Contractor Marketing Blog
Marketing strategies, tips, and insights built specifically for contractors.
What Do AI SEO Services Cost in 2026?
Five of 18 agencies we checked publish an AI SEO price. See every published rate, the terms behind it, what software costs, and where our own engines start.
Which Trades Do AI Engines Recommend Agencies For?
We tracked 13,113 ChatGPT and Perplexity answers across 310 BaaDigi-written prompts. For roofing, HVAC, painting and plumbing the most-cited source was Reddit, not an agency.
AI Visibility Index: Oct 2026 Citation Rates
BaaDigi's monthly AI Visibility Index for October 2026: citation rates by engine, the domains AI search cites most, and what changed from the month before.
What Is AI SEO and Does Your Company Need It?
AI SEO means getting your company cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Here is what it is, what it is not, and who should pay for it.
How Much Does Angi Charge Contractors Per Lead?
Angi does not publish a price per lead. Here is every dollar figure on record, who reported it, how billing works, and what to ask before you sign a contract.
HVAC Marketing Ideas That Fill the Schedule
HVAC marketing ideas ranked by what a lead costs and where calls come from, using SearchLight and our own client data. Start with the cheapest calls.
How Do You Track Your AI Search Visibility Over Time?
A one-time AI visibility check tells you where you stand today. It says nothing about whether you're winning or losing. Here is how I set up ongoing AI search visibility tracking for local businesses, what to measure, and how often to check.
Best CRM for Contractors (2026)
Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan solve the same problem at three very different scales and prices. Picking the wrong tier is the expensive mistake.
Bark vs Thumbtack for Contractors
Both sell shared leads. Bark hides the cost in credits, Thumbtack charges per contact. The credit system is the thing to understand before you buy.
Gutter and Septic Company Marketing
Two trades that share one rare advantage: the work is genuinely recurring, and almost nobody markets the recurrence.
Locksmith Lead Generation
Locksmith search is uniquely hostile - lockout queries are dominated by lead brokers and scam listings. Winning it is mostly a verification and trust problem.
Appliance Repair Marketing
Appliance repair is same-day, low-ticket and brand-specific. Whoever answers the phone wins, and almost nothing else in the funnel matters as much.
We Audited 10 Orange County Roofing Websites. What Broke?
Ten real roofing company websites in Orange County, two passes of our AI audit prompt, no guessing. Here is what failed most often, how bad it was, and what to fix first if your site looks like these.
What Does a Local SEO Audit Actually Check?
A website audit misses half the picture. Pass three of our AI audit prompt leaves your site and checks the map pack, your listings, your reviews, and whether ChatGPT names you. Here is what it finds.
SEO for Contractors: Why Don't Your Service Pages Rank?
Most contractor service pages fail for the same three reasons. Pass two of our AI audit prompt reads every page on your site and finds them. Here is what it checks and what we see on real sites.
Local Services Ads vs SEO for Contractors
LSAs cost about $121 per booked job and never get cheaper. SEO costs more for six months and less forever after. The break-even math is straightforward.
What Should an SEO Audit Checklist Check First?
Before titles, content, or links, six foundation checks decide whether Google can reach and trust your site. Here is pass one of our AI audit prompt, and what each check finds on real contractor sites.
Garage Door Company Marketing
Garage door work splits into emergency repair and planned replacement. They are different businesses with different buyers, and marketing them the same way wastes most of the budget.
How Do You Audit Your Own Website With AI?
Three prompts, one hour, an honest scorecard. We published the audit prompt we built for contractor websites and explain how to run it, how it keeps the AI from making things up, and where it came from.
Nextdoor vs Facebook for Local Services
Facebook has vastly more reach. Nextdoor has vastly better fit. For home services the cheaper click is not always on the platform you would guess.
How Pressure Washing Businesses Get Customers
Pressure washing is a visual, seasonal, low-ticket, high-frequency business. That combination changes which channels work and which waste money.
Is Nextdoor Worth It for Local Service Businesses?
77% of Nextdoor users are homeowners and clicks run $2.50-$3.50 against $8-$15 on Google. For home services it is one of the better-fitting paid channels available.
Yelp vs Google Business Profile
One of these is free, works in every market, and feeds the map pack. The other costs money and only matters in a handful of cities. This is not a close comparison.
Are Yelp Ads Worth It for Contractors?
Yelp advertising is a geography question more than a marketing one. In four metros it still works. In most of the country it does not.
Contractor Lead Costs by Platform (2026)
Every major contractor lead platform, its billing model, and its reported cost in one table - with the close rates that turn a cheap lead into an expensive customer.
Best AI Receptionists for Contractors (2026)
Standalone AI receptionists start around $29-$79 a month. If answering the phone is your only problem, do not buy a marketing package to solve it.
Does ChatGPT SEO Exist? What Gets a Contractor Named
ChatGPT SEO is real but it is not Google SEO with a new name. Our tracker shows ChatGPT cites a different set of sources from Perplexity and AI Overviews. Here is what that means for a contractor site.
LLM SEO? What Will They Think of Next?
LLM SEO is the work that gets your page quoted inside an AI answer instead of listed under it. Here is what it changes for a contractor site, what it does not, and what our own 1,429-answer tracker showed.
We Ran 1,429 AI Searches. The Engines Disagree.
Across 1,429 tracked AI answers, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews cited almost entirely different sources. Optimising for "AI search" as one thing is a mistake.
Google Local Services Ads vs Angi: Which Fits?
Compare Google Local Services Ads with the specific Angi product you would buy. Check eligibility, credit rules, spending exposure and customer outcomes.
Are Local Services Ads Worth It?
Evaluate Google Local Services Ads using real charges, credits, and completed work. Covers verification, missed calls, billing, and BaaDigi management pricing.
Houzz vs Angi: Which Fits Remodelers?
Houzz or Angi? Compare software and lead products separately. For remodelers choosing spending. Terms and customer outcomes determine value.
Is Houzz Pro Worth It for Contractors?
Is Houzz Pro worth it? Test software value separately from ads. For contractors choosing business tools. Pro is $249/month after its trial.
AEO vs SEO: Is AEO Replacing SEO for Contractors?
AEO is commonly used to describe work intended to make information useful in answer-based discovery, while SEO addresses visibility in search. For contractors, the practical work overlaps: accurate service information, useful pages and a dependable customer path. Add AI-specific observation where it informs decisions, but do not buy a claim that ordinary SEO has become irrelevant.
Which Roofing Lead Generation Companies Fit You?
Which roofing lead company fits? Compare products and terms. For roofers buying leads or marketing. No provider guarantees profitable sales.
Is ChatGPT Recommending Contractors Like You?
Run a repeatable ChatGPT visibility check for your contracting business. Separate mentions from citations, find incorrect business details, and fix documented access issues.
What Does Thumbtack Cost Per Lead?
What does Thumbtack cost per lead? Check the current offer. For contractors comparing inquiries. No universal per-trade rate is verified.
Is Thumbtack Worth It for Contractors?
Decide whether Thumbtack pays for itself using your actual lead charges, sales outcomes, and margins. Includes a test plan and keep, adjust, or stop checklist.
What Does HomeAdvisor Cost Per Lead?
What does HomeAdvisor cost per lead? Verify your account rate. For contractors comparing lead spending. Product and agreement terms vary.
HomeAdvisor Alternatives: Which One Fits Your Business?
Compare HomeAdvisor alternatives by the problem you need to solve: unsuitable leads, billing, intake or dependence on a single platform. Includes a switch checklist.
Is Angi Worth It for Contractors?
Is Angi worth it? Compare real customer costs. For contractors evaluating paid leads. Results depend on your account and follow-up.
How Can You Increase Restaurant Sales?
Diagnose restaurant sales using visits, average spend and service capacity, then test improvements against real costs and dining outcomes.
How Do You Show Up in AI Search?
Improve the information customers and search assistants can verify: services, pricing, public records, accessible pages and a repeatable measurement process.
Is Restaurant Email Marketing Worth It?
Build useful restaurant email around clear signup expectations, accurate offers, working booking links and measurable dining outcomes.
What Does Zero-Click Search Mean?
Zero-click search describes a search interaction that does not produce a click to a website under the measurement definition being used. A person may find an answer, change the query or take another action. For your business, fewer recorded clicks do not automatically prove lost demand, successful AI visibility or a need to rewrite every page.
What Should Restaurant Local SEO Fix First?
A restaurant local-search checklist for truthful profiles, readable menus, booking links, reviews, structured data and measurable outcomes.
What Did Our 97-Record AI Website Audit Show?
The original August 2026 audit snapshot has been recovered. Review the verified counts, separate denominators, missing-data limits, and what the study cannot prove.
What Should Restaurant Marketing Fix First?
Fix accurate menus, hours and booking paths before adding restaurant campaigns. Assign update ownership and separate visibility from seated guests.
How Do You Get Cited by AI?
Improve the evidence behind AI answers without inventing a ranking formula. Separate mentions from citations, fix observable gaps, and understand what our historical snapshot can show.
How Does Construction SEO Attract Leads?
Build a construction SEO plan around service scope, useful local evidence, project pages, technical access, and qualified inquiries. Avoid duplicate city pages and timing promises.