Keyword Research For Remodelers: 2024 Guide
Starting SEO for your remodeling business begins with proper research.
The right search terms to target are key to bringing in the right visitors to your website and even converting them into active clients.
Here’s a simplified guide to conducting keyword research tailored for your remodeling business, ensuring your online content attracts the perfect clients to your site.
This strategy has proven successful with our remodeling business clients, and now it’s your turn to benefit from it.
First, let’s start with understanding SEO basics around keywords.
Common Questions on Keyword Research for Remodeling Companies
What exactly are keywords?
Think of keywords as the phrases people type into search engines when they’re looking for something—like the perfect company to help with their next home remodel.
You want your remodeling business’s website to appear high in those search results to attract more visitors.
Examples of valuable keywords for a remodeling business would be “kitchen remodeler near me”, “bathroom remodeling in California”, “bathroom contractor”, “kitchen remodeling company”, etc.
Understanding Keyword Research for Remodeling Businesses
Keyword research for remodeling means finding the right terms for your business that potential clients might be typing into search engines.
It’s about identifying those golden phrases that can bring interested visitors to your site through organic search results.
Top Tools for Discovering Remodeling Keywords
For top-notch SEO tools with extensive keyword data, Ahrefs and SEMRush are at the forefront.
For those just dipping their toes into SEO, Ubersuggest is a handy, free option, though it comes with more limited features.
We’ve also built a free keyword research tool exclusively for contractors! Click the button below and watch the short video on the page where we explain how it works and get to it!
Key Metrics for Choosing the Right Keywords for Your Remodeling Business
Here are three important metrics to consider when picking the best keywords for your home improvement SEO strategy.
Keyword Search Volume
This measures how often a phrase is searched on Google within a specific area or country within a month. It’s important to note that these numbers come from SEO tools and may be inaccurate.
It’s a common misconception that targeting the most popular keywords will always bring more web traffic. That’s not necessarily true.
For example, “home remodel los angeles” might only show a search volume of 40 per month in the U.S., according to Ahrefs Keywords Explorer. However, targeting such a specific keyword could bring highly interested potential clients directly to your site.
In adapting keyword research for remodeling businesses, using straightforward, professional language that bridges technical SEO concepts with practical advice is crucial.
This approach helps ensure even those new to digital marketing can understand and apply these strategies effectively to attract more business.
Key Insight: Instead of focusing on how many people are searching for a topic, check the estimated monthly organic visitors on Ahrefs to gauge its popularity. This helps decide whether it’s worth writing about.
How Tough It Is to Rank
A tool like Ahrefs rates the difficulty of ranking for a particular keyword on a scale from 1 to 100. For a remodeling business, choosing keywords with a low difficulty rating can help you appear in search results sooner, driving more visitors to your website.
Be aware, though: Ahrefs mentions some limits to this approach. But don’t worry…
When we conduct SEO audits for remodeling companies, we start by spotting those easier-to-rank keywords. But we don’t stop there; we also consider how these keywords attract the right kind of traffic to your site.
Key Insight: Look for easy-to-rank keywords that will attract relevant traffic to your remodeling business’s website.
Keyword intent
The tricky part for many remodeling business marketing strategies is figuring out the key reason behind a customer’s search. Knowing what a potential client wants when they type a search into Google can tell you a lot about where they are in their decision to remodel.
Consider this in the context of a home remodeling company’s marketing plan. A search term like:
- “Los Angeles remodeling permits” shows that the person is interested in doing a remodel and wants to know more about remodeling permits. This would be an educative article that will help the user understand more about the building permits in LA. In the image below, you see you'll have to compete with gov. sites and organizations who are usually harder to surpass in the search results.
- "Home Remodeling Issues" targets clients looking for a remodel but who might be concerned about what issues will arise during their project. This would also be an educative article about how to prepare for the remodel so you avoid these issues.
- "Home Remodeling Los Angeles" targets users actively looking for a remodel. These are the most valuable searches, but also the hardest to rank for. This keyword tells you the user is interested in getting a remodel in LA, and you need to be the first result he sees.
Let’s tackle a key question:
Which topics should your remodeling company website focus on?
Ultimately, all kinds – but start with those that indicate someone is ready to hire your services (like when someone searches specifically for kitchen or bathroom remodeling services). These are the people most likely to become your clients.
Key Insight: Even if certain remodeling topics don’t seem popular according to research tools, if they suggest a strong interest in hiring for a project, they’re worth discussing on your site.
Chasing high search volumes can lead to disappointment because those numbers might not be accurate. More importantly, attracting a large number of visitors isn’t as valuable as drawing in the right ones—those ready to invest in your remodeling services.
Here are four straightforward tactics to uncover the right keyword phrases for your remodeling business (the first two might not be widely discussed):
Approach #1: Answer your clients' common remodeling questions
Identify your prospects’ main concerns and challenges, then use your knowledge to create blog posts addressing these issues.
This approach helps you find keywords with lower search volume, but those are the easiest to rank for. And as long as you get the intent right, they can also be effective in bringing in clients.
- For Home Matters Construction, we identified a strong opportunity around the keyword "omaha housing market". Although they do remodeling, the article answers the search query, provides value, and brings in a lot of valuable, local traffic to their website.
Approach #2: Dive into Home Improvement Forums
If you’re launching a new remodeling company (or if you haven’t received many inquiries from potential clients yet), take a look at home improvement forums like Houzz. These are places where people considering remodeling services post their questions and concerns.
Start by focusing on the discussions related to the specific remodeling services you offer. Then, you can easily discover customers’ common questions about remodeling services.
To boost your remodeling business online, start by finding the right words that potential clients use when searching for services like yours.
Here’s how to do it without getting lost in technical jargon:
- Tip #1: Discover What Your Clients Are Asking
Use simple online tools to see what questions people ask related to home remodeling. If a lot of people want to know something specific, make sure you discuss it on your website. This will help your business show up in searches more often.
- Tip #2: Check Out the Competition
Seeing what your competitors are up to can give you a good advantage. Find a competitor’s website and see what words they use that help them appear in search results.
Aim for popular words but not too tough to compete for, especially if those competitors have been around longer and have a strong online presence.
- Tip #3: Use Google's Tools to Find Your Best Words
Another smart move is to use Google’s own tools to see which words people use to find your website but aren’t clicking through. This can show you opportunities to get more visits with a little tweaking.
Here’s a simple way to start:
Access Google Search Console, and look at the “Search results” section under “Performance” for your website. This will show you where you can improve.
By applying these straightforward strategies, construction businesses can better connect with potential clients online, without needing to dive deep into technical details.
If you open the Performance tab, you’ll see the data you need to optimize and bring in more traffic. For example, you can see what queries your content ranks for, what pages rank first, how they rank on different devices, the countries your clicks come from, and more!
Below, we’re just showing some clicks and impressions from a deck building company.
Check out any webpage you feel could improve. For instance, we chose “Remodeling Business Online Marketing Strategies” page.
Bonus: Essential Keywords for Remodeling Businesses
Below is a curated list of keywords tailored for those in the remodeling industry. To enhance your local search presence, consider adding your city or region’s name alongside these suggestions.
- kitchen remodeling near me
- bathroom renovations
- home remodeling services
- local remodeling contractors
- basement finishing services
- house renovation companies
- room additions
- exterior home remodeling
- custom home renovations
- remodeling estimates
- find a remodeler near me
- home improvement contractors
- residential remodeling services
- kitchen and bath remodeling
- home extension services
- luxury remodeling services
- green remodeling solutions
- energy-efficient home upgrades
- smart home renovations
- historic home restoration
Essential Tools for Finding Keywords in Remodeling Business
Discover tools that can help identify the best keywords for your marketing efforts.
Semrush is a great keyword research tool, but it’s also pricier than Ahrefs. It has more or less the same features, so you wouldn’t be missing a lot.
Like Ahrefs (and most other keyword research tools) take the info it displays with a grain of salt – only Google truly knows the real number of searches for a particular query.
For remodeling companies looking to boost their online presence, Ahrefs is your go-to digital tool. Its keyword explorer feature gives you valuable insights, including a handy keyword difficulty score.
This makes it easier to select effective keywords tailored to your remodeling business’s SEO strategy.
Google's Keyword Planner Tool
Your Exclusive Keyword Research Strategy - Done By A Professional
Your website needs to work like a funnel. Capture all the traffic it can get, but move all that traffic towards the decision of buying your services.
Of course, a lot of that traffic will fall out of the funnel – they had low-buying intent, meaning they didn’t want to remodel, they were just curios.
But those who want to remodel, they’ll stick around and when they’re ready, you’ll be their #1 option.
What we do for our clients is rather unique. We make sure all the keywords on your website target the areas you serve.
- So we won’t write a blog post about bathroom remodeling, but about bathroom remodeling in Omaha.
- We won’t write a post about building permits, but about kitchen remodeling permits in Pasadena.
- And so on…
Wrapping up
For remodeling businesses looking to attract a steady flow of potential customers through online searches, search engine optimization (SEO) is a key strategy.
But it needs to be accurate, in-depth, and very comprehensive. Otherwise, you’ll write dozens of blog posts that won’t move the needle in any way whatsoever.
This article aims to guide you through the process of selecting the right keywords for your next marketing drive. But if you don’t have time or money to risk spending months on something that doesn’t bring any value to your business, you’ll want an expert to do it for you.
Like remodeling, DIY-ing this is usually bound to fail.
If you’re interested in a partnership, check out this page!