People don’t realize how much information Google requires to deliver qualified search results to consumers. The tech giant examines hundreds, sometimes thousands of businesses within your service area alone. Some of them provide plumbing solutions, while some only claim to. The plumbing professionals earning the highest ranks in local search are those that provide the most evidence of their activity.
In a way, all search results are driven by evidence.
Reviews, custom websites, and other plumbing SEO assets serve as proof to Google that your business is active and trustworthy. Today, we’re going to talk about a relatively new form of evidence that contributes heavily towards local SEO rankings, traffic, and leads. We’re going to talk about check-ins!
Key Learning Points for Plumbers
- Check-ins are only as effective as your company is consistent in using them.
- Check-ins won’t replace reviews, but they heavily influence SEO results.
- It’s a team effort! Train other team members to perform check-ins as needed.
What is a Jobsite Check-in?
A check-in is a type of post to Google that shares your location and what you’re doing.
To help you understand the concept, try visualizing your community on the Google Map. Countless businesses and neighborhoods dot the landscape as you scroll from end to end of your service area. You can even see your home office address. However, what doesn’t show on that map are the countless locations where you’ve repaired toilets, installed brand new water heaters, and performed extensive pipe replacements.
As we remind many professionals over the years, Google is not omniscient. It only knows what people tell it. In fact, the search engine only works as well as it does because hundreds of millions of people continually upload information for it to dig into.
Check-ins provide Google with accurate, current, and useful data about your company’s activities. They’re your way of saying “Here I am! This is the work I’m providing. We are serving this community.” When you check into a location, it drops a pin on the Google Map. Keep this up, and pretty soon Google will see evidence of your team’s hard work across your entire service area.
Map Packs Like These are One of the Ultimate Goals of Checking In.
What Benefits Do Check-ins Offer?
Higher rankings, greater volumes of traffic for your website, and (most importantly) leads.
Very, very few businesses utilize jobsite check-ins in their digital marketing strategy. When Google has more detailed information about your company, the search engine is more likely to recommend your business over similar services with less information. Ever since Google’s Local Search Update of Q4 2019, local search rankings have grown more fluid. With the right optimization, plumbers who previously struggled to rank can now earn premium map pack listings for exceptional traffic boosts.
We’ve seen check-ins allow brand new plumbing companies to capture these positions in a matter of months. That represents an astounding marketing success, producing qualified plumbing leads in a very short period of time. Whether you run a seasoned company or a brand new service, check-ins can greatly benefit your business!
What Check-ins Look Like
While solutions and methods vary, this is what a typical check-in might look like. It starts with pulling out your phone at the very end of a job. You snap a picture of the water heater (or toilet, etc) you just installed. You go to a special website, pull up a form, and fill out information about the project. You tap “check-in” and BOOM! You’ve just performed a check-in.
The best solutions upload check-ins directly onto your website. Regular website updates are healthy for SEO purposes, encouraging Google’s crawlers to revisit your site more frequently. If your check-ins offer geo-location data and information directly related to your services, that’s SEO gold for your website!
Tips for Getting the Most Out of Check-ins
Frequency and accuracy are keys to success when it comes to check-ins. Ideally, you want to earn those little pins all over the map of your service area, for each of your services. That means that your business needs to check-in consistently to get the most SEO improvement out of the activity. That may mean adding 3 minutes onto the end of each job, but the results are worth it!
By the time your competitors finally get on board with check-ins in a couple years from now, you’ll already have hundreds of pins across the map.
If possible, choose a check-in solution that lets you upload fresh pictures on to your website. Customers and Google alike appreciate fresh images, and it looks nice on your site. All you have to do consistently snag photos at the end of each job. Just imagine your clients seeing projects closely related to their plumbing needs as they browse through your website!
From Plumbing Webmasters
If check-ins still seem like an entirely foreign (but exciting) concept, don’t worry. Our team at the Plumbing Webmasters is here to answer your questions! Learn more about jobsite check-ins, and your options for incorporating them into your marketing strategy. Call our team today at (877) 388-9884 today.
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