How an excavation contractor shows up when homeowners and builders search: the Google Business Profile, a page for each type of job, town pages and reviews.
Most excavation work comes from two places: homeowners and property owners who need a site dug, cleared or graded, and builders who need a sub they can count on. Both groups look you up on Google before they call, even when someone referred them. This post covers how an excavation contractor shows up in those searches and gets more jobs from them, from the Google Business Profile to the pages on your website.
A homeowner rarely searches for "excavation" on its own. They search for the job in front of them, such as land clearing, a new driveway, drainage work, a septic system, a pool dig or grading around a house, usually with their town or "near me" added. Builders and general contractors search the same way when they're in a new area or when their usual sub is booked out. Showing up for those searches means your profile and your website have to name the specific jobs you do and the places you do them.
The map results come from Google Business Profiles, and a profile is free. Set the primary category to Excavating contractor. Google lists services under that category, including excavation and grading, lot clearing, demolition, foundations, driveway removal, debris removal and dirt removal, so add the ones you actually do. If another category fits work you do often, you can add it as an additional category. Our guide to choosing Google Business Profile categories explains how the primary and additional categories work.
Fill in the service area with the towns you'll realistically haul equipment to, add photos of your machines and finished sites, and keep the hours and phone number current. If the profile isn't verified yet, start with how to verify your Google Business Profile.
A website with one services page that lists everything gives Google very little to rank. A page for each type of job you want more of works much better, because each one can match the search someone actually runs. Common pages for an excavation company include:
Each page should explain what the job involves, the equipment you use, what affects the price and how to request a quote. Only build pages for work you want, because the pages will bring in calls for it.
People hiring an excavator want to know you have the right machine for their job and that you'll leave the site in good shape. Photos of your excavators, skid steers and trucks, and before and after shots of cleared lots and graded yards, answer both questions. An equipment list on the site also helps builders decide whether you can handle a larger job.
Moving equipment costs time and money, so most excavation companies have a real limit on how far they'll go. Build town pages for the places inside that limit where you want more work, and include details about the jobs you've done there, such as soil conditions, common drainage problems or local permit steps. A page for a town you never work in won't help, and a set of pages with only the town name changed can hurt the rest of the site.
Reviews help you rank in the map results and help the person reading them decide to call. Ask every homeowner and every builder after the job is done, with a direct link sent by text. Our post on creating a Google review link shows how to get the link, and how to get more Google reviews covers the timing and wording.
A lot of excavation work comes from general contractors and home builders, and they look for different things than homeowners do. A page written for builders should cover the work you take on as a sub, your equipment, your insurance and licensing, the area you cover and how to send a bid request or plans. Builders are comparing subs on how easy they are to work with, so a clear page and a fast reply both matter.
Ask every new customer how they found you, and check the calls and website clicks in your Business Profile performance report each month. A call tracking number or a CRM that logs every call makes the picture more accurate. Our local SEO checklist covers the rest of the setup in order.
We build websites and handle local SEO for contractors, including the profile work, the job pages and the town pages described above. We haven't built a site for an excavation company yet, and our construction website design page shows how we'd approach a contractor site. If you'd like to see where you show up today, start with a free audit, or read our SEO for contractors page for the full approach.
Start with a free audit of your site and your Google listing. It costs nothing and you aren't signing up for anything.
