There are thousands of keyword variations in the service industry, but HVAC contractors generally only pursue a tiny fraction of them. It’s easy to think that the key to success is ranking high for “AC repair” and “compressor leak repair,” but there’s are other paths to ranking #1 on Google. Listen in as Nolen and Jason discuss how new entries and older companies alike can upgrade their keyword strategy.
Key Points to Listen For:
- SEO results may not take as long as you think.
- Secondary keywords make a big difference for new HVAC contractors.
- Google considers user intent with brand-optimized keywords.
Keyword Strategy & Optimization
With all the HVAC contractors that we’ve talked with over the years, it’s clear that most professionals have at least some familiarity with keywords. “I need keywords in my website. Popular keywords.” High-volume keywords earn a higher amount of exposure, but there’s a crucial caveat that people forget.
It’s extremely tough to rank for High-volume keywords.
New entries into SEO rarely rank highly for HVAC keywords like “AC repair” or “furnace replacement.” Why? Because there are hundreds of other businesses already attempting it. That doesn’t mean that your business can’t develop a keyword strategy to capture those phrases eventually.
Primary Vs. Secondary Keywords
In SEO, keywords fall under two categories: primary keywords and secondary keywords. All companies eagerly attempt to rank for the first category. These might include:
- “HVAC contractor”
- “AC replacement”
- “Furnace tuneup”
- “Emergency air conditioning”
On the other hand, secondary keywords include terms and phrases related to the primaries (sometimes called LSI keywords). What is their purpose?
- One: They prevent content writers from stuffing primary keywords dozens of times throughout a page.
- Two: They draw Google’s attention to the article and produce more vital recognition for the primary keywords.
- Three: Secondaries allow your business to rank for a high quantity of low-volume keywords.
Where Do HVAC Brands Fit In?
HVAC brands, especially high-quality ones, make fantastic secondary keywords. When potential customers lose their Trane AC Unit (for instance), most perform a generic search for “AC repair” or a similar primary keyword. However, people who want a professional with related brand experience might search “Trane AC repair.” Fewer HVAC professionals optimize for these brand-specific keywords.
But won’t Google direct them towards Trane’s website? Google recognizes that the user intent behind these searches is to find a local repair company. As a result, your business can rank highly for the secondary keyword and maybe even score a position in a local pack.
Some heating and cooling companies understand this idea, but they get the execution wrong. Have you ever seen an HVAC website that showcases dozens of popular industry brands? Most resort to either low-content pages or spun pages to make up the content requirements, and Google penalizes this sort of behavior. Instead of following this rank-dropping behavior, take ten of the most popular HVAC brands in your area and develop a secondary keyword strategy around those! Even if you only get a few hits a week, ten pages with three calls a month each quickly adds up.
The Effects of HVAC Brand Keyword Strategy
Remember those primary keywords that you thought you had no chance of ranking for? As those secondary keywords draw Google’s attention towards your website, the search engine re-evaluates your content. While Google closely guards the secrets of its core algorithm, SEO professionals know that the search engine spiders (researches) websites every few weeks to perform these evaluations. Therefore, if your website contains content oriented towards both primary and secondary keywords, Google may start to list your business higher up in primary keyword rankings.
Getting Started on Your Keyword Strategy
Is it time to re-optimize your site’s content to pursue a new keyword strategy? First, make sure you do plenty of research before writing up your service pages and blog posts. Thankfully, there are plenty of free tools out there to help guide your search.
Great Keyword Research Tools
Remember those secondary keywords! They may not earn the highest traffic volume, but secondaries increase the number of phrases Google recognizes from your website. So that traffic quickly builds up.
Team Up With the HVAC Webmasters
Are you looking for an experienced team of HVAC SEO professionals? Come to the seasoned experts at HVAC Webmasters. We empower heating and cooling companies across the country with a broad spectrum of digital marketing services, including custom web design, content development, and social media advertising. As a result, our clients enjoy premium front page ranking for local search, more robust user engagement, and remarkable lead generation.
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