Keyword research for contractors means finding the exact service-plus-city phrases homeowners type when they’re ready to hire, like “roof replacement Tacoma WA” or “deck builder near me,” and then giving each one its own page. We build these keyword maps for home improvement contractors at Zeal Media Solutions, out of our office in Washington State.
By Carl Jiang, Co-Founder · Last updated September 2026
“Keyword research” gets searched hundreds of thousands of times a month. Almost every guide ranking for it was written for bloggers and online stores. That’s a problem, because a contractor’s list looks nothing like a blogger’s. It’s shorter and it’s local, and the money sits in a few dozen phrases that pair a service with a place. Below is how we build that list for a trade business, and how to turn it into pages that rank.
How do contractors do keyword research?
Start with the services you want more of. Add the cities and neighborhoods you really serve, and combine the two. Then check real search volume in a tool, cut anything with no demand or the wrong intent, and give every phrase that survives one page on your site. Simple enough. The skill is in the cutting.
This is the order we work in when we onboard a new contractor:
- List the profitable services, not every service. If you’d rather not do gutter cleaning, don’t build pages that attract it. Rank your services by margin and crew capacity.
- Write down your real service area: the cities you’ll drive to without complaining. For a Tacoma-based contractor that might be Tacoma, Lakewood, Puyallup, University Place, Fife, Federal Way and Gig Harbor.
- Brainstorm how homeowners describe the job. They say “new roof,” not “reroofing.” They say “bathroom remodel,” and nobody says “wet area renovation.” Your sales calls are the best keyword research you’ve got.
- Pull volumes and difficulty. Google’s free Keyword Planner works if you have a Google Ads account. Paid tools like SE Ranking or Ahrefs add keyword difficulty scores.
- Sort by intent. Hiring intent goes on service pages. Research intent (“how much does a deck cost”) goes on the blog.
- Map one primary keyword to each page. More on that below.
What keywords should a contractor website target?
There are four groups. I’d go after them in this order:
| Keyword type | Example | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Service + city | kitchen remodeling Snoqualmie | Service or service-area page |
| Service + near me | fence contractor near me | Service page + Google Business Profile |
| Urgent / problem | emergency roof leak repair | Dedicated service page |
| Cost and comparison questions | composite vs wood deck cost | Blog post linking to the service page |
Service-plus-city terms bring in the most revenue per visitor, because that searcher has already decided to hire someone. Each one is usually small, though. Think 50, 90 or 200 searches a month. That’s why so many generic SEO providers skip them and chase bigger vanity terms instead. Bad trade. Ten of those small terms ranking first will beat one big term stuck on page three.
Our work with Snoqualmie Construction shows it well. We focused on high-conversion local terms across Snoqualmie, North Bend, Sammamish, Fall City and Issaquah. “Kitchen remodeling services” went from position 28 to position 1. By the end they had 12 keywords in the top spot and every core term on page one. None of those terms are huge by national standards. All of them are buyers.
What is keyword difficulty?
Keyword difficulty is a score from 0 to 100 that estimates how hard it’ll be to reach page one, based mostly on the backlink strength of the pages already ranking there. Treat it as a rough guide. A local contractor can often outrank a national site with more authority on a service-plus-city term, since Google leans hard on proximity and local relevance.
Here’s how we use it:
- Under 30: realistic for a newer site. Build these pages first.
- 30 to 60: doable with a solid page, good internal links and some local citations.
- Above 60: long-term targets. Go after them with blog content and let authority build over time.
And don’t let a high score scare you off a term that’s clearly local. National scores often overstate the competition when the map pack owns the top of the page.
Should I target “near me” keywords?
Yes. Just don’t stuff “near me” into your pages. Google already knows where the searcher is standing. What wins a “near me” search is your Google Business Profile (its category, proximity and reviews) plus a website that spells out which services you offer and which cities you cover. Write like a normal person and let the profile carry the load.
We cover that side in detail in our Google Business Profile guide for contractors. For keyword research, the takeaway is short. Note which of your services get real “near me” volume, then make sure each one is listed as its own service on your profile and has its own page on your site.
How many keywords should each page target?
One primary keyword per page, backed up by a handful of close variations. Say you have a page about deck building in Tacoma. It targets “deck builder Tacoma WA” and picks up “Tacoma deck contractor” and “deck installation Tacoma” on its own. Now suppose two pages go after the same primary keyword. They compete with each other, and both rank worse for it.
So keep a keyword map. It’s just a spreadsheet with one row per page: the primary keyword, three or four supporting terms, the questions the page should answer, and the URL. Before anyone writes a new page, check it against the map. Google’s own SEO Starter Guide says much the same thing in simpler words: organize your content so each page has a clear topic.
The mistakes we see most in contractor keyword lists
The one that annoys me most is city-swapped pages. Twenty pages, identical except for the city name. Google calls out this exact pattern in its spam policies. Every service-area page needs real local content, like neighborhoods, local permit quirks and actual projects nearby.
A few others show up all the time:
- Chasing the trade name by itself. “Roofing” alone pulls in researchers, job seekers and suppliers. “Roofing contractor Auburn WA” is a customer.
- Building the list from industry jargon, which misses the words homeowners use on your sales calls.
- Calling the list finished. Search Console shows you the real queries you appear for every month. Dig through it every quarter and add pages for the terms you’re almost ranking for.
Your paid campaigns should run off the same list. Our guide to Google Ads for contractors explains how. Paid data tells you which terms convert before you spend months trying to rank for them.
Where we do keyword research for contractors
We build keyword maps and service-area content for contractors from our office in Washington State. That covers the Puget Sound corridor from Everett and Lake Stevens down to Tacoma and Olympia, plus the Snoqualmie Valley, Vancouver, WA and Portland, and markets in California, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. Keyword mapping comes with every contractor SEO engagement.
Washington, United States
Phone: (928) 482-6963
Contractor SEO, keyword research and service-area content nationwide.
Frequently asked questions
How do contractors do keyword research?
Pair the services you want with the cities you serve, check the volume in Keyword Planner or a paid tool, and toss anything with the wrong intent. Whatever’s left gets one page each. For the actual wording, listen to your own sales calls.
What keywords should a contractor website target?
Go for service-plus-city terms like “kitchen remodeling Snoqualmie” first. After that come near-me terms, then urgent ones like “emergency roof leak repair,” and cost or comparison questions last. Hiring terms go on service pages, and research terms go on blog posts that link back to them.
What is keyword difficulty?
It’s a 0 to 100 guess at how tough page one will be, mostly based on the backlinks of whoever ranks there now. New sites should start under 30 and treat anything over 60 as a long game. Local service terms tend to be easier than the number says, since proximity counts for so much.
Should I target near me keywords?
Yes, but leave “near me” out of your copy. Google knows where the searcher is, so your Google Business Profile does most of the work, backed by a site that clearly lists your services and cities. Give every service with near-me demand its own page.
How many keywords should each page target?
One main keyword and three or four close variations. If two pages chase the same term, they fight each other. Keep a keyword map with one row per page and check new pages against it before anyone starts writing.
Want a keyword map built for your trade and service area? Book a call and we’ll show you the terms your competitors rank for that you don’t.
