When I am out and about at networking events and meetings, I often say that service area businesses are always a good fit. It then dawned on me that many people might not realize what I mean. Therefore in this post, we will dive into what is a service area business and how search engine optimization (SEO) can help you show up higher on the search engine results pages.
What is a Service Area Business?
While many local businesses often share a common audience based on their location and proximity, they can have drastically different requirements when it comes to SEO, more specifically Local SEO.
Local businesses can be loosely broken down into two categories, “brick-and-mortar” businesses and service area businesses (SABs).
A “brick-and-mortar” small business is one in which your customers or clients come to you. This may include restaurants and bars, coffee shops, retail stores, eye doctors, hair salons, chiropractors, medical practices, lawyers, and vets, to name a few.
Rank Ranger defines SABs as “professionals and tradesmen that go out to customers and provide a service, but they don’t have a storefront…” The Google Business Profile help documentation defines them as “a business that visits or delivers to customers directly, but doesn’t serve customers at their business address.”
The bottom line is any business or professional that comes to your home or business and does the work. These typically include plumbers, residential and commercial cleaning services, fence installers, general contractors, pest control professionals, residential and commercial security systems, crane rental, moving services, residential and commercial painters, roofers, electricians, locksmiths, garage door contractors, HVAC providers, etc. Typically, these businesses will serve a large geographic area that extends far beyond their primary address or location.
What Are the Differences Between Local Search Services and Products for Service-Area Businesses?
No Address, No Listings?
The lack of a publishable address is the primary distinction between service-area businesses and other local “brick-and-mortar” businesses. As SEO professionals, we at Cube Creative Design frequently emphasize that with local SEO, you must have an accurate and consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number). This will help you be consistently shown across various relevant business listings, a critical part of your online visibility.
Ranking Outside Your Immediate Area
Businesses in the same industry and location often compete for the same clientele. Two hotels nearby, two dueling piano bars in the same city or two hair salons on the same road will target the same audience, be they visitors to the area or locals.
These businesses will most likely be targeting the same localized keywords in their digital marketing: phrases like “hotels near me,” “dueling piano bars Asheville,” and, if the search engine knows the searcher’s location, simply “hair salon.”
Things are different for service-area businesses. Since their clients don’t travel to them, the need to base search requirements on the proximity of searchers to business locations is a moot point.
Therefore, more weight gets put on the other important aspects of local search rankings: prominence and relevance. While Google has some information about the area served by the business, it’ll be much more inclined to rank service-area businesses with great reviews and an outstanding reputation.
After all, if I’m planning to invite someone into my home, such as a pest control company or residential cleaning service, I’m far less interested in how far they’ve had to drive to get to my house. I will be more concerned with how many satisfied customers they’ve served and, ultimately, can I trust them to be in my home.
There are numerous tips and tricks to help you rank for a bigger geographical area, but starting with excellent reputation management is a good move.
Local Services Ads
Local Services Ads is a listing type that sits atop Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and provides reputation and service information prominently for the searcher. These ads can be a great supplement to the local SEO strategy for specific industries such as:
- Appliance repair services
- Carpenters
- Electricians
- Fencing services
- Flooring services
- Garage door services
- General contractor
- Handyman
- Home inspector
- Home security
- House cleaning services
- HVAC (heating or air conditioning)
- Landscaping services
- Lawn care services
- Lawyers
- Locksmiths
- Moving services
- Pest control services
- Plumbers
- Pool contractor
- Tax services
- Tutor
See Google’s Local Services Help documentation page for a more comprehensive list.
How Local Service Ads Work
When a search engine user enters a local search query, such as “Asheville Moving Services,” they may see several Google verified and trusted professionals in their area positioned right above the traditional paid search ads. These ads show the business’s name, ratings, reviews, Google Guaranteed or Google Screened, location, phone number, and hours.
These ads go one step further than Google Ads to ensure they're connecting searchers to the right advertiser.
Advertisers Pay per Lead and Not Click!
Google says that one of the benefits of Local Service Ads is that you “pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer.” In other words, you don't have to deal with the pain of paying for an accidental click, a click that doesn't convert or just isn't a good fit.
How Can SEO Help Your Service Area Business Get Found Online
More importantly, SEO and Local SEO specifically can help your service area business get found organically on the SERPs.
1. Reach More Clients
Marketing your service area business is at the core of local SEO. As a result, the most significant advantage of doing it well is gaining more clients. The primary purpose of local SEO for service area businesses is to boost your rankings on the SERPs.
2. Improve Conversion Rates
Local SEO for service-area businesses is vital to increasing conversion rates. This is primarily because SEO attracts relevant visitors interested in your skills and services. As a result, the chance for sales grows, resulting in a higher conversion rate.
3. Bypass Your Competition
Consider two general contractors who both serve the same geographical area and have extensive home remodeling experience. However, one has a well-optimized local SEO presence, and the other relies solely on traditional marketing efforts. Which do you believe clients will gravitate toward in this age of digital connectivity?
Proper SEO efforts enable your service area business to gain a long-term competitive edge, propelling it well ahead of the competition.
4. Reduce Acquisition Costs
A significant advantage of local SEO plans that are customized for service area businesses is that it is relatively cost-effective compared to other marketing efforts.
5. Achieve Long-Lasting Rankings
Unlike traditional marketing, where advertisements have a limited influence, SEO results are long-lasting. While you must keep all of your information up to date to maximize your local SEO, once you rank in the SERPs, you will likely stay there for a long time.
Though it is not always guaranteed, you will attain long-term search engine rankings if you maintain your efforts.
6. Continuous Business Growth
Local SEO efforts are always focused on increasing traffic while improving search engine results. As a result, sales and marketing leads improve. Improved sales attract more interested clients, resulting in a self-sustaining business growth cycle.
So, if you want to expand your small business, investing time and resources in local SEO measures is a critical success factor.
7. Local SEO Results Are Measurable
Data is king, and having accurate information and analyzing it to gain new insights are two essential strategies to take your service area business to the next level. Local SEO for small businesses gathers vital information about how your website is functioning and offers you a clear picture of how you can improve.
As a result, SEO offers you measurable data that can improve your bottom line.
8. Create and/or Claim Your Google Business Profile Listing
One of the first things I ask a business owner when they contact me about engaging in our services is do you have your Google Business Profile (GBP) listing claimed and optimized. I ask this because Google is often thought of as the gatekeeper to the internet, and if that is true, then your GBP is the digital front door. I believe this is so crucial to any small business that I will help you set it up or optimize it for FREE.
9. Optimize Your Homepage
Make sure that your keywords and keyword phrases are targeting your primary category. While it doesn’t have to match exactly, it should be close. Also, include geo-specific keywords that will allow you to target the city or area your business resides in and services.
10. Dedicated Service Pages
You should have a dedicated page for each and every service your business offers. Doing so allows you to target the corresponding keywords and phrases for each service offering at a local level. I often tell prospects and clients alike that Google is always hungry for content, and the more content and more pages you can feed it, the better off you are.
11. Geo Landing Pages
I have found that for our clients who travel to their clientele, having the geo landing pages or local landing pages helps Google understand what they do and where they do it. Much like your dedicated service page, you want to focus on a single service you offer and where you offer it. Including information about the area and surrounding areas, if possible, helps. Anything you can do to help Google understand more, the better off you are.
Conclusion
As you have probably realized, there are many quirks regarding service-area businesses and being successful in Local SEO.
Cube Creative Design is always here to help ensure your success. If you ever find that trying to manage your Local SEO campaign is just overwhelming, we are experts at helping local North Carolina service area businesses.
