SEO Tips For Roofing Companies to Dominate Local Google Rankings

Quick! Name the last time you used a search engine other than Google!

…We’re waiting.

Okay, that was a mostly hypothetical question. The truth is, we’re going to assume that Google is your preferred search engine, and even if it isn’t, guess what? It’s more than likely your customers’ preferred search engine.

In today’s universe of roofer marketing, Google serves as the sun, and the rest of the internet is in orbit all around it. Think of Google page rankings as planets ranking in proximity to the sun; If your website doesn’t show up until the fifth, sixth, or seventh page of search results, you might as well consider yourself a fading star, millions of lightyears away from being accessed by even mankind’s most powerful telescopes! This is where SEO Service for Roofing Companies becomes important.

Okay, enough with the attempts at astrology analogies. Look, the bottom line is, the roofing industry is fiercely competitive, particularly when it comes to visibility and click-ability on relevant Google search results.

Let’s review some basic facts that empathize how crucial Google page ranking is for bringing in more and new business:

• In 2021, Google accounted for 70% of all global desktop search traffic. (Bing was a distant second place with 12%.)
• On the first search result page alone of any given search, the first five organic results account for over 67% of all the clicks.
• The first organic result in any given Google search has an average click-through rate just over 28%.
• More than 85% of consumers use search engines to find local contractors.
• The first three search results for contractors get 55% of the clicks.

We’ve established how important getting to that first page of a Google search can be. Now the question is, how do we get there? Patience, friends. Let’s explore some of the more efficient digital marketing strategies you can utilize to help get your roofing company to dominate that ever-so-sacred first page of Google!

GMB Optimization

When you’re desperately hungry and unabashedly craving stuffed crust pineapple pizza, what are the words you type into Google? If it’s something along the lines of “stuffed crust pineapple pizza near me,” you’re definitely not alone. Nearly >50% of all Google searches are locally oriented, with ‘near me’ mobile Google searches increasing by over 200% in the past few years.

So what helps out a local roofing company looking to pop up on all those “roofing contractors near me” Google searches? The answer is three letters: GMB.

Creating a Google My Business (GMB) listing for your roofing company is an essential step toward enhancing the search engine visibility and local search page rankings of your business. It allows Google to take your roofing company into account for all relevant, local Google searches, while instantly informing searchers of important business information of your company, such as contact information, business hours, reviews, etc.

If you’re unfamiliar with GMB, here are a few FYIs to help emphasize how important it is to list your business through Google:

• It’s FREE! (As in zero dollars and zero cents)
• Boosts your website’s appearance on local Google searches, as well as Google Maps search results
• The more detailed and accurate your Google My Business profile is, the higher it will rank in local Google search and map results
• GMB listings increase the opportunity of engagement with searchers by making contact opportunities and call-to-actions more accessible
• A detailed GMB listing essentially serves as free advertising on the world’s most used and trusted search engine

Even if you’ve never officially set up a GMB listing, odds are that there’s one that already exists for your roofing company and just needs to be verified and claimed by you. Once your listing is verified, you can update and manage all essential information for your company with ease by answering Google’s questions for any relevant and accurate information you want customers to immediately know about your business.

Once you’ve officially created and updated your GMB listing, you can start to utilize other elements of localized marketing through Google, which include:

Local Service Ads

If “dominating” that first page of Google is your “conquest,” then Local Service Ads (LSAs) should be your first “vessel” after establishing your GMA listing. LSAs are what sets up your company and website to receive direct leads from relevant potential customers who are adamantly looking to enlist services.

How LSAs work is simple: When someone searches for a specific service in their area, such as roofing, LSA’s appear at the top of such Google Search results.

Those searchers scanning the top row of results can then click or tap on your LSA to contact you directly or schedule a booking through your ad, without even having to visit your website. When that lead converts to engagement, you’ll receive a notification from the Local Services Ads app, and from there, it’s up to you to convert that lead into a customer. Best of all, you only pay for the leads the LSA generates, meaning you’re only spending money on people interested in spending their money with you!

Google Adwords

LSAs are how you can appear right at the top of a Google first page search result, but investing in Google AdWords advertising is how you will spread your roofing company website all over the place to truly dominate that first search result page. Google AdWords works as a pay-per-click network, where advertisers pay Google to target searchers based on keyword searches, location, and device type in order to target their ads toward relevant users who are specifically interested and actively searching for your company’s products or services.

When you create your Google Ad, you will select a set of keywords and phrases associated with your roofing company, which will then allow your advertisement to appear whenever anyone searches those selected keywords. Once your keywords are established, you’ll essentially start bidding on the actual placement of your Google Ad, a bid that’s determined by the amount you’re willing to invest in your advertisement, as well as the quality score that Google evaluates based on your online credibility and accessibility (GMB listing, reviews, SEO, etc.).

As with LSAs, you’re only going to end up paying for the clicks and leads you receive, not specifically for the advertisement itself.

Google Maps

As previously mentioned, your GMB listing is crucial to helping improve your visibility and engagement on Google Maps. When people search for roofing contractors within close proximity of them via Google Maps, the quality of your GMB listing dictates how quickly your listing will show up on a Google Maps search.

That “quality” depends on how optimized your GMB listing is, meaning how well it’s categorized, detailed, reviewed, photographed, keyworded, updated, etc. The more organized and regularly maintained your GMB listing is, the more visible and accessed it will be on Google Map search results.

Going Organic With SEO

There are two primary ways to climb that Google page ranking mountain to get to the top: the short way or the long way. Optimizing your GMB listing represents the short way, while implementing search engine optimization (SEO) essentially represents the long way. But once you can organically conquer that page ranking mountain, quality SEO is what will help you stay on top!

The overall approach to efficient SEO is finding out what consumers around you search for when they use search engines for topics, services, or questions relevant to roofing. Once popular keywords are targeted, such as “roofing contractors in Edina, MN” or “signs that I need roof repair,” those target keywords are implemented into the content of your website in headlines, page titles, page descriptions, and more.

Over time, your SEO-optimized content will help your website rank better in a wide range of roofing-relevant searches, slowly climbing its way to the top of the Google page rankings until you reach the top!

As previously mentioned, SEO is a long-term digital marketing plan that only pays off if implemented correctly. There are six primary components to quality SEO strategy, which include:

Content Marketing

The more keyword bases you can cover through your roofing website, the more opportunities for organic traffic and customers you’ll have. Content marketing is a chance to show off your expertise and establish your website as a reputable resource for roofing-related questions.

Producing monthly blog articles that pertain to target keywords, such as “8 Ways to Prevent Roof Leaks” or “When Is It Time to Replace Your Roof?” will help boost your page rankings, while also presenting shareable content that can be posted and shared across social media.

Mobile User Experience

More and more people today are accessing the internet from their smartphones, with over 55% of all global web traffic coming through mobile phones. If your roofing website isn’t mobile-friendly, Google will suppress its ranking, despite how well you’re utilizing SEO strategies.

The more mobile-user friendly your website is, the more opportunity it has to rank higher through Google!

Link Building

A general rule of thumb to remember is that the more often your website comes across on the internet, the higher it will rank with Google.

Link building is the process of building backlinks, or links to your web page that are clicked on through other websites, which increases your visibility and, ultimately, page ranking. The more your website is deemed credible and linked to, the better your roofing website will perform on Google.

Web Page Structure

Another key to know: Google ranks individual web pages, not just your entire website.

As we mentioned earlier, the more target keywords you implement, the higher your page ranking. This applies to structuring your website to ensure every single web page on your site has the opportunity to rank in search engine results. Listing all your roofing services individually can increase your website’s visibility. Be sure to incorporate internal links between pages!

Reviews

In relation to link building, reviews are another great opportunity to increase both credibility and visibility. The more online reviews you can accumulate from your customers, the more preference Google will give to you versus another roofing contractor competitor when it comes to page ranking.

Going for Gold With Paid Ads

We’ve already used space and mountain analogies, now let’s use an agriculture metaphor to differentiate SEO from Paid Ads Let’s say you want a nice, big, juicy tomato. SEO is more on par with planting tomato seeds in your garden, watering and attending to them, until months later, they bloom into beautiful, delicious tomatoes!

Paid ads are essentially the equivalent of driving over to Whole Foods and buying that tomato you’re craving right on the spot, receiving instant gratification!

Every time someone searches “roofing contractor near me” on Google, the first results they’re going to see are local service ads. Local service ads are paid advertisements that will display quick tidbits of information at the top of a local roofing-related Google search, such as the company’s name, location, review rating, and contact information.

Local service ads are intended to appeal to consumers who rarely stray too far down the Google page rankings and can serve as fast ways to quickly boost your website traffic (and hopefully generate some more leads). In addition to getting an immediate certification badge from Google, you only pay for the results a local service ad gets you, rather than traditional advertising payments of upfront costs.

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are essentially the most popular form of paid ads on Google. While local service ads will push your website directly at the top of a localized roofing search, PPC ads will also appear at the top of the page rankings of a roofing-relevant Google search but will display your website with more information about your company’s overall services.

As the title illustrates, you only pay for the clicks your website receives. However, if you’re spending less on PPC ads than a local competitor, Google will prioritize their page ranking over yours.

Optimize Your Roofing Digital Marketing Strategy

The main point to emphasize here (without using any corny analogies) is combining both SEO and paid ads as your digital marketing strategy will pay off way more in the long run than deciding between one or the other. It’s best to utilize paid ads while developing the SEO tactics within your website, so you can quickly generate leads while your roofing website continues to rise in the page rankings organically.

The balance of short-term goals and long-term strategy is what will help your roofing company website dominate that sacred first page of Google!