Proper SEO is one of the most effective ways to generate online leads and grow your business. It brings more organic traffic and can help your website rank higher in search engines. Many e-commerce businesses spend a lot of time and resources on it, but SEO for contractors can still have some critical issues that hurt their online visibility.

If you have been investing in SEO marketing but not seeing the desired results, you might not be doing things right. Read this blog to learn how you can avoid the common pitfalls of SEO for general contractors:

Not Optimizing for Local SEO

One of the biggest mistakes contractors make is not optimizing for local SEO. This means they are missing out on potential customers in their area who may be searching for the services they offer. By incorporating local keywords into their website content, creating a Google My Business profile, and getting listed in local directories, contractors can improve their visibility in local search results. While making an SEO strategy, it’s essential to focus on the local audience and target keywords that are relevant to their location.

Solution: Make sure to start optimizing for local SEO by adding location-specific keywords to your website content. Always include your city and state in your website’s title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags. You can also create local content that specifically targets your local audience and encourages them to engage with your business.

Not Using Enough or Using Too Many Keywords

This is something that every SEO expert is aware of. Keywords are essential for helping search engines understand your website’s content and rank it appropriately. Without keywords, your website won’t appear in search results for relevant queries.

Keyword stuffing is also a common blunders that can hurt your website’s ranking. Stuffing too many keywords into your content can make it look spammy and unnatural, which search engines penalize. So what is the sweet spot for keyword usage?

Solution: Use relevant keywords naturally throughout your website content, but don’t overdo it. Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help you identify the best keywords for your business and target audience. Experts recommend using no more than two to three keywords per page and ensuring they are incorporated naturally within the content.

Neglecting Mobile Optimization

There are billions of smartphone users worldwide, and a significant portion of them use their devices to search for local services. Not optimizing your website for mobile devices means you’re missing out on potential customers who may be accessing your site from their phones. This is detrimental to your SEO efforts.

Solution: Make sure your website is mobile-friendly by using a responsive design that adjusts to different screen sizes. You can also improve your website’s loading speed, compress images, and use smaller font sizes to ensure your website loads quickly on mobile devices.

Not Having a Clear Call-to-Action

Another SEO marketing oversight is not having a clear call-to-action on your website content. Without a clear call-to-action, your website visitors may not know what to do next or how to engage with your business. A clear call-to-action encourages your visitors to take the desired action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting your business for more information.

Solution: Include a clear and visible call-to-action on every page of your website. Include a prominent ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Get in Touch’ button, and use action-oriented language to encourage visitors to take the next step.

Not Having an SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate is a crucial website security component that encrypts data transmitted between the user’s browser and your website. Without an SSL certificate, your website is vulnerable to cyber-attacks and data breaches, which can hurt your SEO ranking and put your customers’ sensitive information at risk.

Solution: The solution is to obtain an SSL certificate for your website. This can be done through your web hosting provider or a third-party SSL certificate provider.

Not Optimizing Images

Images are an important part of any website, but they can also slow down your site if not optimized properly. This not only helps to improve your website’s load time but also makes them more accessible to visually impaired users who rely on screen readers to navigate the web.

Solution: To optimize your images, compress their size and ensure they have descriptive file names and alt tags without affecting their quality. Use keywords in the alt tags, but ensure they are relevant and not forced.

Not Monitoring the Analytics

Many contractors using SEO marketing don’t monitor their website analytics regularly. Regularly monitoring website analytics helps to track the performance of your SEO efforts and identify areas that need improvement.

Solution: Set up Google Analytics or any other website analytics tool to track your website’s performance regularly. Analyze the data to identify which pages are performing well and which ones need improvement.

Ignoring Social Media

Social media plays a crucial role in modern-day digital marketing. Ignoring social media can be a major faux pas for contractors as it provides an opportunity to connect with potential customers, build brand awareness, and drive website traffic.

Solution: Create social media accounts such as Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Connect and engage with your target audience on these platforms by sharing relevant content and responding to comments and messages.

Not Using Backlinks

Many SEO services do not prioritize building backlinks to their clients’ websites. Backlinks help with off-page SEO and can improve your website’s search engine ranking.

Solution: Reach out to high-quality and reliable websites in your industry or related industries to request a backlink. It will instantly boost your sales.