Here's the truth: The contractors ranking #1-3 in your area aren't necessarily better than you. They're just doing 7 specific things you probably aren't. I'm going to show you exactly what those things are and how to do them yourself.
Why Local Search Rankings Matter (More Than You Think)
Before we dive in, you need to understand what you're leaving on the table.
Translation:
If you're not in positions #1-3, you might as well be invisible.
Position #1 gets roughly 3x more calls than position #7. Same service. Same quality. The only difference is ranking.
Understanding How Google Ranks Local Businesses
Google uses three main factors to determine local rankings. Master these three, and you win.
Relevance
Does your business match what they're searching for?
If someone searches “emergency plumber Tacoma,” Google looks at your business info to see if you:
- Are a plumber
- Operate in Tacoma
- Offer emergency services
Distance
How far is your business from the searcher?
You can't change where your business is located, but you can expand your service area and optimize for multiple locations. We'll cover this.
Prominence
How well-known and trusted is your business?
This is the big one. Prominence includes:
- Number and quality of reviews
- Citations (mentions online)
- Website authority
- Social signals
- Backlinks
This is where most contractors fall short. The rest of this guide focuses on building prominence.
The 7 Steps to Rank Higher in Local Search
Here's your roadmap. Do these in order.
Completely Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is your most important ranking asset. A fully optimized profile can jump you 2-3 positions by itself.
Complete Profile Checklist:
Google favors complete profiles. A 100% complete profile ranks significantly higher than a 70% complete one, even if the 70% one has more reviews.
Build a Review Generation Machine
Reviews are the #1 thing holding most contractors back. The businesses ranking above you have more reviews—and they're getting them consistently.
The Numbers:
How to Get More Reviews:
At project completion, when they're happiest with your work.
Include a direct link to your Google review page.
Create a short link (bit.ly/yourcompanyreview) that goes straight to your review form. Put it on business cards, invoices, and emails.
Use a tool like ReviewStream to automatically send review requests after every job. Set it and forget it.
- • Buy fake reviews
- • Incentivize reviews with discounts
- • Write reviews yourself from different accounts
- • Ask friends/family who aren't actual customers
Goal:
Get 5-10 new reviews per month
Velocity matters. Google favors businesses that consistently get new reviews over businesses that got 50 reviews 3 years ago.
Build Citations Everywhere
Citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites. They tell Google your business is legitimate and well-known.
Where to Build Citations:
Your NAP must be EXACTLY the same everywhere. Same format, same punctuation, same abbreviations. Inconsistent NAP confuses Google and hurts your rankings.
Goal:
50-100+ quality citations
Optimize Your Website for Local Search
Your website needs to clearly tell Google (and customers) what you do and where you do it.
Local Website Optimization Checklist:
Create a dedicated page for each city you serve:
• yoursite.com/puyallup-plumber
• yoursite.com/bonney-lake-plumber
One page per major service, optimized with location keywords: “Emergency Plumbing in Tacoma”
Business name, address, and phone number visible on every page
On your contact page, embed your Google Maps location
Add LocalBusiness schema to tell Google exactly what you are and where you're located
70% of local searches happen on mobile. Your site must work perfectly on phones.
Aim for under 3 seconds. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test.
Every page should have your city name in the title tag, H1, and naturally throughout the content. Don't stuff keywords, just be specific about location.
Create Local Content Consistently
Fresh, local content tells Google you're active and relevant. It also gives you more pages to rank for different searches.
What to Create:
Answer the questions customers ask you most often. These make great blog posts and rank well because they're exactly what people are searching for.
Build Local Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. They're votes of confidence. Local backlinks from reputable local sources are gold.
How to Get Local Backlinks:
Goal:
5-10 quality local backlinks per year
Stay Active and Engaged
Google rewards businesses that are clearly active and engaged with their customers.
Activities That Signal You're Active:
Remember: Consistency beats intensity. Better to post twice a week every week than 20 posts one month then nothing for 6 months.
How Long Does This Take?
Here's the realistic timeline:
Reality Check: Local SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Anyone promising #1 rankings in 30 days is lying. But the contractors who stick with it for 6-12 months consistently win.
Common Mistakes That Kill Your Rankings
Your 30-Day Action Plan
Can't do everything at once? Start here.
- Claim and completely fill out Google Business Profile
- Audit NAP across all platforms
- Add 10+ photos to Google Business Profile
- Set up review request system
- Ask your 5 happiest recent customers for reviews
- Respond to all existing reviews
- Create listings on top 10 directories
- Join Chamber of Commerce
- Create location pages on website
- Schedule 8 Google Business posts
- Write first local blog post
Follow this plan and you'll have a solid foundation. Then keep the momentum going.
The Bottom Line
Ranking higher in local search isn't magic. It's not luck. It's a system.
The contractors dominating your local market are doing these 7 things consistently. They're not better contractors—they're better marketers.
You can either keep doing what you're doing and hope things change, or you can implement this system and actually make them change.
Start today.
Six months from now, you'll either be in the top 3, or you'll wish you had started today.
Want Us to Handle All of This For You?
We implement this exact system for contractors every day. Complete Google Business Profile optimization, review generation, citation building, content creation—everything. Most clients see top 3 rankings within 90-180 days.