Updated on April 12, 2025. Originally published August 15, 2021.

Why Local SEO Is Vital To Your Home Service Company

Home service companies offer much-needed services for homeowners, but they join the ranks of hundreds of local businesses that do exactly the same thing. Competition is fierce, with many old-school companies depending mainly on word of mouth. This can be debilitating for businesses when local Google searches now make up a large portion of converted sales. 

We know… a marketing company recommending you invest in SEO, but we can’t stress this enough: You have to invest in SEO to make your home service company a success online. Word-of-mouth advertising isn’t what it used to be, and a large majority of consumers use the internet to find home service companies. If you aren’t investing in local SEO, we can guarantee your competition is and taking your customers with it.

Local SEO is a game-changer in a world of internet referrals and location finders. For your business to be on the map, local SEO tools need to be put into place. Having an easy-to-navigate website, a Google Business Profile account, and email/social media marketing is the starting point for local SEO. 

While you can begin to tackle this yourself, local SEO practices are constantly changing to fit new algorithms by Google. Employing a smart and efficient SEO marketing team to handle your home services marketing is key. An excellent SEO team will consistently implement strategies that will improve your rankings on Google and reach new customers. For your home service business, local SEO marketing is the most powerful way to grow your company, outrank competitors, generate traffic to your website, and increase your sales. 

What Does Local SEO Do?

1. Increases online visibility: A Google Business Profile account is your first and best way to reach local customers. A clean, simple website with effective calls to action will also give a great first impression to your customers.
2. Helps you outrank competitors: There’s a strong likelihood that your company has hundreds of competitors. If you can outrank them on Google, you’ll see massive results. 
3. Generates website traffic: Customers that visit your website are looking to employ a home service company. It’s been found that 80% of local searches on mobile convert into sales. 
4. Increases local sales: The more customers that can find your Google Business Profile account and website, the more sales you will receive. 

What’s Involved in Local SEO?

Google Business Profile

Imagine you’re looking for the best pizza in town. What do you do? Google it, right? Well, you’re not alone. Billions of people hop on Google daily to find answers to their questions, like where to get the crispiest pepperoni pizza. If your website is SEO-friendly, Google is more likely to give it a high-five and show it off to pizza lovers near you.

A Google Business Profile listing is one of the most crucial local SEO tools. When people look to find home service businesses, it’s been found that people now turn to Google over word of mouth. It’s easier to search for “garage door repair near me” on Google than to go around asking for recommendations. In fact, local SEO research has seen a 900% increase in near me searches. When customers search for a home service company near them, they want to find a business that shows their hours, location, and customer reviews.

A Google Business Profile will clearly display your business and the necessary information making your local home service company more credible. This is a quick and easy way for customers to decide who to give their business to. 

45% of Google searches are for local businesses, which means that a Google Business Profile holds a lot of weight in determining where consumers decide to go. It’s also been found that 97% of customers will go to the Internet to find local home services. Google will show 3 businesses under the pay-per-click ads, which are called the ‘local pack.’ Earning a spot in these top three by optimizing your Google Business Profile listing will increase your chances of getting the customers you need.

Now, let’s take a breath. All of these numbers can be a little scary. We understand the numbers and percentages are hard to keep up with as Google comes out with new updates often, so a local SEO company to help worry where it’s needed in helping a home service company earn more business is necessary for success. The bottom line? Having an operational and optimized Google Business Profile listing is vital to ensuring the success of your local business.

Web Design

If your website isn’t showing up on the first page of search results, it’s like having a party and forgetting to send out invites. Nobody will know it exists! SEO helps your site climb the search results ladder, making it more visible to people searching for your offer. It’s like putting a spotlight on your online presence, but it requires time and effort.

Web design is important because it may be the first impression customers have of your business. If your website is cluttered and hard to navigate, it will most likely deter customers from giving you their business and skyrocket your bounce rate. A clean website shows that a business puts effort into its appearance. With quality content and numerous calls to action, the chance of converting customers into sales climbs higher. 

It’s also important that a website’s page speed is high, as people won’t want to sit and wait for a page to load. Many customers use their phones to search, which means that your website must be mobile-friendly. If people can easily find the services they’re looking for on your website, they have a higher chance of giving you their business. 

Social Media Marketing

Social media and SEO are like peanut butter and jelly, a perfect combination. When your website gets some love on social platforms, it tells search engines that people find your content interesting and shareable. Local SEO turns that social interaction into search engine magic, boosting your website’s credibility and making it more likely to appear in search results.

In our technology world, social media can effectively reach customers. Having a social media manager who knows how to target the right audience can have a huge impact on local SEO marketing. Email marketing is another way to reach your target audience to show current promotions and sales. This allows you to keep previous customers while also targeting new ones. Blogging is another great way to go after specific keywords that reach people who are searching for certain services. Blogging on various topics can also expand your reach and improve your ranking on Google overall. 

5 Proven Local SEO Tactics

Keyword Research

Targeting specific keywords with web pages and blogs determines how the content will show up in Google. If you single out keywords for services and locations, it will find the people who are searching for them. One to two word keywords have staying power, if you are writing something punchy. Don’t let small keywords get caught up in the bulk of the rest of your content as your main keyword needs to be mentioned all throughout your page or blog.

Oftentimes, targeting long-tail keywords is an SEO strategy that has the ability to work well. Long-tail keywords are easier to rank for because they are much more specific and less common. Longer keywords, especially when written in the same order, are much more likely to be found when people are searching for those specific keywords.

Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are shown with your Google Business Profile account. If you have wonderful reviews, customers are more likely to take the word of previous clients and give you their business. It’s important that you encourage customers to leave reviews since it will increase organic traffic to your website. It is more likely that one negative review will float to the top above the rest, even if you have a majority of positive reviews.

Ask customers with existing reviews to add a photo and to expand on their experience. Longer reviews with a picture attached tend to rate better and longer for your Google Business Profile. You can even give your customers links for easy access to leave a review. Another easy way to improve your ranking is to consistently respond to reviews, even if they’re negative, because it will show you care about your customers and their experience. 

Citations

Citations come structured and unstructured, which can both benefit your business. Structured citations are formal directories where you can submit your business information. Unstructured citations give information on sites that aren’t directories, but are rather websites like blogs and articles. Your home service company can also invest in local business listings, which help spread your service information.

Backlinks

Backlinks are crucial to your website’s domain authority. Like citations, backlinks help spread information about your home service company across other websites to increase organic traffic. When another website includes a link back to your website, that is a successful backlink. This signals to search engines that your website contains relevant content that another website is vouching for. Many sites that offer this vital component for your home service company are free. It’s a popular local SEO solution, as it improves traffic to your website. 

Pay-Per-Click Ads

Pay-per-click ads put your website at the top of search results, which can greatly increase traffic to your website. Ranking your local home service company is what we’re all about! Pay-per-click ads do cost money, but you may find that they’re worth investing in depending on how aggressive the competition is in your area.

How Much Should You Spend on Marketing?

There is no one answer for every company when it comes to figuring out how much you should spend on marketing and local SEO. However, for our clients, we like to identify a few things before posing an answer to this question:

• How long have you been in business?
• Is your business financially healthy (gross and net)?
• How much money do you have saved?
• How competitive is your market?

These questions usually help us understand the situation a little better. If you haven’t been in business for long, you need to determine how fast you want to grow. Do you want to grow fast? 15% of your gross sales is an aggressive budget for marketing that can get you on your local business radar quickly. If you’re established, but still want to grow aggressively, a healthy budget should be 8 – 12% of your revenue. A modest budget for an established business would be between 6% and 8%.

However, our experts will work with you to find the right local SEO solutions that fit within your budget.

Local SEO Agency Near You in Atlanta, GA!

We help home service companies like you, near you! If you’re searching for a local SEO company that cares about your financial success, reach out to Markinuity. Our team is passionate about offering the best local SEO services that will skyrocket your home service business. We are accepting new clients eager to improve their business. Schedule your free consultation today!