Why Your HVAC Company Doesn't Show Up on Google (And How to Fix It)

You run a quality HVAC business. Good technicians. Fair prices. Happy customers. But when someone searches "HVAC company [your city]" or "emergency heating repair near me," you're nowhere. Page two. Page three. Sometimes not ranking at all.

Meanwhile, competitors you know aren't better than you show up first. They get the calls. Book the jobs. Make the money. You sit there wondering why Google hates you.

Google doesn't hate you. Your website just has problems. Seven common problems that kill HVAC company rankings. Here's each problem and exactly how to fix it.

Problem 1: Your Website Is Too Slow

Google measures how fast websites load. Slow websites rank lower. Simple as that. Most HVAC websites load in 6-8 seconds. That's terrible. Google wants under 3 seconds.

Why HVAC websites are slow:

• Massive uncompressed photos of jobs and team
• Built on old WordPress themes from 2015
• Cheap web hosting that can't handle traffic
• No caching or optimization

Test your website speed at PageSpeed Insights (Google's free tool). Score under 50? That's killing your rankings. Score under 30? Google basically ignores you.

How to fix it: Compress all images. Use modern image formats like WebP. Enable caching. Upgrade hosting if needed. Consider rebuilding on modern platform. Manchester HVAC company rebuilt their website. Load time dropped from 7 seconds to 1.8 seconds. Rankings improved within 3 weeks.

Problem 2: Your Website Isn't Mobile-Friendly

72% of HVAC searches happen on mobile phones. Someone's heating breaks. They grab their phone. Search "emergency heating repair." Try loading your website on their phone.

Common mobile problems:

• Text too small to read without zooming
• Buttons too small to tap accurately
• Website wider than phone screen, requires sideways scrolling
• Phone number not clickable for instant calling
• Forms impossible to fill out on mobile

Google checks if websites work on mobile. Mobile-broken websites rank lower. Since 2019, Google uses mobile version of your site for ranking decisions. If your mobile site is rubbish, your rankings are rubbish.

How to fix it: Test your website on actual phone. Try booking a service through your site using only your phone. Painful? That's why you don't rank. Rebuild with responsive design. Make phone number massive and clickable. Simplify forms for mobile. Bristol HVAC company redesigned for mobile-first. Mobile traffic increased 180%. Rankings jumped for all local searches.

Problem 3: You Don't Have Service-Specific Pages

Most HVAC websites have one "Services" page. Lists everything you do. Heating. Cooling. Installation. Repair. Maintenance. All crammed together.

Google can't rank generic pages. Someone searches "boiler installation Leeds." Google looks for pages specifically about boiler installation in Leeds. Your generic services page mentions boiler installation in one sentence. Competitors have entire page dedicated to Leeds boiler installation. Who do you think ranks?

The winning formula:

• One page per service: Boiler installation
• One page per service: Emergency heating repair
• One page per service: AC maintenance
• One page per service: Furnace replacement

Each page targets specific search. Answers every question about that service. Pricing. Process. Timeline. What's included. Why choose you for this specific service.

How to fix it: Create dedicated page for each major service. Include your city name naturally throughout. Answer every question someone might search. Liverpool HVAC company created 12 service-specific pages. Went from ranking for 3 keywords to 34 keywords in 5 months.

Problem 4: Your Google Business Profile Is Incomplete

When someone searches "HVAC near me," Google shows three local businesses before anything else. Called the Local Pack. Those three companies get 60% of all clicks.

Not showing in Local Pack? Check your Google Business Profile. Most HVAC companies have terrible profiles:

• No photos or only 2-3 old photos
• Wrong business category selected
• Business hours incorrect or missing
• Service area not defined properly
• No description of services
• No posts about current work or offers

Google ranks complete profiles higher. Profile with 30 photos beats profile with 3 photos. Profile updated weekly beats profile abandoned in 2019.

How to fix it: Claim your Google Business Profile if you haven't. Add minimum 20 photos showing team, vans, completed work, and office. Select correct categories: HVAC contractor as primary. Update business hours. Define service area covering all cities you serve. Post weekly updates about services, emergency availability, seasonal offers. Birmingham HVAC company did complete profile overhaul. Started appearing in Local Pack within 6 weeks. Calls increased 140%.

Problem 5: You Have No Customer Reviews

Google uses reviews as ranking signal. More reviews (and higher ratings) mean better rankings. It's that simple.

Average HVAC company has 8 Google reviews. Companies ranking first have 40-80 reviews. Someone with 3 reviews cannot compete with someone who has 65.

Reviews also affect click-through. Search results show star rating. Would you call the company with 4.8 stars (62 reviews) or 4.2 stars (5 reviews)? Everyone picks the company with more reviews.

How to fix it: Ask every happy customer for Google review. Text them review link after job completion. Offer small discount on next service for leaving review. Target 50+ reviews minimum. Sheffield HVAC company implemented review request system. Went from 6 reviews to 48 reviews in 7 months. Rankings improved for every local search they cared about.

Problem 6: Nobody Links to Your Website

Google treats links like votes. When another website links to yours, that's a vote saying "this HVAC company is trustworthy." More quality links mean higher rankings.

Most HVAC websites have zero links from other sites. Maybe one link from the directory where their website builder listed them. That's not enough to rank competitively.

Competitors ranking above you have 15-30 links from:

• Local business directories
• Trade association websites
• Local news sites featuring their work
• Property management companies they partner with
• Supplier websites

How to fix it: Get listed in quality local directories. Join trade associations that link to members. Reach out to property management companies about partnership opportunities. Do noteworthy work that local news covers. Get manufacturer certifications that earn links. Cardiff HVAC company built 18 quality local links over 6 months. Jumped from page 3 to page 1 for main keywords.

Problem 7: Your Content Is Too Thin

Google wants helpful, detailed content. Most HVAC websites have 100-200 words per page. Just barely describes the service. No detail. No helpful information. No questions answered.

Competitors outrank you with 800-1,200 words per page. They explain everything:

• What the service includes step-by-step
• Common problems this service fixes
• What makes their approach different
• Typical pricing and what affects cost
• How long the service takes
• Certifications and guarantees
• Why act now versus waiting

Google rewards pages that thoroughly answer search intent. Thin content gets ignored.

How to fix it: Expand every service page to 600+ words minimum. Answer every question someone might have about that service. Include before/after examples. Explain your process clearly. Newcastle HVAC company rewrote all service pages with comprehensive content. Average page went from 150 words to 750 words. Rankings improved across the board. Organic traffic increased 165%.

How Long Until You See Results?

Fix one problem, you might see small improvement in 2-3 weeks. Fix all seven problems, expect noticeable results within 6-8 weeks. Significant results come month 3-4.

Google needs time to recrawl your website. Notice changes. Recalculate rankings. Nothing happens overnight. But once improvements kick in, they compound. Better rankings bring more traffic. More traffic brings more reviews. More reviews bring better rankings. Positive cycle.

Edinburgh HVAC company fixed all seven problems over 3 months:

• Week 1-2: Rebuilt website for speed and mobile
• Week 3-6: Created service-specific pages with detailed content
• Week 7-8: Optimized Google Business Profile, added 25 photos
• Week 9-12: Started review collection campaign, built local links

Results at 6 months: Ranking page one for 22 local HVAC searches. Organic traffic up 215%. Phone calls from Google up 180%. Zero ad spend required.

Should You DIY or Hire Help?

You can fix these problems yourself. Rebuilding website takes technical knowledge but tutorials exist. Creating content takes time but you know your services. Building links requires outreach but you can do it.

Time required: 10-15 hours weekly for 3-4 months. Then 3-5 hours weekly ongoing. Most HVAC business owners don't have that time. They're running service calls. Managing technicians. Handling customers. Ordering parts.

Professional HVAC SEO costs £1,000-£2,000 monthly. Seems expensive until you realize ranking first brings 15-20 extra calls monthly. Average job value £400. That's £6,000-£8,000 extra revenue monthly. SEO pays for itself many times over.

What If You've Already Tried SEO?

Many HVAC companies tried SEO before. Paid someone. Saw no results. Decided SEO doesn't work. Went back to expensive ads.

Usually the problem was incomplete work. Maybe they fixed website speed but ignored Google Business Profile. Or created some content but didn't build links. Or optimized profile but website still terrible.

All seven problems must be fixed. Do six and miss one, rankings stay poor. Like having great engine but flat tire. Car still doesn't run properly.

Plus, whoever you hired might have done poor quality work. Created thin content. Built spammy links. Made mobile site that barely works. Quality matters enormously in SEO.

Start With the Biggest Problem

Can't fix everything immediately? Start with biggest problem first.

Website loads slowly? Fix speed first. That affects everything else. Fast website helps all other optimizations work better.

Website fast but no service pages? Create those next. Get dedicated pages for your main services targeting specific searches.

Good pages but not in Local Pack? Optimize Google Business Profile. Get more reviews. That's quickest way to appear in top three local results.

In Local Pack but page two for searches? Build quality local links. That's what pushes you from page two to page one.

Fix one major problem monthly. In six months, you've solved everything. Rankings improve progressively. Each fix compounds the previous fixes.

The Bottom Line

Your HVAC company doesn't show on Google because your website has fixable problems. Seven common problems. None are mysterious. None require magic. Just systematic fixes applied properly.

Competitors ranking above you aren't necessarily better HVAC technicians. They just fixed these problems first. They invested in being found. You can do the same.

Start today. Test your website speed. Check mobile friendliness. Review your Google Business Profile. Look at competitors' websites. See what they're doing that you're not.

Then fix problems one by one. Or hire someone to fix them properly. Either way, stop being invisible while competitors get all the calls.