6 Steps Your Business Can Take To Crush Local Search
Does your business show up on the first page of a Google search in your city for your key services? Does your business have a pin on the map at the top of a Google search? Would you like to be able to convert people who are actively searching for your service into customers? If so, the first place to start is a well-crafted landing page about each service you offer.
TLDR; Here are the six pieces of content your service landing page needs to include to crush local search
A descriptive photo At least one picture that shows off your business in action.
A magnetic headline with search friendly keywords A well-written headline means more clicks and page views.
An opening paragraph that outlines the problem and solution. Put your customer's interests first, then show how you can provide the solution.
Customer reviews Nothing builds trust like a positive customer review.
Reader-friendly bullet points Make sure your solutions are easy-to-read and easy-to-understand.
Clear call to action Make it easy for searchers to take the next step to purchase your product or service.
To crush local search you need to do more than show up near the top of the first page of a Google search. Why is that? Consider: is just showing up enough? What if you had an employee who diligently showed up early for work each day but didn’t do any work. Would you consider him a valuable employee? To really crush local search you need to be able to convert people who are searching for your service into buyers—and that takes work.
To get results from a search engine listing you need the follow three things to happen:
Have a listing of your service landing page show up on the first page of a search engine results page.
Have people click on your search listing and go to your landing page
Have people read and then act on the content you have on your landing page.
The good news is that all three of these goals can happen if you take the extra step of creating a landing page for each service you offer.
What is a service landing page?
Most small business websites that I’ve come across simply have a list of their services on their home page or about us page. But if you really want to have a high ranking for local search you’ll go one step further and set up a separate web page for every service you offer. But how can you turn one bullet point on your about us page into its own web page? To do that you need to gather six pieces of useful and informative content.
Here are the six pieces of content that you will need to get a high google ranking for your business service:
1. Use an SEO friendly photo of your business
Nothing tells the story of what you do better than a great image of your business and what you do. A real picture of your business is so much more trustworthy than a stock image could ever be. If you offer a service, then show yourself or one of your workers performing what you do. If you install furnaces, then show a photo of the installation crew packing a furnace into a home or have your team smiling in front of the delivery van. If you have a lawn cutting service then show a photo of you cutting a lawn. You get the picture. Better yet: have a series of photos that show each step of the process.
Branding Geek SEO tip: Make your photos SEO friendly by writing a description of each photo under (or sometimes on) the photo. Include your business name and keywords in the description. And if you are anHTML coder make sure the file name and alt text also include the keywords. These steps will allow Google to index your pictures.
Further reading: Five ways to get better photos of your business
2. Write an informative headline with search friendly keywords
This is a biggie. Google pays lots of attention to what you put into the main headline of your web page. The goal isn’t just to get your listing ranked in google search it is primarily to have someone click on your listing and go to your page. A well written headline can actually provide more clicks (That’s called your click-thru-rate) than the top listing.
Here are three things that your headline needs to include:
What you do (Your specific service)
Where you do it (Location)
Why someone would choose you to do it (descriptive adjectives)
Here’s a tried and tested formula for writing a magnetic headline that is guaranteed to raise your google rankings:
Looking for a [insert adjective] [insert service] in [your location]?
Here’s how could look for a plumbing company that installs furnaces in Calgary Alberta:
Looking for a reliable furnace installer in Calgary AB?
Branding Geek SEO tip: Make sure that the title and headlines on your web page use correct HTML semantics. Here’s why that makes a difference and how Title tags should look in the html code.
3. Include a descriptive introductory paragraph that outlines the customer's problem and your solution
Your opening paragraph needs to be written from your customers point of view. They are first and foremost looking for solutions to their problems. So even before you launch into a list of your amazing features and years of experience use your first few sentences to empathize with your customer's situation. You could even list a few common scenarios that your clients have come to you with over the years. Then show how you have helped people exactly like them solve their problems. This is a storytelling framework that will help any readers to begin to like, trust and respect you. That, in turn, will help them make an emotional as well as the rational decision to do business with you.
4. Include customer reviews that speak directly about the service you offer
If you have been in business for any length of time you will have reviews on Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp, Trip Advisor or a whole host of review websites. I see lots of websites put a separate page on their website called “testimonials.” A much more effective use of testimonials is to put them on the page where your potential customers are making their buying decisions—like your service landing page. Rather than calling them testimonials (which sounds forced) call them customer reviews. Try to use the ones that are speaking about the specific service you are offering.
Good: “I had a great experience with [your business]”
Better: “You guys are AMAZING!!!! I have always loved the service we receive but you really knocked it out of the park today! Your busiest time of year and you guys still took my rings in yesterday for servicing, cleaning and an appraisal update…and in less time than you thought!! I can't thank you guys enough” (Actual review for a Jewellery Store in Cranbrook)
Branding Geek SEO tip: Always encourage your best customers and fans to leave comments and reviews on the review site of their choice (they are all beneficial). Google reviews on Google My Business helps you show up on Google maps and Yelp reviews help your business show up on iPhone search and Apple maps.
5. Use reader-friendly bullet points to show your main features
Here is the place to show your solutions to the searcher's problems. By all means list as many as you can think of in bullet points. Then readers can go to the specific one that addresses their problems. In addition to the bullets include a jargon-free description that explains the benefit of what your service provides.
Here’s a before and after bullet point for a Jewellery store repair service
Before: Rhodium Plating
After: Rhodium Plating for white gold rings. A common problem for white gold rings is that they lose their original rhodium plating as they age. A fresh rhodium plating makes any diamonds look bigger and brighter because of its reflective qualities.
6. Always include a clear call to action
Never assume that readers will know how to contact you or what to do next. Let them now what the very next step is and makes it easy for them to contact you on whatever way they prefer. Do you offer a free estimate? Are appointments required? Is there a specialist they need to contact? What hours are you available? Do you have emergency service for after hours? Put a heading in the form of a natural question and then answer the question that shows them how they can take the next step. Don’t make readers leave the page to figure out how to contact you.
Call to action example question: How can I contact [insert your business name] to get an appointment to receive [insert your service]?
Branding Geek tip: Include your text number if possible. Most online searches are done on smartphones and most people prefer texting to calling. If possible include a number that potential customers can text to set up an appointment.
Improving your SEO and search traffic
How much traffic is your website getting from search traffic? Do you think your website should be ranking higher in Google search than it is? Check out the Branding Geek Local SEO page for more tips and practical advice.
