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Contractormag 2301 Seo2
Contractormag 2301 Seo2
Contractormag 2301 Seo2
Contractormag 2301 Seo2
Contractormag 2301 Seo2

Changes in the Google Algorithm that could prevent your website from ranking on page one

March 20, 2015
It's essential that you are showing up on all of the major search engines You need to be up to speed with the latest changes and that your SEO strategy is optimized If you still have duplicate pages on your site then you need to either delete the pages or re-write the content You need to take stock of your link profile Going forward it’s all about high quality and relevant links If you want to rank well on Google Maps you are going to need a real commercial office in the city that you want to rank in

As the owner of a Plumbing or HVAC business you know that it’s imperative to have a strong online marketing presence. You may or may not be aware that according to the latest statistics 97% of consumers now use online media when researching products or services in their local area, according to BIA/Kelsey’s (www.bia.com and www.kelseygroup.com). That means pretty much all of your potential customers are pulling up their Internet browser, going to Google, Yahoo or Bing and running a search when they are looking for your Plumbing or HVAC Services.

Now more than ever, it’s essential that you are showing up on all of the major search engines when your customers are in need of your services. The challenge is that the search engines keep switching up their algorithm. Recently Google has rolled out four major algorithmic updates that impact how your plumbing or HVAC business shows up in search – Penguin, Panda, Hummingbird and the Pigeon update.

Even if you once ranked on page one for all of your most important keywords you may have noticed a significant backslide in the past 12 to 24 months. It’s essential that you are up to speed with the latest changes and that your SEO strategy is optimized for the recent updates. In this article we’ll share exactly what you need to do to position your website for ranking success in the post Penguin, Panda and Pigeon era.

The three biggest changes that you have to be aware of and that appear to be impacting most plumbing and HVAC websites, and SEO strategies are:

  1. You can longer get away with duplicate content.
  2. You have too many irrelevant / low quality links pointed back to your website.
  3. You need a real, physical office to rank well on Google Maps.

Duplicate content

Most Plumbing and HVAC contractors serve a pretty wide service area, 25 to 50 miles or more. Serving such a vast area creates a need to rank not just in one city, but multiple cities.

The reason behind this is that when someone searches “Dallas Plumber,” “Fort Worth Plumber,” “Denton Plumber” or any other sub-city in your service area your website shows up. There was a time before Google rolled out the Panda update when you could get away with setting up a page on your website for each of those cities and keep everything the same except the city name. Thousands of Plumbing and HVAC companies across the Untied States added hundreds of duplicate pages to their site in order to rank for keyword combinations, but now instead of helping their rankings and website traffic it’s actually hurting it. The Panda update addressed this specific issue of duplicate content. If you still have duplicate or semi-duplicate pages on your site then you need to either delete the pages or re-write the content, so that it is completely unique from one city to the next.

Low quality links

Search engine optimization and rankings used to be based on one key factor – links. Those who had the most links would typically rank the best. That being the case, Plumbing and HVAC companies, or the marketing companies they hired, started adding links from all over the place (relevant or not) in order to get a boost in their rankings. The Penguin update addressed that. Google needed to be sure that people were not gamming the system and altering the quality of their search results, so they added a filter to catch irrelevant or SPAMMY Links.

If you had an aggressive SEO strategy that included heavy link building in the past your website probably took a noticeable hit in the rankings. To recover, you need to take stock of your link profile, get a list of all the links pointing to your website from across the web. Identify the bad links such as international links or links that have nothing to do with your local area or home services. After you have pinpointed all of the irrelevant links either have them removed or disavow them directly with Google Webmaster Tools.

Going forward it’s all about high quality and relevant links. Get links from websites that make sense for a Plumbing or HVAC company in your area.  Some examples would be the local directory listings like Yelp, YP.com or Angie’s List. Some other good links would be local associations and business groups, industry specific websites, plumbing directories, HVAC directories, home service listing sites and even nearby publications.

Google Maps

When Google began the Pigeon update it specifically addressed the Local Map Listings and had the biggest impact on home based or virtual office businesses. Google wants to list real solid businesses that have a true location in the Map Listings.

There was a time when plumbing and HVAC companies could simply setup a virtual office in every city around town or use family and friends home addresses to get ranked on the Google Map in any city they desired. Those days are long gone. In fact, even those that didn’t try to game the system, but rather simply claimed one location, which happened to be their home office, are feeling the pinch. If you want to rank well on Google Maps you are going to need a real commercial office in the city that you want to rank in.

A real office is essential for ranking purposes, but you also need to make sure that your company is listed in all the major online directory sites with the same name, address and phone number (NAP). Furthermore, you need to have a well thought out strategy for getting a lot of online reviews from real customers in your true service area.

If you address these three major updates you will be well ahead of the game in terms of ranking for the most important plumbing or HVAC keywords in your area.

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