Glossary

Contractor Marketing Glossary

Ten terms every contractor hears from marketers, explained in plain English: what each one means, why it matters for your business, and one practical thing to do about it.

Local SEO

The work of making your business show up when nearby homeowners search for what you do: "roof repair dallas," "emergency plumber near me." It covers your Google Business Profile, reviews, service and town pages, local citations, and site speed.

Why it matters: Most contractor jobs start with a local search. If you are not in the map pack or the first results, those homeowners call someone else.

Do this: Start with your Google Business Profile: claim it, complete every field, and add real job photos before spending a dollar elsewhere.

Google Business Profile

Your free business listing on Google, the panel that shows your hours, phone number, reviews, photos, and map pin when someone searches your business name or "plumber near me." Formerly called Google My Business.

Why it matters: For many contractors it gets more views than the website. An incomplete profile with three reviews loses to a complete one with eighty, every time.

Do this: Ask for a review after every finished job. Review count and recency are the two things you fully control.

Map Pack

The three business listings with a map that appear at the top of Google for local searches. Also called the local pack or the 3-pack.

Why it matters: The map pack gets the majority of clicks on local searches. Ranking fourth organically but missing the pack means missing most of the calls.

Do this: Proximity, review profile, and category accuracy decide the pack. You cannot change your address, so win on the other two.

Local Services Ads (LSA)

Google ads where you pay per lead, not per click, shown above the map pack with a "Google Verified" badge. Available for trades like plumbing, HVAC, roofing, and electrical in most US markets.

Why it matters: LSAs put you above every organic result for high-intent searches. The badge also borrows trust: Google is vouching that you passed its screening.

Do this: Keep the ad account and profile in your own name from day one, and answer new leads within minutes. Response time affects your ranking in LSAs.

PPC (Pay Per Click)

Ads where you pay each time someone clicks, most commonly Google Ads. You bid on search terms, write the ad, and choose the page the click lands on.

Why it matters: PPC is the fastest way to get calls: live this week. It is also rented attention. The day you stop paying, the calls stop.

Do this: Send clicks to a page built for that exact service, not your homepage. And track booked jobs per campaign, not just clicks.

Cost Per Lead

Total marketing spend divided by the number of leads it produced. The number that tells you whether a channel is actually working.

Why it matters: A $50 lead that books is cheaper than a $15 lead that never answers. Always divide by booked jobs, not raw leads, when comparing channels.

Do this: Compute cost per booked job per channel every quarter: Angi, Google Ads, LSAs, organic. Let the numbers move your budget.

Conversion Rate

The percentage of website visitors who take the action you want: calling, submitting the quote form, or booking. 100 visitors and 4 calls is a 4% conversion rate.

Why it matters: Doubling conversion rate doubles your leads without spending more on traffic. Most contractor sites convert poorly because the phone number is buried.

Do this: Put a tap-to-call number and a short quote form above the fold on every page. That one change beats most redesigns.

Service Area Page

A dedicated page for one town you serve: "Roof Replacement in Plano," with local proof, local photos, and local answers. Not a bullet list of 40 towns on one page.

Why it matters: Google ranks pages, not websites, for "service + town" searches. One thin locations list cannot rank for twenty towns.

Do this: Build one real page per town you actually want work in. Real photos from jobs in that town beat generic copy every time.

NAP Citations

Mentions of your business Name, Address, and Phone number across directories like Yelp, BBB, Angi, and industry sites. Consistency matters more than quantity.

Why it matters: Google cross-checks your NAP across the web to confirm you are a real business at a real place. Mismatched addresses and old phone numbers create doubt.

Do this: Audit the top 20 directories once a year. Fix the phone number everywhere the day it changes, not eventually.

Core Web Vitals

Google’s three speed measurements: how fast the main content appears (LCP, target under 2.5 seconds), how stable the page is while loading (CLS), and how fast it responds to taps (INP).

Why it matters: Contractor sites get opened on phones in driveways. A page that takes six seconds to load loses the homeowner before the phone number appears.

Do this: Compress your images. On contractor sites, oversized phone photos are the number one cause of slow pages.

Know the terms. Now fix the site.

Grade your own website against these fundamentals with our free grader, or get a free professional review of your site.

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