SEO for Roofing: How-to Guide + Costs and Examples

SEO helps roofing companies appear at the top of search results to attract more traffic and leads. Learn how to use it to beat your competitors and drive revenue.

Old enough to remember the YellowPages? Back then, all your roofing business had to do to show up first was have a name that started with an “A.”

Today’s homeowners use Google to find services and to appear before your competitors, you must prioritize SEO for roofing.

Let’s dive into roofing SEO, its importance, and how to improve it for your business.

What is roofing SEO?

Roofing SEO is a strategy to improve a roofing company’s organic search ranking by targeting relevant keywords. The higher the roofing website ranks on the search engine results pages (SERPs), the better chance it has to drive new leads and customers from search engines like Google and Bing.

How to do SEO for roofing companies

When roofing companies first create an SEO campaign, there are general tactics they should follow to improve their chances of ranking on the first page of Google:

1. Do keyword research to find relevant keywords
2. Optimize on-page SEO elements
3. Create keyword-rich service pages
4. Focus on content marketing
5. Claim and update Google Business Profile
6. Review technical SEO

1. Do keyword research to find relevant keywords

Keyword research is an integral part of your roofing SEO strategy. Finding target keywords not only helps you boost visibility in the Google search results, it also ensures the visitors you drive to your roofing website is relevant, qualified traffic (aka your target audience).

Use keyword research tools like Semrush, Moz, and Ahrefs to find relevant, targeted search terms your audience likely uses to find services your company offers. To find the sweet spot in roofing keywords, find search terms with a higher search volume and lower competition difficulty.

Local keywords

Since roofing companies are local businesses that serve certain geographic areas, they’ll use local SEO keywords to reach their target audience. There’s less search volume for local SEO keywords, but the people who use these keywords are in your target geographic area, making them more likely to use your services.

For example, a residential roofing company in Miami, FL may target keywords like these for local search:

• Residential roofing Miami, FL
• Miami residential roofing company
• Residential roof replacement Miami
• Residential roof repair in Miami, FL

Short- and long-tail keywords

Keywords are classified as either short- or long-tail keywords. Keyword phrases three words or less are short-tail keywords, which tend to be more broad and generic. Whereas long-tail keywords are typically four or more words and target a more narrow audience.

Let’s start with the short-tail keyword “roof repair.” When I search for this keyword on Google, I get about 239,000,000 results.

While some of the first page results are relevant to the local area I’m searching from (Austin, TX)…

Other first-page results offer general information about roof repair.

And others are focused on DIY roof repair.

So, not only does this short-tail keyword have a lot of competition with over 200 million search results, but the person using this search phrase isn’t particularly looking for roof repair services in their local area.

Now, let’s look at the difference in results for a long-tail keyword. When I search for “metal roofing repair Austin, TX,” I get about 13,700,000 results.

But all of these results are about metal roofing repair services in the Austin, TX area.

The long-tail keywords are more specific and more likely to be used by people looking for services in your city. That’s the power of using long-tail keywords!

2. Optimize on-page SEO elements

On-page SEO includes anything you optimize on the webpage to improve your rankings. Quality content with relevant keywords plays a big role in your on-page SEO, but there are other factors you should consider as well.

Here are a few of the on-page elements to optimize on your website:

• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Headings & subheadings
• URLs
• Internal links
• External links
• Alt tags

Title tags

Title tags are an HTML element that identifies the title of the web page. This title often displays as a clickable headline in the search snippet on the SERPs.

Title tags should:

• Accurately and concisely describe what readers will find on the page
• Entice search engine users to click on the page from the SERPs
• Be optimized for the main target keyword for the page

Title tags should be 50-60 characters as that is all that’ll appear on most desktop and mobile browsers. Try to put the keyword as close to the beginning of the title tag as possible.

Here, the title tag shows up in blue as a clickable link in the search results:

The sentence underneath the title is the meta description. Speaking of…

Meta descriptions

Meta descriptions are descriptions of the page that are often used in search snippets on the SERPs. Like title tags, meta descriptions should be short and relevant while accurately describing what’s on the page.

Meta descriptions should also be clickworthy as they act as a sort of pitch to get search engine users to click on the page. They should also include your target keyword.

Here are some best practices from Google for writing effective meta descriptions:

• Create unique meta descriptions for each page
• Summarize the content in the meta description
• Include relevant and accurate information about the content (no clickbait!)
• It should read as a statement, not a list of keywords
• Aim for between 50 and 160 characters

Headings & subheadings

You’re likely familiar with how to use headings and subheadings in a piece of content. SEO adds a layer of complexity to these with header tags. Header tags are HTML tags that tell the browser how to display a piece of text.

With SEO, you want to make sure that you pay attention to the hierarchy of header tags when creating your headings and subheadings.

• H1 tags are used for the title of the content. You should only have one H1 tag on each page.
• H2 and H3 tags are used for subheadings. You can have as many of these as you want.
• H4, H5, and H6 headings are used to create further subsections within the subheadings.

For example, let’s look at this roofing blog post from This Old House.

Here’s what the HTML header tags would look like:

<h1>Pros and Cons of Metal Roofs (2024 Guide)</h1>

<h2>Pros of Metal Roofs</h2>

<h3>Life Span</h3>

Any additional pros in the blog post would be H3 tags. But when the post moves on to the “Cons of Metal Roofs,” this would be an H2 tag.

URLs

Like the title tag and content of the page, the page URL helps search engines understand what your content is about. To make your URL SEO-friendly, make it short and descriptive while including the main keyword.

URLs can also be used to make your roofing website easier to navigate. Consider your overall URL structure, not just the individual URLs.

For example, your blog post URL might look like this: https://yoursite.com/blog/title-of-post

This tells Google and your readers that this piece of content is part of your blog.

Internal links

Internal links are hyperlinks that point to different pages on your own site. These links help Google understand your site structure and how your content connects to other pieces of content.

Internal links also help users navigate your site and find additional content that’s relevant to their interests.

Here’s what an internal link looks like on our PPC for small business blog post:

The words that are underlined and in a teal color are clickable links that lead to additional blog posts on relevant topics.

The text that is clickable is called anchor text. For internal links, make the anchor text a keyword that corresponds to the content the link leads to. In this example, the “landing page” anchor text takes the reader to a blog post all about landing pages.

External links

External links are hyperlinks that point to pages on other websites. Like internal links, these help Google understand the topic of the page and site. External links also provide value to users as they give the reader more information about the topic.

Include an external link in your content when you:

• Use a fact or statistic that needs to be cited
• Want to provide additional context around a relevant subject
• Quote another piece of content
• Quote a person in the piece of content
• Mention a term that users may not be familiar with

When using external tags, it’s a best practice to avoid linking to content that’s on the same topic as yours. For example, if you’re writing a post about roof replacement, you may include an external link to a statistic about roof longevity, but you wouldn’t include an external link to another blog post like “10 signs it’s time to replace your roof.”

Alt tags

Alt tags are HTML tags that provide text descriptions for images on the page. Since Google can’t interpret images, alt tags are used to help the search engine understand the contents of the image.

Alt tags are also important for making your website accessible. They allow users with visual impairments to understand the images as well. For example, if someone uses a screen reader to help them read web pages, the screen reader will read the alt text so the user knows what the images contain.

If you’re new to SEO, it may be challenging for you to find all the ways you can optimize on-page SEO factors. Semrush has an On-Page SEO Checker that’ll identify ways to improve your on-page SEO.

Here’s an example of an overview of on-page SEO ideas for my homepage:

This is a great starting point for those looking for both basic and advanced ways to improve on-page SEO.

3. Create keyword-rich service pages

Service pages are pages on your roofing website that describe a service your company offers in detail. The goal of this page is to give potential customers enough information to make a purchasing decision.

Each service page will focus on one service (like “roof installation”) or multiple services under a general umbrella (like “roof installation and repair”).

The content on the page should answer the following questions:

• What problem are you solving for your customer?
• What is included in the service? And who is it for?
• What are the long-term benefits?
• Why is your business qualified to offer this service?
• What cities or geographic areas do you provide services to?

You should also include calls-to-action (CTAs) and testimonials from happy customers, which help improve conversion rates.

4. Focus on content marketing

Content marketing should already be a part of your roofing marketing strategy. This would include any types of content you create for marketing purposes like social media posts, emails, and YouTube videos. But for SEO, focus on creating high-quality content for your website.

While “high-quality” may seem subjective, there are some general best practices to keep in mind while creating content for your website and blog:

• Optimize the content for your main keyword. Use the keyword throughout the content naturally. Don’t try to overuse the keyword.
• Dive deep. The ideal blog post length is between 1,500 and 2,500 words, so don’t be afraid to give a comprehensive overview of the topic.
• Include visuals. Include images and videos to add value to the content. Whether it’s a stock image or a talking head video, different types of media keeps readers interested.
• Include internal links. Link to other website pages and blog posts that add additional context to the topic.

Content helps with on- and off-page SEO. For on-page SEO, the more content you publish, the more content Google has to crawl and rank.

For off-page SEO, creating great content that people want to read and share can earn you backlinks to your content. It can also help you earn social media shares, which helps boost visibility.

5. Claim and update Google Business profile

As local businesses, roofing companies need to claim their Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business). This free tool has an impact on how your roofing business appears on Google Search and Google Maps.

Your Google Business Profile appears at the top of the search engine results, just below the paid ads. This profile gives you the opportunity to gain more visibility online.

Once a searcher clicks on your business in the search results, it’ll pull up your full Google Business Profile.

If you want to get the most out of your profile, work on optimizing it:

• Review your name, address, and phone number to make sure they’re accurate.
• Write a concise business description that clearly describes the services your roofing company offers.
• Add relevant images to your listing like photos of the office or your team.
• Include your services and service areas in the appropriate sections so users know what you do and where you do it.

After you optimize your Google Business Profile, do the same for all of your business listings in local directories. Whether its an online directory like Yelp or the local chamber of commerce website, make sure your name, address, and phone number are consistent across all local SEO citations.

6. Review technical SEO

Technical SEO involves improving the technical aspects of your website to increase your ranking on the SERPs. Many of the technical SEO tasks that help improve your opportunity to rank also improve the user experience, which means the people actually visiting your website reap the benefits.

Page Speed

One of Google’s ranking factors is page speed. You want your website pages to load as quickly as possible.

PageSpeed Insights is a free Google tool to check your website’s current speed. It’ll give you a performance score from 0 to 100, with the higher number meaning better performance.

Here are a few ways that you can improve website speed:

• Compress your images. Use a free tool like Tinify to compress your images, which will reduce file size without sacrificing image quality.
• Minify HTML, CSS, and Javascript files. Minifying your code removes unnecessary characters and white space to reduce file sizes.
• Use a content distribution network (CDN). A CDN stores copies of your web pages on different servers and connects users with the nearest server when they visit your site to reduce the distance files travel.

Mobile-friendly design

Google has mobile-first indexing, a ranking system that looks at the mobile versions of websites to determine relevance. So, it’s essential that your website is mobile responsive.

To see how your website stacks up, use the Mobile Usability report in Google Search Console.

Duplicate content

Another technical SEO issue that can impact website ranking is duplicate content. Duplicate content is when you have the exact same content (or nearly the same) on multiple site pages.

While Google doesn’t necessarily penalize duplicate content, it can cause issues on your site. You don’t want undesirable URLs to rank in the search results, and extra pages just waste your crawl budget. You can use a tool like Semrush to identify and fix duplicate content.

How much is SEO for roofing?

SEO for roofing costs vary, depending on the goals of your business. However, the typical costs are between $3,000 and $10,000 per month. Compare this to local SEO, which offers ongoing services at $500 to $1,000 monthly. But if you need a large reboot of your site (e.g., design, technical SEO, etc.), then expect to pay between $5,000 and $30,000.

Why is SEO important for roofing companies?

Search engine optimization is the best way to drive organic traffic to your roofing company’s website. SEO offers a variety of benefits for roofers who want to grow their business online:

• Cost-effective: While some costs are associated with SEO, it’s more cost-effective than running ads. Even if you hire an SEO agency, you’ll still find SEO is one of the most cost-effective strategies.
• Attracts local leads: SEO isn’t just for national and global brands. Local SEO can help roofing businesses attract qualified local leads ready to buy.
• Measurable: With the right metrics, you can easily measure ROI for your SEO efforts. When you track progress over time, you’ll see stats like click-through and conversion rates.
• Long-term strategy: Search engine optimization is the gift that keeps giving. An optimized website page or blog post continues to bring qualified leads to your site years after it’s published.

While SEO is just one part of the digital marketing strategy, it can help boost visibility, support lead generation efforts, and increase sales for the long-term.

How to find SEO services for roofing companies

If you’re new to search engine marketing or don’t have the resources in house to manage SEO, it may be time to hire an SEO company. Here are just a few things to look for when hiring an agency for roofing SEO services.

Clients in the roofing industry

When searching for an SEO service provider, look at which industries the team has experience with. Do they have other clients in the roofing industry? Do they support home services companies with SEO campaigns?

While the agency you pick doesn’t necessarily have to focus just on roofing SEO, they should understand the industry and its unique challenges.

History of results

Look for an SEO expert with a history of getting results for their customers. You don’t just want a company that knows SEO, but one that has actually implemented successful SEO campaigns.

But don’t take our word for it, check out HawkSEM case studies to see how our team helped companies like Moneta Group increase keywords in the top three by 164%.

Offers additional support

SEO is an important part of your roofing marketing strategy, but it isn’t the only part. When looking for an SEO agency, consider an organization that offers additional digital marketing services that pair well with SEO.

For instance, in addition to SEO, HawkSEM also offers PPC management services. While SEO can take some time to work its magic, pay-per-click ads allow you to see immediate results, making it a great strategy to focus on while managing your SEO process.

When you have the same agency helping you with SEO and PPC, you benefit from having a team who understands how the strategies work together for your business.

The takeaway

Your roofing company has a lot of things on its plate already—like giving your customers the best service possible. While SEO can bring in more leads and sales, it isn’t something you have to do on your own.

Consider working with an SEO agency that supports home service businesses and has a history of getting its clients results.

HawkSEM would love to be your agency! Book a consultation today to see if we’re a good fit.