Home builder SEO can improve your online visibility and help your website rank at the top of Google search for keywords and search phrases that potential customers use when looking to hire a custom home builder. Ignoring search engine optimization makes it nearly impossible to show up at the top of the results for relevant keywords, if at all.

Aside from a few large nationwide builders, most custom home builders service a very specific area, so it’s important to focus on location-based keywords when optimizing for the best possible search results.

For example, a home builder in Denver, Colorado would want to optimize his homepage for the main keyword “custom home builder in Denver Colorado,” including it in the page’s meta title and throughout the homepage copy, being sure to use it in H2 tag, as an image alt-tag, and sprinkling it naturally throughout the text.

For smaller, less competitive markets simple on-page optimization will get the website found, but for larger more competitive markets like Los Angeles and Dallas, the SEO strategy needed to rank is much more complex.

A combination of technical SEO, content marketing, and link building, combined with dozens of other ranking signals all need to work together to increase the authority and trust of your home builder website. This is not an overnight process, which is why many home builders never get to experience the true ROI potential of search engine optimization.

Fast results are always desired, but it’s not always possible to achieve, especially for those ultra-competitive home building markets. If you are willing to invest the time and money into a properly managed home builder SEO campaign the long-term results are unmatched.

The ROI of search engine optimization is very attractive when you consider that inbound traffic can hit your website at any time, for a wide variety of search phrases, and with the right keyword research, you can attract qualified visitors that convert into leads and eventually new home construction customers. Let’s touch on a few very important SEO tips that are responsible for generating high-quality custom home building leads.

Identify the Best Keywords to Target for Your Home Builder SEO Campaign

The keywords that your home builder SEO campaign targets will either make or break your entire effort. It’s important to target the correct search terms from the beginning because it can take a lot of time and effort to rank for them. The last thing you want is to find out the keyword did not attract qualified traffic.

Keywords don’t have to be single or two word phrases. While you will want to target terms like “custom home builder in [your location]” and “[your location] area home builder,” you can optimize for long-tail phrases and even complete sentences.

If someone is typing it into Google, then it’s worth targeting if that keyword, phrase, or sentence has the intent to hire a custom home builder behind it. Some of the best ways to come up with keywords to target are:

• Use common sense. This might sound obvious, but simply thinking like your typical customer and putting yourself in their shoes can uncover some terms to rank for. Terms like “home builder near me” or “home builder in my area” will be local terms that will trigger Google Maps, so it’s important to optimize your Google My Business profile for your location to display for searches like these in your area.

• Use Google autocomplete. Type in partial terms like “home builder in…” or “custom home…” and see what autocomplete suggestions are listed. These are suggested by Google because they are searched often. Google is telling you exactly what terms are being entered into its search engine.

• Look at Google Search Console data. There is a tab that shows you the search terms that caused your website to show in the search results, the average position it was shown at, how many times it was shown, and how many clicks it received. You can use this information to target these terms and build out the pages that are displaying, fully optimizing them for the specific keywords. This isn’t speculation – these are terms that are actively triggering Google to show your site in its results.

The algorithm is always changing and advancing, so focus on optimizing for keywords that you know will attract interested prospects. Building a custom home isn’t a purchase decision that is made as often as buying a new car or an electronics item – so it’s important to get a prospect to your website as soon as they expressed interest.

Make Sure Your Home Builder Website Has a Mobile-First Design

Every website needs to be mobile-friendly. This has been mentioned multiple times over the past few years, and the main reason for this is to provide a pleasant user experience, and improving the chances of the user converting into a lead while on your website using a mobile device.

As previously mentioned, consumers don’t look for home builders frequently. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime purchase decision for many. Some might build multiple homes in a lifetime, but the majority of buyers are one and done.

This makes it very important to not only provide great content and information but present it in a way that it can be viewed and interacted with easily on a small screen. Imagine attracting a prospect that views your past work and is highly interested in learning more, but the process to request more information is a nightmare to complete on a small screen.

If that consumer leaves, they might find another option before returning to your website on a desktop computer. This is a costly missed opportunity that could have been avoided if the website was designed with mobile-first in mind.

There are several tools that you can pass your website URLs through to test it, and Google even has its own, but there is nothing that will provide you better data than user feedback from real users.

Ask your employees, friends, and family to go through your website on their mobile devices and attempt all contact options, form submissions, and available options, and record what they like and don’t like. You want to make every effort possible to provide a seamless experience.

Launch a Home Contractor Link Building Campaign

If you want to rank your home builder website on the top of Google for the most competitive keywords you are going to have to partake in some off-page SEO, namely link building. Google’s algorithm has always favored links and has put a lot of emphasis on them.

While it used to be a number game – more links meant higher rankings – today quality and relevance come into play. A single link from a home building company’s website that has a lot of authority provides more of an SEO benefit than thousands of low-quality irrelevant links.

When done correctly, link building can also drive qualified traffic back to your website, which is why it’s so important to identify link opportunities that will provide an SEO benefit as well as a referral traffic benefit. This is how your home builder SEO campaign can deliver a strong return.

Many home builder websites that allow you to showcase your builds allow links, which you can use to point back to the original content source on your website. Be sure to include a strong call-to-action on each page of your website so potential customers can reach out for more information.

The less work they have to do to contact you for more information, the more that will convert. A simple email field for an information sheet is a great first step to get a prospect into your marketing funnel with little to no resistance.

Final Thoughts

For the best SEO results, you need to target the correct keywords that are naturally used to look for a custom home builder, based entirely on intent and not search volume potential. Remember, ten visits from consumers that are interested in hiring a home builder are more valuable than 1,000 visits from people looking for pictures of new homes, without any intent or interest in hiring a custom home contracting company.

Everything from the keyword research and link building outreach must be done in a calculated manner. There is a fine line that needs to be walked to satisfy Google’s algorithm while also not pushing the boundaries of a possible penalty.

Our agency specializes in helping custom home builders with their SEO, managing everything from the campaign design to the execution and upkeep. This allows you, the builder, to focus on what you do best – design and build exceptional custom homes.

If you would like to learn more about our home builder SEO services, please contact us today to set up a time to speak. Our team of custom home builder search engine marketing experts will explain the process while also auditing your current website’s online presence on Google.

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