SEO for contractors
SEO for contractors puts your trade in front of people searching for it: a page for each job you sell, a complete Google Business Profile for the map results, reviews from real customers, and a site Google can read. We do it for $299 CAD a month, month to month.
What contractor SEO covers
Two things decide whether a homeowner finds you: the website, which Google ranks in the ordinary results, and the Business Profile, which Google uses to build the map results. Contractor SEO works on both, every month.
The list is the Hosting + SEO plan on our pricing page, written for a trade business. The profile half is set out line by line in what Business Profile management includes.
- On-page and technical SEO: a page for each service you sell, titles that name the job, and a site Google can crawl
- Local search and the map results, the three businesses Google shows on a map above the ordinary results
- Google Business Profile management: categories, services, service area, photos and posts
- Local citations, so your name and phone number read the same on every directory
- A monthly report: where your main searches rank, Search Console clicks and impressions, and taps on your phone number and form sends
Why the map results matter most to a contractor
Search for a trade and a town, and Google usually answers with a map and three businesses above the ordinary results. Those three come from Business Profiles, not from websites, so a contractor with a strong site and a thin profile can be missing from the part of the page people look at first.
Relevance
“Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for.” This is the categories, the services list and the description.
Distance
“Distance refers to how far each business is from the customer who’s searching.” Nobody can change it, which is why the service area has to be set right.
Popularity
Google’s help page says this means “how well-known a business is”, and that it draws on “how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have”.
Those three headings come from Google's own help page on how local results are ranked. The same page says that businesses “with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results”, and that “there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google”. So the work is filling in the profile and keeping it current month by month.
If your business does not show on the map at all, start with why a business is not showing on Google Maps, which walks through the checks in order.
Five Google rules that catch contractors out
A trade business works at its customers' homes, and Google has specific rules for that. Each one below is quoted from Google's own help pages or policies, read on 2026-11-01.
None of them needs a paid tool. Each one is a setting in the profile or a choice about how the website is built.
Take the address off if customers do not come to you
Google calls a business that goes to its customers a service-area business: one “that visits or delivers to customers directly but doesn't serve customers at their business address”. A roofer, painter or deck builder who works at the customer's house fits that description. Google's instruction is plain: “If you don't serve customers at your business address, remove your address from your Business Profile.”
List the area by town or postal code, not a radius
A service-area profile can list up to 20 areas, set by city, postal code or another type of area. A circle drawn around your shop is not allowed. Google also asks that the whole area stay within about two hours of driving from where the business is based, so a contractor working two regions far apart needs to check where each one sits.
Keep the business name the name on your truck
Google's guidelines say “your name should reflect your business's real-world name”, and they list what it must not include: marketing taglines, phone numbers and location information among them. Adding “Best Roofer” or a town to the name breaks that rule. The service and the town belong in the categories, the services list and the website instead.
Ask every customer for a review, and pay none of them
Google suggests sending customers a review link or a QR code, which suits a trade that finishes the job in someone's driveway. Offering a discount or a free service in exchange for a review is “strictly prohibited”. Google's content policy also rules out asking only the happy customers: it bans businesses that “selectively solicit positive reviews from customers”. Ask everyone, and reply to what comes back.
One page per service, not one page per town with the name swapped
A page for each job you sell, such as roof replacement, deck building or basement finishing, gives Google a clear match for each search. Copying one page twenty times and changing only the town name is what Google's spam policies call doorway abuse, which includes “pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page”.
A town page earns its place only when it says something true about working in that town.
How we do SEO for a contracting business
The same four steps every month, starting with a baseline written down before any work, so the first report has something to be measured against.
- 01
Free scoping call
What you build or fix, the towns you work in, and where your jobs come from today. If SEO is not what holds you back, we say so.
- 02
Written baseline
Where your main searches rank now, what is broken on the site, and the state of your Business Profile, written down before month one.
- 03
Fix, then publish
Technical fixes first, then a page for each service, the profile, your listings and the review link.
- 04
Report every month
What we changed, what moved and what did not. The SEO portion is month to month, so each report has to earn the next month.
The people who fix and publish are the people who host the site, so a slow page or a missing service page is changed that week rather than logged for someone else. How long the results take is set out in how long SEO takes.
Contractor sites we look after
Seven contracting and home-service businesses whose websites we manage and whose SEO and AI agents we run. We built six of them; Dream Touch Renovations is the one we did not. These are pictures of the sites, not ranking results.
Protech Garage Doors
Garage door repair and installation, Ottawa, Mississauga and London
protechgarage.ca
KAJK Constructors
Solar panel installation
kajkconstructors.com
Ottawa Decking Solutions
Deck builder
ottawadeckingsolutions.ca
Ottawa Luxe Painting
Painters
ottawaluxepainting.ca
Ottawa Site Restoration
Junk removal, cleanup and restoration
ottawasiterestoration.ca
TLC Moving & Storage
Local and long-distance moving and storage
tlcmovingottawa.ca
Dream Touch Renovations
Design-build renovation contractor
dreamtouchrenovations.com
What contractor SEO costs with us
$299 CAD a month on the Hosting + SEO plan: the SEO work plus managed hosting, SSL, backups and updates in one figure. The SEO portion is month to month, and it works on the site you already have.
If you want a new site as well, a hand-coded build starts at $499 one-time and the plan runs alongside it for the first year: $4,087 all-in for year one, in writing before we start.
Contractor SEO questions
How much does SEO cost for a contractor in Canada?
Ours is published: $299 CAD a month on the Hosting + SEO plan, with managed hosting inside that figure and the SEO portion month to month. It works on the site you already have. If we also build the site, the build starts at $499 one-time and the plan runs alongside it for the first year, which comes to $4,087 all-in for year one.
Other providers price differently, so compare what each fee covers, not only the number.
How long does contractor SEO take to work?
Usually months. A complete Business Profile and a few technical fixes can change what shows in the map results sooner than new pages can, and a new domain starts further back than an established one. Nobody can give you a date for a position. You get a report every month instead, so you can see what moved and what did not.
Can you guarantee my business will rank first?
No. Google's own help page on local results says “There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.” What we answer for is the work: the pages, the profile, the listings and a monthly report you can hold us to.
What is local SEO for a contractor?
It is the part of SEO aimed at searches with a place in them, such as a trade plus a town, and at the map results that sit above the ordinary listings on those searches. Google ranks those results on relevance, distance and popularity, and builds them from Business Profiles, so the profile and the reviews on it count as much as the website.
Can I do SEO for my contracting business myself?
Yes, if you have the hours. Search Console is free, Google publishes an SEO Starter Guide, and the basics are a page for each service, a complete Business Profile and a review link you send after every job. People hire us when the hours are not there, or when they want each change measured and reported.
Is SEO still worth it now that Google shows AI answers?
Yes. People still search for a trade in a town, and the map results still sit on those searches. The AI answers draw on the same material: clear service pages, accurate business details and a complete Business Profile. Being the business those answers name is part of the work, though nobody can promise it.
Do I need a new website before you start?
No. The $299 a month Hosting + SEO plan covers the SEO on the site you have, with hosting inside the price. On the scoping call we tell you whether the current site can carry the work. If it cannot, you get a written, fixed quote for a new one, and you decide.
Do you work with contractors outside Ottawa?
Yes. The work runs remotely: calls, screen shares, your Search Console and your Business Profile are all reached online. The contractor sites we look after today are Ottawa businesses, and one of them, Protech Garage Doors, also serves Mississauga and London. We would rather tell you that than imply offices we do not have.
Tell us what you build and where you work.
On the scoping call we look at your site and your Business Profile and tell you what is in the way. If SEO is not it, we say so.
Working in Ottawa or Gatineau? Our SEO in Ottawa page covers the local side: the neighbourhoods, both sides of the river, and what we measure every month. Comparing quotes first? Read how much SEO costs.