SEO for Plumbers: The Ultimate Guide

What is SEO for Plumbers?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your plumbing website’s online visibility and discoverability on search engines like Google. Done right, it can take your plumbing business to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords, like “commercial repiping New York.”

Benefits of Plumber SEO

Granted, any website with content will be indexed in Google search results eventually. But there are plenty of reasons why plumbing companies need to seriously invest in SEO.

The top three positions on Google search results have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 39.8%, 18.7%, and 10.2%, respectively.

Though the data could substantially change with the advent of AI overviews, these are the positions that tend to get the most clicks.

To put things into perspective, let’s say you managed to secure the top spot for “licensed plumbers near me,” which nets around 2,500 monthly searches.

Since you’re getting 39.8% of that pie, you can expect your monthly traffic to be bumped up by around 995 visitors (2,500 x 0.398) per month — that’s a huge win.

In addition to getting organic traffic, here are other key advantages of plumber SEO:

• Attract higher-quality leads. Draw in search engine users with a high probability of conversion by targeting transactional or commercial keywords (i.e., “emergency plumbers near me”).
• Establish your authority. Improve brand awareness and recognizability by consistently ranking for plumbing-related search queries.
• Lower long-term customer acquisition cost (CAC). Generate free recurring traffic and save money from ongoing, outbound marketing campaigns (i.e., paid ads).

How to Do SEO for Plumbers: Proven Strategies to Rank in Search Engines

Get started with these proven, SEO strategies for plumbers:

1. Start With Local SEO

Local SEO is pivotal for any plumber — just like for any local business that caters to specific service locations.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile lets your plumbing business appear in specific SERP features (i.e., the Local “3-Pack”) as well as on Google Maps.

In other words, it unlocks more ways for your plumbing website to be visible on SERPs.

Below are four of the top tips on how to optimize your Google Business Profile:

• Complete your business details as accurately as possible. Select the right business category (choose “Plumber”), enter up-to-date contact information, and specify your business hours.
• Write a customer-centric business description. Emphasize your unique selling points (USPs), establish your credibility, and incorporate a few keywords where they count.
• Upload high-quality photos. Include real photos of your office, team, and branding elements (e.g., cover photo and logo).
• Enable the Q&A feature. Publicly answer your audience’s top questions to showcase your knowledge.

Get Online Reviews

Another way to make your Google Business Profile more authoritative is to focus on generating and showcasing customer reviews.

2025 data from BrightLocal revealed that 42% of consumers trust reviews as if they’re personal recommendations from people they know. They’ll also make your plumbing business more eye-catching in local search results, especially if you manage to bag high ratings.

Implement techniques like sharing your review link, sending a review request email to previous customers, and responding to all feedback. Most importantly, you need to dedicate yourself to providing exemplary, impactful service that your plumbing customers would genuinely want to recommend.

Build Local Citations

Lastly, you need to get the word out on your plumbing business by building local citations.

This means uploading your consistent name, address, and phone number (NAP) details to online directories and platforms like HomeGuide.

High-quality citations can boost your plumbing website’s rankings for local keywords. More importantly, they directly expose your brand to potential customers who use directories to find services they need.

2. Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research is a prerequisite for the more sophisticated areas of plumber SEO.

The goal is to identify which search terms can bring the right audience to your plumber website. And for this, you’ll need tools like Ahrefs and Semrush.

Find Relevant Local Keywords

Local plumbing keywords not only bolster your local SEO efforts — it’s also a great way to score low-competition keyword opportunities that will rake in high-quality leads.

You can easily modify any keyword for local SEO by adding your city, state, or general area.

For example, “drain cleaning services” can be “drain cleaning services Sheffield.” Google’s autocomplete suggestions should give you the right idea.

If you prefer a more data-driven approach, consider investing in keyword research tools like Semrush and use filters.

Research Competitor Keywords

One of the best ways to find proven keyword ideas is to figure out what already works for your top competitors.

SEO tools will also help you with this. Simply fire up the dedicated domain analysis tool, plug in your competitor’s URL, and look at their top keywords.

For example, in Semrush, you need to use the domain overview tool.

This serves your competitor’s top organic keywords on a silver platter.

Some Keywords Potential Plumbing Clients Use

Fast-track your plumbing keyword research with these ideas:

Keyword	Search Intent
Emergency plumber [location]	Urgently look for a plumber ASAP
Plumbing supplier near me	Find DIY plumbing products
Commercial plumbing near me	Businesses in need of comprehensive plumbing services
Best plumbing repair [location]	Prioritize quality and reliability for plumbing repair services
24 hour plumber near me	Find plumbing services available around the clock
Plumbing installation near me	Look for nearby plumbers to install fixtures, appliances, and piping
[Company] plumber reviews	Get a second opinion before hiring a plumber
Affordable plumbing [location]	Get the best deal possible on nearby plumbing services
Plumbing contractors [location]	Find plumbing services for significant projects and renovations
Clogged drain specialist in [location]	Look for services specifically for fixing clogged drains

3. Fire Up Your Content Marketing Engine

Content marketing gives you a chance to prove your expertise to potential customers. From an SEO standpoint, it allows you to rank for a more diverse pool of keywords with various user intents.

Develop High-Quality, Localized Content

If you’ve already dipped your feet into local SEO, consider starting off your plumber content marketing around localized topics.

These are ideas tailored to a specific community, like:

• Informative guides for plumbing concerns within your target location (i.e., “How to Protect Your Plumbing in the Boston Weather”)
• DIY or emergency advice (i.e., “10 Tips to Prepare Your Plumbing for Hurricane Season”)
• Seasonal and climate-specific content (i.e., “Summer Plumbing Checklist for Dallas Homes”)

In addition to boosting the engagement of local readers, publishing location-specific content will also improve your local SEO rankings.

Answer Audience FAQs

You can include FAQs as a mini-section in other blog posts. Or, you can fashion entire articles focusing on specific questions.

Aside from improving user engagement, answering FAQs also lets your content get picked up by Google SERP features. Just be sure to optimize for the right schema markup, namely the FAQ schema.

Pay Attention to On-Page SEO

On-page SEO involves a handful of strategies aimed at improving your website’s keyword optimization, crawlability, and overall rank-worthiness.

This goes well beyond aiming for a certain level of keyword density — that is, injecting relevant keywords into the right page elements (e.g., page title, H1 tag, and image alt text tags).

Here’s a tip: Use tools like Surfer or Clearscope to get data-driven content optimization suggestions.

Create SEO-Friendly Location and Service Landing Pages

Location-specific service landing pages are important components of the marketing funnel, reeling in potential plumbing leads and encouraging them to convert into paying customers — all in one experience. The key is to integrate conversion elements, like CTAs and contact forms, right where they can be easily seen.

A popular strategy is to draw customers in with special offers, like free estimates or downloadable resources.

5. Perform Technical SEO

Technical SEO is similar to on-page SEO — only this time, you need to optimize aspects that visitors don’t see outright.

Ensure a Secure, Accessible, and Crawlable Site

The top three things you need to do for technical SEO are:

• Implement the essential cybersecurity and privacy practices
• Make your website more accessible for a broader range of users
• Streamline the crawling and indexation process for search engine bots

The basics of implementing security include getting a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate and being transparent about user data collection. Observe regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and make sure you obtain your audience’s consent before tracking their information.

In terms of accessibility, a cost-effective solution is to invest in products like the Accessibility app.

Lastly, you need to work on your plumbing website’s crawlability.

Here’s a checklist to get the ball rolling:

• Create and submit your website’s sitemap through Google Search Console
• Modify your website’s “robots.txt” file to control which pages crawlers can and can’t access
• Practice connecting related content through internal links

Optimize Your Website for Mobile

The goal of mobile optimization is to make the browsing experience smooth and convenient on smaller, touch-enabled screens. Adopting responsive design, for example, allows your website’s layout to automatically adjust, reposition, and resize to match the display on the user’s device.

It also helps to observe mobile-friendly design principles, like:

• Utilizing sufficient white space
• Using large and padded buttons
• Increasing font sizes
• Creating collapsible menu systems (i.e., “hamburger” menus)
• Inserting click-to-call buttons into landing pages

Ensure it Loads Fast

Website performance is not just a ranking factor — it also directly affects the conversion rate of your plumbing service landing pages.

Use PageSpeed Insights to reveal all performance-related issues on your website. It will also include actionable recommendations that can lead to measurable performance gains.

6. Build Links

In plumber SEO, backlinks are like virtual votes of confidence from other websites.

The more backlinks you get from other authoritative sites, the higher your authority and rankings can climb.

Analyze Competitor Backlink Profile

To find the best backlink sources for your plumbing website, a surefire strategy is to analyze the backlink profile of your top competitors.

You can use SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and SpyFu to peek into your competitor’s backlink profile.

Land Guest Posts

You can also gain high-quality backlinks by submitting guest posts to relevant websites.

Aside from using SEO tools, you can use Google to easily find the websites you need. Just run search queries while attaching phrases like “write for us,” “guest post by,” or “guest post guidelines.”

Just remember to:

• Read the website’s guest posting guidelines
• Focus on authoritative sites that publish high-quality content
• Write as if you’re publishing the post on your own website

Sponsor Local Events and Get Some Media Mentions

Finally, you can earn more backlinks naturally through local community involvement.

Sponsoring local events, for example, generates buzz around your business. This can provide you with online media coverage, which in turn results in extra exposure as well as some high-quality backlinks.

You can find event sponsorship opportunities from your local chamber of commerce website or home services social media groups. Or, take a page out of Happy Hiller’s book and openly invite event organizers to apply for sponsorship.

4 SEO Tools You Can Use

Before we wrap things up, let’s go over some of the best tools you can use to accelerate your plumber SEO:

1. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an all-in-one digital marketing analytics platform that can help with basically every aspect of plumber SEO. It can help you with keyword research, domain analysis, content optimization, and more.

2. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool designed to help you zero in on technical and on-page SEO issues on your website. It can also help with certain SEO tasks like submitting your sitemap and setting up alerts whenever problems arise.

3. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a must-have tool for any online business, regardless of whether they’re actively invested in SEO or not. It allows you to analyze your website’s performance by tracking metrics like bounce rate, monthly traffic, conversion rate, average session duration, and more.

4. Whitespark

Whitespark is a platform that will help you excel in the local side of your plumber SEO. It consolidates Google Business Profile management, review gathering, local rank tracking, and citation building into a single dashboard.

Consider Hiring Plumbing SEO Services

Launching a DIY plumbing SEO campaign is more than doable, but it’s hard to achieve measurable results on limited resources and expertise — especially if you’re in a saturated market.

You can lay the groundwork by optimizing your website, claiming your Google Business Profile, and creating your service landing pages. But when it comes to time-consuming tasks like link building and technical SEO, hiring or outsourcing a team of professionals might be the catalyst you need to gain momentum.

This ensures your SEO efforts adhere to the best practices, generate real results, as well as give your time back for running and growing your plumbing business. It also levels the playing field and gives your plumbing website a fighting chance at overtaking competitors who’ve been working with a team of full-time, dedicated professionals.

What to Look for in Plumbing SEO Agencies

The good news is, building your SEO knowledge yourself also comes in handy when looking for a plumbing SEO agency, especially when discussing strategy.

As for picking your initial candidates, below are must-know tips that will go a long way:

• Proven plumber SEO results with testimonials and case studies. Look for agencies that can back up their claims with real-world results.
• Responsive and personable team. Find reliable people who resonate with your business’s culture and always respond to communication.
• Transparent pricing. Make sure you hire professionals who can provide a clear breakdown of their service costs.
• Realistic expectations. Only trust agencies that don’t overpromise and can effectively communicate the risks of SEO.

Final Thoughts

It may sound cliché, but plumber SEO is a long journey that begins with the first step.

Start with fundamental local SEO practices to get quick results and position your plumber website for long-term success. If you need a battle-tested team of SEO professionals for the more complicated steps, we at On The Map Marketing are more than happy to step in.

Make sure your SEO translates to tangible results for your bottom line. Request a free SEO audit today and let’s talk!