This 15-minute task can push you back on top! There's a setting on your Google Business Profile that most contractors get wrong... It's your PRIMARY category. It's surprising, but we see this mistake really commonly. For whatever reason, a lot of you guys pick the wrong main category, and don't list ANY sub-categories! Google makes you pick one main category for your business that tells their algorithm what you actually do... the main category, not "what else I can do". If you pick the wrong one, Google won't show you when people search for your services... and they guy down the street is taking your jobs because of it. Here's what this looks like : You're a carpenter, but you (or your nephew who "knows SEO") picked "handyman" as your primary category because you also do general repair work and you thought it would be more broad. When someone searches "carpenter near me" Google thinks you're a handyman and shows other carpenters instead. Or you're a landscaper, but you picked "landscape designer" because your work looks nice and it sounds fancier. When someone searches "landscaping near me," Google prioritizes businesses with "landscaper" as their category and shoves you down on page 3. Another one bites the dust! Most businesses pick a category that sounds right without checking what actually ranks. Would you cut a board without measuring? Here's how to fix it. Search your MAIN keyword on Google. It's probably: "something" NEAR ME. -Look at the top 10 businesses in the Map Pack. -Click on each one and check what primary category they're using. -If nine out of 10 have "carpenter" and you have "handyman", you're at a massive disadvantage. -Change your primary category to match what the top competitors use -Add your secondary services as additional categories. (this is important too!) So if you're a carpenter who also does handyman work, your primary should be "carpenter" and your secondary can be "handyman" or "drywall." This one change can move you from PAGE 3 to the TOP 3 in some areas, because Google finally understands what you actually do... damn your nephew!

What I've been working on during my vacay! Would this help any of you out?

His pricing is higher, his team shows up late, and his customers complain more than yours ever do. But he's getting 40 calls a month while you're paying Angi's for shared leads and crossing your fingers. WHAT is happening? WHY? There are TWO MAIN WAYS to get appointments. (of course, broken down into various different strategies) ONE is to pay for them -- buying leads, running ads and similar. The SECOND is generate them using organic (free) strategies. Both work. We can help with either. The trick is to use paid ones while you're building your organic, and eventually moving over to free/organic. Hell, keep reading, and I'll even show you how to get my step-by step workflow if you want to do it on your own. And I'll STILL help by answering questions... at no charge. Because in the long run, I WANT to help! So why is my knucklehead competitor cleaning up? Organis first... The difference is he shows up first on Google, is in the top 3-pak AND showing up in the AI search... he's in all 3... and you aint'. When someone searches "gutter cleaning near me" or "emergency plumber Dallas", they see him at the top of the Map Pack with 500+ reviews and professional photos. They then see him again in the AI search results, and in the SEO column. Doh. He looks like the obvious choice… While you may be on page 3. Invisible. So that customer calls him, books the job, pays him, and never knew you existed. This happens every single day to anyone not on page one, right down your street, multiple times per day. Every search you DON'T show up for is revenue going directly into your competitor's pocket. Month 1, he has 30 more reviews than you. Month 6, he has 120 more reviews. Month 12, he's completely cemented as the market leader while you're still grinding on Angi's leads competing with other contractors on price. The good news is this gap closes faster than you think. Once you start ranking, Google rewards momentum. Your first 50 reviews unlock the next 100. Your first Map Pack ranking drives more traffic, which drives more reviews, which drives better rankings.

Is there another (plumber, gutter guy, pest control company etc.) who always seems to be juuust ahead of you in the rankings? There could be 2 different holes in your SEO bucket... the Google Business Profile side, which impacts how you show up in the 3-pak, as well as AI search to a degree, and the leaky hole that keeps you out of the "regular" SEO rankings. The strategy below is for the latter, the SEO side... and... if you want me to do this for you at no cost, as well as print up a free Google Business Profile analysis, to see what you can do better to rank in the 3-pak too, JUST ASK! So! Here's a quick way to steal your competitors' SEO strategy outside of that, and a great way to find out what your competitors are doing that you're not, to show you how to fill in the gaps. Here the strategy: 1. Find your sitemap & your competitors site map. Go to your home page and add /sitemap.xml - that will show you a page with a bunch of links on it. 2. Take the url to your sitemap & your competitors sitemap. 3. Use this prompt: You are a senior SEO strategist. I'm going to give you two sitemaps: mine and a competitor's. Read both in full. MY SITE: [your sitemap URL] COMPETITOR: [their sitemap URL] MY BUSINESS: [what you do, city/service area] Do this: 1. Convert every URL in both sitemaps into a plain-English topic. Ignore junk: tag pages, author pages, pagination, /cart/, /privacy-policy/, media attachments. 2. Sort each site's pages into two buckets: - MONEY PAGES: services, service + city combos, industries served, product or pricing pages. Anything someone lands on ready to buy. - CONTENT PAGES: blog posts, guides, FAQs, comparisons. Anything someone lands on while researching. 3. Find the gaps: topics they cover that I don't. Then find the CLUSTERS — places where they have 4+ pages on one theme. A cluster is a bigger signal than a single missing page, because it means they're deliberately going after that topic. 4. Rank the gaps by revenue potential, not search volume. A page that's one step from a phone call beats a page that gets traffic and nothing else. 5. Also tell me my REVERSE gaps: what do I cover that they don't? That's my existing advantage and I want to defend it. Output two tables. MONEY PAGE GAPS: Missing Topic | Suggested URL Slug | Suggested Page Title | Why This Converts | Priority (1-5) CONTENT GAPS: Missing Topic | Cluster It Belongs To | Suggested Title | What Stage Of The Buying Process This Catches | Priority (1-5) Then finish with: the single biggest strategic difference between how these two sites are built, in 3 sentences.

This is a blatant self-promo, which I RARELY do here... but seriously... been doing this since 2012... I can really help. Right now in your market, a few contractors are locking up the top 3 spots on Google. Day in and day out. ARGH, if it's not you. Every month they rank at the top, they get more calls. More calls = more reviews. More reviews = higher rankings. Higher rankings = even more calls next month. The gap gets wider every single day. While you're on page 2/3 getting scraps, they're stacking 30 reviews per month and building authority you can't catch. The contractors who dominate local search in 2026 will be the same ones who started in 2024 and 2025 (or earlier). The window is still open... But it's closing. Once your competitors lock up the top spots, catching them becomes really hard... and now with AI search... we aim to get you seen in THREE places. The 3-pak, the regular listing, and the AI Search area. BOOM! Most contractors wait until they're desperate before they think about SEO... by then it's too late. If you want to claim your spot before competitors take it permanently... message me. I'll run a free report to see where you're at, and we'll go up from there.