As an HVAC business owner, you want to do everything in your power to ensure that potential customers find your services. Doing so involves boosting your company’s online presence so people easily find your brand when searching for things like “air conditioner repair near me.” Citations for local SEO ensure your website appears in relevant directories, helping your company expand its reach and visibility online.
Below, our team from Relentless Digital, the best HVAC SEO company in Arizona, discusses everything you need to know about citation building. Keep reading to learn the benefits you can gain, plus tips on building out your listings in service directories for optimal reach.
Understanding Local SEO and the Role It Plays for Your HVAC Business
To understand the benefits of listing optimization, you need a clear understanding of search engine optimization. SEO involves refining your core website pages and content so it can rank high in search results, allowing you to reach more of your target HVAC clients.
Ranking high in searches involves a long list of strategies, from publishing blog post content to optimizing page speeds and more. When ranking websites, Google considers numerous factors, including website experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (also known as E-E-A-T). You can develop your website’s E-E-A-T in a few ways, but one common tactic is citation building.
Local SEO Citations: What Are They?
A citation is any online mention of your company’s name, address, and phone number (NAP). Your NAP information may be supplemented with other key details about your offerings and will often be featured on various company directories, social media websites, or industry-specific tools, allowing people to search for popular services that offer exactly what they need. The most popular online tools that list NAP information include Google Business Profile, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Apple Maps, Foursquare, and Better Business Bureau.
Depending on which citation websites you pursue, you may find structured and unstructured citations. Structured details appear on websites built for displaying services and use a template-like format to present consistent information across each listing. Unstructured details do not follow any standardized formatting and typically appear on websites that are not designed to be directories.
So, what do these NAP details have to do with search engine rankings? To start, search crawlers consider the number of backlinks websites have when evaluating E-E-A-T criteria, so the more directory appearances you have, the more authoritative your website appears, allowing you to rank higher.
All of your NAP optimization efforts can also act as an independent strategy. Service listings in online tools like Google Business Profile (GBP) can rank independently in search results, Google Maps, and Apple Maps, helping potential customers find local services. When you optimize your company’s local listings using the right citation sites, you can build your client base and brand name.
The Value of Citations for Local SEO
Trade businesses gain incredible value when they build directory profiles. By optimizing mentions for searches, your HVAC company can enjoy the following benefits:
Enhanced Visibility for Local Businesses
Service listings often appear above standard search rankings. For example, GBP appearances for nearby services typically appear in a small section above the standard results. When you optimize your website citations to appear in this section, potential customers can easily find your HVAC services anytime they search for something like “furnace repairs in Arizona.”
Listing optimization can also help you appear in apps your potential clients use daily, such as Google Maps and Yelp. When people search their area for the best nearby technicians, you can appear near the top of the results. This gives searchers the necessary information while bringing you more potential customers, making it a win-win.
Deeper Client Trust
You’re probably not the only HVAC contractor in your area. Therefore, homeowners need to know why they should choose you over the competition. Would you take customer reviews, service offerings, and pricing into account if you were in their shoes?
We thought so.
Your HVAC profiles help you stand out, enhance your trustworthiness, and prove your expertise in the industry. Your citations will typically display relevant customer reviews, the services you offer, your photos, and your pricing, allowing potential clients to evaluate your company details immediately. When you successfully rank above many businesses, clients will automatically see this as a green flag.
Better Rankings in the “Google 3-Pack”
The “Google 3-Pack” is the top three results appearing in the search engine, showcasing services that match a user’s query. Searchers can click to view more results, but in many cases, they will find their preferred brand from the top three sections of the listings. This optimization technique increases your business’s online presence, so you can rank in this top “3-pack,” placing you directly in front of searchers when they’re seeking local websites for HVAC repairs.
Heightened Organic SEO Results
Local citations and organic search optimization efforts go hand in hand. As you optimize your website listings across relevant business platforms, you’ll likely find that your blog post efforts are performing better, your core website pages are receiving more traffic, and all the hard work you’ve invested into your website is paying off. This is because when you build local citations and optimize them in top directories, Google notices that you have multiple major data aggregators and reputable sources referencing your company’s information, which builds your authority and trustworthiness.
A Stronger Link Profile
Building references by leveraging top platforms is a form of backlinking. As you optimize your service citations, you can strengthen your link profile, which can enhance your company’s name, especially if you’ve received negative press in the past. Whether you’ve struggled to obtain backlinks or you have low-quality links pointing to your site, building out structured linking can improve your online mentions.
Tips for Local Citation Building
Building citations for local search results requires a well-thought-out strategy. You likely don’t have the resources to list and manage your business information in hundreds of directories, so you need to work from the top down, focusing on the core sites first. We recommend the following tips as you begin to build your profiles:
1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile is one of the most prominent and relevant digital directories as it allows services to rank in Google queries, which millions of people leverage to find services in their area. Optimizing your GBP requires more thought than you might realize, though.
First, you need to claim your company’s profile by searching for it and clicking “claim.” Next, ensure all service data, including the hours of operation, name, address, and phone number, are correct and up to date. As the company owner, you can also add professional, high-quality photos and videos to make your services appear more attractive.
When you claim your business online, you’ll also have the option to select your company category. Choose “HVAC contractor” and then select all of the services you offer to improve your visibility in geo-targeted search rankings. Be sure to also add your website URL to your GBP data so users can easily discover your services online.
One key ranking factor for GBP profiles is customer reviews. Search engines tend to rank services with positive reviews higher. Below, we offer guidance on how to gather more reviews. Be sure to respond to the feedback you receive to display your brand’s authenticity.
We also recommend verifying your company online with GBP. This verification, which involves only a few steps, can help your business rank higher and appear more trustworthy to potential clients.
2. Choose Leading Directories for Enhanced Reach
After optimizing your GBP profile, you’ll follow similar steps to build out profiles with other digital platforms. You should select core sites that are renowned for local citations and potentially a few industry-specific websites to maximize your potential reach. You can pursue unstructured linking with blog websites, news articles, and similar postings, but we recommend starting with structured citation websites first as you work to build out your online listings.
Here are some popular options you might consider:
- Yelp
- Yellow Pages
- Apple Maps
- HomeAdvisor
- Foursquare
- Better Business Bureau
- Angi
- Bing Places
- Nextdoor
Some of these citation sites might require additional information, so be prepared to spend time optimizing your listings. Below are tips on how to streamline management so you don’t have to manually manage individual entries.
3. Keep Information Consistent Across Platforms
If a potential client reads on Google that you’re open until 5 p.m. but Yelp tells them you offer 24/7 services, they’re going to get confused. If they see a varying company location across platforms, they might even question whether your business exists.
You need to keep all facility information current and consistent across all mentions to avoid confusion and prevent churn. Manually updating your company hours, name, address, and phone number across all appearances each time something changes requires an exorbitant amount of work, so we recommend leveraging a listings management tool, as we’ll discuss below.
4. Target Local Keywords
Many tools allow you to target specific keywords as you build your service profiles. We recommend conducting thorough keyword research to ensure you’re targeting the correct terms for search queries. You need to consider keywords that align with your service offerings and are geo-relevant so you can target local queries for HVAC repairs, replacements, and maintenance.
You can often include these keywords in your facility description; you may also find an additional section for tagging terms. Platforms like GBP may recommend terms, but you should still conduct additional research to ensure you aren’t missing out on potential visibility in search rankings.
5. Start a Review Building Program
Positive reviews enhance visibility within most directories. To increase your rankings, you should encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews on Google and other directory sites.
How can you convince clients to review your trade services? We recommend leveraging digital review collection tools to streamline the process. For example, your listings management tool may offer review management, or you can use external monitoring platforms to request reviews from customers, respond to feedback, and generate more positive brand esteem.
We recommend launching review-building initiatives such as email campaigns to encourage feedback from your clients. You can integrate direct links into your emails or texts so clients can easily leave a review immediately after service. Many websites like GBP offer simple review management integrated directly into the same place where you build out your profile.
How To Maintain Control Over Your Local Citations and Online Presence
Building, optimizing, and managing service profiles across multiple platforms requires considerable manual effort. However, a listings management tool can streamline this process.
Management platforms typically work with the three main data aggregators — InfoGroup, Neustar Localeze, and Factual — allowing these tools to automatically send your data to all major directories. You can use a management tool to get listed with data aggregators, local business associations, or core sites, or you can use these sites for easier upkeep moving forward. If you’re using a management tool to create structured and unstructured mentions on any core sites, like GBP, you’ll still need to go through and verify accuracy.
We recommend leveraging a management tool for easier upkeep after establishing your published services within top directories. This way, if your hours of operations or name change, you don’t need to adjust the description across dozens of citation sources. You can also leverage management platforms to build authority on smaller citation sources you might not have discovered otherwise.
Do You Need Help Optimizing Local Business Listings?
Now that you understand the importance of local business listings, it’s time to begin optimizing your citations across platforms and data aggregators. If you’re struggling to optimize mentions for SEO or simply need help keeping up with your reviews across platforms, our team at Relentless Digital can help.
We understand how competitive the HVAC industry can be, so we’re ready to refine your search optimization strategy. Contact Relentless Digital today to learn how we can help you rank above other HVAC businesses through expert citation management.
FAQs
Do you still have questions about building profiles on top listers? Read on for answers to frequently asked questions we’ve received from leading companies.
How Do You Find Local Citations?
You can find local citations in business directories, social media networks, data aggregators, websites, and apps. Some of the most popular data aggregators for citation-building include Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Yellow Pages.
What Is an SEO Map Citation?
An SEO map citation is any local citation that appears on map apps like Apple Maps. When you build profiles on these geo-centered data aggregators, you can appear better in geo-targeted search rankings and you can help people find your services when searching on the go.
How Do You Claim Your Business Name on Google?
You can claim your business name on Google by visiting GBP, searching for your name, and claiming your profile. After claiming the account, add or update the data and optimize the profile with high-quality photos. You can verify your account as well to help it rank in search results.
What Is the Value of Citations for Local SEO?
Local citations enhance your company’s visibility in nearby search listings, increase client trust, and complement the efforts of your organic SEO strategy. When you create mentions to optimize search engine results, you can place information about your services right in front of your target audience anytime they’re searching for nearby HVAC businesses or leading plumbers.
