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SEO? Thoughts? Bones to pick?

21K views 31 replies 20 participants last post by  ToddHel64 
#1 ·
I was curious as to what you guys thought of the SEO industry and if it is helpful in the local HVAC industry.
 
#5 ·
I'd say that the number of shady SEO firms is only exceeded by the number of shady home service professionals ;)

SEO is a new (still) and unregulated industry. You can't go to Wharton and major in SEO; there are no (reputable) certifications, etc. As a result, everyone and their brother is a "purported" SEO expert. The solution is, in my humble opinion, to learn as much as you can about SEO. There are millions of DIY SEO sites like this.

Read them and ask questions (anyone going to ACCA in Vegas??).

Any time you invest in the SEO process will be worth it. Ask any (decent size) HVAC contractor and my guess is that they'll tell you SEO is one of their top sources of new business (probably #1 or #2 behind word of mouth). Over a one year or greater timeline, it has the highest ROI of any marketing strategy I've ever tested.

If you're small (have more time than money) or large ($20MM+), you should do whatever SEO work you can in-house.

This means:


  • + Keyword research and competitor analysis
  • + Assessing your code and site structure
  • + Creating unique and relevant content (establish yourself as THE expert in your area)
  • + Building your overall web authority (get other authoritative sites to link to you as a resource)

If you're strapped for time, pay someone to do the keyword research and competitor analysis for you. Likewise, assessing your site code and structure is important, but often overlooked. How much do you really know about HTML, CSS, JavaScript, robots.txt files, canonical tags, 301 redirects, etc.? Putting great content on a poorly coded site is like rowing against the tide. Spend some time and make sure that Google, Yahoo and Bing can find, read and index each page of your site.

Again, if you can't figure out how to do this on your own, or you lack the time, hire a pro.

Creating great content is something almost anyone can do. Same thing with getting other authoritative sites to link to you. Whether you do it in-house or outsource it comes down to the question: What's the best use of your time? Can an SEO consultant buy equipment to help you run your business more efficiently? No. Can an SEO consultant help you put better systems in place so that you can better utilize your techs when June/July rolls around? Negative.

If you've got more time than money, do it in-house. If you're busy, do only what only you can do - delegate the rest.

I'll leave you with a final thought - Almost no matter what situation you're in, you don't want to hire an "SEO expert". What you really need is someone that knows BUSINESS (and the HVAC business in particular) first - then SEO and online marketing. Recognize that SEO is one arrow in a much larger quiver. For example, you're wasting your money on SEO if your website's true visit-to-lead conversion rate is less than 15%. Most of you aren't even tracking this.

How can I make this blind assertion? Easy - hardly anyone (like less than 5%) - in any service industry - tracks it correctly/accurately. Contact me and I'll show you.

If the SEO consultant you're talking to isn't asking you about service vs. replacement, the seasonality in your market and how to manage your lead-gen programs to finance your business through the slow seasons, your gross margins, how much you can afford to spend to acquire a new client, what your website's TRUE visit-to-lead conversion rate is (and suggesting you track this if you don't know it today), etc., you're probably talking to the wrong person - IMHO.

Hope this helps!

Ben
 
#8 ·
A couple tips to avoid hiring the wrong SEO firm:

1) Know your numbers. I can't emphasize this enough. Before hiring an SEO firm, you should know (at an absolute minimum):

A) Your average revenue per job (repair vs. replacement)
B) Your inquiry to appointment and appointment to sale conversion rates
C) The # of non-branded organic visitors you're getting per month
D) The % of web visitors that convert into leads (for the site as a whole and then separately for visits from organic search)

***It is also nice to have the number of jobs you're already getting from organic search (so you have an accurate baseline before the SEO firm starts their work)

Tracking all this stuff requires special tools and a certain level of expertise, but there are companies that will help you with it.

2) References - Does the SEO firm you're considering have references - preferably from the HVAC industry - and do their references sound like intelligent business people (i.e. are they running the type of company you'd like to be running one day)?

If you find a bad review for a company, I wouldn't completely write the company off. Think of your own company and customers. How many idiot customers have called you with an HVAC problem, you do the right thing and they somehow find a way to be pissed off about it? Some people can't be pleased and you can't always detect them on the front-end (during the sales process). Unsuccessful people also tend to have a negative view on life (and are therefore more likely to write negative reviews online).

3) Business Knowledge - Purported "seo experts" are a dime a dozen. Finding someone long on business knowledge AND SEO is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Make sure the company you're interviewing understands your business / industry - your gross margin, the seasonality, repair vs. replacement, swap-out/change out vs. custom work, commercial vs. residential, etc. Someone with a modicum of SEO knowledge and a ton of business experience is infinitely more valuable than the typical SEO technician (if you can find an expert in both, you've hit gold).

My $.02 - hope it helps.

Ben
 
#9 ·
Actually SEO is just simple. Doesn't have to be really complicated. The only things that complicate it is those people who don't adhere Google and other search engine's guidelines. I am saying that it is simple because it is. You don't have to hire anyone. You can actually do it yourself if you have the time.
 
#12 ·
Many aspects of SEO are simple - just like many aspects of the HVAC business are simple! ;)

In all seriousness, some aspects of SEO are simple. Others are not (and the ones I'm talking fall well-within Google's rules).

Much of (ethical) SEO is about creating great content - information that helps your prospects solve their problem (and one of their problems might be how to choose the right hvac contractor for their particular problem!). In this regard, SEO is simple (assuming you write well and have the time - to BIG question marks for many).

This said, the best content in the world will never be found by Google, Yahoo, etc. if it's placed on a poorly coded and structured website. Again, making sure your site is coded and structured properly is easy if you're starting from scratch, but a lot of HVAC companies aren't. I can't tell you how many contractors I've seen torpedo their SEO efforts by building a new site without permanently redirecting all of their old URLs to the new location.

So, I'd say that many HVAC contractors would find assessing - and fixing - site coding and structural issues complicated. Another example of a complex aspect of SEO is improving site speed and page load times. I fail to see the connection between simplicity and Google's rules.

Improving site speed is FAR beyond what most webmasters and contractors can do on their own, but Google has publicly said that site speed is a ranking signal.

Anyway - the key phrase you mention above is "if you have the time." No SEO geek is going to order and outfit a new service truck for you, manage and train your techs or handle a botched furnace install.

If you want to grow (and for many, this is a big "IF"), you should only do what you can do and delegate/outsource the rest.

My $.02, hope it helps!

Ben
 
#11 ·
We've been having a lot of success with our SEO firm. One this that helps a lot is that they're totally transparent - every month we get a report that shows exactly what they've done for our site and how much our traffic has grown.
I think this is a really important factor when considering an SEO company. If they're not being straight up with you about what they're doing and how it's going to impact your website traffic, then they're probably a little suspect, kinda "shady" like someone else mentioned.

Overally, I've had great experience with my SEO company. It's really helped the traffic to our website and sales.
 
#14 ·
SEO is simple when you build a wordpress site. However, getting to #1 and staying there is not simple.
Not rocket science, but it takes a lot of work and ingenuity if you are new.


We just launched our website (I have a decent amount of Web experience) and are working our way to the top but we still have a loooong way to go even to the front page.

Still not quite sure which keywords/phrases we should go after
 
#15 ·
Still not quite sure which keywords/phrases we should go after
There's a new service coming out - the name escapes me at the moment. I believe that one of their concepts is to help HVAC contractors identify the best keywords for SEO and help them track their rank for their geographic market (vs. their competitors).

I'll find the name and share it.

Ben
 
#19 ·
I don't know how so many can guarantee top listings also.
Many (but not all) are likely engaging in strategies that be deemed a violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines.

There are plenty of SEO companies out there that ask you to pick XXX of keywords for which you'd like to rank. They'll charge you $500 - $1,000 per month and offer you a money back guarantee - something they can afford to do because, in many cases, all they're doing is paying people overseas a few bucks an hour to put up 150 word "blog posts" on a private network of sites and then link back to your site using your target keyword phrases.

Prior to Google's Penguin update, I saw numerous SEO companies using this tactic - with success. Of course post-Panda, many of their client sites have now been banned or severely penalized - where they once ranked top 5, now they can't be found in the first 500 results.

They can offer a money back guarantee because:

- Some are fly-by-night companies - here today, gone tomorrow (good luck finding them to GET your money back)

- For those you can actually track down, the "cost" of what they provided you is practically nothing.

Companies providing SEO services that involve actually making changes to your website, following Google's guidelines (i.e. operating in a way that will not get your website penalized), accurately tracking your results (often using software that they've created and maintain), writing original content using college educated peeps, etc. are going to be much less likely to offer any ranking guarantees (first, because such companies are in high demand and second because there are too many ranking variables beyond the control of the SEO company).

Like most things in life, generally, you get what you pay for, but you must know the basics of SEO to avoid overpaying for a sh*tty service.

My $.02 - hope it helps!

Ben
 
#22 ·
I'm the Marketing Director for Justrightair.com and I've worked as an SEO Director for an SEO company that specializes in HVAC company's. SEO can be a dangerous tool if used incorrectly. Google's latest update has put many websites in hot water and Google has sent out emails to many webmaster saying their site isn't being crawled because they have gained "unnatural links".

Google's latest update has hurt websites even when they tried to follow all the rules. Google made over 500 changes to their algorithm and there is no way for an average HVAC business owner to keep up on the latest updates. If used properly, SEO can be your number one source of leads.

Do some research before you hire any SEO company.
 
#23 ·
As an FYI and for those of you already involved in SEO for your company... I received a demo of a new (yet to be named) SEO software designed specifically for hvac and plumbing contractors. There are a million tools out there and I've demoed or used nearly all of them, but this one had some features I thought would be particularly helpful for the typical hvac contractor (vs. SEO geek).

It does all the stuff you'd expect - weekly/monthly website audit, rank tracking (audits and rank tracking for your competitors as well - so you can see how you stack up). It has a list of the top performing hvac and plumbing keywords (the keywords that, on the whole, generate the most searches and leads), so that all you have to do is enter the cities you service and it will do the rest. But what I thought was especially cool was that it will allow you to see exactly what changes were made to your website from month-to-month.

I can't tell you how many HVAC contractors tell me that they've hired an SEO guy, but have no idea what he's doing for the fee they pay him (stupid, I know).

I've asked for an account once they get it finished. I'll do a full report once I get a chance to use it for a while.

Ben
 
#24 ·
seo

Absolutely, SEO is important. I'm sure you'll agree that a large percentage of your client base looks for contractors on the internet. The two sides of SEO that are important are on-site SEO, and link building. You want to make sure that your site is first optimized for the search engines to correctly crawl your pages and present your sites in the results. After that has been set up properly, you can go about a link building campaign to drive inbound links to your site and increase your search engine authority. We have been working with a great SEO team in town, and like the other guys have said, you want to do your research; there are a lot of 'spam' like SEO companies that will actually hurt your site's rankings in the long run.
 
#27 ·
Absolutely, SEO is important. I'm sure you'll agree that a large percentage of your client base looks for contractors on the internet. The two sides of SEO that are important are on-site SEO, and link building. You want to make sure that your site is first optimized for the search engines to correctly crawl your pages and present your sites in the results. After that has been set up properly, you can go about a link building campaign to drive inbound links to your site and increase your search engine authority. We have been working with a great SEO team in town, and like the other guys have said, you want to do your research; there are a lot of 'spam' like SEO companies that will actually hurt your site's rankings in the long run.
After Google algorithm updates ..we should be very careful about link building campaigns for driving quality inbound links....
 
#29 ·
Working on search engine optimization is more interesting and profitable than engaging with Google adwords, provided that this mission is supported by a pro in SEO. It is true that the result take several months to see the website on the top 10, but once this is achieved, the traffic will be much more profitable than Adwrods because the latter requires a important commitment in terms of money
 
#30 ·
DEFINITELY worthwhile. You just have to make sure you do it right. If you don't go in with a proper strategy, you're not going to get results.

It's a bit of a full-time job, too. We ended up hiring a local company to handle our SEO and online marketing, and it's been worth every penny.

These days, clients go online to find HVAC services so you've got to be there. Look into local SEO specifically, especially if you're just starting out.
 
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