The First Thing You Need To Do As a New Home Inspector

There are over 266,000 Google searches per month having to do with home inspections.

Over 50,000 of those searches have local intent. These are search terms where Google shows local businesses first, since they know these keywords usually lead to someone hiring a local service or business.

This is the single biggest opportunity for local businesses to win client-direct business from big brands & third-party directory sites. This is where you want to lay the groundwork to get customer direct business as a new inspector.

So how do you make sure you're setting your home inspection business up for success with Local SEO?

It All Starts With Google My Business

With so many Google searches for home inspection related services, it makes sense to start with making sure Google has the correct information about your business right?

Google uses hundreds of factors to determine who they rank each time someone searches for a home inspector or radon testing. Getting your GMB profile solid from the start helps Google have confidence in listing your business when they check it against other factors.

If you haven't added your business to Google My Business yet, start here.

If you think you might have already added your business, but need to claim and/or verify it, start here.

Google My Business Checklist

Optimizing your Google My Business profile is something some inspectors neglect. But the details matter. 

Make sure you're nailing these basics so you have a solid start to managing your online presence.

1. Add, claim, or verify your listing.
2. Decide early on the 1 consistent way you list your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number). This is critical!
3. List only 1 main phone number that you want to be contacted at.
4. Select the correct category ("Home Inspector" is sufficient. You'd be surprised how many miss this or try to jam more categories in there.)
5. Add high quality "Identity Photos", which should be brand focused. Possibly your logo or an image of your city.
6. Add additional photos of your work under "Photos at Work".
7. Your introduction should be written 95% for your customers and only 5% for search engines. Naturally describe your home inspection services, your UVP, & service areas without overdoing it.
8. Get familiar with the Reviews tab. This is where you will respond to each and every review!

Just like with every modern SEO best practice, make sure not to over-optimize. You can get penalized for this!

Write using natural language, then go back in and make sure services & locations are sprinkled in tastefully. Let us know if you need guidance with this.

Final Thoughts

Ranking in your local area depends on many factors like links, citations, content and traditional website optimization. But you can't reap the full benefits from those activities without a foundation.

Google My Business is your online marketing foundation. Once that is solid, you are now ready to tackle the smart marketing techniques that will grow your business!