A step by step guide to HVAC SEO: the Google listing, service pages, town pages, reviews, seasonal timing and how to measure whether it's working.
In this guide
HVAC SEO is the work that gets your company in front of people who search Google for heating and cooling help in your area. This guide goes through it in order, from the Google listing to the website to the numbers worth checking each month. You can do most of it yourself with some time and patience.
When someone searches for AC repair or furnace installation, Google shows results in two main places. The first is the map pack, which is the box of three businesses with a map near the top. The second is the list of regular website results under it. HVAC SEO is about showing up in both for the services you offer, in the towns where you send trucks.
The map results depend mostly on your Google Business Profile, your reviews and how close you are to the person searching. The website results depend on the pages on your site. The two support each other, so it helps to work on both.
The profile is often the biggest source of calls for an HVAC company, so start here.
If the profile isn't verified yet, our verification guide covers that step.
A single services page that lists everything gives Google very little to work with. Each main service should have its own page, because each one is its own search. A typical HVAC site needs pages for:
On each page, explain the service in plain words, list the common problems you fix or the equipment you install, say which towns you cover, and make the phone number easy to tap. Photos from your own jobs help more than stock photos.
A homeowner with no heat at midnight and a homeowner pricing a new system are looking for different things. The repair page should make it fast to call: phone number at the top, the area you cover, and whether you offer same day or after hours service.
The replacement page can be longer. People comparing systems want to know how you size a system for the house, which brands you install, what financing you offer and what the warranty covers. If rebates or tax credits apply in your area, link to the current rules instead of quoting numbers that may change.
Google builds local results around where the searcher is, so a company can rank first near its shop and not appear at all a few towns away. We explain why in why you rank first at your shop and nowhere across town.
A page for each town you want work in helps Google connect you to that town. Each page should have real detail, such as the services you run there, the kinds of homes and systems you see, and a job or two you've finished nearby. Pages that only swap the town name tend to do little, so it's better to build ten useful pages than fifty copies.
Reviews affect the map results, and they're the first thing a homeowner reads when choosing between companies. Send a text after every service call with a direct review link. A steady flow of new reviews matters more than a large total from years ago.
Google doesn't allow rewards for reviews, and it asks businesses not to request them only from happy customers. Asking everyone the same way keeps you within the rules. Our post on how to get more Google reviews covers the wording.
You don't need to be technical to check these.
HVAC searches follow the weather. Searches for AC repair rise with the first hot days, and furnace searches rise with the first cold ones. New pages can take a few months to rank, so the work should happen ahead of the season.
Update cooling pages in late winter and heating pages in late summer. Spring and fall are good times to promote tune ups and maintenance plans, since those are the slower months for most companies.
Three numbers tell you most of what you need.
Changes to your Google listing can show up within days or weeks. New service and town pages usually take a few months to settle into their rankings, and competitive areas take longer. Google says in its own guide to hiring an SEO that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking. Our post on how long SEO takes has month by month examples from real sites.
Ads can bring calls while the SEO work builds, and they're useful in peak season. Local Services Ads charge per lead and show at the very top of the results. Standard Google Ads charge per click. Both stop producing calls when the budget stops, which is why most companies treat them as an addition to the listing and website. Our guide to Google Local Services Ads explains how they work.
Everything in this guide can be done by an owner or an office manager with a few hours a week. The listing and the review requests are the best places to start, and our HVAC marketing ideas post gives a shorter list if you're pressed for time.
If you'd rather hand it off, our HVAC SEO page explains what we do for HVAC companies and what each plan costs. A free audit will show you where you rank today, whether or not you work with us.
HVAC SEO is the work that helps a heating and cooling company show up in Google's map results and website results when nearby customers search for services like AC repair or furnace installation.
Listing changes can show within days or weeks. New service and town pages usually take a few months to rank, and competitive areas take longer.
HVAC contractor fits most companies. If you mainly want one kind of call, a narrower category such as air conditioning repair service can be a better primary choice.
They do different jobs. Ads bring calls quickly and stop when the budget stops. SEO takes longer and keeps working, so many companies use ads on top of a solid listing and website.
Most small businesses with one location pay somewhere between $500 and $2,000 a month for local SEO. SiteHike plans, which include the website, are $347, $597 and $997 a month.
Start with a free audit of your site and your Google listing. It costs nothing and you aren't signing up for anything.