5 Step SEO Guide for Local Service Businesses
For CEOs and owners of a small business service business, such as plumbers, lawyers, dentists, roofing companies, medical professionals, orthodontists, therapists, and accountants, to go from non existent to being found when someone nearby is searching for keywords that are relevant to your business there is one marketing channel that will help you every time: Local SEO.
However, SEO for local service businesses is underutilized when it comes to increasing website traffic, which can lead to increased brand awareness and higher sales and profits.
SEO (search engine optimization) can be classified as either “Local” (Richmond VA) or “Traditional” (SEO Marketing Company). They differ vastly when it comes to what your SEO goals are.
| With local SEO: | With traditional SEO: |
|---|---|
| Your goal is to rank at the top of search results in your local market | Your goal is to rank well based on keyword phrases, so location doesn’t matter |
| Location should be your focus | Ongoing content is the core focus |
| People searching locally are usually looking for a business like yours | Searchers are usually looking to find a solution |
| There are many off-site tactics you can use | It’s harder to rank |
If you’re looking to show up on the first page of search results in local areas of town your local SEO is where you want to put your resources of time, energy, attention, and money. The best news is you don’t have to be a marketing expert in order to show up on the first page of search results on Google, Bing or Yahoo. All you need is our Indispensable Marketing 5 step local seo guide to the direction and results your marketing is going in.
Step 1: Create and Optimize a Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is a free tool through Google that helps you improve your online presence when people are searching for an service business or provider. If someone searches your company’s name, a profile, called a knowledge panel, will pop up with your company’s information like address, phone number, and website URL.
With a Google Business Profile, a searcher could type “plumber near me” "accountant near me" lawyer near me" or "dentist near me" and three choices, known as the Google 3-Pack, will appear. Optimizing your Google Business Profile means you have photos of your company positive reviews, and posts to announce information you want the public to know. A well-optimized Google Business Profile means your firm should be part of that 3-Pack.
While Google is always updating Google Business Profile, some features are effortless to optimize:
- Pictures of your business – We are a visual species, and pictures catch the attention of people quicker than just about anything. Give your audience pictures of the vehicles, equipment, tradeshows attended, interior and exterior of your business. Also include photos of employees and any service in action.
- Reviews – A good reputation will get you far today, and establishing a reputation has never been easier than it is now with online reviews. You will want to showcase these reviews as part of your Google Business Profile. More information on how reviews can create a powerful message!
- Posts – Google Business Profile has a post function that allows you to feature recent content posts you’ve made such as blog posts, new service announcements, operation updates, and more. Take advantage of this post feature!
Taking advantage of the robust features of Google Business Profile will help potential clients find you and learn more about what you have to offer.
Step 2: Build Your Local Citations
An online citation is a mention of your service business and its information (address, phone number, etc.) online. It’s important to build your local citations because the more times your company is mentioned online with correct contact information, the better your local rankings will be.
Areas to build your local citations include:
- Chamber of Commerce
- Yahoo Local
- Google Business Profile
- Apple Maps
- Bing
Citations are so important because the majority of research that’s done before buying something is done online. If your service business information (NAP name, address, and phone number) across the web, your local rankings will be boosted.
While just a piece of the small business SEO puzzle, citations are an important piece. The more your business appears online, the better off you’ll be. Be sure to make citations a part of your overall SEO strategy.
Step 3: Get Online Reviews
Never underestimate the power of word of mouth. In today’s world, that means online reviews from (hopefully) happy clients who had a positive experience with your business.
How important are online reviews for your service business? Consumers also read an average of 10 online reviews before deciding that an organization is trustworthy enough to get their business.
What does that mean for you? That means stepping up your customer service and encouraging clients to leave online reviews helps immensely when it comes to local SEO for service businesses. Positive and negative reviews are just one of the metrics used to determine your ranking on search engine results pages.
What can online reviews do for your business? Here are just a few things:
- Build trust – BrightLocal reports that when it comes to what businesses a customer trusts, an online review is taken as seriously as a personal recommendation.
- Generates more sales – If your business gets 4 and 5-star reviews, statistics show that it will greatly impact your click-through rates. That means that the more stars you’re given, the better the chance that a potential customer will click on the link to your business, taking them one step closer to buying.
- Higher Rankings – Search engines consider online reviews when creating rankings on a search results page. This is particularly true for local searches.
Step 4: Create Content Optimized for “local” SEO
A lot of small service businesses get intimidated by the idea of writing any kind of content, much less local content. After all, what is there to write about when it comes to a field like plumbing, roofing, accounting, business law, and dentistry?
Well, a lot actually. And what you find to write about that has a focus on the community around you is going to help you with your SEO. The best news is that it isn’t as hard to write local content as you may think it is.
First, create a plan for your content. What problems are you going to solve for your ideal client? What information about your service business, in general, do you think your ideal client will find useful? How can you incorporate content that features things in your community in between all of the other content?
If you’re looking for ideas on how to focus on local, how about:
- Demystify local requirements or best practices for your audience.
- Write about local companies who specialize in specific areas of expertise.
- Feature the people in your own service business and how their specialization can help clients.
While thinking local, write about what you know. Write about what your local clients would like to know. Focus on problems that are specific to clients in your area and how the services you offer can help them.
5. Master On-Page Local SEO Basics
You’ve probably put a lot of time, effort, energy, attention and money into your website. However, no matter how cool or visually pleasing it is, if it isn’t performing just like your services and solutions, it isn’t a good website. In this case, that means making it perform in terms of SEO basics. After all, if you don’t end up at the top of the SEO mountain, no one will even see your website no matter how great it is.
When we’re talking about on-page SEO, we’re talking about:
- Coding
- Copy
- Content Structure
Some of the easy-to-optimize SEO basics include:
a. Optimize Your Homepage
Your homepage is probably the most important page on your website. After all, first impressions are important. To keep the focus local, incorporate location-based keywords into your content. A key strategy for service businesses to follow is incorporating location-based keywords in the copy. Local keywords help search engines locate a service and serve it up to the local prospects looking for a provider.
Your homepage should also contain a few client reviews. As mentioned above, potential consumers take reviews very seriously when considering hiring someone for the services they offer. If they’re on the homepage, they’re sure not to be missed.
b. Optimize All Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
Titles are not just the first thing most visitors to your website see, but they also count for you when it comes to where you land on a search results page. Make sure your titles contain where you are and what your company does so that people searching for either will come across your site easily.
The same goes for when it’s time to write your meta description. A meta description is the little description of a webpage that appears with the page link in an internet search. Meta descriptions don’t have much influence on your ranking, but if you use the right keywords that someone is looking for, you are more likely to get a hit. A meta description that includes the area you service and the services you’re offering helps busy searchers narrow down the websites they visit and the websites they ignore.
c. Optimize the Footer
A website’s footer is the section of content found at the very bottom of a webpage. Optimizing your footer for local SEO means making sure your business name, address, and phone number are there. Your information in the footer is one way that search engines identify your location and help people looking for services in your area.
This information should be on every page on your website starting with your footer, and it should look identical everywhere you put it. Especially make sure that it looks identical to the information you’ve listed on your Google Business Profile. This helps the search engine identify that you are one firm and not multiple.
d. Embed a Google Map Right on Your Webpage
Don’t just tell your potential clients where you service. Show them.
An embedded Google Map can give them a service area so that your more directionally-impaired clients can physically see where your services are rendered.
To embed a Google Map, follow these simple steps:
- Go to Google Maps.
- Find the directions, map, or Street View image you’d like to embed.
- In the top left of your screen, click Menu.
- Click Share or embed map.
- Click Embed a map.
- To the left of the text box, select the size you want by clicking the Down arrow.
- Copy the text in the box and paste it into the HTML of your website or blog.
e. Add an Alt Tag to Your Images
The trick to good SEO is to get as many local keywords on the page as possible. One of the secrets, though, is that not all of those keywords need to be visible.
To help bump your ranking, try adding Alt attributes to images on your website. These are descriptions of the picture that is included in the code that helps viewers with visual impairments know what the picture depicts. It’s also a great way to include more local keywords. Give the images on your site descriptions that include your service area or location and what services your company offers.
f. Create a Unique Page for Each Service You Offer
Your service business offers more than one kind of service, and your website needs to reflect that. While a unique page for every service gives each service a spotlight, it will also help your local SEO efforts.
When all of your services are listed on one page, Google has a harder time identifying that you’re an expert in your specific area. You know what that means: a serious decrease in your ranking potential.
A different page for every service has other benefits, too. It gives you more room to include location-based keywords that potential clients are searching for online. Make sure each page has a minimum of 350 words including keywords that not only describe your service but also where you’re located and the areas you serve.
g. Create Unique Pages for Specific Geographical Areas
If your service business has multiple locations or areas served, your website should contain a page for every location or area with specific keywords that pertain to that specific location. This lets Google associate your service with multiple service areas when a potential client is looking for services nearby.
Avoid the urge to get too spammy with your location, though. For example, if your company is in Richmond VA, don’t include the word “Richmond VA” 30 times on your service area or location page. Instead, find ways to naturally incorporate your area or location in a way that will let potential clients know where you are without overdoing it.
Contact your marketing consultant at Indispensable Marketing
If you’re a small service based business that needs help with showing up on the first page of search results on Google, Bing or Yahoo at Indispensable Marketing we can help. We offer marketing strategy consulting, marketing audits, monthly marketing packages, consultations, exploratory calls or monthly local SEO services. Contact us for more information.
Indispensable Marketing takes a process approach to developing and installing your small business marketing.