Learn how the BBB can help your SEO.

Ive looked at many websites for home service company, and while some look great that have great photos and navigations that are even mobile responsive, some look like they were built 20 years ago and never updated once. These companies often proudly feature various accreditations that companies either earn or pay for – and one of the most common is the Better Business Bureau, or the BBB.
Companies seek accreditation from the BBB to learn more sales through better PR because customers have an extra layer of protection. Companies seek accreditation from the BBB to build trust with potential customers. Straight from the BBB’s homepage:

“BBB helps people find and recommend businesses, brands and charities they can trust”

I could go on about this topic arguing for and against deciding to get a BBB accreditation, but I’ll focus on this question instead, does a BBB accreditation improve your SEO? And the answer is, somewhat.

Google looks at two variables when ranking websites – relevance and authority. It’s not hard for Google to determine the relevancy by crawling your website’s content, but how could they know if you are an authority? Simply put, links.

This means, from just an SEO perspective, the BBB can help improve your ranking simply because it’s a good link. The more good links that lead back to your site, the better you will be ranked.

Getting an accreditation from the BBB is also a good NAP citation. NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone Number and is critical for businesses wishing to rank well in the local organic search
results. Search Engines like Bing or Google take date into account when determining which companies to show for geo-targeted searches.

Even with the potential backlink and boost for the local geographical SEO it would bring you, it’s a very marginal one and might not even be considered noticable.

However there are more benefits.

Your website can rank well for a brand-name search, which can would establish additional trust at a glance, provided you have great SEO.

There are also arguments about whether the BBB is trying to build trust, or just looking to make a quick buck. To be accredited it requires an approval process and a couple hundred bucks a year.
So is that really worth it in your mind? I’d say it depends on your business and what stage youre at in your growth.

Unfortunately, many home service providers rank pretty low. Many HVAC, plumbing, repairmen, ect, will take the auto mechanic’s mantra and replace your headlight fluid. That’s where the BBB is going to have its largest impact on your business: a good avenue for satisfied customers to spread the word of mouth of your good service. If you consider your business the way that a potential customer might, a good score and backlink from the BBB might just convert a few more leads into sales, which also converts that couple hundred bucks on a BBB accreditation into good Return on Investment

Conclusion we’ve made? For a home service type company, a link from the BBB to your website will provide a minimal bump in SEO, but could work wonders for building trust, so it can be worth the pay. It probably won’t make or break your business(after all, there’s other free review websites out there), but this is definitely a positive influence on your brand and PR.

If you have read this blog post and think you could use some help with your site and overall web branding and social media, reach out to us. It’s our goal to be the best SEO and Social Media marketing company on the planet. We do this by offering these SEO services to our customers:

A dedicated Account Manager, someone that understands business and SEO, to be your guide
Detailed monthly reports (you can actually understand) that connect SEO performance to your bottom line
A support team that includes an analyst, web designer/developer, and a dedicated professional copywriter
Access to our proprietary analytics software (better data drives better results)