SEO for contractors isn’t a one-time job. It requires ongoing work every single month. You’ll need fresh content, usually 2-4 times per month, monthly keyword monitoring, monthly or quarterly website updates, and regular Google Business Profile maintenance. Most contractors who stop SEO work see their rankings drop within 60-90 days. The good news? Once you’re […]
SEO for contractors isn’t a one-time job. It requires ongoing work every single month. You’ll need fresh content, usually 2-4 times per month, monthly keyword monitoring, monthly or quarterly website updates, and regular Google Business Profile maintenance. Most contractors who stop SEO work see their rankings drop within 60-90 days. The good news? Once you’re ranking well, maintenance takes less effort than the initial climb.
I’ve worked with businesses for about a decade, and this is the question that catches everyone off guard. You just spent $3,000-$5,000 on a new website. You paid for “SEO setup.” Shouldn’t that be… done?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your competitors are publishing content right now. They’re getting new reviews this week. They’re updating their service pages this month. If you stop, you don’t stay in place—you slide backward.
But before you panic about another monthly expense, let me break down exactly what needs to happen and why. Some of this you can handle yourself, but it will be time consuming. Some you can’t. And I’ll show you the difference between staying ahead and wasting money on busywork.
Think of SEO like maintaining your service truck. You don’t rebuild the engine every month, but you do change the oil, rotate the tires, and fix things as they wear out (hopefully not with duct tape).
Google updates its algorithm 500-600 times per year. Most are tiny. But 2-3 times a year, there’s a major update that reshuffles rankings. Your competitors are constantly improving their sites. And your potential customers are searching for new things based on trends, seasons, and what’s happening in their homes right now.
Here’s what I saw happen to a roofing contractor in Albuquerque’s North Valley. He ranked #2 for “roof replacement Albuquerque” in March 2024. By August, he’d dropped to page 2. What changed? He stopped publishing content in April. Two competitors kept going. Google assumed their sites were more current and helpful.
The work never stops, but it does change. In months 1-3, you’re building the foundation. Months 4-6, you’re climbing rankings. After month 6, you’re defending your position and expanding to new keywords. The effort shifts from offense to defense.
Not everything happens every month, but here’s what a healthy SEO routine looks like:
Every Single Month:
Every Quarter:
Every 6-12 Months:
In my first marketing position, we had a general contractor in Rio Rancho who thought he could “pause” SEO during his busy summer season. He stopped in May. By September, his estimated requests from Google had dropped 60%. It took four months to climb back to where he was.
Let me be brutally honest: you’ll lose ground fast.
Here’s the typical timeline when contractors stop doing SEO:
Weeks 1-4: Nothing dramatic happens. You’re coasting on momentum. Rankings hold steady, maybe dip slightly.
Weeks 5-8: Competitors start passing you on specific keywords. You drop from position 3 to position 5 on a few searches. Traffic dips 15-20%.
Weeks 9-12: You’re off page 1 for several keywords. Phone calls from Google slow down noticeably. Your best competitor is now getting the leads you used to get.
Month 4-6: You’re back where you started before SEO, maybe worse. New competitors have emerged. Your content looks dated. Google has moved on.
A kitchen remodeling company in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights learned this the hard way. They ranked #1 for “kitchen remodeling Albuquerque” for eight months. Then they stopped posting content and updating their site. Six months later, they were on page 3. The leads disappeared.
The recovery is painful too. It takes 2-3 months of aggressive work to get back to where you were. You basically pay twice—once to build it, once to rebuild it.
Not every contractor needs the same SEO intensity. A roofing company competing in the entire Albuquerque metro needs more firepower than a high-end custom home builder targeting 5-10 projects per year.
Here’s how to gauge what’s right for your business:
Minimal Maintenance (If you’re already ranking well):
This works if you’re consistently in the top 3 for your main keywords and you’re getting enough leads. You’re playing defense. Budget: $1,000-$1,500/month.
Growth Mode (If you’re trying to climb or expand):
This is what you need if you’re on page 2 and want page 1, or if you’re expanding to new services or areas. Budget: $2,000-$3,000/month.
Aggressive Push (If you’re in a competitive fight):
This is for contractors competing with well-funded companies or trying to dominate a valuable keyword cluster. Budget: $3,500-$5,000+/month.
I worked with a general contractor who was spending $4,500/month on SEO in a market where $2,500 would have been plenty. We scaled back to maintenance mode after he hit his goals. He’s been ranking in the top 3 for 18 months now on a $1,800/month budget.
You don’t need an agency for everything. Some SEO tasks are simple. Others will waste weeks of your time and still turn out wrong.
You can probably handle:
You probably need help with:
A remodeling contractor in Corrales tried to DIY his SEO for a year. He published 30 blog posts. Only 3 ranked. Why? He was targeting keywords that were either too competitive or had zero search volume. When we did proper research, we found 15 keywords he could actually rank for. He got more traffic from 5 strategic posts than 30 random ones.
The honest calculation: if you value your time at $100-$150/hour (what you make on job sites), you’ll spend $800-$1,200/month in time trying to DIY SEO that an expert could do better in half the time. And you’ll still miss half the technical stuff that actually moves the needle.
Q: Can I do SEO once and maintain my rankings forever? A: No. You’ll start losing rankings within 60-90 days without ongoing work. SEO requires consistent content creation, technical maintenance, and adaptation to algorithm changes. The only question is whether you do it yourself or hire someone.
Q: How long can I go without SEO updates before I lose rankings? A: Most contractors see noticeable ranking drops after 8-12 weeks of inactivity. You might hold position 1-2 for a month or two, but competitors who keep publishing will eventually pass you as Google favors fresh, updated content.
Q: Is it better to do SEO in bursts or consistently? A: Consistent monthly work beats sporadic bursts every time. Google rewards sites that publish regularly and stay current. Three posts per month for a year outperforms 12 posts in one month, then nothing for six months.
Q: What’s the minimum SEO maintenance to not lose ground? A: At minimum, publish 1-2 new pieces of content monthly, respond to all reviews, update your Google Business Profile weekly, and fix any technical issues as they arise. This costs $1,000-$1,500/month with a pro or 4-6 hours of your time monthly.
Q: Do I need to update old blog posts or just write new ones? A: Both. Write 2-3 new posts monthly, but also refresh your top 5-10 performing posts every 6-12 months with updated stats, new examples, and current pricing. Google loves updated content marked with recent publish dates.
Q: How often should I check my SEO rankings? A: Check your top 10-15 keywords monthly. Weekly checks make you paranoid over normal fluctuations. Annual checks miss problems until it’s too late. Monthly gives you time to spot trends and react before you lose serious ground.
Q: Can I pause SEO during my busy season and restart later? A: You can, but you’ll pay for it twice. Pausing for 3-4 months means losing rankings, then spending 2-3 months climbing back. Better to scale down to minimal maintenance ($1,000-$1,500/month) than stop completely.
Q: How do I know if my SEO work is actually working? A: Track three things monthly: your rankings for top keywords, organic traffic in Google Analytics, and leads/calls from organic search. If rankings climb and leads increase after 90-120 days, it’s working. If nothing changes after six months, something’s wrong.
SEO is a monthly commitment, not a one-time project. The intensity depends on your goals and competition, but the work never completely stops.
If you’re ranking well, you need maintenance mode—enough activity to defend your position without overspending. If you’re climbing, you need consistent content, technical optimization, and link building until you hit your goals.
The contractors who win at SEO treat it like equipment maintenance. You don’t skip oil changes because the truck runs fine today. You don’t pause SEO because you’re busy with jobs this month.
Want to discuss SEO for your contracting business? Book a free 20-minute consultation. No pitch, just honest answers about whether this makes sense for you and what it would realistically take to see results.
SEO for contractors is an ongoing process, not a one-time effort. Consistent, monthly work is essential to maintain search rankings. This includes publishing fresh content (typically 2-4 times per month), monitoring keywords, performing monthly or quarterly website updates, and regular maintenance of your Google Business Profile.
Be aware that if you stop your SEO work, most contractors see their rankings decline within 60 to 90 days. The positive side is that once you achieve good rankings, the required maintenance effort is significantly less than the initial work needed to climb to the top.
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