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SEO for general contractors
SEO Services for Contractors Who Sell Projects, Not Calls
Moha provides SEO services for contractors whose work is measured in projects rather than visits: general contractors, design build firms, custom builders and commercial construction companies. Your customer does not search once and call. They research for weeks or months, often with a partner, an architect or a board, and they build a shortlist long before anyone asks you for a price. The contractor on that shortlist is the one whose finished work, references and way of running a site were easy to find and easy to trust. We make sure that is you.
Free, and no call required. We check what owners find when they research your kind of project.
Project pages that win shortlists · Licence shown where required · Reported on qualified enquiries
The thing that makes contracting different
A project is won months before the price is discussed
Most local SEO advice is written for businesses that sell by the call: somebody searches, sees three businesses on a map and rings one. That is not how a building, an extension or a fit out is bought. The decision is slower, involves more people and is made on different evidence, and SEO for contractors that ignores the difference produces enquiries for the wrong jobs from the wrong people.
Who is actually searching
For a residential project it is usually two people in a household, sometimes with an architect or designer already involved. For a commercial project it may be an owner's representative, a facilities manager, a developer or a procurement team, any of whom may be compiling a list of contractors to invite to bid. They search for evidence: the kind of project, the size, the location, the sector. They read project pages, look at photographs, check licences and look for anything that suggests you finish on time and on budget.
Many of those searches never mention a price and never use the words near me. They look like contractors who have built a medical office, a design build firm for a restaurant fit out, a builder who has done a two storey rear extension in an older home. Each one is a qualified buyer telling you exactly what they want to see.
What wins the shortlist
Evidence of the same kind of project, ideally nearby. A project page that names the type of building, the scope, the timeline, the constraints and how they were solved, with real photographs through the build and at handover, and ideally a reference from the owner or architect. A clear statement of the sectors and project sizes you take on, so the wrong enquiries filter themselves out. And the licence, insurance and safety information a careful owner checks before inviting anyone to bid.
Contractors who also run a service and repair division have both kinds of buyer. The service side behaves like a call trade and belongs on the map; the project side needs the portfolio. We build them separately rather than forcing one into the other's shape.
Why this is not home services SEO
A firm selling plumbing, electrical and heating by the call has a different problem: one business trying to rank for several trades, decided on the map in minutes. That is the subject of our work for firms that sell several trades by the call. A contractor's problem is the opposite: one kind of work, a long decision, and a buyer who wants proof rather than proximity.
The difference changes what gets built. Call trades need hours, reviews and fast pages for urgent searches. Contractors need project pages, sector pages, a portfolio a procurement team can read, and a way to capture an enquiry from somebody who is not ready to talk about money for another two months.
If most of your revenue comes from a handful of repeat clients and a few architects who refer you, SEO will add to that rather than replace it. It is strongest for contractors who want to win work from owners who do not already know them.
Where owners look
Three places an owner looks before inviting you to bid
The research happens across three surfaces, and a contractor who is strong on only one of them is visible to only part of the buyer's process.
Examples of the same kind of build
The longest part of the process, and the one most contractors are invisible in. Owners search for the kind of project, the sector and the area, and read whatever explains the work best. Project pages and sector pages win here, and they keep their place in the search results, bringing organic traffic every time somebody plans a similar build.
General contractor near me
Some searches still turn local, especially residential ones. Google answers with three firms on Google Maps, ordered on relevance, distance and prominence. A Google Business Profile with real project photographs and reviews from owners is worth having, but for most contractors it is the smaller share of the opportunity.
Your name, searched
Once you are on a shortlist, somebody searches your company name. What comes back, your own site, your profile, licence lookups, news, reviews, and now AI Overviews summarising you, is the reference check before the reference check. A contractor with a thin site and nothing else looks riskier than one with a clear record.
Where the subcontractors fit
General contractors are also buyers. When you need a specialist for a project, you search too, and so do the 510,803 specialty trade contractors looking for general contractors to work with. Specialty firms in flooring, fencing, glazing, steel or mechanical work need to be found by GCs and by owners, which is a different kind of page again: capacity, certifications, the size of job they take, and the general contractors they have worked under.
If you are a specialty contractor, much of this page applies to you, with the project pages written for the GCs and project managers who hire you rather than for the owner.
Search the kind of project you most want next year, plus your city, as an owner would. If the first page shows directories and national guides but no local contractor's project page, that page is the opportunity.
On-page SEO for a contractor
Inside a project page that gets you on the shortlist
Most contractor websites have a gallery: a grid of photographs with a one line caption. A gallery shows that you have built things. A project page shows an owner that you have built their thing, which is what gets you invited to bid. This is the structure we build to.
It names the project the way an owner would search for it
Not Project 14. A two storey rear extension to a 1920s house, a dental practice fit out in a retail unit, a steel framed warehouse with a mezzanine office. The title and the opening line describe the building type, the scope and the place in the words an owner would use, so the page matches the research search and the reader knows within a sentence whether it is relevant.
Then it tells the story an owner wants to hear
The brief and the constraints: a tight site, an occupied building, a programme that could not slip, an older structure with surprises in it. How you planned and phased the work, how you handled the surprises, the permits and inspections, and how it finished against the programme and budget. Photographs through the build, not only at handover, because owners want to see how you run a site, not just how the finished room looks.
Then the evidence that it went well
A reference from the owner or the architect, quoted with permission and attributed. The team who led it. The subcontractors you brought in, where they agree to be named. And a clear route to talk about a similar project, which for a buyer at the research stage is a conversation rather than a quote request.
And it is built properly underneath
Images sized and compressed so a gallery of forty photographs still loads on a phone; schema that matches the page; internal links from each project to its sector page and from each sector page to its best projects. This on-page SEO is invisible to the owner and decisive for whether the page is found at all.
Twenty project pages written this way, chosen to cover the work you want more of, will bring more qualified enquiries than a gallery of two hundred photographs. Each one is a case study an owner can forward to the rest of the people deciding.
For commercial and public work
The capability page a procurement team is looking for
Commercial owners, developers and public bodies rarely pick a contractor from a search result. They build a bid list, and before a firm goes on it somebody runs a prequalification check. A surprising amount of that check now starts on the contractor's own website, and most contractor websites cannot answer it.
What a prequalification check asks
The questions vary by owner, but the core is consistent: which licences you hold and in which states, your bonding capacity, your insurance limits, your safety record and the measures behind it, the value range of projects you have completed, the sectors you have built in, your key personnel and their experience, and any certifications such as minority owned or woman owned business status where the owner tracks them. A procurement team that can find these on your site in two minutes is more likely to send the full questionnaire than one that has to ring to ask, long before anyone requests an estimate.
We build a capability page that answers them plainly, with a downloadable capability statement for teams who need a document to file. It is not glamorous and it rarely ranks for anything large. It is the page that turns a name search during a bid list exercise into an invitation.
Sector evidence, organised the way owners read it
A hospital facilities team wants healthcare projects. A school district wants education work. The capability page links to the sector pages, and each sector page leads with the projects closest to what that buyer is about to build, with values, programmes and the constraints you managed. It is the same evidence as the portfolio, arranged for a reader who is comparing firms against a form.
Keep the figures current. A bonding capacity or insurance limit from three years ago is worse than none, because the first thing a procurement team does with a number is check it.
We put a review date on the capability page and ask you to confirm the figures each quarter.
What we do
What SEO services for contractors should include
Ten things, in the order SEO services for contractors change results for a contracting firm. Most of what is sold as the best SEO for contractors is call trade SEO with a different logo on it. These are built for projects.
A positioning page that filters
What you build, for whom, at what size and where. A clear statement of the sectors and project values you take on does two jobs: it matches the searches of the owners you want, and it stops the ones you do not want from filling your inbox.
This is where SEO for contractor companies differs most from SEO for a trade. It is the page most contractors never write, because it feels like turning work away. It turns away the enquiries that waste estimating time.
Project pages for the work you want more of
Written as described above, for the building types and sectors you want to grow. Each one with real photographs through the build, the constraints and how you solved them, and a reference where you can get one.
The keyword research behind them follows the language owners and their advisers use, which is the building type and the scope rather than trade terms.
Sector pages
Healthcare, education, retail, hospitality, industrial, multifamily, custom homes: a page for each sector you genuinely work in, explaining what is different about building for it and linking to the projects that prove you know.
A procurement team for a medical office wants to see that you understand infection control and occupied buildings, not that you build things in general.
Licence, insurance and safety, easy to find
Where your state licenses contractors, the licence number goes on the website and in the profile, and in California it is required in all forms of advertising. Insurance, bonding capacity and safety record go where an owner or a prequalification form will look for them.
These are the first checks on a shortlist, and a contractor who makes them easy looks like one who will be easy to work with.
The Google Business Profile, for what it is worth
A complete profile with the right primary category, real project photographs, accurate hours and service area, and reviews from owners. For residential contractors it brings a real share of enquiries; for commercial ones it mostly matters when your name is searched.
We set it up properly and keep it current rather than treating it as the whole of contractor SEO.
Reviews and references from owners
Project reviews are rarer than trade reviews, because there are fewer of them. Each one matters more. We set up a request at handover and at the end of the defects period, and turn the best references, with permission, into quoted endorsements on the relevant project pages.
Review replies name the project and thank the owner, and never argue in public.
Technical SEO for photograph heavy sites
Contractor sites are among the heaviest we see: hundreds of full resolution photographs, slow galleries, and project pages that never load on a phone. Core Web Vitals suffer and owners leave before the page renders.
We size and compress the images, fix the slowest templates, and make the enquiry form work on a small screen.
Link building from the industry around you
Backlinks from the architects and engineers you work with, the suppliers you buy from, the trade associations you belong to, the awards you enter, and local and trade press when a project is worth covering. They feed authority and they cannot be bought by a competitor.
We do not buy links or use networks.
What comes back when your name is searched
Your site, your profile, your licence, news coverage and AI Overviews summarising your firm. We make sure what appears is accurate and complete, that your company details agree everywhere, and that the summary an assistant gives is one you would be happy for a client to read.
This is the reference check before the reference check, and it is usually neglected.
Reporting on qualified enquiries
Enquiries split by sector, project size and source, with each one's conversion rate to a bid and to a win where you share that. A contractor does not need more enquiries; it needs more of the right ones.
If a project page brings enquiries for jobs you do not want, that is a positioning problem, and we fix the page.
Work you can check
Results you can verify
Ask anyone pitching you which tool their figures came from and what period they cover. These are case studies we stand behind, with both named.
Ranking in places the business had no page for
Location pages, generated properlyA local operator holding results a national wanted
The map won against a larger rivalGetting a client quoted inside Google's AI answers
How a client became the cited sourceThe market you are in
251,634 building contractors, in very different markets
The Census Bureau splits building construction into residential and nonresidential, and each of those into distinct kinds of firm. Who you compete with, and who you are selling to, depends on which of these you are.
What the numbers mean
Residential remodelers are the largest single group by far, 133,345 firms, and they are their own market with their own buyer, covered for remodelers, whose clients research for months. New single family builders number 59,568. Commercial and institutional building contractors, 39,005 firms, sell to a smaller number of much larger buyers, most of whom run some form of prequalification or bid.
The commercial firms employ far more people per firm: 618,523 between 39,005 establishments, against 238,333 across 59,568 new single family builders. That scale difference is visible in how they are bought. A commercial contractor is chosen by a process; a residential builder is chosen by a household. The content each needs is different, and so is the SEO strategy.
And the specialists underneath
Specialty trade contractors, 510,803 establishments, are more than double the building contractors. They are the subcontractors a general contractor hires and, increasingly, a separate search market of their own, where GCs and project managers look for capacity and reliability.
209,456 residential and 42,178 nonresidential building firms. Commercial and institutional 39,005 employing 618,523. Specialty trade contractors 510,803.
County Business Patterns 2022.
Only in contracting
What a contractor's website must show, and what it must not claim
Contracting is licensed in most states and regulated at the level of the advertisement in several. None of this is legal advice, and your state and city will add their own rules, but these are the ones we work to.
The licence number, in California and elsewhere
California Business and Professions Code 7030.5 requires every licensed contractor to include the licence number in all construction contracts, in subcontracts and calls for bid, and in all forms of advertising as prescribed by the registrar. A website, a Business Profile, a project page, a social post and a site hoarding are all advertising. Other states have similar rules, and many owners check a licence before shortlisting anybody.
We put the number where your state requires it and where an owner looks: the site footer, the about page, each project page where the work was licensed work, and the profile description.
Claiming only what you did
A project in your portfolio that you subcontracted on, or managed only part of, should say so. Owners and architects check, and a portfolio that overclaims a project somebody else delivered is the fastest way to lose a shortlist. Saying we were the general contractor on the fit out, working with the named architect, is both honest and more convincing.
Permits and code compliance
Project pages often mention permits and inspections, which is good. They should describe what actually happened. Claims such as always on budget or never a delay invite exactly the question an owner will ask a reference.
The audit lists where your licence number appears and where your state requires it, and reads every project page for claims about scope, budget and programme that we would want you to be able to stand behind.
Why contractors choose Moha as their contractor SEO agency
Most agencies selling to contractors sell the same local package they sell plumbers: a profile, some citations, a page per service and a ranking report. For a business that sells projects it produces calls about small jobs you do not want. We build for the owner doing research months before a project: project pages that read like case studies, sector pages that show you understand their building, positioning that filters, and a name search that holds up. That is what SEO services for contractors should mean: fewer enquiries, better ones, and more bids worth pricing.
Projects, not calls
Built for the long decision, not the urgent one.
Pages that filter
Sectors and sizes stated, so the wrong enquiries stop.
Evidence first
Project stories, build photographs and references owners can forward.
Licence where required
California and every other state's rules applied.
Reported on qualified enquiries
By sector and size, not by rankings.
You keep everything
Site, content and photographs stay yours, including the day you leave.
How it works
Our contractor SEO process
Position first, then the evidence, then the profile, then authority. It is the order SEO services for contractors should follow, because evidence written before the positioning is settled attracts the wrong work.
Audit and positioning
What owners find when they research your kind of project, what your name search returns, where your licence appears, how your site performs, and which sectors and project sizes you want more of. Yours to keep either way.
Positioning and the first projects
The positioning page, the first project pages for the work you want most, licence and insurance information placed properly, and the technical fixes that make the site fast.
Sectors and references
Sector pages, more project pages, references collected at handover, the profile completed, and the name search cleaned up.
Authority and reach
Links from architects, suppliers and trade press, project pages for new areas, and reporting on qualified enquiries by sector and size.
Contractor SEO pricing
What SEO for contractors costs with Moha
One flat monthly figure, quoted after the free audit. No fee per enquiry and no commission on a project. What moves the number is how many sectors and areas are in scope.
For one sector done properly.
- Positioning page
- Core project pages
- Licence and profile set up
- Reporting on enquiries
- Dedicated strategist
For several sectors and a wider area.
- Everything in Launch
- Sector pages and more projects
- Work prioritised ahead of other accounts
- Reporting by sector and size
- Dedicated strategist
For contractors with several offices or divisions.
- A profile per genuine office
- Divisions kept separate
- Reporting by division
- Dedicated strategist and named team
Would one extra project a quarter pay for this?
At these numbers, SEO returns 2.4 dollars of profit for every dollar spent.
How Search works, from Google
Google Search Central's short explanation of how pages are found, understood and ranked. Worth five minutes for any contractor deciding what to spend on.
The part that matters for a contractor is that ranking rewards the page that best answers the searcher's question. An owner researching a dental fit out is asking which contractor has done one well. A project page that answers that is doing exactly what the system is built to reward.
Questions
Contractor SEO questions owners of construction firms ask
Taken from what contractors ask in trade groups and Google's Business Profile help community, plus the phrasings people type into a search box.
How much do SEO services for contractors cost?
Launch is $3,000 a month and Growth $4,800, with multi office firms quoted individually. For project work the arithmetic is about profit per project: if one extra win a quarter would not cover it, the honest answer is that it is not worth buying yet.
Is SEO worth it for a contractor who gets most work by referral?
It adds to referrals rather than replacing them, and it supports them: a referred owner will still search your name and look at your projects. It is most valuable when you want to win work from owners and sectors who do not already know you.
What makes the best SEO for contractors?
SEO built for how projects are bought: project pages that read like case studies, sector pages, a positioning page that filters, licence and insurance easy to find, and a clean name search. Call trade SEO with a profile and a page per service is the most common package sold to contractors and the least suited to them. When comparing SEO companies for contractors, or choosing the best SEO agency for contractors in your area, ask what they would build for the project you most want next year.
Should we have a gallery or project pages?
Project pages. A gallery shows you have built things; a project page shows an owner you have built their kind of thing, explains how, and can be forwarded to everyone else deciding. Keep the gallery if you like it, but the project pages are what get found and what get you invited to bid.
Do we need to show our licence number on our website?
In California, yes: B&P Code 7030.5 requires it in all forms of advertising. Many other states have similar rules, and owners check a licence before shortlisting. We put it where your state requires it and where owners look.
Is the Google Business Profile important for a commercial contractor?
Less than for a residential one. Commercial buyers rarely choose from a map, but they do search your name, and the profile appears when they do. Set it up properly with real projects and keep it accurate; just do not mistake it for the whole job.
How do we get reviews when we only finish a few projects a year?
Ask at handover and again at the end of the defects period, when the owner has lived with the work. Fewer reviews means each matters more, and a quoted reference on a project page, used with permission, is often more persuasive than several short star ratings.
We also do service and repair work. Is that different?
Yes. The service side behaves like a call trade, decided on the map in minutes, and needs hours, reviews and fast pages. The project side needs the portfolio. We build them separately so neither weakens the other.
We are a specialty contractor. Does this apply to us?
Most of it, with the audience changed. Flooring, fencing, glazing, steel and mechanical firms sell to general contractors and project managers as well as owners, so project pages should show capacity, certifications and the GCs you have worked under.
Can we show projects where we were a subcontractor?
Yes, as long as the page says so. Describe your scope accurately and name the general contractor and architect where they agree. Overclaiming a project somebody else delivered is quickly discovered and costly.
How long until SEO brings project enquiries?
Project and sector pages usually take three to six months to settle, and the enquiries they bring then take as long as your sales cycle to become work. Contractor SEO is a long investment that compounds; anyone promising projects in a month is selling ads.
Will you write the project pages?
Yes, from an interview with whoever ran the project and the photographs from the build. You review every page before it goes live, because the facts about your projects have to be right.
What should we photograph on site?
The site before, the structure going up, anything difficult being solved, the services before they are covered, and the finished building from the angles an owner cares about. Owners want to see how you run a site, not only the handover.
Should we put our bonding capacity and insurance limits on the website?
If you bid commercial or public work, yes, on a capability page with a review date. Procurement teams building a bid list look for them first, and a firm whose figures are easy to find and current is easier to shortlist. Keep them up to date; an old figure is worse than none.
Do you guarantee rankings?
No. Nobody honestly can. We commit to the work and to reporting on qualified enquiries, by sector and size, whether the numbers are good or not.
What do AI Overviews say about contractors?
Increasingly, when an owner searches your name or asks an assistant about contractors for a kind of project, a summary appears before any link. It draws on your site, your profile and what others say about you. We make sure the facts it can find are accurate and complete.
Free audit
Work with a contractor SEO agency that builds for the long decision
Send your website and we will send back what owners find when they research your kind of project, what your name search returns, where your licence appears, and the project pages we would build first. No pitch deck and no long call before you can judge it. The profile work sits on the local layer under every bid, and if you want paid search for bid season while the pages mature, we run that too.
No call required.
Photographs via Openverse, both CC0, by Amsterdam free photos and pictures: sheet pilings and crane activity and a view over a construction site.