Generate more leads online with these SEO-enhancing tips
As a painting contractor, you’re probably already familiar with SEO—search engine optimization—and how it affects online traffic to your business’ website. SEO is all about making your website show up earlier and more frequently in search engine results. But you may not know that SEO is handled differently for local businesses compared to national websites or organizations.
In the Sherwin-Williams PRO+ Business Training Series episode “Local SEO for Painting Contractors,” Martin Morgan—General Manager of Pro Painter Websites—says taking advantage of the local difference can be the key to your business’ success.
“Local search—specific businesses, specific services, searches where someone adds ‘near me’—are a different search handled by a different algorithm than the standard Google Search,” says Morgan.
He adds: “The great thing about local search is you don’t have to beat out 300,000 painting contractors across the United States. You just have to have a better answer than the 10-20 in your market. That’s a huge advantage.”
Morgan offers these 5 tips to ensure your business is maximizing its local SEO advantage to generate quality leads.
Set up your Google Business profile. The local pack—the map and cluster of businesses that show up at the top of a Google search—draws from registered Google Business profiles. If you don’t have a Google Business profile, set one up today so that you can start showing up in these results.
Claim all services you perform. “Put all the services you offer—especially if there are niche or special services that make you unique—in your profile and on your website,” Morgan says. Why? “If somebody searches for something specific, like ‘deck staining,’ Google is more likely to show your Google Business profile in the local pack because you’ve specified you offer deck staining services.” For an additional SEO boost, create a dedicated page for each of these services on your website as well.
Claim all cities you cover. Compared to brick-and-mortar stores which have a fixed address where they do business, most painting contractors have a region in which they do business. Because this can confuse Google’s algorithm, create dedicated pages on your website for each city or region where you do business. This can help attract business from the city 20 minutes east that you do cover, but may not show up highly when they search for “painters near me” otherwise.
Get your business linked as many places as possible. Google rewards websites that are frequently linked to by other sources with higher search placement. As a result, local links are especially valuable for local SEO optimization. Morgan recommends getting your business linked on Nextdoor, your local Chamber of Commerce, and the websites of other local businesses, charities, events, or community groups you sponsor.
Encourage customers to leave reviews. Finally, the biggest factor in local search results is the quality and quantity of reviews. Encourage customers to leave not just ratings but specific reviews detailing the service they received. For tips on garnering five-star reviews, check out our guide here.
Conclusion
Morgan says that while these tips will be useful to almost any contractor, it’s worth noting that local SEO from city to city varies just as much as the cities themselves. As such, it’s important to stay creative and persistent in applying these methods—and to take advantage of your regional expertise to rise above the competition.
“What works in one area may not always work in another,” Morgan says. “Don’t get frustrated with that. Just keep working on it.”
For more advice on local SEO, check out the PRO+ Business Training Series episode “Local SEO for Painting Contractors.”