The Ultimate SEO Audit Guide for HVAC Owners

Welcome HVAC owners and managers to the most comprehensive SEO Audit for HVAC guidelines you’ll find on the internet. We go step by step on what you can try to do yourself or what you should have an agency do with or for you. An SEO audit is like giving your website a check-up. Just like your HVAC systems need regular maintenance to keep them running smoothly, your website needs some TLC to perform at its best.

Here's what you'll learn:

1. SEO statistics
2. SEO terminology
3. Audit Basics
4. What is Google Maps and how to rank
5. Google Business Profile Optimization
6. Google Business Profile Management and Engagement
7. Website SEO Optimization and leads
8. Reputation Management

why is hvac seo audits important for growth?

• Google wants you to manage over 200 things (ranking factors) on your site?
• 90% of website pages get ZERO monthly traffic? 
• Less than 1% of searchers go to page 2 of Google Searching findings?
• #1 ranked pages on average have 1,447 words? 

hvac seo audit basics

Every HVAC Website should have these. Does your website have these?



• No more than 7 top navigation.
• Try and make each page have no more than 2 clicks to get to.
• Your business information is correct and listed on the footer and all contact forms as well as the contact page. 
• You include a map of your company’s headquarters on any and all sales or contact related pages. You don’t need to include the map on blogs.
• Your website has Google Reviews embedded into your home page as well as your “gallery” or “portfolio page.”
• Your articles are industry related and easy to read as well as your pages. Shoot for informative but at an eighth grade reading level.
• Your pages have correct spacing or “white space” in between them so it’s easy on the eyes.
• Your site is mobile optimized so that is loads faster and font is at least 14 px so it’s easy to read and scroll through.
• Consider breadcrumbs at the top for faster navigation.
• Your website has ADA/WCAG compliance to make it easier for those with disabilities to comprehend and navigate your site. 
• Your fonts are basic, with the headers being bold and the paragraphs being a font that everyone can clearly read. 
• Each city your HVAC company services has it’s own page.
• Each city should have it’s own service listed in your Google My Business. And that servie and product should link to your city based landing page.

HVAC LOCAL SEO GOOGLE MAP RANKINGS

This is what your map rankings should aim to be. Page 1 Top 3 rankings. In our map ranker "green" is not just rankings it's greenbacks in your bank account. Here's how we or you or both of us could get it done:



Steal Competitor Keywords

Go to Google Maps and search "HVAC _____ (your city name)."

Now click the "more businesses" to find your top 20 competitors. These are companies and people taking food of your plate. It's time to get tough folks.

Now go through each of your competitor's profiles and make a list of all their:

• services (exact wording)
• what cities they listed to serve
• number of reviews
• review rating
• how many photos they have
• what types of photos they have
• what are people giving reviews about
• jot down their business mission statement
• their hours; can you be open longer?

All of this information is the "template" you should follow to gain faster rankings.

Optimize and Manage Your Google My Business

Optimized Google Business Profile

Go through your profile and answer every question and option. I know they seem stupid and may not even apply. Give away your privacy for ranks, calls, and new customers

Questions and Answers



Get people you know that don't work for you, family, friends, and even clients to go on and ask questions about your business? Get 1-3 Q&A completed every 90 days.

Post every 5 days

Google wants you to continually update your profile with new offers, images, and ideas. Upload photos every time you can, but only make updates every 4-5 business days. Set a reminder in your google or outlook calendar. Each post should be helpful and not overly sales or spam. Think "experts says..."

All Cities Listed



In your profile there is a cities or service area location. Go through and list the top 20 cities and neighborhoods so that your business is not listed to provide HVAC in those areas.

Google Category

Seems simple, but there are many different categories you can choose from. Choose "HVAC Contractor" and then choose additional subcategories that apply. So if you supply plumbing as well, add that too. You can also find these categories with your top competitor profiles.

Google Products

In your profile there is a place to put in products. Yes, you have products for HVAC. Every service you provide create a product with a description and in the title name it "product city name", like "HVAC installation Reno." Then link the product to your website page that correlates to the service.

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Get your HVAC Local SEO Keywords Correct

Using an agency is fastest and will probably save you time, but using SemRush and going into keyword research is easy right? Well just make sure that you click the "location" and search how many times "hvac repair" registers in your specific city. You don't care that there's 750,000 searches a month nationwide, the only thing that matters is how many searches there are in your city.

Below you will see "HVAC services" compared to "HVAC company." You'll see that one has 160 more average searches per month but has much more competition.

Steal Competitor Keywords over time

Whether you hire an agency like ours or you try your luck with Semrush. Type in their website domain and see which keywords they rank for. Put them in a google sheet. Remember, excel is 2015, we're in 2022, get Google Workspace.

Choose Low Competition

You are barely a contender, definitely not a champ. So start winning the keywords with the least amount of competition. Look for difficulties of 0-15 first. Then when you have dominate those keywords go to 16-30, then 31-45 (i.e. multiples of 15).

Make sure the keywords have volume

Unless the "trend" of the graph for the keyword is going up, start with keywords with 10-20, and choose 10 keywords. That could be 50-100 engagements per month leading to 5-10 clients within 3-6 months time, maybe faster if you get more reviews.

One Service, One Keyword, per page

Each HVAC website page has one service. Each page has one keyword you want to rank for and generate leads for. Use SemRush or us to find that keyword. Once you get that keyword top 10 you start ranking for look-a-like keywords and you're off to the races.

City Pages for your service area

Every city you service make a city-based landing page with all services. Just make sure that the content is specific to that city with stats and things that matter and help the residences and businesses in that city.

Blogging

Blog 1-2 times a month on something important your new customers would want to know more about. How often should someone get their boiler repaired. Never write about the same topic twice.

Monthly Maintenance

Google and search engines want to see every one of your website pages updated every 90-120 days. Make sure that your site has ADA/WCAG compliance, and is lightning fast (technical SEO).

Optimize Images

Stock photos and phone photos on a website are huge files. Go to www.freeconvert.com and drag and drop those photos in and reduce the file size before uploading them.

Optimized and Upload Videos

Video sizes are even bigger than images. So use the same software (freeconvert.com) and reduce the file size then upload to the site builder. Never use YouTube, keep them on your site!

Picture Alt Tagging

Remember each page is one primary keyword right, so click on your photo you just uploaded and put in the "alt text" of the keyword then a comma and with no spaces, put in the description of the image.

Page Title and Descriptions

Each page has a H1 header, that's the top title of the page. This title and your page's SEO information, should never be the same. Just rephrase the title in the meta title. In the metal description provide a great but short description of the page you just made with the keyword of the page in it.

Online reviews are #1 in growth

If your reputation sucks, your business will fail. There's too many HVAC companies currently in your market and about to come about since real-estate and online "gurus" are all failing. What does Google want to see in reviews?

• Frequency of reviews matters most; get them weekly or bi-weekly
• Your goal should be a 5-star review every 1 of 2-3 jobs
• Your rating should be 4.8 or higher
• Total number of reviews is one of biggest factors
• Reviews only from customers
• Reviews throughout your territory
• Clients to give 5-stars but also a description of what happened
• Reviews with pictures are added bonus
• You need to respond to thanking them within 4 business hours

5-Star QR Codes

Go to vistaprint.com and create a 5-star review card with a QR that correlates to your Google My Business Profile review link. Where is that? Go to your profile and click "get more reviews." That link is what you paste in vistaprint.

Train your Team how to get reviews

Teach them to identify customers that won't give you a review, ones that may give a bad review, and to first ask if they're happy with the work. Never leave a job site with the client unhappy. Fix it, so you can email or call them down the road for a review too!

branded traffic and recognition

There are two types of traffic to a website; organic and branded. Organic traffic is SEO which is described above. Branded means someone scanned a QR code or typed in your business website URL. So here's the trick:

Create a small flyer and place your business info; website, and a QR code to visit your website. Google will realize you are walking and knocking doors. This branded traffic increases your website authority and you rank for keywords faster and who knows.... you may get a client. Go to vistaprint.com and make 250 for $25-$75.

Simple Trick to improve your traffic

Earlier in the document we discussed picture and video compression. Speed is the #1 reason people stay on your site or bounce somewhere else. Mobile speed however it the most important. Mobile website traffic is on the rise. Having a lightning fast, highly entertaining and informative mobile website is the key to put your competitors on ice! Here's the growth of mobile device usage since 2013 to the present.

MOBILE Website speed

You can test your website speed on both mobile and desktop by pasting in your website URL to Page Speed Insights. The general rule of thumb is to get your mobile score at 45-70. No one gets higher than 70 unless it's just a blog site LOL. Your HVAC website should have a desktop score of 90 or higher overall.

The SEO audit guide for HVAC owners is a valuable resource that delves into optimizing your online presence for growth and success. From grasping the significance of SEO audits to mastering Google My Business optimization and uncovering competitor keywords, this guide equips you with the knowledge and strategies necessary to enhance visibility and attract more leads. Although the content is rich with actionable insights, there might be some challenges when filling out the form, such as navigating different sections or ensuring completeness. Nonetheless, by following the guide's steps, HVAC businesses can significantly enhance their online rankings, attract more customers, and flourish in today's fiercely competitive digital arena.

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Do you need help?

If you're in need of marketing services mentioned above, please contact us today and we'll perform a FREE marketing audit, give you the strategy, and go over the likelihood of a 20-40x marketing ROI within six months.

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