Local SEO is separate and distinct from SEO – but the truth is if you’re working with someone who is doing SEO for your home improvement business, and they know what they’re doing, they should have a heavy local component to it anyway. Nonetheless, there’s search volume for “local SEO for home improvement” and we, as a marketing agency that specializes in architecture, engineering and construction firms, feel like we’ve nailed the formula for this one.
So let’s dig in. Today we’re going to share with you how we optimize local SEO for our home improvement and home renovation clients.
In this article we will cover:
What is local SEO
First, let’s align on what “regular” SEO is
Search engine optimization (SEO) in a sentence is doing things to try and show up on the first page of Google, better yet in the first three spots. In a paragraph, what that consists of is creating unique, helpful and relevant content online. When you create that content, search engines like Google will reward you by showing that content to people who are searching for it. If you have a good strategy in place, that should ultimately lead to you driving prospective clients to your website via that content.
Now, let’s talk about how local SEO is different
With SEO, your website can show up in the first spot in Google search results anywhere in the country or in the world. And while a lot of the same principles apply to “regular” SEO and local SEO, with local SEO, we’re doing a few things to specifically try and show up in your local area / business service area. Google will show different search results to people based on the location they are Googling from – so if you can show up for relevant searches for your services for people searching in your service area then you are winning at local SEO.
Local SEO checklist for home improvement
If you’re partnering with any agency offering valuable SEO services, they should assist you in managing these tasks. However, if you’re handling it on your own, here’s a checklist to ensure you’re covering all bases (or to verify that your agency is):
- Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Listing: This is the first step in any local SEO strategy. When you perform a search and see businesses appearing on the map, this is what gets you there. Ensure your business information, including name, address, phone number, operating hours, and description, is accurate. Your Google Business listing comes with many additional features, including the ability to add services, products, and posts. I recommend completing these sections and posting regularly, like you would on any other social media platform.
- NAP Citations: Ensure your business’s Name, Address, and Phone number are consistent across all online listings. The simplest way to accomplish this is to use a citation distribution tool like Moz Local or SEMrush, which can take the information from your Google Business listing and distribute it to all other relevant profiles.
- Manage Reviews and Ratings: Frequent, positive reviews are as crucial as having a Google Business profile. Encourage customers to leave reviews, respond to them promptly and professionally, and devise strategies to improve your ratings. I also suggest trying to get Yelp reviews since they often appear in search results.
- Keyword Research: Identify the terms and phrases your target audience uses when searching for businesses like yours. For home improvement businesses, these are often searches like “home renovation [city]”, “home remodeling [city]”, etc. I’ve written an article detailing SEO keywords for home improvement – check it out!
- On-Page SEO: Once you know your target keywords, ensure your website is optimized with the correct keywords, meta descriptions, headers, and content. Each page (like your home page and each service page) should have a target keyword, which should be reflected in the H1 (the largest font on the page) and the body copy.
- Supporting Blog Strategy: Beyond merely placing a focus term on your homepage and primary service pages, you should have a supporting blog strategy to create helpful local content based on keyword research. For instance, if you’re targeting the term “Columbus Kitchen renovations” for a service page, you might have a supporting blog strategy where you write five related articles – such as “Columbus home renovation laws”, “5 best Columbus kitchen renovation companies”, etc.
- Local Link Building: Aim to get backlinks from other local businesses, community sites, or local news websites. This sends a signal to Google that you are a local expert. Examples might include your local chamber of commerce website.
- Use Local Structured Data Markup: Add schema markup to your website to give search engines more information about your business. I’ll soon write a blog on this and provide the schema markup for easy copying and pasting!
Local SEO citations (NAP Citations)
Local SEO citations, also known as NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) data, are online mentions of a business’s contact information. In layman’s terms – it’s just a website that has a page for your business, and that page mentions your business name, address, phone, hours, and other information. Some examples of local citations include: CitySquares, Cylex, DexKnows, EZlocal, Foursquare just to name a few. There are hundreds of citation sources, with approximately a hundred of these being significant or impactful sources.
A citation doesn’t need to link back to your website to be valuable. The value in a citation is the mention of your business, which can help improve search engine ranking. However, incorrect or inconsistent citations can confuse Google and potentially hurt your local SEO efforts, so it’s important to ensure your business’s information is always accurate and consistent wherever it appears.
The challenge is, as mentioned, there are hundreds of citation sources. Manually going to each one, creating or claiming your profile, and then updating business information is a nightmare – and it’s actually how it was done back in the day for SEOs before citation distribution was available. Now all you need to do is pay a nominal monthly fee to citation distributors like Moz Local or SEMrush and they will connect your Google Business profile to these various profiles and automatically ensure your information is correct and up to date. So if you’re doing local SEO for your home improvement business right, you’ll pay for a citation distribution tool to ensure it’s all accurate and up-to-date. These are around $10-$40 a month, and if you ask me, it’s worth it.
Local SEO company for home improvement
If you’re looking for a local SEO company specializing in home improvement to manage your local SEO, please consider Nover Marketing. We are a full-service digital agency with a focus on the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries. Our portfolio boasts a plethora of home improvement and renovation clients. Schedule your complimentary consultation now or check out our other articles on advertising for home improvement businesses and optimal keywords for the home improvement sector.