Local SEO for service-area businesses

Getting noticed as a service area business on Google is challenging. There are several areas that Google is improving on in local search, and unfortunately, service businesses are not one of them. The problems stem from the fact that Google My Business uses a trimodal algorithm that looks at three factors: relevance, prominence, and proximity. The problem for service-area businesses is that they might be outside of the city and require a level of prominence that most do not have to get noticed. However, there are some ways to make the most of the situation. Here are some tactics:

Ratings

Invest a lot of time and effort into getting ratings that are relevant to the location you are targeting. Doing so is a form of link building, except that you want listings in business directories in that city. Also, you want to get as many (positive) reviews as possible that mention the city. When you build out the ratings and links, be careful that you don’t appear to be spamming these sites.

Website

Build a well-optimized website that has landing pages catering to every city that you operate. You will need lots of unique content that is relevant to those areas on every city page. Studies show that location-specific landing pages that have lots of content rank well.

Reviews

When you get reviews on your site, make sure they appear on the specific city pages and mention the locations by name. Reviews are extremely useful as both social proof and in ranking location specific pages.