In order to get more plumbing leads, you have to be seen. The best way to capture the attention of potential customers is through Google, the most popular search engine in the world. Plumbing SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” which means making your website more appealing to search engines so you can generate plumbing leads organically.
The greatest benefit of SEO is that it’s free and constant. Unlike paid ads, you can’t simply turn SEO on or off. Once you establish a solid foundation, you’ll have a plumbing lead generation system that gets plumbing service leads on autopilot.
Table of Contents:
Key Elements of Plumbing SEO
Local SEO Strategies for Plumbers
Content Marketing for Plumbing SEO
Tracking and Refining SEO Performance
Link Building for Plumbing SEO
A fast, mobile-friendly site is crucial if you want to get more plumbing leads and avoid losing potential customers who need immediate solutions. If your website loads slowly, they may leave before taking action. Anything over three seconds is considered slow, so using Google PageSpeed Insights to measure load times is highly recommended.
Compress large images (with tools like TinyPNG) and test mobile usability through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. This matters because a slow or poorly optimized site means lost plumbing leads.
Because most users search on mobile devices, a responsive design that adapts to various screen sizes will improve user experience and help get targeted plumbing leads. Optimize font sizes for readability, make buttons easy to tap, and continue to minimize load times by compressing images and cleaning up your code.
According to data from December 2023, 63% of Google’s organic search traffic in the US comes from mobile devices, so ignoring mobile optimization can severely limit your ability to obtain the best plumbing leads.
Below are ten on-page SEO elements (the “love signs”) that are vital to pleasing both readers and search engines. These are important elements for website marketing for plumbers:
Title Tags
Ensure each page has a unique, descriptive title tag.
Include your primary keyword (e.g., “best plumber near me”) near the start.
Keep titles under 60 characters.
Example: “Affordable Plumbing Services Near Me | [Your Business Name]”
Meta Descriptions
Write keyword-rich summaries (under 160 characters) that accurately describe the page content.
Include a call-to-action (CTA) and naturally incorporate your primary keyword.
Example: “Need reliable plumbing services? Contact us for quick, affordable solutions in [City].”
Header Tags (H1, H2, H3)
Use headers to structure content logically.
Each page should have one H1 tag with your primary keyword.
Break content into sections with H2 and H3 tags, using secondary keywords.
Example: In this guide, the main H1 is “How to Get More Plumbing Leads Using SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide,” and H2s define each topic.
Keyword Placement
Place your primary keyword in the first 100 words of the page.
Include keywords naturally throughout the content, avoiding overstuffing.
Use synonyms and related terms for broader semantic optimization.
Internal Links
Link to relevant pages on your website to help users navigate and distribute links.
Use keyword-rich anchor text (e.g., “get more plumbing leads”).
Alt Text for Images
Provide descriptive alt text for images so search engines and visually impaired users understand the content.
Include relevant keywords naturally, without overstuffing.
Example: Alt text might read, “Plumber fixing a water heater.”
URL Structure
Keep URLs clean, concise, and descriptive.
Include your primary keyword if possible.
Avoid long numeric strings or unnecessary parameters.
Schema Markup
Implement structured data to help search engines better understand your content.
Use local business schema to display address, phone number, and reviews.
FAQ schema can highlight Q&A sections in search results.
Content Depth and Quality
Provide detailed, in-depth content that addresses user intent.
Use occasional lists, bold text, and visuals (images, charts, videos) to make content more engaging.
High-quality content is essential for digital marketing for plumbers.
Mobile-Friendliness
Ensure your website is responsive and looks good on all devices.
Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check any issues and optimize accordingly.
By addressing these ten points, you ensure your pages are both user-friendly and search engine-friendly. You can start by creating compelling title tags (for instance, “Affordable Plumbing Services Near Me | [Your Business Name]”) and placing your primary keyword in the first 100 words of a page. Adding schema markup for reviews and contact information can further enhance your local presence.
Finding the right keywords connects you to customers who are actively looking for your plumbing services and is essential for plumbing lead generation. You can begin by creating a free account on Semrush and using its Keyword Overview tool.
Type in a primary keyword—like “best plumbing in [city name]” or “emergency plumber near me”—and review the search volume, keyword difficulty (KD), and Cost-Per-Click (CPC).
You can then use the Keyword Ideas feature to spot high-volume, low-competition keywords, which are typically easiest to rank for.
It’s also important to pay attention to search intent (informational, transactional, commercial, or navigational), because understanding user intentions helps you craft relevant content.
High-intent keywords typically have an immediate commercial or transactional goal, such as “emergency plumbing services in [City].” and can get you some of the best plumbing leads. If your services match this query, you have a higher chance of converting visitors into leads. For more information on search intent, you can check out FirstPageSage's article.
Create a spreadsheet to map specific keywords to different website pages. This prevents overlap and ensures each page is well-optimized.
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is often the first impression potential customers have of your business in local searches. To optimize it, claim your GBP and ensure your business information—Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP)—is completely accurate.
Upload plenty of photos featuring your team, vans, and recent projects, and use your profile to post about promotions or completed jobs. The more you update your GBP, the more credibility you gain with local search algorithms.
Reviews are another major ranking factor; gathering authentic, positive feedback can significantly improve your visibility and encourage prospective customers to reach out.
Ensuring your business is listed consistently across online directories tells Google you’re a trustworthy, legitimate plumbing business. Below is a list of top directories to consider:
Claiming or creating listings on these directories usually doesn’t take too long. Use a service like BrightLocal to monitor directory presence and check for consistent NAP details. Having the exact same information across these platforms signals to Google that you’re a legitimate operation, boosting your local SEO performance.
Reviews strongly influence local ranking, and obtaining them can be simpler than you think.
Send emails or text messages to past and current clients, explaining that you would appreciate their feedback. Offer a small incentive, such as entry into a gift card giveaway or a discount on their next service, and include a sense of urgency (e.g., a 24-48 hour window). Personalizing your message by using the customer’s name and referencing a recent interaction makes the invitation more genuine.
The more reviews you accumulate, the more trust you build, which can lead to higher rankings in local search results and a stronger presence on your Google Business Profile. Use this to build your google review campaign.
In 2025, creating content as a company is not only necessary, but also a no-brainer. Content marketing generates 3x as many leads as traditional marketing and costs 62% less. The first form of content marketing to master are blog. This is because blog posts are the most popular formats used to increase brand awareness.
Blog posts attract organic traffic by answering common customer questions. They are a great way of boosting SEO and building trust with a potential lead.
After you’ve done keyword research, pick one main topic to write about. Your best keyword (high volume and low difficulty) should be in the title of the blog. Keywords can act as a compass for what you will write about. Try to focus on 1-3 main themes. For example, this blog is centered around plumbing SEO.
You should have a list of 10-20 sub keywords, that all relate to the title of the blog. Sprinkle these keywords throughout your blog as you are writing it.
After you’ve written down your keywords, ask Chat-GPT to brainstorm 10 title ideas based on these keywords. Mention this is a “digital marketing for plumbers” project.
Now, ask it to make the title invoke curiosity, while being short and to the point.
After you have a title picked out, request Chat-GPT to build an outline based on what you’d like to talk about. Give it 3-5 bullet points of key information that will provide value to the reader, and let AI do the rest.
By now, you should have an outline, a title, and 3-5 subtopics that relate to your core message. You can either choose to fill out the blog yourself or ask Chat-GPT to write a 2,000 word article based around the keywords and topic you picked.
The more time you spend refining your ai prompts, the better your blog will be. Play around with tone, grammar level, and blog structure. If you’re still unsure, you can always copy and paste this text into Chat-GPT and ask for it to elaborate and give tips based on what is written in this blog.
Best Writing Topics
How-To’s (DIY’s)
Story Time (talk about your experience and something valuable your learned on a job)
Ultimate Guides (deep dives into specific areas of plumbing)
Comparison Guide (comparing tools or advice)
Case Studies (similar to story times but about a specific happy customer after working with you)
Rules of Thumb to Follow
Always add a CTA (call-to-action) at the end of every blog. This can be a phone number the lead calls or a form they fill out
Don’t write chunky paragraphs. Space out your blog with images, bullet points, and subheadings. This will make readability easier.
Videos build trust and showcase expertise. Similar to blogs, you’ll need 1 core idea per video.
You’ll also want to mention keywords throughout your video narration and the video description if you are posting it on Youtube.
The Tools Needed
Phone camera
Script (use AI to fast track the process)
Use the same process that I explained in the blog outline when creating your script. You don’t need any fancy editing, just a solid video idea and script which can be generated by Chat-GPT.
Why Video Content?
The best way to build trust with these targeted plumbing leads is to record yourself speaking in front of the camera, as this will differentiate you from other business owners who are scared to do so.
More than 92% of all Internet users across the world watch videos online every week. But why should you make videos instead of blogs? Well, users are 3 times more likely to opt for watching a video tutorial on YouTube than they are to read a text-based instruction manual.
If that wasn’t enough to convince you to start making video content, 82% of consumers have bought a product or service due to watching a marketing video.
Because SEO isn’t a “set it and forget it” endeavor, tracking data and adjusting your strategies is crucial. Watching key performance indicators helps you see what’s working, what’s lagging, and where you can improve.
Organic Traffic: The number of users arriving at your site via search engines. Check Google Analytics (Acquisition > Overview) to see if your efforts are driving more visitors.
Keyword Rankings: Determine how well your target keywords are positioned in search results using SEMrush’s Position Tracking.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on your page after it appears in search results, viewable in Google Search Console (Performance > Queries).
Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave your site quickly without further interaction. Found in Google Analytics under Engagement metrics.
Backlink Profile: The quantity and quality of sites linking to yours. Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush’s Backlink Analytics can help you identify trends.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who take a desired action (e.g., booking a service). Track this by setting up key events in Google Analytics.
Start by setting up Google Analytics and Search Console so you have comprehensive data on how users find and interact with your site.
Define clear goals, such as “Increase organic traffic by 20% in three months” or “Achieve a 5% conversion rate.”
Monitor your data weekly or monthly, comparing changes to your set objectives. If you see a drop in rankings, consider updating older pages, optimizing content further, or targeting new keywords. Use automated reports in SEMrush for keyword rankings and backlinks.
You can also compare your domain to competitors using SEMrush’s Domain Overview tool to see how you stack up within your local market.
For a deeper look at on-page user behavior, consider installing heatmap tools like Hotjar. Heatmaps show where users click, scroll, and hover their mouse on each page, offering insights that go beyond standard analytics data.
You can then identify which CTAs receive the most clicks, which areas visitors ignore, and how far down a page most users read. Making small changes—like moving contact forms higher up or adjusting the design of a CTA button—can improve user experience and increase conversions.
Backlinks are external “votes of confidence” from other sites that lead to your own. A site linking to this blog, for instance, would give it an external backlink. Internal links, meanwhile, point to other pages within your website.
Both types help users navigate your site and guide search engines in understanding which pages are most important. However, external backlinks carry significant weight in signaling overall authority.
You generally want a broad network of referring domains (multiple websites) rather than many links from one single source.
Begin by producing high-quality, shareable content—such as an in-depth guide on preventing winter pipe bursts. Once you publish valuable articles, you can reach out to industry partners, local businesses, or relevant blogs.
Propose collaboration, guest posting, or content swaps. Use Semrush Link Building Tool to help with this process and offer linking to each other’s resources. Make sure the backlinks you get are from high-authority sites. The more high-quality links you gather, the stronger your plumbing search engine optimization efforts become.
Listing your site on local directories and even sponsoring events for backlinks from community websites helps diversify your profile further. Monitor your backlink health using Ahrefs or SEMrush to spot any spammy or low-quality links, which you can disavow in Google Search Console.
Combining these SEO approaches will help you create a robust online presence that attracts a steady flow of plumbing leads.
Start by optimizing key website elements—site speed, mobile-friendliness, title tags, and schema markup. Then, focus on local SEO tactics like a well-maintained Google Business Profile and consistent local citations. Complement these efforts with content marketing, producing blogs and videos that educate prospective customers while signaling your expertise to search engines.
Regularly track performance metrics in Google Analytics or Search Console, adjusting as needed. Finally, build high-quality backlinks to strengthen your site’s authority.
If you follow this entire strategy—from keyword research and GBP optimization to link building and analytics tracking—you’ll be well on your way to dominating the local plumbing market.
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Q: How to get more plumbing customers with SEO?
A: Optimize your site for speed and mobile-friendliness, focus on local keywords, and regularly publish high-quality content (blogs, videos) tailored to common plumbing questions. Claim or update your Google Business Profile, gather positive reviews, and build backlinks from relevant, reputable sites. Ongoing tracking in Google Analytics or Search Console ensures you’re making progress.
Q: What is plumbing marketing?
A: Plumbing marketing involves strategies like search engine optimization, pay-per-click ads, pay-per-call services, and consistent content creation to promote plumbing services. The goal is to increase visibility, drive relevant traffic, and convert that traffic into customers.
Q: How to get more plumbing service leads?
A:
1. Optimize your website with SEO
2. Claim and update your Google Business Profile
3. Use targeted local ads
4. Create engaging content like blogs and videos
5. Leverage referral programs and online directories to increase visibility and trust
Hello everyone! My name is Alex and I write these blogs to help educate small business owners on different ways to grow their business. My goal is to make lead generation as easy as possible for you. After reading these blogs, I hope you leave with some actionable steps that will get you closer to growing your business :)
