Most homeowners don’t flip through the Yellow Pages when their roof starts leaking. They pull out their phones and look up, “Roofing company near me”.
68% of all online experiences begin with a search engine, and 75% of users never scroll past the first search results page.
If your business doesn’t pop up on the first page of Google, you’re handing that $10,000+ roofing job to the guy down the street. Now, imagine if you showed up first when and where local clients searched for roofers online.
That’s the power of roofing SEO (search engine optimization).In this guide, we’ll break down what SEO for roofers really means and why it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to get quality leads in 2025.
What Is SEO for Roofers (and Why Should You Care)?
SEO, short for search engine optimization, is what helps your roofing business show up when people search on Google for things like:
- “Roof repair near me”
- “Best roofer in [your city]”
- “How much does a new roof cost?”
The better your SEO, the higher your website appears in the search results, and that has a huge impact, given that the top 3 results on Google get over 54% of all clicks.
Roofing SEO uses simple strategies like adding the right keywords to your site and making your pages easier to find so that more customers can find and contact you.
It’s one of the best ways to bring in steady, high-quality roofing clients without paying for every click as you might do with pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
How SEO Helps Roofing Companies Get More Clients
When someone types “roofing business in Chicago” into Google, the search engine scans millions of websites and ranks them based on relevance and trust.
In fact, Google uses over 200 ranking factors to decide who makes it to the top. The higher your roofing site ranks, the more people see it, and the more jobs you can book.
Here’s why SEO is a game-changer for roofers: 97% of people use search engines to find local businesses. If your website isn’t showing up on the first page of Google, you’re missing almost every potential client.
High ROI and Low Costs
Roofing companies often ask: “Why invest in SEO when I can just run ads?”
Paid ads may give you more visibility and bring in clients quicker, but they stop the moment your budget runs out.
SEO, on the other hand, keeps working. It delivers consistent, long-term results and a much higher ROI over time. Once your site ranks, traffic and leads continue coming in, without you paying for every click.
Ideally, you should invest in both SEO and paid ads as they complement each other. But if you’re focused on cost-effective, scalable growth, SEO is the long game that pays off.
Want to get more out of Facebook and Instagram, too? Don’t miss our roofing social media marketing guide!
PPC vs. SEO: What’s Better for Roofing Companies?
It’s tempting to go all-in on paid ads, especially when you want fast results, but there’s more to it. Let’s do a quick comparison between SEO and PPC to see which one matches your needs:
PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
- Great for near-immediate visibility
- Delivers fast traffic
- Stops as soon as your budget does
Struggling with paid ads? Check out our roofing PPC article to maximize your ROI.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Works 24/7, even when ads are off
- Builds long-term value and organic visibility
- Increases authority, rankings, and referral traffic
- Brings 15x more clicks than PPC on average
- Takes 6 to 12 months, but growth compounds over time
Think of SEO like planting seeds. With consistent content and optimization, your site becomes a lead-generating machine that doesn’t rely on constant spending.
The Bottom Line: SEO Gives You High-Quality Leads on Autopilot
Since 93% of online experiences start with a search engine, SEO is one of the best ways to attract high-intent leads.
If your site is optimized, when someone types “roofing business in [your city]”:
- You appear at the exact moment they need your service
- You attract qualified leads, not just casual visitors
- You make it easy for them to reach out and learn more
SEO is data-driven, keyword-targeted, and built for long-term success. You don’t need to show up everywhere — just where it counts. A strong roofing SEO strategy puts you in front of the right customers.
Ready to boost customer retention? Read our guide on roofing email marketing.
Attract More Roofing Clients Without the Stress! Our SEO strategies bring ready-to-hire customers straight to you — no cold calls, no flyers, no hassle.
How to Improve Your Roofing SEO Strategy
Roofing SEO helps your business create fast, robust, and user-friendly content that attracts qualified traffic and boosts your income. If you want to benefit from SEO, there are a few basics you need to master first.
1. Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research is the process by which you research popular search terms people use on Google and other search engines, and include them strategically in your content so that it ranks higher. This is a fundamental SEO practice.
A great keyword matches user intent and is defined by relevance, authority, and volume. When deciding which roofing keywords to use, you may want to consider the following:
- Relevance
Use keywords your ideal customers are actually searching for, like “roof repair near me” or “cost to replace a roof.” Your content should answer real questions. - Authority
The more useful and relevant your content, the more Google sees you as a trusted expert. Stick to topics you know well and that match your services. - Search Volume
High-traffic keywords are great but often competitive. Start with keywords you already rank for and build momentum from there.
It’s also important to understand the value of long-tail keywords. For instance, a search for a single word like “roof” will result in very different content than a search using a phrase or even a short sentence like “how to fix a roof.” Long-tail keywords are more specific and often less competitive, making it easier to rank higher for them.
This distinction can help you choose terms that are a closer match to what your target audience is already using.
Types of Roofing Keywords
You’ll also need to consider the different types of keywords:
- Informational
- Navigational
- Commercial
- Transactional
And how they fit into the buyer’s journey. A potential client looking for signs of roof damage is not at the same stage as a client who’s deciding to hire roofing contractors. Hence, you have to use different targeted keywords.
Google Keyword Planner and other keyword research tools like Moz Keyword Explorer and SEMrush can help you find topic ideas and keywords users are searching for, which you can use to plan your content strategy and optimize your website.
Important Roofing Keywords
Here’s an example of some popular roofing SEO keywords to keep in mind while conducting research or creating content. As you can see, a lot of people look for roofing companies ‘near me’ when they search on Google. This is an important piece of information that can affect the way your website, content, and overall SEO strategy develop.
| Keyword | Difficulty | Traffic potential |
| roofing company near me | 43 | 83000 |
| roofing company | 60 | 11000 |
| best roofing company near me | 45 | 58000 |
| local roofing company | 30 | 1000 |
| best roofing company | 31 | 2300 |
| commercial roofing company | 52 | 700 |
| roofing supply company near me | 75 | 156000 |
| american roofing company | 45 | 400 |
| commercial roofing company near me | 39 | 3300 |
| baker roofing company | 22 | 7700 |
| metal roofing company | 72 | 17000 |
| premier roofing company | 24 | 4200 |
| the roofing company | 37 | 11000 |
| residential roofing company | 61 | 700 |
AI Tip: Use AI tools like ChatGPT or Jasper to generate long-tail keyword variations based on a seed keyword like “roof replacement.” Then plug those into SEMrush or Ubersuggest to compare volume, difficulty, and user intent.
2. Focus on Local SEO for Roofing Contractors
Google’s 2016 Possum update began to leverage a user’s location to more accurately determine what businesses were both relevant to their query and in proximity.
Today, local search engine optimization utilizes local directories as well as Google Business accounts to help websites rank higher whenever a local search is performed.
Why Does Local SEO for Roofing Contractors Matter?
Firstly, 46% of all Google searches seek local information. Secondly, general SEO attracts website traffic regardless of its geographic relevance for your business. It might be great to rank internationally on Google, but if the clients aren’t local, you probably won’t close many sales.
What’s more, 44% of people who do a local search will click on the first three locations in the local 3-pack (the first three businesses listed in local search results). This means most will not look at any business beyond the top results, which highlights the importance of ranking at the top.
How Can Roofers Rank for Local SEO?
To rank for local SEO, you need to set up a free Google Business Profile (GBP) (formerly known as Google My Business). This Business Profile allows you to take charge of the way your roofing company’s website appears on Google Search and Google Maps.
Combined with positive reviews, listings in other directories, and a local SEO content strategy, a Google Business Profile can increase calls by 61%. Local roofing companies with a GBP improve their visibility and searchability. After all, if you’re serving a particular area, you want to ensure you’re doing the most to reach people living there!
AI Tip: Ask ChatGPT to create a list of location-specific content ideas like “roof repair in [your city] during winter” to help you target nearby searches. You can also use AI to draft Google Business Profile FAQs that boost engagement.
3. Implement On-Page Optimization
On-page SEO is the process of optimizing a webpage’s content for search engines. Its ultimate goal is to speak the ‘search engines’ language’ and help their crawlers understand the meaning and context of your roofing website and marketing content.
During the indexing and ranking process, search engines try to associate web pages with keywords and search terms users use. Hence, the importance of using the right keywords. Once you’ve decided on which ones to use (keyword research), you need to integrate them into your pages.
You’ll want to check your keywords’ relevancy once every three months to ensure you’re still using the best ones.
AI Tip: Use tools like Surfer SEO or PageOptimizer Pro (both AI-enhanced) to get real-time recommendations on where to place keywords, how long your content should be, and which on-page elements to fix for better rankings.
How Can You Get Updates on Your Roofing SEO Efforts?
It’s important to stay abreast of keyword trends to ensure optimal search engine performance. If you’re not working with a marketing agency that has an SEO team you can outsource to, you can use Google Trends.
This free analytics-measuring tool allows users to tailor searches for relevant terms and phrases and monitor SEO trends across any set duration of time. You can identify trending topics or subtopics within your industry, as well as trends in your local area.
4. Don’t Forget About Titles, Meta, and Images
There are certain places on your website (besides the general content) that are crucial to on-page SEO: titles, descriptions, image titles, alt text, and URLs. Optimizing these will give you the most bang for your buck.
Image Optimization for Roofers
You can include keywords in your image alt text and titles to improve overall SEO.
- Image alt text: This tells search engines what your image is about.
- Image title tag: This is shown when a user hovers their mouse over an element.
Include target keywords at the beginning and separate them with hyphens. Avoid underscores because search engines don’t recognize them and won’t be able to make out if you have individual words.
The alt text and title tag should make sense to both search engines and humans. For example, if the original name for your image is “roof235.jpg” you can rename it with a clear and descriptive title like “red-roof-chicago.”
Want a high-converting roofing website? Get inspired by the best roofing websites!
Optimize Meta Description for Roofing SEO
Another aspect to consider is meta descriptions. This HTML element provides a brief summary of a web page. It’s displayed as part of the search engine snippet in Google’s search results and is meant to give the reader an idea of the content that’s on the page.
Think of meta descriptions as advertising copy, as they encourage organic visitors to click through to your site. Writing them well is a great way of bringing more targeted traffic to your website.
AI Tip: Let AI generate optimized meta titles and descriptions tailored to specific roofing services or locations. You can also use image recognition tools like Cloudinary’s AI to auto-generate SEO-friendly alt text based on visual content.
5. Publish Quality Content That’s Unique
We can’t speak about SEO for roofing without addressing the importance of content marketing. Content is any intellectual material that your roofing business produces: educational articles, blogs, podcasts, videos, email campaigns, etc.
And speaking of video, learn how roofer video marketing can grow your business!
Quality content isn’t only about what you’re selling. It’s the material produced to inform your audience about who you are as a roofing business, the knowledge you have to share, and what products or services you offer to make your customers’ lives better.
When you publish unique content that’s valuable (with keywords), you strategically position your company in front of its target audience, so it feels more like they stumble upon you. Ideally, they should find you an excellent resource — the type of company they want to work with.
Learn how to create high-converting Facebook Ads for roofers! Click here to read more.
How to Write Roofing Content That Will Bring Clients
In a 1996 essay, Bill Gates wrote: “Content is king”, and this phrase went on to become immensely popular in marketing. Since then, it’s become more challenging than ever to create unique content, and there’s no golden formula to do so.
However, when brainstorming ideas and creating different types of content, you might want to consider:
- Making it personal
- Offering a different perspective
- Going in-depth on relevant topics
- Solving customer pain points
- Using different formats (video, infographics, interactive media)
If you’ve never done any branding exercises before, or you haven’t put much thought into it, now would be the time to focus on your roofing company’s branding, as this will inform how you execute your marketing.
AI Tip: Use AI writing assistants to brainstorm blog post angles or outline long-form articles. You can even feed in customer pain points and get unique, personalized content ideas that resonate with your target audience.
Struggling with marketing? Our roofing marketing ideas will help you stand out!
6. Technical SEO for Roofers
Technical SEO involves auditing and optimizing technical elements of a website to meet search engine requirements and rank higher. Websites with a poor structure, slow page load time, and shoddy redirects can be penalized by Google.
Without proper intervention, these issues can result in a steep drop in search rankings and organic traffic. Search engines aim to provide the best user experience possible, and technical SEO supports these endeavors.
Technical SEO is more complicated than on-page SEO, so most contractors in the roofing industry hire marketing agencies to help them with the following:
URL Structure & Internal Linking
URL and internal linking structure affect how quickly and thoroughly a search engine can index your content. The URL of each of your website’s pages should be carefully optimized to reflect the contents of that page.
As a rule of thumb, your website’s content should also be organized into a pyramid-shaped hierarchy with your home page at the top, the core page on the next level down, and a wide base of supporting content underneath.
Both robots and humans should be able to find all your content using internal links (any link from one page on your website to another page on your website). We recommend that every piece of content on your website be accessible within a maximum of three to four clicks from your home page.
Page Speed
Every marketer knows that page speed is a top ranking factor for Google. Search engines use measurements from their servers and user behavior data to assess the speed and performance of every page they index and rank.
A webpage that takes longer than 2 seconds to load undoubtedly leads to a higher bounce rate and lower conversions. On the other hand, faster page loading times correlate with more time spent on roofing websites, as well as increased conversions and revenue.
You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to find out how quickly your web pages load and identify opportunities to improve their speed.
Security
The standard technology for securing a data transfer between your website and a client’s browser is called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Secure URLs begin with “HTTPS” rather than “HTTP.” Search engines such as Google prefer to rank websites with a valid SSL certificate because it reduces the risk of data breaches for users.
To find out more, you can read Google’s HTTPS guidelines. The multinational cybersecurity company Kaspersky sums it up well:
“Websites need SSL certificates to keep user data secure, verify ownership of the website, prevent attackers from creating a fake version of the site, and convey trust to users.”
AI Tip: Run your site through AI-powered platforms like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to automatically detect technical SEO issues like broken links, duplicate content, or slow-loading pages, and get actionable fixes fast.
We can teach you how to build a digital storefront that wows your customers and ranks above the competition. Dive into building a great roofing website with our expert tips.
7. Link Building
Part of off-page SEO is the practice of building one-way hyperlinks to your website with the goal of improving search engine visibility. For Google, an important part of identifying what pages are relevant and trustworthy is understanding if other prominent websites link back to yours.
Links Are a Key Part of Roofer SEO
Backlinks are votes of confidence for your site. Because pages with more high-quality backlinks rank higher, it’s crucial to:
- Create high-quality (unique) content that is worth linking back to, and
- Use digital marketing strategies to bring in more backlinks
Link building is probably the most arduous aspect of roofing company SEO. Unlike on-page SEO, it’s often not in your control and takes a long time to build. Common link-building strategies include content marketing, email outreach, broken link-building, and online PR.
AI Tip: Use AI to scan your competitors’ backlinks and find gaps. Tools like Ahrefs or SE Ranking (with AI insights) can identify high-authority sites that link to similar roofing content so you know exactly who to pitch.
How to Choose the Right Roofing SEO Company
There’s no such thing as cheap, fast, and easy SEO that works. If an agency promises overnight results, they’re not being honest.
Want to make a more informed decision? Check out our list of the best roofing SEO companies today.
Roofing business owners who don’t know the ins and outs of SEO are easy targets for slick sales pitches that lead nowhere. Here’s how to avoid that trap and choose a partner who delivers:
Look at real results: Check their case studies. Do they have proof of performance with other roofing companies?
Read verified reviews: Testimonials from actual clients matter more than flashy sales talk.
Ask questions: A legitimate agency will walk you through their process, explain their strategy, and answer every question.
Pay attention to the team: SEO is not one-size-fits-all. On-page, off-page, and technical SEO require different skill sets. The right agency will have specialists for each.
Trust your gut: You’re entering a long-term partnership. You need a team you can trust and communicate with clearly.
At Comrade, we start with a free SEO audit to assess your current performance. During your free discovery call, we’ll determine if we’re the right fit.
There’s zero pressure to commit.
If we work together, you’ll get a custom SEO plan that’s designed to deliver serious ROI — as high as 400% to 800%+. Plus, we track every marketing dollar and provide clear, detailed reports so you know exactly where your investment is going.
Get More Roofing Clients with a Pro SEO Partner
If you’re serious about growing your roofing business, you can’t afford to ignore SEO.
It’s not just about rankings — it’s about getting more jobs from people already looking for your services. A strong SEO strategy puts your company in front of homeowners who are ready to call, book, and buy.
Comrade is an award-winning digital marketing agency, and we’ve helped over 240 businesses grow through SEO, web design, and PPC with an average ROI of 65%.
We’ll show you:
- What’s working on your site
- What’s holding you back
- How to drive more qualified leads with a custom SEO strategy
Roofing clients need you. Let’s make sure they find you.
Start with a free SEO audit and get more clients from your website 24/7.
