By: John Devlin
Names & Domains
If you don’t want to read the full article then here is the upshot:
When choosing builders or construction company name ideas, you should aim to buy a name with the words “builder” or “construction” in it.
That is if you’d like to rank in search engines and get organic traffic.
It’s certainly possible to rank without these terms in the name, but our test show names with these words included appear more often on the first page of Google.
I have always known as an online marketer than specific names do better in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.
In this article, we are going to try and prove it.
Over the years, when I used to deal with local clients, trying to explain this wasn’t very easy.
They automatically set off believing choosing the best construction company names would be their ticket to easier first page rankings.
Well, this is not entirely true but in my opinion (and many other SEO experts) choosing the right name for your firm can help with search engine optimisation.
We ran a test from a sample of 100 search results in the building and construction industry. We found 39 regional or local companies on page 1. These were the types of names we found.
Over the last decade or so I’ve spent more time working on digital marketing for construction and building companies than I have any other.
In nearly every case the builder’s name has already been chosen. In some cases, the construction company name was ideal.
In other cases, I’ve been left shaking my head and wishing I’d been around earlier.
First off for those who don’t know what search engine optimisation (SEO) is, I’ll quickly explain.
SEO is the process of optimising a website to get organic visitors from search results.
So in the simplest terms, if your construction building company sits high up on the first page of Google, you are highly likely to be getting free traffic and free leads.
Read my ultimate guide to SEO for tradespeople for more.
So we thought it would be a cool idea to analyse 200 search results and see if my hunch is correct.
For this test, we are going to look at the following types of company names for construction.
We are going to look at
These are construction company name ideas that have a firm reference to the industry but have some branding mixed in.
I want to state before running these tests; it’s harder than ever for local builders and construction businesses to rank on the first page of Google.
Companies like Yelp, Thumbtack and in the UK, Checkatrade and Yell take up a lot of these spots. So local businesses need every advantage they can get.
I want to state before running these tests; it’s harder than ever for local builders and construction businesses to rank on the first page of Google.
Companies like Yelp, Thumbtack and in the UK, Checkatrade and Yell take up a lot of these spots. So local businesses need every advantage they can get.
Search Term | Local Companies Ranking First Page | Location Used in name | Brandable Names | Partial Match Domains | Partial or Variant Used | Exact Match Domains |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Builder London | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Construction | 2 |
Builder Manchester | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Build | 1 |
Builder Glasgow | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | N/A | 1 |
Builder Birmingham | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Construction | 0 |
Builder Liverpool | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Construction | 1 |
Search Term | Local Companies Ranking First Page | Location Used in name | Brandable Names | Partial Match Domains | Partial or Variant Used | Exact Match Domains |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Construction Company New York | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | Construction x4 | 0 |
Construction Company Seattle | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | Construction x4 | 0 |
Construction Company San Diego | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | Construction x3 | 0 |
Construction Company Las Vegas | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Construction x2 Contracting | 0 |
Construction Company Fresno | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | Construction | 0 |
We are assuming here that the company name and the website name will be the same, if it’s not, it should be.
Expanding on this, they don’t just look at the business name, and say OK that’s a cool name.
Google bot is a robot for want of better description, and they look at the name to determine RELEVANCE.
They look at the company name to see if they can determine what industry it belongs too.
Yes, they look at over 200 other things too, but in Local SEO, a well-picked domain name can be the best decision you might make.
So my belief is, you should include as much relevance in the company name as you can.
And you do that by including keywords in the company name.
Look at it as a leg up, a head start.
This chart above shows a local landscaping website that is only around two months old, catapulting itself towards Google’s first page for some pretty profitable search terms.
Now, this website has had no other work, apart from a great name and great optimised content added. I have had to blank out the name and keywords because I own this site and one day it will be passed to a new owner.
Now we have established you want the main industry term in the web address, it’s now time to try to build a brand name, a business name that rolls of the tongue and sounds impressive.
Ask everyone you know, what are names for construction companies that they’ve heard of?
If you’re looking to buy the name first, you will need to check it’s available. I buy all my domains here; I think the prices are fair and their support is superb.
The point of this test was to see what kind of names and domains you should be looking at in 2021.
It does make a difference to establish relevance with search engines, and by doing this quickly and not confusing them, you stand a better chance of breaking onto page 1 and getting some free organic traffic.
If you already own a home construction service-based business, you should probably stick with the name you have.
Any slight advantage in search engines is not worth rebranding a business that might have been established for years.
Unless the website in question it’s getting zero traffic and just sitting on the internet gathering dust.
In that case, I’d personally be researching the best builder company names out there and see what works for for me.
Choosing from the list of construction firm name ideas you gather will be the first step to creating your new construction building business.
From there, you can look at business card design, web design and creating your social media accounts.
Best of luck.
Names & Domains
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