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When someone has a problem with their AC or heating, the first place they turn is likely to be a search engine like Google or an AI like ChatGPT. In fact, estimates say that somewhere between 53 and 68% of all web traffic starts in one of these places.
Getting your business to rank for the relevant customers, at the relevant moment, can be the difference between constant work and the phone never ringing. With almost 97% of traffic on Google going to the first results page and the first 5 of those accounting for 75% alone, and with AI recommendations becoming more and more popular, working on your SEO has never mattered more.
Getting your business to rank for the relevant customers, at the relevant moment, can be the difference between constant work and the phone never ringing. With almost 97% of traffic on Google going to the first results page and the first 5 of those accounting for 75% alone, and with AI recommendations becoming more and more popular, working on your SEO has never mattered more.
How Should HVAC Companies Plan Their SEO Strategies?
While some online or national businesses can have a very generalized SEO strategy, those who want customers in the real world have to think a little differently.
As most HVAC engineers have a ‘local beat’- a city or area that they serve- local SEO is the obvious choice when it comes to targeting your digital marketing efforts. How you rank for searchers close to your business is, by far, the most important thing.
Your clients are likely to be contained within a fairly well-defined area such as a city, county, or state. Appearing in the results for the next town over, while nice, won’t do you any favors. This means that we should be focusing closely on local SEO- ranking well for Maps and “near me” searches and AI questions.
Ranking and being mentioned in these searches will be the most useful, as these are the people who are most likely to make the call and hire you.
No one wants to melt while they wait for the engineer to travel across state lines to fix their AC after all.
As most HVAC engineers have a ‘local beat’- a city or area that they serve- local SEO is the obvious choice when it comes to targeting your digital marketing efforts. How you rank for searchers close to your business is, by far, the most important thing.
Your clients are likely to be contained within a fairly well-defined area such as a city, county, or state. Appearing in the results for the next town over, while nice, won’t do you any favors. This means that we should be focusing closely on local SEO- ranking well for Maps and “near me” searches and AI questions.
Ranking and being mentioned in these searches will be the most useful, as these are the people who are most likely to make the call and hire you.
No one wants to melt while they wait for the engineer to travel across state lines to fix their AC after all.
Types Of Local SEO
As a company that offers physical services in your customers’ homes or premises, your efforts should go entirely towards ranking well in local searches. Traditional SEO won’t help you bring in those relevant clicks, but appearing in “near me” searches absolutely will.
In the old days, ranking well locally was simply a matter of having the right keywords and keeping your Google Business Profile updated. Today, it’s significantly more involved with more interlinked parts to think about when planning your strategy.
There are 3 types of search that fall under the “Local SEO” banner these days:
In the old days, ranking well locally was simply a matter of having the right keywords and keeping your Google Business Profile updated. Today, it’s significantly more involved with more interlinked parts to think about when planning your strategy.
There are 3 types of search that fall under the “Local SEO” banner these days:
- Maps- even if you don’t have an office or shopfront, or even your own dedicated website, Google Maps can still be a great source of calls
- Local Searches- “Near me” and “In my city” searches are your primary target, being the searches that signal the customer is ready to call. You can build your website to specifically target these searches, but you can also use a Google Business Profile to rank even if you don’t have your own page.
- AI citations and recommendations - Around 60% of searchers say they get everything they need from the AI summary, so getting mentioned here can be like gold dust.
There’s a lot of overlap in how we go about ranking for each of these types of results, but each also has its own set of emphases and needs careful planning for the best outcomes.
Using Google Business Profile For Local Search Results
Even if you don’t have your own website, there is a lot you can do to optimize your online presence and attract more contacts from potential customers. Google Business Profiles are a fantastic tool for every local business, whether you have a dedicated site of your own or not.
GBPs allow you to appear on local “near me” searches and in Maps. Even if you don’t have a storefront, Maps can be incredibly useful- those who appear in the Map Pack (the top 3 results) can enjoy 93% more enquiries than those who rank 4-10. AIs have also started factoring these in when choosing which businesses to mention.
A lot of these steps will also play an outsized role in how likely AI is to mention your services to people who ask for recommendations.
GBPs allow you to appear on local “near me” searches and in Maps. Even if you don’t have a storefront, Maps can be incredibly useful- those who appear in the Map Pack (the top 3 results) can enjoy 93% more enquiries than those who rank 4-10. AIs have also started factoring these in when choosing which businesses to mention.
A lot of these steps will also play an outsized role in how likely AI is to mention your services to people who ask for recommendations.
Setting Up Google Business Profile
Google Business Profiles are free and remarkably easy to set up. They’re probably the single most useful tool for anyone who’s aiming to rank locally and play an important part in getting AIs to notice you, too.
They’re basically a digital business card, containing things like your company name, services, area of operations and a few other details. Perhaps best of all, they allow customers to leave reviews. With 96% of customers saying that they regularly read reviews before choosing a service, this isn’t a feature you want to ignore.
Making the most of your GBP means:
They’re basically a digital business card, containing things like your company name, services, area of operations and a few other details. Perhaps best of all, they allow customers to leave reviews. With 96% of customers saying that they regularly read reviews before choosing a service, this isn’t a feature you want to ignore.
Making the most of your GBP means:
- Claiming and verifying your profile.
- Include a brief but detailed description of what you do. List your services, but avoid going overboard- appearing spammy might see you penalized.
- Set up direct contact options. Customers can call and message directly from the search results, making them taking the first step easy for both of you.
- Include photos- profiles with good quality photos can attract a huge amount more attention than those that miss this step.
- Include your service area- this will help you rank well for the most relevant searches and avoid wasting time with callers from outside your target area.
Once you’ve claimed your Google Business Profile, you’ll also appear on Maps, even if you don’t have a shopfront or office. There’s no “number 1” spot like there is in traditional local searches, as results are filtered by prominence, proximity and relevance to the searcher, but you can still get a lot of use out of them by defining your service area.
Working With Reviews
Perhaps the best thing about Google Business Profile, from a consumer point of view, is that it allows people to leave reviews. These are not only a great way to build trust from the second a searcher sees your results, they’re also fantastic for your SEO efforts in and of themselves.
It’s well worth asking your customers to leave reviews for the specific services that you did for them. Both Google and the major AIs all use these reviews as really strong signals of relevance, taking them as keywords, so don’t be afraid to get specific when you’re asking for a testimonial.
It’s also important to ensure that you always respond to a review, good or bad. Firstly, this is often the first chance a potential client has to get a sense of you, so being polite and professional is the way to go. Secondly, your responses can contain keywords and reinforce your relevance a little more.
It’s well worth asking your customers to leave reviews for the specific services that you did for them. Both Google and the major AIs all use these reviews as really strong signals of relevance, taking them as keywords, so don’t be afraid to get specific when you’re asking for a testimonial.
It’s also important to ensure that you always respond to a review, good or bad. Firstly, this is often the first chance a potential client has to get a sense of you, so being polite and professional is the way to go. Secondly, your responses can contain keywords and reinforce your relevance a little more.
Local SEO For HVAC Companies
If you do have a website, climbing to the top of the relevant “near me” searches should be your main aim. These are the queries that your potential customers are asking Google and other search engines, and appearing at the top can bring in a lot of contacts.
There are a lot of moving parts in a comprehensive SEO strategy, but with only around 63% of small businesses investing in it, a little work can go a long way. Ranking in the top few results for a given search means you have the best chance of landing those leads.
There are a lot of moving parts in a comprehensive SEO strategy, but with only around 63% of small businesses investing in it, a little work can go a long way. Ranking in the top few results for a given search means you have the best chance of landing those leads.
How Does Ranking Work?
Whatever type of SEO you’re focusing on, an understanding of the criteria that AIs and search engines use to order their results is vital. The basic rule is that search engines like Google or Yahoo and AIs like ChatGPT or Copilot want to offer useful answers to their users and use all kinds of signals to work out what those look like.
These signals are made up of the content of your site, your Google Business Profile, listings, backlinks, and basically everything else linked to your business online. Each part is graded through a system that we call EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trustworthiness).
These signals are made up of the content of your site, your Google Business Profile, listings, backlinks, and basically everything else linked to your business online. Each part is graded through a system that we call EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trustworthiness).
Building Authority
Authority is the measure that search engines and AI use to determine how reliable the information on your page is. They want to ensure that everything that you say is backed up by facts, so they can feel confident in suggesting your page. You’ve got a lot of control over most of these signals.
There are lots of ways to build authority, but the two most important for any type of SEO are:
There are lots of ways to build authority, but the two most important for any type of SEO are:
- Backlinks: These are links from other sites that point towards your content. Search engines take these as a signal that your content is good enough that other people want to reference it. Some of these can be earned naturally, but you can also do a little content marketing and buy high-quality backlinks from other sites.
- Outgoing Links: The content on your site should be backed up with links to other sites, signalling to search engines and AIs that you’ve done your research. You’ve got total control over these, and they never cost a penny.
While most links will be useful, there are some that work much better than others. Since AIs became a consideration, the general rule is always quality over quantity. That being said, if you can avoid a drop in quality, the more the merrier.
Backlinks should be from high-quality, topic-relevant sites. As we’re focusing on local SEO, local licensing boards, local authorities, other trades you often work alongside and other area-specific pages will be worth more than general HVAC sites (though these can be useful too). These reinforce your local credibility and allow you to borrow a little authority from the host page.
For your outgoing links, scatter them through your own landing pages and blogs. They allow you to offer a little more information to your readers and help reinforce your signals to the search engines and AIs.
Backlinks should be from high-quality, topic-relevant sites. As we’re focusing on local SEO, local licensing boards, local authorities, other trades you often work alongside and other area-specific pages will be worth more than general HVAC sites (though these can be useful too). These reinforce your local credibility and allow you to borrow a little authority from the host page.
For your outgoing links, scatter them through your own landing pages and blogs. They allow you to offer a little more information to your readers and help reinforce your signals to the search engines and AIs.
Building Expertise, Experience, and Trust
As an HVAC engineer, your expertise, experience and the trust you build with your customers are the things that keep them coming back for yearly services and repairs. Search engines and AIs are much the same.
Writing content that highlights your knowledge of the relevant services is how we send these signals to search engines and AIs. Everything on your site contributes to these scores, including landing pages, blogs, case studies and any reviews you’ve embedded there.
Keeping content clear, easy to parse and transparent while demonstrating your skills and qualifications is how we send these signals to the relevant bots and crawlers. Working on blogs and landing pages, either yourself or with the help of a niche-relevant copywriter, lets you demonstrate all these qualities and persuade human customers that you’re the right firm for the job at the same time.
Your site should include things like:
Writing content that highlights your knowledge of the relevant services is how we send these signals to search engines and AIs. Everything on your site contributes to these scores, including landing pages, blogs, case studies and any reviews you’ve embedded there.
Keeping content clear, easy to parse and transparent while demonstrating your skills and qualifications is how we send these signals to the relevant bots and crawlers. Working on blogs and landing pages, either yourself or with the help of a niche-relevant copywriter, lets you demonstrate all these qualities and persuade human customers that you’re the right firm for the job at the same time.
Your site should include things like:
- Pictures of recent jobs
- Case studies
- Any qualifications, licenses and certifications you and your team hold
- Reviews and testimonials
Landing pages should be “salesy”- these target people who are looking to have someone work on their HVAC system as soon as possible. It’s a good idea to have one for each service that you offer, like installations or yearly inspections, meaning that they can be closely targeted to certain searches. Describe the problem that your customers are facing and offer an answer, backed up with links and your own expertise to showcase your expertise and experience.
Blogs can be used to spread authority to your landing pages and to target more general informational searches and AI results. Things like How-to guides are always useful for any practical trade. Just make sure to use the byline to link to a profile that tells the AIs and search engines that the author knows what they’re talking about.
Blogs can be used to spread authority to your landing pages and to target more general informational searches and AI results. Things like How-to guides are always useful for any practical trade. Just make sure to use the byline to link to a profile that tells the AIs and search engines that the author knows what they’re talking about.
Think Local
Whatever type of content you’re writing, localising it is, as you might expect, a major part of ranking well in local searches. This means mentioning your local area relatively often on your landing pages and blogs (though don’t go mad- spam will lead to penalties and ranking lower rather than higher).
It’s also worth localizing the nature of your content. Think about what kinds of questions local customers might need answered- if you’re based in the North of Scotland, you probably don’t need to speak about AC installation very often, but you will certainly want to talk about oil furnaces. This kind of content gives you a chance to address local customers directly, answering their questions and helping to build your SEO profile in to the bargain.
While it’s important to place yourself through your content, be wary of overstuffing your blogs and landing pages. There’s a balancing act to strike between reinforcing your credentials and coming across as spammy. Remember, above all, it has to read well to humans and robots alike.
It’s also worth localizing the nature of your content. Think about what kinds of questions local customers might need answered- if you’re based in the North of Scotland, you probably don’t need to speak about AC installation very often, but you will certainly want to talk about oil furnaces. This kind of content gives you a chance to address local customers directly, answering their questions and helping to build your SEO profile in to the bargain.
While it’s important to place yourself through your content, be wary of overstuffing your blogs and landing pages. There’s a balancing act to strike between reinforcing your credentials and coming across as spammy. Remember, above all, it has to read well to humans and robots alike.
Off-Page SEO
While the main component of any SEO strategy is the kind of content you write, there are a couple of other things you can do to boost your rankings in local searches in particular. These send signals to search engines and AIs that your company is local, respected and a good choice for ranking.
List Locally
Local directories are sort of the digital evolution of the phonebook. They’re fantastic for a few reasons:
- They serve as a strong signal of locality
- They can reinforce your name, address and phone number
- They provide a high-quality backlink (more on these in the next section)
- Potential customers can find you there, almost like a mini local search engine.
General business directories based in your local area are great, but you should also be listing yourself on check-a-trade sites, lists of approved workmen, and anywhere else relevant that you can think of. These citations are invaluable for local SEO.
Keep Your NAP Consistent
NAP is the acronym we use as a shorthand for Name, Address, Phone Number. This is basically all the contact information connected to your business online. Getting this seen is really the whole point when it comes to local SEO.
Your contact details, business name and other details must be identical across every place that they’re listed. If something changes, ensure it’s updated everywhere.
Having differences in how your NAP appears can confuse search engines and AIs, causing them to give out the wrong information. Perhaps more seriously, it can confuse your customers and result in them calling someone else.
Your contact details, business name and other details must be identical across every place that they’re listed. If something changes, ensure it’s updated everywhere.
Having differences in how your NAP appears can confuse search engines and AIs, causing them to give out the wrong information. Perhaps more seriously, it can confuse your customers and result in them calling someone else.
Where Should HVAC Companies Get Backlinks?
Backlinks are the primary signal of authority that search engines and AIs take into account when determining ranking. These are the links from other sites that endorse your content.
The first, and most important, thing to understand about backlinks is that quality matters. Once upon a time, this was a lot less true, but since Google’s 2012 Penguin update to how their algorithms work, where these links are hosted matters. Where your site gets mentioned signals topical relevance and authority.
It should come as no surprise that links that reinforce your local signalling are the most valuable when working to boost your local rankings, alongside trade-specific sites. It’s well worth reaching out to some of the following:
The first, and most important, thing to understand about backlinks is that quality matters. Once upon a time, this was a lot less true, but since Google’s 2012 Penguin update to how their algorithms work, where these links are hosted matters. Where your site gets mentioned signals topical relevance and authority.
It should come as no surprise that links that reinforce your local signalling are the most valuable when working to boost your local rankings, alongside trade-specific sites. It’s well worth reaching out to some of the following:
- Local Directories: find-a-trade sites, lists of local authority-approved installers and even pages like Yelp or Yellow Pages send strong signals to search engines and AIs that you work in the area you’re targeting.
- Your Partner’s Sites: If you work alongside another firm fairly often, linking to each other can help you both build authority. It’s also a great idea to approach any manufacturers or suppliers you’re licensed for to see if they’ll mention you (with a link) on their sites.
- Trade Associations: Proving that you’re endorsed by local and national associations sends signals that you’re experienced, trustworthy and skilled- all things that AIs and search engines value.
- Local Media: Getting mentioned in the local paper or blogs helps reinforce your locality. Sponsor local events, offer journalists quotes for relevant stories and ask them to link to your site.
Content Marketing as an HVAC Engineer
Content marketing provides another source of high-quality backlinks, with the advantage that you have quite a lot of control over them. Reach out to home-improvement blogs and websites, the local hardware store or anywhere else that hosts relevant content and offer to write something for them.
The obvious choice for this content is likely to be practical guides, explaining a few basic tasks that homeowners can do to maintain their HVAC systems, but reviews and top-10 considerations when choosing a new heating system articles could also be useful. These articles are great for your general SEO, but they can also bring in a surprising amount of traffic from people simply following your embedded links.
The obvious choice for this content is likely to be practical guides, explaining a few basic tasks that homeowners can do to maintain their HVAC systems, but reviews and top-10 considerations when choosing a new heating system articles could also be useful. These articles are great for your general SEO, but they can also bring in a surprising amount of traffic from people simply following your embedded links.
Building Backlinks for AI
While quality is the most important feature for any backlink in the current SEO landscape, this rule goes double if you’re particularly targeting AI mentions and citations. Where it used to be enough to simply have lots of links pointing to your site, we now need to think about how each one signals authority and relevance.
For anyone running an HVAC company, the most important backlinks will be things like trade associations, manufacturers and local authorities. These will help AI get a handle on exactly what your business does and where you operate.
How the content hosting your link relates to your site is more relevant than simply highlighting the right words when it comes to AI mentions. We call these “semantic links”, and they’re all about getting the context around your anchor text right.
For example, if you’re writing a blog about picking and installing a new AC system, linking to the landing page you’ve set up for new installations will be much more valuable in terms of getting an AI mention than your homepage. Likewise, if you’re writing about basement exhaust fans, link to your ventilation services page.
It’s worth running a few of your target queries through the various chatbots and seeing which pages they already mention. These sites have already been mapped and judged to be good quality, so if you can reach out and offer them some content, your chances of earning mentions are increased.
For anyone running an HVAC company, the most important backlinks will be things like trade associations, manufacturers and local authorities. These will help AI get a handle on exactly what your business does and where you operate.
How the content hosting your link relates to your site is more relevant than simply highlighting the right words when it comes to AI mentions. We call these “semantic links”, and they’re all about getting the context around your anchor text right.
For example, if you’re writing a blog about picking and installing a new AC system, linking to the landing page you’ve set up for new installations will be much more valuable in terms of getting an AI mention than your homepage. Likewise, if you’re writing about basement exhaust fans, link to your ventilation services page.
It’s worth running a few of your target queries through the various chatbots and seeing which pages they already mention. These sites have already been mapped and judged to be good quality, so if you can reach out and offer them some content, your chances of earning mentions are increased.
Choosing Keywords For Your Site
Search engines, and to a lesser extent, AIs use “keywords” to match your site to what they think their users are looking for.
Keywords should be scattered throughout your content, aiming to show search engines and AIs what it is you’re talking about, making this matching process easy for them. They signal more than just the basic topic that someone is searching for too, and you can use them to target different search intents like immediate bookings or more general information.
While matching the exact wording that someone is searching for is useful, it’s not the be-all and end-all that it once was. As algorithms become more and more complex, there’s more nuance to using keywords than there used to be.
Keywords should be scattered throughout your content, aiming to show search engines and AIs what it is you’re talking about, making this matching process easy for them. They signal more than just the basic topic that someone is searching for too, and you can use them to target different search intents like immediate bookings or more general information.
While matching the exact wording that someone is searching for is useful, it’s not the be-all and end-all that it once was. As algorithms become more and more complex, there’s more nuance to using keywords than there used to be.
What Are Keywords?
Keywords are the basic building blocks of all your SEO efforts. These are the terms that your potential clients are typing into Google or using in their conversations with their AI of choice. They let the search engines and AIs know that your content matches what their users are looking for.
Once upon a time, SEO basically consisted of stuffing as many relevant keywords into a piece of content as possible. As algorithms become ever more sophisticated, this is no longer the case. Around 90% of all the websites online get absolutely no traffic from Google or other search engines, highlighting just how important understanding keywords is for your SEO strategy.
These keywords should be scattered throughout your content, helping search engines and AIs understand what you’re offering, so they can match your content with their users' queries with confidence.
While it’s important that you’re including these keywords fairly often, it’s even more important that they’re a natural part of your text. Overstuffing them or squeezing them in where they don’t quite fit will send overoptimization signals to search engines and AIs, resulting in your rankings dropping rather than rising.
Once upon a time, SEO basically consisted of stuffing as many relevant keywords into a piece of content as possible. As algorithms become ever more sophisticated, this is no longer the case. Around 90% of all the websites online get absolutely no traffic from Google or other search engines, highlighting just how important understanding keywords is for your SEO strategy.
These keywords should be scattered throughout your content, helping search engines and AIs understand what you’re offering, so they can match your content with their users' queries with confidence.
While it’s important that you’re including these keywords fairly often, it’s even more important that they’re a natural part of your text. Overstuffing them or squeezing them in where they don’t quite fit will send overoptimization signals to search engines and AIs, resulting in your rankings dropping rather than rising.
Doing your Research
The first step towards picking your keywords is to have a little brainstorming session. Think about what people might be searching for when your content would be helpful. These will become your “seeds”.
You could then type them into Google yourself and see how your competitors have used them, or you could use a keyword research tool and have it do the heavy lifting for you. These tools offer valuable insights into how many searches are done for your given term, how your competitors are ranking using them and other useful information.
You could then type them into Google yourself and see how your competitors have used them, or you could use a keyword research tool and have it do the heavy lifting for you. These tools offer valuable insights into how many searches are done for your given term, how your competitors are ranking using them and other useful information.
Competition Vs Volume vs Difficulty
SEO is basically the art of trying to appear as highly as possible in as many relevant searches as you can. This doesn’t always mean that putting your time and effort into the most common searches is the best plan, though.
We refer to the number of searches involving a given keyword as “volume”, how much authority your competitors have as “difficulty”, and how many sites are targeting that keyword as “competition”. Ideally, you want a high-volume, low-competition/difficulty keyword, but this won’t always be possible.
It would be hard to rank in the HVAC sector without mentioning heating and cooling fairly often. These terms will be searched for all the time, making them high-volume. They’ll also be targeted by every other HVAC engineer in the area, making them highly competitive.
Sometimes, it might be worth thinking about whether there’s a slightly lower volume keyword that might be easier to rank for. With nearly 70% of all clicks going to the first 3 results from Google, getting to the top for a lower-volume search can sometimes be worth more than being ranked 10th for a very high-volume one.
For example, while “furnace repairs” will be a very high-volume but equally high-difficulty and competition keyword, something like “Lenox Furnace Repairs” will probably be much easier, despite being lower volume.
That being said, if there’s a high-volume, low-competition keyword that appears in your research, target it without a moment’s hesitation.
We refer to the number of searches involving a given keyword as “volume”, how much authority your competitors have as “difficulty”, and how many sites are targeting that keyword as “competition”. Ideally, you want a high-volume, low-competition/difficulty keyword, but this won’t always be possible.
It would be hard to rank in the HVAC sector without mentioning heating and cooling fairly often. These terms will be searched for all the time, making them high-volume. They’ll also be targeted by every other HVAC engineer in the area, making them highly competitive.
Sometimes, it might be worth thinking about whether there’s a slightly lower volume keyword that might be easier to rank for. With nearly 70% of all clicks going to the first 3 results from Google, getting to the top for a lower-volume search can sometimes be worth more than being ranked 10th for a very high-volume one.
For example, while “furnace repairs” will be a very high-volume but equally high-difficulty and competition keyword, something like “Lenox Furnace Repairs” will probably be much easier, despite being lower volume.
That being said, if there’s a high-volume, low-competition keyword that appears in your research, target it without a moment’s hesitation.
How To Use Keywords In Your Content
Keywords are your best tool for targeting the different reasons people turn to the internet. There are two groups of people who are most likely to be interested in content from an HVAC company: those looking for help straight away and those who are considering their options.
Landing Pages
As a general rule, landing pages target more urgent “ready to book” searches. These might be quite urgent and specific, so targeting them means choosing keywords that highlight your service and location.
If you specialize in gas boiler repairs, then “gas boiler repair” is going to be your main keyword. This is probably the exact search term that someone will type into Google if their heating is refusing to come on, so it’s a good one to target.
Landing pages, because they’re directly “salesy”, can also benefit hugely from localizing your keywords. For our example above, something like “Gas safe boiler repairs, Newcastle” might be the phrasing that makes most sense.
It’s also worth targeting words like “24-hour callout” or “same-day response” as many of these searches might be urgent.
If you specialize in gas boiler repairs, then “gas boiler repair” is going to be your main keyword. This is probably the exact search term that someone will type into Google if their heating is refusing to come on, so it’s a good one to target.
Landing pages, because they’re directly “salesy”, can also benefit hugely from localizing your keywords. For our example above, something like “Gas safe boiler repairs, Newcastle” might be the phrasing that makes most sense.
It’s also worth targeting words like “24-hour callout” or “same-day response” as many of these searches might be urgent.
Blogs
For more general informational searches (which might turn into a booking), blogs are the tool we tend to use. These are a great way of lending authority to your landing pages (just link between them) and can offer a lot of information to your customers.
Keywords in your blogs don’t have to target urgency to nearly the same extent, as readers are more likely to be looking for deeper reading on your chosen subject. These could target things like “types of radiator” or “boiler vs furnace”.
Keywords in your blogs don’t need the same emphasis on locality, though it’s probably worth mentioning it in passing where suitable.
Keywords in your blogs don’t have to target urgency to nearly the same extent, as readers are more likely to be looking for deeper reading on your chosen subject. These could target things like “types of radiator” or “boiler vs furnace”.
Keywords in your blogs don’t need the same emphasis on locality, though it’s probably worth mentioning it in passing where suitable.
Other Keyword Considerations
Simply sticking “24-hour callout electric heating experts” on a page and calling it a day won’t get you the results you’re looking for. SEO is more complex than it once was, and that means that there’s more to consider when choosing and using your keywords.
Semantic Linking
AIs and search engines generally bundle related keywords together into topical groups through latent semantic indexing. Everything related to AC units, for example, will offer similar results. We can use this in a few different ways:
Firstly, it’s important to remember that you’re writing for humans as well as robots. They’ll notice if you simply stuff the same phrases in over and over again, harming trust and seriously impacting your bounce rate. Varying your turn of phrase makes your content more engaging and means you’ll capture more searches too.
Secondly, thinking about latent semantic indexing and how words relate to each other helps search engines and AIs understand what your content is really saying. Blogs and landing pages that have a lot of terminology about heating ducts, for example, are almost certainly going to be about heating ducts. Having this link reinforced means that when someone is searching, Google can be more confident that your content is a good match.
Having a variety of keywords scattered through your content also helps you avoid appearing “spammy” and incurring the wrath of the search engines.
These LSI keywords are important for search engines, but AIs put an even heavier emphasis on them. They allow a more accurate understanding of what your content is really about, meaning they can more confidently cite and mention you in their answers.
Firstly, it’s important to remember that you’re writing for humans as well as robots. They’ll notice if you simply stuff the same phrases in over and over again, harming trust and seriously impacting your bounce rate. Varying your turn of phrase makes your content more engaging and means you’ll capture more searches too.
Secondly, thinking about latent semantic indexing and how words relate to each other helps search engines and AIs understand what your content is really saying. Blogs and landing pages that have a lot of terminology about heating ducts, for example, are almost certainly going to be about heating ducts. Having this link reinforced means that when someone is searching, Google can be more confident that your content is a good match.
Having a variety of keywords scattered through your content also helps you avoid appearing “spammy” and incurring the wrath of the search engines.
These LSI keywords are important for search engines, but AIs put an even heavier emphasis on them. They allow a more accurate understanding of what your content is really about, meaning they can more confidently cite and mention you in their answers.
Use Longtail Keywords
Longtail keywords are more natural, conversational keywords that someone might use in speech. They’re useful for all kinds of SEO efforts, but AIs and speech devices absolutely love them in particular.
Instead of just saying something like “HVAC engineer”, we might aim for something like “HVAC engineers, specalizing in whole-home furnace heating solutions and maintenance”. This longtail keyword might capture results from searches like:
Instead of just saying something like “HVAC engineer”, we might aim for something like “HVAC engineers, specalizing in whole-home furnace heating solutions and maintenance”. This longtail keyword might capture results from searches like:
- Heating engineer
- Whole-home heating
- Furniture repair
- HVAC engineer
- Heating repairs
- Heating maintenance
Throw in a few local signifiers, and you should be able to capture a lot of high-intent searches in a single longtail keyword.
Don’t Try To Squeeze Them All In
It can be tempting to try to produce one piece of super-content that squeezes as many potential keywords in as possible, but this is a bad idea. It’s far better to have lots of specialist pages that target one or two, and there are a few reasons for this:
- Customers want answers: concise copy that actually aims to answer a question is what your customers want. If their heating is broken, they don’t particularly want to have to read about basement ventilation and its role in waterproofing their homes.
- Search Engines Will Punish It: penalties for “overoptimization” mean that keyword-stuffed content often ranks lower than more carefully considered versions.
- Traffic relevance matters: As we said above, someone with broken heating wants to find content that relates to their problem. If they’re presented with irrelevant information, they’re unlikely to follow your call to action and actually make the booking. You want to target them with keywords that relate to their particular problem.
Think Like an AI
AIs and search engines treat keywords a little differently from one another. While everything we’ve covered in this section so far still applies, the rise of AI search means that we have to think a little more carefully about how we’re choosing keywords.
There are two ways that AI could mention your firm: Citations and Mentions.
Citations are the references that AIs use to construct their answers. An example might look something like “what are my options for replacing my heating system?” and the AI would trawl through its list of references and find content that it can piece together into a reasonable answer. It would then provide a link to your blog to show its working.
Mentions, on the other hand, are more direct. If someone asked ChatGPT, “Who should I call to fix the AC?”, you might get a direct recommendation.
The semantic links between the content and the query matter a lot more for both of these than exactly matching a keyword, meaning that the AIs can be more conversational than a traditional search might be. This means that we have to place more emphasis on actually answering questions than guessing exactly which phrase someone might use when searching.
There are two ways that AI could mention your firm: Citations and Mentions.
Citations are the references that AIs use to construct their answers. An example might look something like “what are my options for replacing my heating system?” and the AI would trawl through its list of references and find content that it can piece together into a reasonable answer. It would then provide a link to your blog to show its working.
Mentions, on the other hand, are more direct. If someone asked ChatGPT, “Who should I call to fix the AC?”, you might get a direct recommendation.
The semantic links between the content and the query matter a lot more for both of these than exactly matching a keyword, meaning that the AIs can be more conversational than a traditional search might be. This means that we have to place more emphasis on actually answering questions than guessing exactly which phrase someone might use when searching.
How Should You Write Content For Your HVAC Site?
When it comes to boosting your local SEO ranking, there are 3 types of content that are worth focusing your efforts on:
- Landing pages: These are the directly “salesy” pages that inspire your potential customers to make contact and book your services. These capture “high-intent” searches.
- Blogs: These are the more general informational sections that allow you to show off your knowledge and help you build trust. They’re ideal for bringing in traffic from customers who are still at the stage of considering their options.
- Case Studies: These signal to your customers that you’re more than capable of doing the job they have in mind. They sit somewhere between a landing page and a blog in terms of intent.
The general aim of any piece of content, whether that’s a landing page, blog or case study, is to build trust quickly with humans, search engines and AIs alike. This trust is what turns clicks into customers, and the best way to earn it is through directly answering questions.
It’s worth bearing in mind that at least some of these searchers might be quite stressed- someone who has gone to run a bath for the kids and found the boiler has broken might be quite upset. Someone who can smell gas may be legitimately panicking. Ensuring that they find a calm, accurate and professional response to their search query will work wonders.
It’s worth bearing in mind that at least some of these searchers might be quite stressed- someone who has gone to run a bath for the kids and found the boiler has broken might be quite upset. Someone who can smell gas may be legitimately panicking. Ensuring that they find a calm, accurate and professional response to their search query will work wonders.
Picking the Right Content Type
Picking the right type of content for your targeted search intent means that when they have a certain type of question, it's you who gets to supply the answer. Blogs and landing pages each have their uses, showcasing your knowledge and skills, but each targets a different type of intent:
Landing Pages
A landing page directly targets people who are ready to make the call. Each service that you offer should have its own dedicated page, covering the problem that you’re offering to solve and answering the most common questions about it.
They should generally be fairly short and punchy, and focus on a single service. If you want to offer more details on the general topic, link to the relevant blogs- not only will this mean your readers are better informed, it’s a great way to share authority between pages.
Focusing on a single service that you offer, such as annual inspections, means that you can target searches very accurately. Someone searching for “furnace annual inspection paperwork” probably isn’t interested in AC repairs after all.
Include as many details as possible, such as price range, reviews of that particular service and any relevant details that might help customers decide that you are their best option.
They should generally be fairly short and punchy, and focus on a single service. If you want to offer more details on the general topic, link to the relevant blogs- not only will this mean your readers are better informed, it’s a great way to share authority between pages.
Focusing on a single service that you offer, such as annual inspections, means that you can target searches very accurately. Someone searching for “furnace annual inspection paperwork” probably isn’t interested in AC repairs after all.
Include as many details as possible, such as price range, reviews of that particular service and any relevant details that might help customers decide that you are their best option.
Blogs
Blogs are your chance to offer a little more information around a topic and really highlight your knowledge, establishing your credentials to AIs, customers and search engines alike. They’re brilliant for targeting more informational search intents, offering answers without the hard sell. If AI mentions are your goal, blogs are how you earn them.
Exactly what your blog should contain will vary from company to company and topic to topic, but a good rule of thumb is that how-tos and practical guides are always popular. Write them like you’re talking to a person, and humans and bots alike will take note.
A well-written, well-researched blog will generate authority, standing out to search engines and AIs. These can be linked to your landing pages to share a little of this authority around, helping them rank better in their relevant searches, too.
Exactly what your blog should contain will vary from company to company and topic to topic, but a good rule of thumb is that how-tos and practical guides are always popular. Write them like you’re talking to a person, and humans and bots alike will take note.
A well-written, well-researched blog will generate authority, standing out to search engines and AIs. These can be linked to your landing pages to share a little of this authority around, helping them rank better in their relevant searches, too.
Case Studies
Case studies help to establish your expertise and experience. They’re particularly useful for persuading your potential clients that you know what you’re doing, but they’re also helpful for your SEO efforts.
Mix high-quality pictures with written content explaining the challenges and solutions of the project to persuade clients and AIs that your work is of the very best quality. A good rule of thumb here is that the bigger the project, the more suitable it is for a case study. There won’t be much to write about a basic inspection (which could be covered in general terms in a “what to expect” blog), but a full commercial installation might provide great content.
Mix high-quality pictures with written content explaining the challenges and solutions of the project to persuade clients and AIs that your work is of the very best quality. A good rule of thumb here is that the bigger the project, the more suitable it is for a case study. There won’t be much to write about a basic inspection (which could be covered in general terms in a “what to expect” blog), but a full commercial installation might provide great content.
Writing For AI
AIs have remarkably similar tastes to humans when it comes to writing. They value easy-to-read, simple-to-understand content that directly answers questions. Naturally written content that actually addresses queries is far more useful here than trying to squeeze in keywords and guess search terms.
Your first consideration when writing for AI mentions is what kinds of questions people are likely to be asking in their conversations. Hows, whys and whats are all good starting points. “How do I fix a vent heater?” or “What are the types of AC I could install?” are both questions that you could aim to answer.
It can often be a good idea to use your headings to actually ask the question that you’re aiming to respond to. This makes life easier for the reader and the AI as they can skip to the relevant section.
Another way to help the AIs understand your content is to consider how you structure it. There are a few things you could do to improve this:
Your first consideration when writing for AI mentions is what kinds of questions people are likely to be asking in their conversations. Hows, whys and whats are all good starting points. “How do I fix a vent heater?” or “What are the types of AC I could install?” are both questions that you could aim to answer.
It can often be a good idea to use your headings to actually ask the question that you’re aiming to respond to. This makes life easier for the reader and the AI as they can skip to the relevant section.
Another way to help the AIs understand your content is to consider how you structure it. There are a few things you could do to improve this:
- Write using the inverted pyramid: a simple, direct answer first, which you expand on as the paragraph proceeds.
- Making use of lists: bullet points make it easy to parse a variety of information
- Tables: If you’re comparing a few different things (like models of heaters, for example), the easiest, most instantly understandable way is often a table.
It’s worth remembering that AI chatbots can only really reference 5-8 different sites in any given answer, so your on-page EEAT matters even more than it does with traditional SEO. This is always an important consideration, but if appearing in Google’s search summary is your aim (and it should be), it’s absolutely vital.
This focus on EEAT principles means that AIs put even more emphasis on transparency and expertise than search engines do. Work with someone with a good level of experience writing about your topic and link to their relevant profiles to reinforce your credentials. Likewise, focus on high-quality link building to highlight your authority.
This focus on EEAT principles means that AIs put even more emphasis on transparency and expertise than search engines do. Work with someone with a good level of experience writing about your topic and link to their relevant profiles to reinforce your credentials. Likewise, focus on high-quality link building to highlight your authority.
Selecting Anchors
We’ve spoken about linking quite a bit already, but one part that we’ve not covered is how to present these links. The highlighted piece of text that lets your readers know they can click for more information is called the anchor text. These anchors can be used to highlight things to search engines and AIs, as well as humans.
There are various ways you could anchor a link, and ideally, you want to have what we call a diverse anchor profile. Overreliance on a single style might signal “overoptimization” to search engines (basically, they might think you’re gaming the system) and have a negative impact on your SEO efforts.
Aim to have a decent mixture of:
There are various ways you could anchor a link, and ideally, you want to have what we call a diverse anchor profile. Overreliance on a single style might signal “overoptimization” to search engines (basically, they might think you’re gaming the system) and have a negative impact on your SEO efforts.
Aim to have a decent mixture of:
- Exact Matches: Exact match anchors are highlighted text that sits directly on a keyword. A few of these scattered through your texts are fine, but you should aim to have less than 10% of the total links appearing this way.
- Partial Matches: A Partial match anchor contains the target keyword, but it also includes a little more text to add context. They aim more for conversational search terms like “Heat pump installers in Chicago” and might look something like “Chicago’s heat pump installation experts”.
- Latent Semantic Indexing: LSI anchors are links embedded on a synonym of your targeted search term. Think “extractor fan” rather than “exhaust fan”. AIs and search engines will group these terms together into a broader ventilation topic.
- Naked URLs: A Naked URL is an anchor which uses the address you’re linking to rather than some other text. They don’t offer any context to AIs or search engines, but they still transfer a little authority to your content and pad out your anchor profile. Use them for things like footnotes explaining relevant laws around installations etc.
- Branded Anchors: A branded anchor is, as you might guess, a link embedded directly on a brand name. The most obvious would be linking to a manufacturer or local supplier.
While search engines still place a lot of emphasis on the chosen text for your anchor, as it’s easily crawlable for them and easier for them to match to a search query, AI pay far more attention to the meaning behind it. This focus on semantic relationships means that you should select more, longer, descriptive context-rich anchors for the best results.
Technical Aspects of Content Writing
While what appears on the screen is the most important part of writing SEO content, there are some technical things you can do to help boost your results. These make your content easier to understand for the AIs and search engines, helping them feel confident in suggesting your page as a ranking result.
Schema Markup
Your website is made up of various bits of code (even if you’ve built it using a visual editor) that your readers’ browsers interpret. You can also use code to send signals directly to search engines and AIs, the most common being Schema Markup.
These simple-to-implement codes help classify your pages and can be configured to create “rich snippets” on search engine results pages, containing information about prices, opening hours and so on. They also let you reinforce your expertise, covering things like qualifications and certificates your team hold, helping your overall EEAT scores.
The most obvious schema that any HVAC should be employing is HomeAndConstructionBusiness, which allows you to define various important aspects like services offered and other relevant information like your service area (vital for local SEO). You might also want to use Review and Service Schemas to offer a deeper understanding.
These simple-to-implement codes help classify your pages and can be configured to create “rich snippets” on search engine results pages, containing information about prices, opening hours and so on. They also let you reinforce your expertise, covering things like qualifications and certificates your team hold, helping your overall EEAT scores.
The most obvious schema that any HVAC should be employing is HomeAndConstructionBusiness, which allows you to define various important aspects like services offered and other relevant information like your service area (vital for local SEO). You might also want to use Review and Service Schemas to offer a deeper understanding.
Meta Titles and Descriptions
How your content appears in search results is largely determined by two things: the meta-title and meta-description. These should be short, descriptive and tempt your targets to click on them.
A meta-title should contain your main keyword, but it shouldn’t be exactly the same as your H1 header (which is usually the title that appears at the top of your content). These form the link as it appears on search engine results pages.
There’s no actual limit to how long this can be, contrary to popular belief, but around 50-60 characters is the usual guideline. These will take up around 600 pixels on the SERP and mean that searchers can see the whole thing.
Meta-descriptions usually form the bulk of the text under the link on the SERP (usually, because there’s a chance Google will generate something or use your content to produce it). These can be a bit longer than titles, and should explain exactly what a reader will find, should they click your link.
A meta-title should contain your main keyword, but it shouldn’t be exactly the same as your H1 header (which is usually the title that appears at the top of your content). These form the link as it appears on search engine results pages.
There’s no actual limit to how long this can be, contrary to popular belief, but around 50-60 characters is the usual guideline. These will take up around 600 pixels on the SERP and mean that searchers can see the whole thing.
Meta-descriptions usually form the bulk of the text under the link on the SERP (usually, because there’s a chance Google will generate something or use your content to produce it). These can be a bit longer than titles, and should explain exactly what a reader will find, should they click your link.
Common Problems that HVAC Engineers Face With Their SEO Efforts
SEO is generally the digital marketing technique that provides the best return on investment, especially over the long-term. This is even more true for service businesses like HVAC engineers and other trades; your customers are searching when they have a problem, explicitly looking for a solution. Paid ads are going to be of limited value at best.
That being said, there is one problem that most companies face when it comes to getting their SEO strategy off the ground: results take time. It’s not unusual to have to wait between 3 and 9 months for real, solid, measurable results to become evident.
There are no real shortcuts when it comes to improving your rankings, and the only answer is consistency. Building up signals to outrank your competitors and earn AI mentions takes time and constant refinement. Once results do start to show, you’ll often find that they snowball, becoming more and more effective as your prominence grows.
That being said, there is one problem that most companies face when it comes to getting their SEO strategy off the ground: results take time. It’s not unusual to have to wait between 3 and 9 months for real, solid, measurable results to become evident.
There are no real shortcuts when it comes to improving your rankings, and the only answer is consistency. Building up signals to outrank your competitors and earn AI mentions takes time and constant refinement. Once results do start to show, you’ll often find that they snowball, becoming more and more effective as your prominence grows.
Conclusion: Why Thinking Local Is the SEO Strategy For HVAC Companies
There’s an old business saying, “meet your customers where they are”. In the case of service companies like HVAC engineers, that means ranking well in searches like “heating repairs near me” or “why do I have no hot water?”.
These searches signal strong intent to hire someone there and then: this is an emergency as far as they’re concerned! Being the friendly, professional voice that they discover first puts you in a powerful position to close the deal.
For more general searches, like someone weighing up their options for a new ventilation system or considering a large commercial refit, appearing first in their locality is every bit as valuable. They want to hire a team that can be on-site as soon as possible, too.
These searches signal strong intent to hire someone there and then: this is an emergency as far as they’re concerned! Being the friendly, professional voice that they discover first puts you in a powerful position to close the deal.
For more general searches, like someone weighing up their options for a new ventilation system or considering a large commercial refit, appearing first in their locality is every bit as valuable. They want to hire a team that can be on-site as soon as possible, too.
