What someone types into a search engine is called a search query. It’s very important to understand the type of traffic that is coming to your website with the understanding that quantity is not better than quality. When getting your website to rank in the search engine results it’s very important to rank for the keywords people are using to find your type of service, in this case plumbing services. Even though you are ranking or trying to rank for your city + plumber you will still show up for hundreds of other keywords and keyword combinations also known as long tail keywords. So it’s important to know that there are 3 types of search queries and to also understand what they mean.
1. Navigational Search Queries
2. Informational Search Queries
3. Vertical Transactional Search Queries
Let’s take a close look at each and see how they can help your search results.
Navigational Search Queries
A navigational search query is entered into the search engine for two reasons. First it’s someone looking for a particular website or business. An example would be "South River Plumbing”, the searcher is looking for this companies website or contact info. They know of this company, perhaps they used them in the past and didn’t have their phone number handy. So should you spend any effort trying to rank for navigational search queries? After all if someone is searching for your competitor, why not try and steal the business? Wrong. First of all it’s pretty hard to be found for a navigational query. Also understand the person doing the search is specifically looking for this particular company and trying to get them to land on your site and call you is very hard if not impossible. The second type is what I refer to is the newby searcher, you know the person who types the company domain name in the Google or more than likely Bing search box because they don’t know how to use a web browser. 🙂
Informational Search Query
Informational search queries are pretty common in the the plumbing industry. It’s important to understand what they mean and how to rank or not rank for them. Often referred to as the DIY customer, the guy who is searching so he can get the solution to do it himself and save the money, not a good customer right? So should you spend time trying to capture the informational search query? I think so, and the reason being is because there is money in those searches but you need to know how to weed them out. Let’s look at the following two search queries:
"How to unclog my sink”
Pretty straight forward search here. This searcher has a problem and wants to get it fixed, but they are really looking to do it themselves. Should you try and rank for this common search term? I would say yes and the reason being is, what if they could not get it to unclog? The next call is your company. Or what if they got it to work, book marked your site as a resource, shared it on their Facebook page and forwarded it to a friend. It may not result in business today but it may down the road.
“Where can I buy the Moen Model #7560CSL faucet"
Very specific search here, it would be hard to rank for this because of the competition. First you’re dealing with every discount Moen dealer ranking, you’re dealing with a person who is taking their time to save a couple of dollars, and you are dealing with a product stock number that unless you wrote a very specific blog post about it or actually sell this part it would be hard and maybe a waste of time to try and rank for it.
“Tankless water heaters vs tank water heaters, what’s better”
This is another navigational search query that would be good to rank for. This is a person in a decision faze looking to possibly purchase a tankless water heater. If you have the best answer to their question you could indeed get the call.
You just need to understand what the client is looking for when they are doing informational search queries, they could be looking for a DIY solution or shopping for a big purchase down the road.
Some ideas for content creation for Informational search queries include:
1. Write a blog post about the subject, be as detailed as possible and very informational.
2. Create how to videos, videos are a great way to capture informational search. A lot of informational search happens right on YouTube.
3. Create a step by step guide or white paper, this a great way to get a potential customer to give you their contact info. Asking for their name and email to get a free download is pretty common practice and works great. This gives you a great opportunity to follow-up later. Keep in mind when creating a downloadable guide to give great information. Make sure the topic is something they will read. For instance a guide on “The Benefits of a Tankless Water Heater” will get more downloads then “How To Hire A Plumber in Miami”.
4. Design an infographic, an inforgraphic illustrates a process in a graphical way. Higher a good designer to put something together for you. They serve as a means for keeping visitors on the page longer and a great way to attract other sites to link to your website.
Vertical Transactional Search Query
This is the best way for you to be found because it’s a customer in need of your services. Transactional meaning they are looking to make a purchase and vertical meaning they are searching in a specific industry. Here are some good vertical transactional search queries that you want to see in your analytics:
“City + Plumber”
“City + Drain Cleaning”
“City + Foundation Leak”
“City + Garbage Disposal Repair"
All of these searches indicate someone is in need a plumbing services. And these are the queries most likely to deliver ROI. Vertical Transactional search queries is where you want to concentrate all of your SEO tactics on. You do this by writing great content, creating city + service pages. Along with proper title tags and some off page optimization like directory building. As a local plumber this is your bread and butter.
Keep in mind when viewing your analytics not to hang your hat or success on a keyword. Understand that long tail keywords (keywords lumped together to form questions or statements) are also transactional in nature such as:
“Water leaking from the ceiling in a two story condo”
“Garbage disposal makes a clicking girding noise”
“Who is the best plumbing company in Miami”
“Tampa Plumber testimonials"
These are all long tail vertical transactional search queries, that generate hundreds of visitors a month to your website. It’s so important to understand these three different types of searchers because each can generate good ROI.
