CONTRIBUTING MEMBER:
AUSTIN HOUSER, FOUNDER, BASE COAT MARKETING
Unlike most digital marketing agencies, we prioritize Search Engine Optimization and leverage it as the foundation for ALL of our marketing strategies. Why? Because SEO is a business investment that will reduce your dependency on ads over time. Why pay for painting leads when you can acquire them for free?
If you have a local painting business website you automatically have a leg-up on the national competition such as Five Star Painting and CertaPro. Sounds crazy, right?
Even with recent Google algorithm updates, Local SEO is still a dominating force with a completely different strategy compared to national/global SEO tactics. So where do you start, and which KPIs should you monitor?
Here we have compiled a list of Local SEO painting lead generation tactics to help you outrank the competition and position yourself as a local source of authority.
Let’s jump in!
The Basics: What Is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is an essential element of every successful digital marketing strategy. But what is it?
SEO is the process of improving the position of your painting business website on search engine results pages (SERPs) to target unpaid traffic (free painting leads).
For painting businesses, Local SEO will help boost your organic rankings, draw more traffic to your website, and ultimately generate more painting leads, all without investing a single dollar into advertisements.
But why does ranking matter? Because 75% of users never look further than the first page of Google to find what they need. So if you’re on page 2 of Google, you might as well be on page 10.
Painter Website SEO Tips & Tricks
Google’s algorithm uses hundreds of ranking factors to determine the order of websites on SERPs — A ranking factor is simply something Google looks at to determine the relevancy of your website to a specific search term.
While some of these factors hold more weight than others, there is a general process you can follow to ensure you’re getting the best results from your Search Engine Optimization campaign.
Let’s take a look at just some of these strategies.
1. Keyword Search
Before optimizing even one page on your painting business website it’s essential to have a strategy. In terms of SEO, this strategy begins with keyword research.
Similar to adding a billboard next to a road that doesn’t get any traffic, you want to ensure the terms you’re trying to rank for on Google have search volume. Search volume is a measure of how many people search for a term in a given location over a one-month period.
(Pro Tip: Generally speaking, the more search volume a term has, the harder it is to rank for.)
Identifying the right keywords requires some creativity and understanding of the painting industry as a whole. A few things to look for:
Terms with high search volume;
Terms with a low keyword difficulty;
Short-tail terms (1-3 words); and
Terms that convert – Think like your ideal customer
After you have a list of high-value terms you’d like to rank for, then consider identifying some long-tail search phrases.
For Example:
Vague questions: “How do I paint the exterior of my home?”
Specific questions: “Best paint for brick walls.”
Localized keywords: “House painters near me” or “House painters in City, State.”
Get creative with painter SEO keywords. Long-tail keywords make up more than half of all Google searches, so use them to your advantage.
2. Formatting Content
If you have any experience in the world of SEO you’ve probably heard the expression “Content is King” — and for good reason. Google’s algorithm relies on its ability to identify the purpose of a page and position it accordingly on search results.
How does Google do this? Google has bots that constantly crawl your website. In general, the more targeted content your page has, the more likely you’ll be able to outrank your competitors.
Now there’s a lot more to it than that, but to stay out of the weeds we’ll focus on the important elements here.
Using the list you created in the previous step, it’s now time to build pages around each search term.
(Remember: Google ranks pages, not websites.)
Why does that matter? Because each page on your website should be written to rank for no more than 1-2 primary search terms. This doesn’t mean your page will ONLY rank for those terms, but like a chapter in a book, it should have a focus.
Properly formatting content is vital for scoring high with Google bots. You must organize your material for AI to understand your content and locate keywords. Focus on building good page titles, use headings, and strategically place keywords throughout the body content.
Here are a few methods you can use to optimize a page on your website through content formatting:
Use shorter paragraphs to break up content;
Utilize H1, H2, and H3 header tags. A page should never have more than one H1 tag.; and
Inject valuable keywords naturally into titles, body content, and image meta tags.
As a local Painting Contractor, you should organize your content by location and the services you offer.
3. Website Links
In terms of SEO, there are three primary types of links:
Internal Link;
Outbound Link; and
Backlink
Each link type serves a valuable purpose. Let’s review…
Internal Links
Think of your painting website as a pyramid of empty buckets, but the top bucket is full of water. Each link on your website creates a hole in the bucket full of water. The water indicates how much weight a page holds in terms of SEO. The more internal links you have to a particular page, the more weight you give that page on Google.
Simply, internal links serve as a way to signal to Google which pages on your website are most important. But like our pyramid bucket analogy, there is a finite amount of water to go around, so use them wisely.
Outbound Links
While internal links will be prevalent for navigation across your website, outbound links should be used sparingly.
Why? Because the more outbound links your website has the more value (water analogy) it is giving away to other domains.
What outbound links are acceptable? We recommend links to your social profiles, and that’s it. The long answer is you can actually have as many outbound links as you’d like, as long as you implement a rel=”nofollow” attribute on the links to avoid giving away “SEO credit.”
Backlinks
Out of the three link types, backlinks generally hold the most weight and are typically the hardest to come by.
So what is a backlink? Simply, it’s a link from another domain that points to your website.
Google uses Backlinks to determine the authority of a website. The more high-quality backlinks a page on your website has, the better it should rank.
Let’s review…
4. Choosing the Right Backlinks
While backlinks can technically drive referral traffic to your website, the more significant impact comes from the authority they create. To evaluate how much impact a backlink can have on your website, consider the following principles:
Relevance: What relevance does the link have to the topic of your content?;
Authority: How trustworthy is the URL or resource?;
Placement: Where did the writer place the link in the material?; and
Traffic: How much traffic does the URL receive?
Building backlinks generally requires manual outreach and relationship building. Most painting companies partner with an SEO agency to establish these links faster.
Some painting contractors improve their website’s SEO by writing guest blogs for another website. This method is excellent for securing backlinks and building rapport with other brands.
The Importance of Local SEO
Local SEO relies on indicators that narrow search results to a specific location/area. Home service-based businesses, such as professional painters, especially benefit from localization.
Why? Because Google prioritizes search results for local terms. So while the domain authority for certapro.com is extremely high, since they’re a franchise they can never implement Local SEO as well as a local painting company.
Local SEO Copywriting Strategies
Local SEO strategies follow Standard SEO best practices, with a focus on local search intent.
For best results, always sprinkle location information throughout your content/headings/meta, and offer relevant solutions to the pain points of your local market. Notice I said “sprinkle” — Over-optimizing your content can negatively impact your rankings. To avoid this, make sure your content is readable. If you are going out of the way to include certain terms, you might be trying too hard.
Local SEO Facts & Numbers
We’ve been in this space for a while, so let’s review some numbers/statistics to help break down why Local SEO is so important for your painting website.
(Nearly 50% of All Searches Include Local Content.)
According to Google, 46% of all searches include location indicators. For painters, residents want to find companies close to home. As a Painting Contractor, you can help potential clients find your business by injecting local terms throughout your website’s content.
Local SEO Achieves Tangible Results
In 2022, HubSpot collected data to conclude that 72% of consumers who search with local intent visit stores within five miles. As a home service business, this can significantly improve visibility and overall business growth.
Millennials are an increasingly lucrative market to target, especially as the population continues to age and amass wealth. Many are starting families and buying property. As a painting business, this means more paying jobs from a potentially untapped market.
42% percent of Millennials who search locally online will visit or contact the location at some point in the future.
Online Review Facts
Capturing positive testimonials and reviews is another excellent way to optimize your painting website for search engines. For most customers, these ratings mean the difference between a pass and a sale. In fact, 88% of customers rely on these reviews before committing to a local business.
Preferred Digital Marketing Solution
Most businesses that utilize local SEO find positive results within a few months. An estimated 79% of companies view Local SEO as a worthwhile channel to invest their marketing resources.
Becoming visible in the digital age will significantly improve your business’s success. According to research conducted by Safari Digital, mobile “near me” searches increased by 136% in 2021. These numbers indicate the ever-growing need to localize your content.
The Value of Google Maps
Google Maps brings local search full circle to a versatile medium used by millions of Americans to navigate on a daily basis. This free Google resource makes your business and its location visible to anyone searching for your services in your local region.
While most local businesses claim their Google Business Profile (formally Google My Business or GMB) many still do not know how to optimize this profile effectively. Optimizing your GBP is a critical part of local SEO, especially given that a study by Backlinko determined that 42% of local searches involved interactions with the Google Map Pack.
Predictions for the Future of Local SEO
As the internet continues to mature, Local SEO will continue to be a powerful marketing strategy. That is unlikely to change in the coming future. With more customers relying on fast information and services, Local SEO is the perfect solution for the professional painting industry.
Home services will continue to benefit from this strategy as more social media and networking services become popular. We predict that mobile devices will also continue to dominate local business searches.
According to Statista, mobile devices account for more than 50% of all local inquiries today. Customers are more likely to call a business if their mobile experience is intuitive. Therefore, the need to optimize your painting website’s mobile interface has never been greater. This is particularly true on Google as the mobile experience now outweighs the desktop version of your website, becoming one of the most important search engine ranking factors.
We monitor and test Local SEO trends as Google continues to evolve its algorithm, implementing thousands of changes every year. What worked to get your website ranked yesterday may not work today. For the best results, find an SEO partner who keeps a close eye on these trends and adapts accordingly.
Don’t Fall Behind
Currently, 58% of local businesses do not invest in any Local SEO initiatives. Imagine the advantage you can have over the local competition by investing in this simple lead-generation strategy. The best way to implement this strategy is by finding an SEO agency familiar with your industry’s standards.
About the contributor
As founder of Base Coat Marketing, Austin is a data scientist and digital marketing expert with over a decade of lead generation experience within the professional painting industry.
