten up your site to ensure it offers a strong user experience.
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Local SEO is a type of SEO that’s important for HVAC companies. It’s similar to a broad plumbing and HVAC SEO strategy, but it’s focused on ranking for local search.
Because HVAC companies often work in geo-service areas surrounding central cities, it’s critical to optimize for local search. This includes a Google My Business page, or Google My Business Profile.
The Google Profile Page is a directory from Google that places local businesses in a section between the ads and the organic search results – the Snack Pack, or local pack. This directory has a page for each business with the Google Maps result, including vital information like your business name, address, phone number, hours of operation, service categories, images, and reviews.
When users search for keywords like “AC repair near me” or “furnace installation near Boston, MA,” they’ll see the Snack Pack in the results for relevant businesses in the service area. Often, searchers will choose from those businesses when they make a purchase decision.
It’s essential that you complete your Google My Business page. If you haven’t claimed it yet, start there and input your business name, address, and phone number (NAP), as well as your hours of operation, images, and categories that apply to your business. If you don’t have reviews yet, encourage your customers to leave honest reviews to bolster your presence.
Google isn’t there to help businesses – it wants to provide the best possible results for search users. If your business doesn’t have enough information, or Google can’t determine if it’s legitimate, you won’t appear in the Snack Pack results.
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Local keywords are a big part of local SEO. If you have a broad service area, be sure to create individual landing pages for each of your service areas to help reach customers outside of your primary location.
For example, if your HVAC company operates in all of Southern California with multiple locations, create individual landing pages for Los Angeles, Long Beach, Orange County, and more. Create unique content for each page to distinguish them from each other and help customers find local services.
Your Google My Business page is important, but you should also include your information on all major directories like HomeAdvisor, Yelp, and Angi. Make sure your NAP citations and other business information is consistent across all directories. If Google can’t tell what information is correct, it could hurt your ranking.
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SEO for plumbers and HVAC SEO is critical to your business success, both now and in the future. Whether you do the work yourself or you enlist the help of an HVAC SEO company with HVAC SEO services, the sooner you start, the sooner you can reap the rewards of all the hard work.
HVAC SEO is a strategy to optimize your HVAC website to boost your ranking in the search results and encourage searchers to click on your pages. By driving organic traffic, SEO is one of the best ways to build brand awareness, improve credibility, and earn more qualified HVAC leads and customers.
The four types of SEO are on-page SEO, off-page SEO, or link building, technical SEO, and local SEO, all of which have been covered here. These tactics aren’t intended to work alone but all come together to improve your ranking factors and position your website higher in the SERPs.
SEO can be used as a broad term that includes search engine marketing (SEM), but SEM is strictly paid advertising methods like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. The goal with SEM is to get traffic via paid ads. With SEO, the goal is to generate unpaid traffic, and by extension, increase leads and conversions.
There are many benefits of HVAC SEO for your HVAC business, including: Boosting online leads Strengthening your online presence Driving new business Maximizing ROI Improving credibility and trust Providing a positive user experience
