Project pages that Google can read and the next client can judge

One finished home, one page, with words beside the photos: where it stands, what the client asked for, what was difficult and who to call.

A builder's project page should cover one finished home and say, in words, where it is, what type and size of home it is, what the client asked for, what was difficult, how long the permit took if you hold the record, and who to call. Every photo needs a written description and a plain file name, because Google states that it "extracts information about the subject matter of the image from the content of the page".

Why does a gallery of photos with no words give Google and a buyer nothing to read?

A builder's best evidence is the photographs of finished homes. But what does a photograph say by itself? A picture of a kitchen cannot tell a stranger which city it is in, how large the home is, or what the client wanted. Google says openly that it uses the words around a picture. Its image guidance, updated on March 2, 2026, states: "Google extracts information about the subject matter of the image from the content of the page, including captions and image titles. Wherever possible, make sure images are placed near relevant text and on pages that are relevant to the image subject matter."

The SEO Starter Guide, Google's introduction to search engine optimization (the work of helping a website appear in search results, usually shortened to SEO), repeats the point: "The text that's near images can help Google better understand what the image is about and what it means in context to your page." A gallery page with forty photographs and no sentences gives Google forty pictures and no explanation of any of them.

The buyer is in the same position. When we read 80 small builder websites in Arizona and Florida on September 29, 2026, at least 3 had five pages or fewer, and one linked 4 pages in total: home, about, portfolio, contact. On the four-page site, every finished home shares the one portfolio page, and the client who is planning a casita has to guess which photos show one.

What does the next client want to learn from a finished home?

In the National Association of REALTORS survey of people who bought a home between July 2023 and June 2024, 42 percent of those who bought a new home said they wanted to avoid renovations and problems with plumbing or electricity. For these buyers, a new home is a way to avoid trouble. A project page answers that wish when it tells what was difficult on a real job and how the builder dealt with it.

The same survey found that 17 percent of buyers used a home builder as a source of information during their search, against 86 percent who used a real estate agent. Your website is where a builder's information can be read before the first call, and the story of a finished project, told with its facts, is information that only the builder can give.

What should one project page contain?

One page describes one finished home. Eight parts make it complete, and each is a fact you already hold in the job file.

The part about the permit needs a short explanation. Phoenix, for example, publishes a goal of 30 calendar days for the first review of custom home plans, and its report for July 2026 shows an average of 30 days for the month before. A city's goal tells the client what the city aims for. The dates from your own permit tell them what happened on one real job in that city.

• The place: the city and the neighborhood. Give the street address only with the owner's written consent.
• The type of home: a custom home on the client's lot, a casita behind an existing house, a rebuild, a duplex.
• The size: square feet, bedrooms and bathrooms, and the size of the lot where it affected the design.
• What the client asked for, in one or two sentences.
• What was hard: a narrow lot, a setback, a utility connection, a change the client made during construction, and what you did about it.
• How long the permit took, if you hold the record: the day you applied and the day it was issued.
• Photos, each with a written description and a plain file name.
• Who to call: a named person, a phone number and an email address.

Why one page per project instead of one gallery for everything?

A page can answer one question well. A person who searches for a casita builder in Tucson wants to see a casita in Tucson, and a page about one 650-square-foot casita there answers them in its title, its first sentence and its photos. A gallery that mixes custom homes, remodels and casitas from five cities has one title for all of them.

Google's SEO Starter Guide describes a good title as "unique to the page, clear and concise", one that "accurately describes the contents of the page". A project page can meet that description: "Casita in Tucson, 650 square feet, finished in 2026". A page titled "Portfolio" names a collection and describes none of the homes in it.

There is a practical gain as well. Each new project adds a page without disturbing the others, so the site grows as your work grows, and a client can send one web address to a spouse and know exactly which home they will see.

How should a builder name and describe each photo?

Two habits cover this, and both come from Google's image guidance. The first is the file name. Google says the name of the file gives it clues about the subject of the picture, and it asks for names that are "short, but descriptive": "my-new-black-kitten.jpg is better than IMG00023.JPG". For a builder, "tucson-casita-kitchen.jpg" does the same job. The names to avoid, in Google's words, are "generic filenames like image1.jpg, pic.gif, 1.jpg".

The second is the short written description attached to each picture, which Google calls alt text: "text that describes an image", which "also improves accessibility for people who can't see images on web pages", for example people who use a program that reads the screen aloud. Google states that it "uses alt text along with computer vision algorithms and the contents of the page to understand the subject matter of the image" (computer vision algorithms are programs that recognize what a picture shows). In its own examples, Google labels the description "puppy" as "Better" and "Dalmatian puppy playing fetch" as "Best". A builder's equivalent of the first is "kitchen". The equivalent of the second is "Kitchen of a 650-square-foot casita in Tucson, with the patio door open".

One warning comes with this. Google tells site owners to avoid filling the description with repeated search words, a practice that "results in a negative user experience and may cause your site to be seen as spam". Describe what the photo shows, once, in a sentence a person would say.

Which parts of a project page serve the buyer, and which serve Google?

The pleasant surprise is that the two readers want the same things. The table sets each part of a project page beside the reason a buyer wants it and the reason Google does.

How should a project page link to the city page and the service page?

A project page answers three questions at once: what type of home, in which city, built by whom. The first two each have a fuller page elsewhere on your site: the page about that type of home (custom homes, casitas, duplexes) and the page about building in that city. Link the project to both, and link both back to the project, so that a client reading Tucson's casita rules on the city page is one click from a casita you finished in Tucson.

The words of the link matter. Google's Starter Guide explains that link text "is the text part of a link that you can see" and that it "tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to". So write the link as "casitas we have built in Tucson" in place of "click here" or "see more".

Which client words and reviews may a builder publish?

Only real ones, and only with permission. A client's name, their words and photographs of the inside of their home are theirs, so ask in writing before any of them appear on a project page, and offer the choice of a first name or initials. If a client prefers to stay unnamed, the facts of the project are still enough for the page.

The rules on reviews are plain. Google's help page for businesses states: "Reviews and other user contributions to Google Maps must reflect a genuine experience." It adds that offering incentives, "like free or discounted goods or services", in exchange for posting, changing or removing reviews "is considered fake & misleading content and is strictly prohibited". In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission announced a final rule on August 14, 2024. It covers reviews and testimonials that misrepresent that they come from someone "who did not have actual experience with the business or its products or services", and it prohibits businesses from creating or selling them.

So the practice is simple: quote the client's own sentence beside the project it describes, and ask for the Google review separately, with no reward attached.

How does Licheo build project pages from a builder's photos and notes?

The material already exists: photos on a phone and facts in a job file. Turning them into pages is part of Licheo's one service, which has three parts and one flat monthly fee, month to month, with no contract.

We build the website: each finished home becomes its own page, written from your photos and your notes, with a description for every picture. We make it rank, which means the pages can be found on Google and cited inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. We make it convert, so each page tells a visitor what you do, why to trust you and what to do next, with a working way to reach you on the page.

To see where your site stands before any of this, run the free Get Found Check. It reads your homepage, your domain settings and your security certificate, and returns a letter grade from A to F in under 60 seconds. It reads one page, so the grade is a place to start.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of Home builder marketing. The other parts:

• The builder's website
• AI assistants and builders
• City and community pages
• ADUs and middle housing
• For small developers
• What to measure

Questions people ask

What should a home builder write on a project page?

A home builder should write on a project page the facts of one finished home: the city and neighborhood, the type and size of home, what the client asked for, what was difficult, how long the permit took if the record exists, and who to call. Each photo needs a written description. Google states that it "extracts information about the subject matter of the image from the content of the page", so the words help Google understand the photos.

Is a photo gallery enough for a builder's portfolio?

A photo gallery with no words is a poor portfolio for a builder, because both Google and a buyer use text to understand a picture. Google's SEO Starter Guide says: "The text that's near images can help Google better understand what the image is about and what it means in context to your page." Give each finished home its own page with the place, the size, the client's request and a description of every photo.

What file name should a builder give a project photo?

A builder should give each project photo a short file name that describes what it shows, such as tucson-casita-kitchen.jpg. Google's image guidance asks for file names that are "short, but descriptive" and gives its own example: "my-new-black-kitten.jpg is better than IMG00023.JPG". It also says to avoid generic names such as image1.jpg. Rename the photos before they go on the website, because a camera's numbering describes nothing in the picture.

What is alt text on a builder's project photo?

Alt text on a project photo is a short written description of the picture, stored with the image on the page. Google describes it as "text that describes an image", says it helps people who cannot see images, and says it uses alt text with the contents of the page to understand the subject of the image. For a builder, "Kitchen of a 650-square-foot casita in Tucson" is a useful description and "kitchen" is a poor one.

How many project pages should a small builder publish?

A small builder should publish one project page for each finished home it holds photos and facts for, starting with the type of work it wants more of. The number follows the work: a builder who finishes five homes in a year adds five pages that year. Among 80 small builder websites we read on September 29, 2026, at least 3 had five pages or fewer in total, and one had four: home, about, portfolio and contact.

Should a builder publish the street address of a finished home?

A builder should publish the street address of a finished home only with the owner's written consent. The city and the neighborhood are enough for a buyer to judge whether the project resembles theirs, and enough for the page to answer a search that names the city. Google's image guidance asks that images appear "on pages that are relevant to the image subject matter", and a page that names the city and the type of home meets that with no address at all.

Can a builder put client reviews on a project page?

A builder can put a client's words on a project page when they are real and the client has agreed in writing. Google's help page for businesses states that reviews "must reflect a genuine experience" and that offering incentives in exchange for reviews "is strictly prohibited". The Federal Trade Commission announced a rule on August 14, 2024 against reviews and testimonials from people with no actual experience of the business. Quote the client's own sentence beside the project it describes.

Should a project page say how long the permit took?

A project page should say how long the permit took when the builder holds the record: the day of application and the day the permit was issued. Cities publish targets, and Phoenix's report for July 2026 gives a goal of 30 calendar days for the first review of custom home plans. The target describes what the city aims for. Your dates describe one real job, and a client planning a start date wants to read both.

Why should a project page describe what was difficult on the job?

A project page should describe what was difficult because avoiding trouble is a stated reason for buying new. In the National Association of REALTORS survey of people who bought between July 2023 and June 2024, 42 percent of new-home buyers said they wanted to avoid renovations and problems with plumbing or electricity. A page that tells what went wrong on a real job, what the builder did about it and how the home was finished answers that reason directly.

How should a project page link to a builder's city page?

A project page should link to the builder's page for that city and to the page for that type of home, with link words that describe the destination. Google's SEO Starter Guide says link text "tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to". Write "casitas we have built in Tucson" in place of "click here", and link back from the city page to the project, so a client reading the rules can open a finished example.

Sources

1. Image SEO Best Practices, Google Search Central. Updated 2026-03-02, accessed 29 September 2026.
2. SEO Starter Guide: The Basics, Google Search Central. Updated 2025-12-10, accessed 29 September 2026.
3. 2025 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, National Association of REALTORS Research Group. Accessed 29 September 2026.
4. Tips to get more reviews, Google Business Profile Help. Accessed 29 September 2026.
5. Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials, Federal Trade Commission. Published 2024-08-14, accessed 29 September 2026.
6. Plan Reviews: Turnaround Times for July 2026, City of Phoenix Planning and Development. Accessed 29 September 2026.
7. What 80 small builder websites get wrong in Arizona and Florida (Licheo's own records), Licheo. Websites read twice on 29 September 2026.

Keep reading

• Home builder marketing: the complete guide
• What a small builder's website needs
• Service area pages for builders
• How AI assistants choose which builder to name
• Choosing which work to show
• Writing a case study a serious buyer will forward
• How contractor SEO works, from project portfolio to Google
• Run the free Get Found Check

Find out how much of your work Google can read

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