As a provider of Local Search Engine Optimization services for home contractors, auto repair shops and restaurants we often get asked, “Why do I need SEO? I have a website so people should be able to find it.”
Well, that may be true if there was no competition.
Trouble is, we ALL have competition…especially our clients!
Using the home contractor category of Plumbers as an example, we would explain it this way:
Our local phone book for Conifer, Colorado lists 37 plumbers. (It’s worth pointing out to those readers who aren’t familiar with this Colorado community that it is pretty small, with a population of only 20,000. If we’re speaking with a prospect in a larger metro are we can safely multiply these numbers by 5 or more.)
There are 17 spots on page one of Google if you count the organic results and the map pack… but after the recent Pigeon update, there are a lot of directories showing up. After we remove the directory spots, that leaves 11 or 12 possible spots.
37 plumbers – 12 spots = 25 plumbers that won’t be on page one, just in our small community.
This simple equation quickly demonstrates to plumbers (and electricians, furnace repair, auto repair shops and restaurants) that they’re not going to rank high simply because they have a website.
If our prospect wants to beat out the competition, they’ve got to send the right signals to Google so that they can outrank competitors. This means they need great content with an quality user experience. They must gear their content for local searches and must be active on social media…including getting great reviews.
