Local SEO for Contractors in Toronto
Contractors in Toronto have their work cut out for them when it comes to local seo that targets the city of Toronto or the Greater Toronto Area. The reason being that the competition is generally high for most types of contractors and if you don’t know what you’re doing it can be a tough go that likely won’t yield the targeted leads you are looking for.
What keywords should contractors target for local seo?
Some of the most common queries internet users are using are specific to the niche/industry you are in. For example, if someone is looking for a snow removal company in Toronto they will likely type “snow removal Toronto”. If someone is looking for an HVAC service they will likely type, “Toronto HVAC companies”. They might even search for “general contractors” which is a very broad term and unless you truly offer general contractor services and even then, it’s typically not worth the time targeting that type of board keyword.
The reason why is because it is so broad that the search results will contain a variety of contractors located in Toronto but from several industries/niches. So many, that most likely, the user will not waste time and instead quickly type a second query that is specific to what they are looking for. For that reason alone it is not worth the time or expense and you are better off using words that target your specific contracting business.
If you are an HVAC contractor for example, technically you are offering two services and in that case, it would benefit you to target keywords that contain “HVAC” and also spend time or money targeting “heating contractor” and also “air conditioner contactor” or “ac contractor”. The competition is still high but you will be doing yourself a favour by targeting keywords that are specific to your service offerings rather than just “HVAC”. After you have optimized your site and listings to target these more specific terms you can then start to work on targeting long-tail keywords that also directly relate to the services you offer.
You should be using your main “focus” keywords on your home page, service pages and also in any business directories and within your Google My Business account. Long-tail keywords will help you gain more visibility online and should be used within a blog on your website and also in social media posts and in Google My Business posts. If you are not posting on either of those platforms you should be because they both will not just help with online visibility, they are free channels to drive targeted traffic directly to your website.
Google My Business Account for Contractors
One of the first things a contractor should do for local SEO is create and optimize a Google My Business account. You can and should create a GMB account even if you do not have a website. You can set it up so that potential customers can call you directly from the account and also send you messages in the GMB messaging app. You can install a GMB app on your phone and instantly receive messages from customers through the app. I am not going to get into how to create an account here or how you optimize an account but keyword usage is much the same as it is for your contractor website. You will want to target specific main focus keywords in your profile/description and also create services that will in turn target the keywords. Post regularly to the account and target long-tail keywords in the posts.
