A customer goes to Google, sees you’re open and lands on your website. But the service they need isn’t on the page and they can’t figure out if you service their area. Now they’re back in Google. That’s a missed opportunity, which is a good place to start.
Local SEO (local search engine optimization) helps customers find you when location matters. Can a local prospect tell what you offer and what to do next?
Useful local SEO strategies link two things: getting found for local search and making it easy for a qualified local customer to take the next step.
Start your local SEO strategy with local searches
Local intent should guide your pages and your wider marketing strategy. Someone who searches for “water heater repair Coral Gables” is probably looking for a service provider. Someone asking why their water heater makes noise may still be researching. They don’t need the same page.
Begin local keyword research with your priority services and profitable service areas. Ask whoever answers the phone what language customers use. You may discover opportunities to contrast, for example, repair vs. replacement.
Look up those local searches in Google. The grouped map and local business listings you may see in search results are called the local pack. Organic local search results are another path to discovery, which means you need to optimize both your Google Business Profile and your website.
Are competing pages mentioning availability, showing completed projects, or explaining pricing? Identify what’s missing without adopting their language or copy/pasting their tactics.
Assign each cluster of local keywords to a single page for those local searches. Repair searches should go to the repair page; installation searches should land on the installation page. You focus your local SEO efforts without creating a page for every possible keyword variation.
Understand the local ranking factors
Local results are determined mainly by relevance, distance and prominence, according to Google.
Relevance refers to how well a business matches a search. Good service descriptions and accurate business information all help with relevance.
Distance reflects how far your business is from the location named in a search. If no location is specified, Google uses what it knows about the searcher's location.
Prominence refers to how well-known a business is, including signals like reviews and backlinks.
You can improve your business information, but distance still limits your reach. Good local rankings close to your office don't mean good rankings in other parts of the county.
Google also says that businesses cannot ask to be given a better local rank, or pay for such a service. Be careful of anyone who promises you a better rank on the map. Focus on the areas you can reach.
Optimize your Google Business Profile
Figure out whether you're eligible according to Google's Business Profile policies. Your business must have customers come to you at your location, or you go to your customers. An address that just receives mail isn't an office.
Look to see if your business listing is already there. If you find it, resolve issues around ownership or access to that profile instead of making another one. Keep profile ownership with the business, give appropriate access to employees or outside agencies, and make someone responsible for updates. Follow any instructions Google gives for verifying ownership.
Then check these things:
- Use your real business name, don't try to add keywords to it
- Choose one primary category and only those other categories that are applicable
- Make sure your phone number and website URL are right
- Check your business hours that customers see, and record any holiday hours
- Accurately describe your services, and remove any services you don't offer
Google says that if your customers don't come to your location, delete your public address and specify service areas instead. Add cities or zip codes where you do work. Just adding a city that's far away doesn't make your business look closer to the searcher in that city.
Think about your profile like a customer would. Photos of your store, team, or recent projects could provide answers to questions that your logo can't. Upload photos that are relevant and that you have permission to share.
Use on-page SEO and local content to answer buyer questions
A service page needs to tell people what your service is, where you provide it, and what happens when someone calls you. For example, a water heater installation page should describe the different types of water heaters, whether or not a quote is necessary, and how to schedule an appointment. Repeating the service name won't actually help a customer decide whether or not they want to call you.
When the service name and location accurately describe the page, use them naturally in the title tag and H1 heading. Write a good meta description (and remember that Google might choose a different text for the search result snippet). Link to the page from other relevant pages with descriptive anchor text. This is on-page SEO, ensuring that the page makes sense to both visitors and search engines.
If you have an office that people can visit, a location page should include your hours, how to get there, and the services provided there. If you serve multiple locations but don't have an office, tell people where you work, or, if possible, feature some of your projects in that area with the permission of the property owner. Before you publish a second page that only differs from the first one by the city name, consider if it's worth doing.
Google's spam policies forbid doorway abuse, such as regional pages that funnel visitors to the same destination without providing useful added value. It's usually better to have one good page describing your service area rather than many thin city pages. Add local content if it will help answer a useful service-related question.
Also, take a moment to check that all your key pages are still being linked internally. Check your priority pages in Google Search Console. If an important page was accidentally excluded, figure out why and correct it. Just because a page is eligible doesn't mean it's indexed.
Make reviews part of your local SEO work
Offer the opportunity to review you at an appropriate time, for example once you've finished a job or a service call. Provide them a direct link and invite them to share an honest opinion on their experience.
Don’t ask only happy customers for reviews, and don’t offer discounts or rewards in exchange for reviews. Google’s review guidelines prohibit both rewarding reviews and selectively asking for only positive reviews.
Assign a person to respond to all reviews in a polite manner without going into any private details about your conversation. This way, other potential customers can get an idea of how you deal with issues when things go wrong. Sometimes, if there are recurring complaints related to scheduling, you can make changes to improve on the issue.
Build local citations and relevant local links
A local citation is just a mention of your company name and details somewhere else on the web, often in business directories. Make sure to focus your efforts on finding citations that are likely to be used by potential customers, including popular map sites, reputable trade directories, and area business associations. Instead of buying a massive list of obscure directories, begin by focusing on directory listings that your customers might already know about.
Confirm that the citation matches your current name, address (if applicable), phone number, and website, and update any old numbers and addresses (especially if your business has since moved). While you're at it, fix any other discrepancies in the citation formatting. Keep a record of your current citations and who manages each account. Store login credentials securely in a password manager.
Follow the same process with local link building. Your local supplier's installer list or a local trade association's membership directory could help people locate and verify your business. Identify any links you could secure from existing relationships, and think about whether a specific link will attract a relevant audience that might come back to you. Don't pay for a massive bundle of random directory links. Google treats links created primarily to manipulate rankings as link spam. Paid or sponsored links need appropriate qualification, such as rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", under Google's spam guidelines. Consider how much your customers would value the link you're looking at before you pay for it.
Help local customers contact you on mobile
Load up a priority service page on your cell phone. Can you identify the service, coverage area and next step? Are there images or pop ups that are taking up too much space?
Test the phone number and also try the contact form. Do they get routed to the correct people? Do customers receive appropriate confirmations? Try out the appointment request form. Which fields are required?
The initial request form should include the bare minimum: Name, contact information, service location, and a summary of what is needed. More history can be collected later.
Put anything else you discover on your website to-do list. For broader website changes, GOA-TECH's web design team can help.
Measure local SEO performance and qualified inquiries
Establish a baseline for local search visibility. With some free local SEO tools, a small team should have enough data to get started. Look at the website impressions, clicks, and queries in Google Search Console. See how your Google Business Profile performed, for whatever interactions are available. See how much organic traffic went to those priority pages and how many people filled out the forms.
Then interpret those numbers. A click on a call button isn't a phone conversation. A submitted form isn't necessarily a quality lead.
Start tracking leads. Record the service the customer requested, where they live, how they discovered you (if known), and if the lead converted into an appointment. Clarify with your team what "qualified" means. Maybe the customer lives within your service area and wants one of your services, and is open to a discussion of a quote or an appointment.
Compare like timeframes, and be mindful of seasonal factors. If your visibility in local search results has increased, but isn't converting into good leads, then look at the queries and pages that send traffic to your website. If your volume of qualified leads is increasing, but you're not booking more appointments, review your scheduling and follow-up process.
Local SEO strategies for your first month
Assign owners and deadlines. Here's an example timeline for a small group:
Week 1: Business owner or marketing manager reviews Google Business Profile permissions, reviews business details, identifies top services to promote, and documents where things stand.
Week 2: Website editor upgrades one of the top services pages and resolves the mobile form issue identified during testing.
Week 3: Person responsible for follow-up builds a review request process. Marketing manager corrects the most glaring inaccurate citations.
Week 4: Team reflects on progress and lead results, then determines which page or issue should be the focus for the following week.
The initial 30 days set up the rest of your campaign. A couple of weeks is too short to judge lasting search performance, so document changes with dates and review them regularly.
Not sure where to start? GOA-TECH offers audits and SEO services including analysis, content strategy and optimization, technical SEO, link building and ongoing reporting. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your top services, target areas, and current lead issues.
