What Every HVAC Company Needs to Do On Google in 2020

Those who work at HVAC companies aren’t strangers to hard work. Their jobs often require lifting and managing extremely heavy loads, getting into uncomfortable spaces in hot weather, and cleaning dirty equipment.

While the actual labor of HVAC repair, installation, and maintenance is essential, companies also need to remember that it’s important to maintain their marketing efforts, too. This will keep customers coming through the doors even when it’s not busy season, and it will keep your schedule full.

And when it comes to marketing for HVAC companies, there’s no better platform to focus on than Google. Google’s combined PPC ad platform and their organic search engine reports (SERPs) can both benefit your businesses immensely when you know how to leverage them to their fullest potential.

In this post, we’re going to look at the things every HVAC company needs to do on Google in 2020, ensuring that your campaigns are in good standing and that you’ll be primed and ready to get the first call from customers near you.

Set-Up and Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

Your Google My Business (GMB) profile is an outstanding way to reach local leads who are actively looking for services or products like yours. It has incredible search visibility, especially for local search, and allows you to share core information about your business and reviews all in one place.

You can set up your GMB profile here.

When creating your GMB profile, treat it a little like a directory listing for your business, but remember to optimize it for clicks, views, and search. You can do this with the following tips:

• Use keywords in your profile, including your business’s description. Use keyword tools like Google’s Keyword Planner to discover what terms your audience is searching for. If you offer emergency AC repairs or rush installations, go ahead and mention that, too, to differentiate yourself.
• Upload images. Listings with images stand out a little more. Share pictures of your office, your team, or even your products being installed. It helps with transparency.
• List your contact information and business hours. You want people to know when you’re open and how to get in touch with you.

Collect as Many Reviews as Possible

One of the greatest parts of GMB is the ability to quickly and easily collect customer reviews online. The rating that customers give you (which are tied to the reviews) will appear immediately under your business’s name, making it highly visible and highly impactful.

Customer reviews can make or break a business, and having a few great reviews can do wonders if you want to stand out and be the HVAC company that gets the phone call.

Immediately following service of any kind, reach out to customers and ask them to leave a review. Include a link to the review page of your GMB profile, making it easy for them to write a few sentences and give you a five-star review. You can follow up a few weeks later if they haven’t.

Remember that asking for reviews significantly increases the likelihood that you’ll get them. One study found that an overwhelming majority of customers will be happy to leave them. 74% of a brand’s total customers were asked to leave a review, and 68% were willing to do so. Asking is key, so make sure that any of your techs also talk to customers directly they have a rapport with and let them know how much the reviews mean to them and your business.

Create Microsites for Local Branches

If you have an HVAC company that has multiple branches, the best thing you can do is to create microsites and GMB profiles for each one.

HVAC contractors need to be showing up in local searches. If your heater goes out and you click on a site only to see that they’re based in Philadelphia while you live in Seattle, you’re going to click away without realizing they have branches near you.

Microsites can be what are essentially small landing pages that are optimized for location-based keywords while listing the information for each individual location business. They can link back to the main company page, and be found from it, too, which can work well for overall search visibility.

People need to be able to find you and know that you’re local. Keep this in mind.

Establish Content for Long-tail Keywords

“HVAC company Denver” and “air conditioner install Richmond” are likely going to be highly competitive searches. And while those are great and you do want to optimize for those throughout your site, you also don’t want to neglect long-tail keywords, either. Content marketing is an excellent choice here, and will help you with your Google visibility significantly.

Long-tail keywords are extremely well suited for content marketing, and they’re often used by customers who are looking for information instead of immediate service. That doesn’t mean, however, that they’re not your target audience.  

Someone might search for “different types of air conditioning units,” for example, if they’re considering replacing their unit. These are potential leads that you could capture by offering a full ebook lead magnet that breaks down the different types of units in more depth, along with your pricing guide.

As a great bonus, long-tail keywords are typically less competitive to rank for because everyone else is so focused on those “AC repair Orlando” searches. This is a great strategy to connect with your audience at a low cost and potentially far in advance.

Get Your PPC Campaigns Up and Running

Most HVAC companies can benefit immensely from using PPC search campaigns like Google Ads.

There will be plenty of people who research air conditioning services or products long in advance, reading reviews while trying to be proactive about care, maintenance, and updating their systems.

Anyone who has ever lived in Florida, however, will also tell you that there’s a flurry of people every year who will be searching for “emergency AC repair” or “next day AC install” when their units inevitably go out when it’s 90-degree weather.

Having Google Ad campaigns up and running is going to be key here. You can catch incredibly high-intent customers who are ready to call the first number that pops up on their screen if they think you can help them, You just need to be near the top of the page, and search ads can deliver that. Just make sure that you’re checking the keyword planner to see which terms can actually get you clicks.

For best results, create multiple different campaigns that utilize different ad groups. You could have one campaign that focuses on fast or emergency services and their related keywords, another that focuses on “affordable” or “reliable” air conditioning installs (or whatever else your USP is), and one more that focus on maintenance and how trusted your company is.

There are a ton of different options here, and a qualified PPC agency like ours can help you sort out which campaigns you need most.

Final Thoughts

HVAC companies have a lot of competition online, and the ability to stand out on Google both organically and through PPC campaigns will significantly improve your lead generation and sales potential.

Maintaining PPC campaigns and organic visibility through your site, GMB, and content marketing isn’t the easiest task out there, but it’s the best way to grow your business outside of direct referrals. And while referrals are amazing and should be prioritized, they also are really out of your control and take some time to accumulate. Active outreach is the way to go here, and these are the 5 things that HVAC companies should do on Google in 2020 to find new customers and grow their businesses.

Still looking for a little help executing these tips or creating stellar campaigns that will help you scale? Get in touch with us here to learn more about what we can do for you.

What do you think? What do you think are the most important things HVAC companies need to do on Google in 2020 to get results? Which strategies have worked best for you? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!