9-Step Local SEO Checklist for Painting Contractors

Local SEO is entirely focused on the local area of the person performing the search.

Think of it like when you’re in the mood for coffee, and you open up Google to find out where the nearest coffee shops are:

When performing a search using “near me” the user will be prompted to share their location:

It’s the “near me” part that makes this SEO “local” — local to the searcher, that is.

As a painting contractor, it’s essential that you spend some time getting your local SEO done right.

You want to make sure that people that find you in searches are going to be relevant to you.

After all, if you’re in Boston, you wouldn’t want a bunch of people in Houston finding your page.

There’s a slim chance that someone in Houston is going to pay you to come from Boston to paint their living room… unless he’s Ron Ramsden.

With that in mind, Here’s Our 9-Step Local SEO Checklist for Painting Contractors.

1. Why Local SEO Is So Important

60% of people do searches for local services on tablets or smartphones.

1 in 5 searches being done for local businesses lead to some kind of sale that same day.

If you do it right, that could translate to a lot more people hiring you as a local painting contractor.

2. Some Local Search Ranking Sites You Need To Know

Google My Business is one of, if not the most, important pages you need to claim for your painting business.

Having a Google My Business page is an easy and free way to improve your local SEO.

Within Google My Business, you need to make sure that you use the correct categories for your business — do you specialize in interior painting? Exterior painting? Cabinet repaints?

Are you only in the business of doing painting for commercial properties but not residential?

These are all things that Google My Business wants to know.

Bing Places For Business is also somewhat significant now — it takes up about 33% of search when it comes to local business.

Check out how many positive reviews you have on review sites — this number is quite important!

When you see that there’s a negative review on a site, it’s important that you respond to that review, as search engines take this into consideration as a plus for you.

Lastly, be sure that your web site looks good on a mobile device.

Use this free tool “Mobile Moxie” to test your website and see how it looks on mobile:

Here is a comprehensive guide to making your web site mobile responsive:

3. The Importance Of Local Backlinks

Backlinks are a means of communicating to search engines that your site is “trustworthy”.

Local backlinks link back to your web site and communicate with your local audience.

There are a number of ways you can get local backlinks, including local newspapers, blogs, local event pages, and even local charities that you as a business owner can sponsor — they often have a featured volunteer site.

Such a volunteer site would be great for having your local backlink on it.

Here is a video tutorial on building quality local backlinks:

4. Content To Help Your Local SEO

When you’re looking for types of content for local SEO, first think about landing pages that are city specific.

Even if you are a painting contractor that services multiple cities, you can create landing pages that are specific to each city.

This is good only to a point — if you have too many of these landing pages, people will catch on and have a little less respect for your organization.

Having a blog on your site is another great way to boost your local SEO, but you knew that already…

With each article that you publish, you can prominently discuss one of the local areas where you service and keep your name up in ranking.

5. User Experience and Local SEO

Make sure that once you finally get people onto your site, that you also make it clear what the next steps are.

People don’t have too much patience when they are navigating new and unfamiliar websites.

When they’re looking to hire a local painting contractor, I think they’re intent on your site is clear… they probably want an estimate.

If you are looking to keep people on your site and ultimately have them hire you as a painting contractor, it’s important that your site is also user friendly.

This is what is known as the user experience — what the person looking at the site experiences from the time they find it until, ideally, they choose to contact you to get a quote.

Here is a User Experience video:

6. Local SEO Management Tools

WhiteSpark is an excellent local SEO management tool that has such things as local rank tracker, reputation builder, and review monitoring.

Review monitoring tells you when you get a review so you can take some kind of responsive action.

Yext is a brilliant site that integrates with local directories and allows you to keep your information up to date.

You only have to change it once on Yext and it gets updated everywhere Yext connects.

Yext also makes it easy to put together reviews from customers and put them on your website.

Moz Local is a service that makes sure that your information is correct when people search for it no matter what search engine they use.

You tell them your information and it sends it to search engines — and if you should need to change it, it’s a matter of one step of telling them as opposed to updating each one!

7. Social Media Tips For Local Companies

Target your ads to people in your local area and other demographics that may be relevant to you as a painting contractor.

Get people to talk about your services by posting on a regular basis and asking engaging questions in your posts.

Oh and remember, ALWAYS reply to comments on your posts. No matter what!

Make prominent use of images, video, and text to show off what your business does best.

8. Getting The Best Reviews For Your Business

The first tip to getting good reviews for your business online is simply to ask for them.

You finish a painting job and you find that both you and the customer are satisfied with how the job went — so ask them to leave you a review on Google.

When you are using social media, make sure to share the reviews that you get from customers so that people see the kind of experience they can expect from you.

9. Optimizing Google My Business

Include keywords in your Google My Business listing that are important and relevant to your business. 

Make sure that your hours of operation are completely accurate — it’s upsetting for people to call and not find someone if they call due to mistaken hours.

Add photos of your painting business on a regular business – it doesn’t hurt to ask a happy customer if it’s okay to share photos of what you have done for them.

Each time you get a review, it has an impact on search results, so make sure to look at each one you get and respond in some manner.

Lastly, don’t forget to regularly read the Google My Business Listing Insights for tips about how to improve your entry.

[Related: 11 Google My Business Post Ideas for Painting Contractors]

 

Quick Recap: 

1. Local SEO is VERY important because 46% of searches performed are local searches. Afterall, you wouldn’t want someone in Houston finding you if you’re located in Boston…
2. Take advantage of local search ranking sites like Google My Business and Bing Places for Business to boost your ranking. 50% of searches are performed on mobile -use MobileMoxie to preview the user experience of your site on mobile.
3. Backlinks are a means of communicating to search engines that your site is “trustworthy.” The more credible the website that links back to your site, the more cool points you win, the higher you rank.
4. Create landing pages that are city specific, as well as blog posts with the city in the title, heading 1, heading 2, alt tags of images, URL, etc…
5. User Experience. If you do all of this work to get users on your site -next you must make it as clear as possible what the next step is. The “call to action” on your home page will most likely be “Book a Free Estimate Here” or something along the lines.
6. Take advantage of Local SEO Management Tools like WhiteSpark, Yext, & Moz Local -local rank tracker, reputation builder, and customer review monitoring.
7. Target social media ads & posts to your area using hashtags and local event pages.
8. Do what it takes to get the best reviews. See the blog for “how to ask for reviews.”
9. Make sure your Google My Business listing is in tiptop shape as far as location, hours, description, category, and be sure to upload photos every day.