Peak District SEO was approached by an established building contractor that wanted to improve its website, increase its visibility on Google and generate a more consistent flow of enquiries for higher-value building projects.
The company already had experience and a strong portfolio of completed work. The problem was that its website and wider digital marketing did not adequately represent the quality of the business. There was also a geographical challenge.
Initially, the company wanted to develop its presence across Berkshire and Hertfordshire. As the campaign developed, however, the commercial focus changed.
The client made the strategic decision to concentrate more heavily on South and West London, targeting areas where its services, experience and preferred project values were a particularly good fit.
This meant we weren’t simply optimising an existing website. We needed to build a stronger digital platform and then adapt it as the client’s business strategy evolved.
Building a Better WordPress Website
One of the first major pieces of work was a WordPress migration.
Rather than simply moving the existing website from one server to another, we used the migration as an opportunity for a substantial rebuild and revamp.
The website needed to work as a genuine marketing platform.
That meant looking at its structure, content, imagery, calls to action, service information and geographical targeting.
The new WordPress website also needed to give us the flexibility to create new service pages, location-focused content, case studies and landing pages as the SEO and Google Ads campaigns developed.
This was particularly important because we already knew that the geographical focus of the business could change.
Image Editing and Website Performance
Construction websites naturally rely heavily on photography.
Potential customers want to see previous projects. They want evidence of workmanship, finished rooms, extensions, renovations and other completed building work.
However, uploading large photographs directly from a camera or mobile phone can quickly create performance problems. The client had a photographer who managed to create a set of gorgeos stills and videos of a number of completed projects. Having a professional videographer /photographer on board really does make a difference. We always advocate for clients to take work in progress shots, but for the finished work, slick professional shots really sell your talent.
As part of the website project, we organised image editing and compression.
Images were prepared for use online, resized where necessary and compressed to reduce unnecessary file sizes while retaining the visual quality required for a professional construction website.
This gave us the best of both worlds.
The client could showcase completed projects properly without unnecessarily slowing down the website.
Website speed and usability were considered alongside SEO throughout the build rather than being treated as problems to fix later.
On-Page SEO for a Building Company
With the foundations of the website in place, we began the on-page SEO work.
Construction SEO presents an interesting challenge because simply ranking for “builder” isn’t necessarily useful.
A building company may specialise in:
- Home extensions
- Property renovations
- Refurbishments
- Loft conversions
- Garage conversions
- New build homes
- Kitchens and bathrooms
- Structural alterations
- Larger residential building projects
We therefore needed to understand both what the company wanted to build and where it wanted to work.
Pages could then be developed around genuine services and genuine target areas rather than creating large quantities of thin location content.
The objective was not simply more website traffic.
It was relevant traffic from homeowners looking for the types of building projects our client wanted to undertake.
Changing the Geographical SEO Strategy
Initially, the campaign had a strong focus on Berkshire and Hertfordshire.
As we worked more closely with the client, their priorities evolved. They decided that Buckinghamshire, South and West London offered greater opportunities for the types of residential construction projects they wanted to secure.
Our SEO strategy changed with them.
This is one of the reasons we believe an SEO campaign should never be treated as a fixed checklist. Businesses change.
Their capacity changes. Their most profitable services become clearer. They discover which enquiries convert into good projects and which locations are commercially attractive.
Instead of continuing to chase rankings in Berkshire and Hertfordshire purely because they had been part of the original plan, we adjusted the website and campaigns to reflect where the company now wanted to generate work. That meant developing the website’s geographical relevance towards South London and West London, while retaining the strong technical and content foundations we had already created.
The change also affected our wider marketing activity. Location targeting, content planning, landing pages and Google Ads could all be adapted around the new commercial priorities.
Note: Changing Focus isn’t without consequences
This was a sticking point as we’d done well with the initial visibility; we warned the client that changing direction like this would likely lead to a loss in visibility, and that has been the case. However, we are working hard to bring back that visibility by creating new pages and content that better reflect the client’s target market.
One real positive of changing the focus is that the new target areas are much more populous, so the performance of the Google Ads campaign almost tripled immediately. The SEO will take longer.
Local Directories and Local SEO
For a construction company, local relevance remains extremely important. So adding an extra 50 links from nationwide directory websites won’t hurt your local presence.
Someone searching for a builder will usually want a company that genuinely works within their area.
As part of the campaign, we organised local directory listings and citation work to strengthen the company’s wider online presence.
This complemented the on-page optimisation and helped us establish consistent information about the business across the web.
Local SEO was treated as part of the wider strategy rather than a standalone exercise.
The website, directory presence, location pages, service content and off-site signals all needed to support one another.
As the geographical focus moved towards South and West London, these signals could also be developed to support the areas the client now considered commercially important.
Link Building for the Construction Website
We also introduced an ongoing link building campaign.
A newly rebuilt website can have excellent content, strong technical SEO and well-optimised pages, but it still needs authority.
Relevant links and citations help search engines understand the prominence and credibility of a website.
Our approach was measured. We weren’t interested in suddenly pointing hundreds of poor-quality links at the domain. Instead, link building was used alongside the other SEO activity to gradually strengthen the website and improve its ability to compete for commercially valuable searches.
This included supporting both service-led and geographical search terms.
Google Ads for Building and Construction Leads
Organic SEO was only one side of the campaign.
We also managed Google Ads for the client.
For a building company, paid search can be particularly useful because it allows us to target people actively searching for a builder or a particular construction service within specific locations.
Initially, this supported the company’s targeting across Berkshire and Hertfordshire.
When the client’s priorities changed, Google Ads gave us the flexibility to move the paid campaign towards South and West London without waiting for new organic rankings to become established.
This is one of the major advantages of combining SEO and PPC.
Google Ads can also provide useful information about which searches attract clicks, which services generate interest and which locations produce enquiries.
That information can then influence the wider SEO campaign.
Rather than treating SEO and Google Ads as two completely separate services, we used the information from each to improve the overall strategy.
The advertising campaigns could generate visibility while the organic search presence developed, while SEO created the longer-term platform needed to reduce the company’s reliance on paid traffic.
Our Building Contractor SEO Strategy
The overall project included:
- Full WordPress migration
- WordPress website rebuild and revamp
- Website structure improvements
- Image editing and optimisation
- Image compression
- Technical website improvements
- On-page SEO
- Service page optimisation
- Geographical SEO
- Initial targeting across Berkshire and Hertfordshire, revised targeting towards South and West London
- Local directory submissions and citation building
- Link building
- Google Ads management
- Landing page development
- Analytics and campaign monitoring
- Ongoing website development
The important part was how these individual elements worked together. We weren’t simply supplying a website, running a few adverts or changing title tags. We were creating a digital platform that could support the construction company’s longer-term growth.
Working With a Client Who Gets Involved
One of the most positive aspects of this project was the client’s involvement.
They were interested in what we were doing and engaged with the process.
That makes a significant difference.
Nobody understands a construction business better than the people actually running it. The client’s knowledge of previous projects, services, customers and target areas gave us valuable information that could be incorporated into the website and campaigns.
Likewise, we could provide the SEO, PPC and digital marketing knowledge needed to turn that information into an effective online strategy.
It became a genuinely collaborative project.
As the client’s priorities changed, we could discuss them and alter the strategy rather than blindly continuing with the original campaign.
The decision to shift the focus from Berkshire and Hertfordshire to South and West London is a good example of that relationship in practice.
Creating the Foundations for Long-Term Growth
By the end of the initial development work, the company had something much more valuable than a collection of individual marketing activities.
It had the beginnings of a successful web platform and coordinated digital marketing campaigns.
- The WordPress website provided the foundation.
- On-page SEO gave the individual services and locations greater relevance. By adding blogs about industry knowledge and recent case studies, they can better engage with prospective clients seeking extensions and refurbishments.
- Local directories and link building began strengthening the company’s wider search presence.
- Google Ads provided immediate visibility for commercially important searches.
Most importantly, the strategy could evolve.
When the client decided to move the geographical focus away from Berkshire and Hertfordshire and concentrate more heavily on South and West London, the platform was flexible enough to support that decision. That’s exactly what a good business website should do.
It shouldn’t dictate where a company goes next. It should be capable of supporting the business as it grows and changes direction.
SEO and Google Ads for Builders
Construction companies face a highly competitive search market.
Ranking for broad phrases isn’t enough. You need to appear for the right services, in the right locations, in front of people who are genuinely considering a building project.
For this client, that required much more than SEO alone.
The combination of a WordPress rebuild, on-page SEO, local SEO, directory listings, link building, image optimisation and Google Ads created a much stronger platform from which the company could continue to grow. It also demonstrated the value of working closely with a client rather than imposing a rigid marketing plan.
Their business changed. So did our strategy.
Need More Building and Construction Enquiries?
If you’re a builder/construction company, property renovation specialist or other trade business and your existing website isn’t generating the enquiries you need, Peak District SEO can help. We’ve worked with a number of trades such as Builders, Plumbers, Tree surgeons, Roof Cleaners, Mobile mechanics, Scaffolders and Sandblasters.
We provide SEO, Google Ads, WordPress optimisation, local SEO and link building strategies designed around the work you actually want to win and the locations you genuinely want to target.
Get in touch with Peak District SEO today to discuss how we can build a stronger search presence for your construction business.
I’m Phil Gregory, the MD and founder of Peak District SEO.
I’m an SEO & Google Ads Consultant with 27+ years of experience in I.T and helping UK Businesses improve website performance.
I built my first website in 1998, then I discovered the joys of website optimisation and never looked back.
If you want a no-nonsense, no-hard-sell approach and to actually get your website fixed with a solid, affordable, long-term approach, hit the contact button today.
Peak District SEO is a UK-based Digital Marketing Company.
We help businesses make more money, using traditional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) , Ai Search / GEO and paid advertising (PPC).
Why Peak District SEO?
27+ years of experience.
80+ 5* reviews on Google
Our customers have hundreds of page one and position 1 rankings, and we can prove it.
We’ve helped hundreds of SMEs in the UK
We have numerous articles published across the web discussing SEO.
We regularly publish case studies about the work we’ve done
Customers trust our service – See our reviews on Google, Trustpilot and Facebook
Our customers have hundreds of page one and position 1 rankings and we can prove it.
