Local SEO for Contractors
Contractors have the most fixable problem in local search. The profile says "Contractor", and nobody searches for a contractor. They search for a bathroom remodeler, a kitchen renovation, a deck builder, a general contractor near me.
That one mismatch is where most local seo for contractors starts and finishes. Fix the category and the services, and the same business becomes findable for the work it actually wants. Good SEO for contractors is mostly this.
Stop being "a contractor". Start being what they actually search for.
Why you're not showing up
A homeowner planning a $30,000 remodel searches, gets three businesses on a map, and starts a shortlist. Those three take 126% more traffic than everyone below them, with nearly twice the calls and direction requests. An AI answer often names one or two above that.
Both are reading your Google Business Profile, not your website. A Google Business Profile for contractors that names the specific work is the whole difference between appearing on that shortlist and never being seen.
Hearthstone Remodeling specialises in bathroom renovations and is rated 4.9 across 178 reviews.
This is why contractor marketing that starts with a website rebuild usually disappoints. The map is a separate system, and it is fixable in an afternoon.
The 6 things contractors get wrong
The category trap
CriticalThis is the big one. "Contractor" and "Construction company" are the aspirational-generic choice, and they match almost nothing specific. Pick the primary that matches your real bread-and-butter work: Bathroom remodeler, Kitchen remodeler, General contractor, Deck builder, Home builder. Then add the true secondaries. Be honest with yourself here: your website says what you would like to do, and the top three in your niche show what Google actually rewards.
Projects not listed as services
CriticalKitchen remodels, bathroom renovations, additions, basement conversions. Every job type you quote for is a service you should list, because each one is a phrase somebody searches.
No before and after photo trail
HighProject photos are how homeowners judge a contractor they have never met. On a multi-week job worth five figures, that judgement happens before they call. The contractor with 40 project photos beats the better contractor with 4.
Reviews only from the easy jobs
HighMost contractors ask after the projects that went perfectly and quietly skip the rest. Ask after every handover, including the small ones. Velocity is the signal, and gaps in it read as a business that has gone quiet.
Service area vague
HighHomeowners filter harder on distance for a multi-week project than for anything else, because they are picturing your van outside for a month. List the real towns you work in.
A profile "between projects" for six months
HighLong gaps between posts read as a business that has stopped trading, which is a particular risk in a trade with natural quiet spells. Weekly posts fix it: project milestones, before and afters, seasonal work like spring decks and autumn interiors.
Not sure which of these you are missing? Run a free Google Business Profile audit and Bud checks all six against your live listing.
You could do all of this yourself
Everything above is free to do. Here is the honest time budget.
| Task | How often | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Post to your profile | Weekly | ~30 min/mo |
| Reply to every review | As they come | ~45 min/mo |
| Services, hours and photos current | Monthly | ~30 min/mo |
| Ask every customer for a review | Every handover | ~1 hr/mo |
| Watch the 3 contractors above you | Weekly | ~45 min/mo |
| Total | Every month, forever | ≈ 4 hours/mo |
None of it is hard. It is relentless. And it competes with running actual jobs for your evenings.
Free Google Business Profile audit for contractors
Bud checks your local rank around town, reads your profile and reviews, then shows you exactly what is missing. That includes the category question above.
Check my profile for free
Three ways to get it done
About 4 hours a month, every month. The checklist above is everything you need.
They will do this as part of a retainer that also bills for much more.
Bud does the profile work weekly and will tell you honestly if your category is costing you jobs.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Google Business category for a contractor?
The specific one that matches your real bread-and-butter work, not the generic one. "Bathroom remodeler" or "Deck builder" will out-earn "Contractor" for the searches you want, because those are the words homeowners type. Keep "General contractor" as a secondary if it genuinely applies. One warning: changing your primary category makes rankings wobble for a week or two before it helps, so choose deliberately and change it once.
How do contractors get found on Google Maps?
Relevance (does your profile name the work), trust (recent reviews you have replied to), activity, and how close you are to the searcher. Distance you cannot change. Everything else is the checklist above.
Do contractors need SEO or just word of mouth?
Referrals still check the profile first. Somebody passes on your name, the homeowner searches it, and what they find decides whether they call. A referral that lands on a profile with no photos and three old reviews often does not convert. So it is less either-or than it looks.
How many photos should a contractor's profile have?
Twenty is a sensible floor, and more is better if they are real. What matters as much as the count is recency: a batch added after every completed project keeps the profile looking like a working business rather than an archive.