SEO for Service Providers (Rank Higher In Search)
SEO is just an SOP.
There, I said what I said.
If you’re a service provider and small business owner, you already have more than enough on your plate.
I get it, and I’m guessing SEO (search engine optimization) isn’t your first choice of tasks to tackle. In fact, you may think you’d rather donate a kidney. 😉
My goal for this post though is show you that while SEO may sound intimidating, it’s actually quite easy.
Why is it easy? Because like I said, SEO is just a series of steps you take to help your site get discovered by search engines. Like an SOP.
And once you get used to doing the steps, it becomes second nature. A habit.
So think of SEO as an SOP for ranking in Google. That’s really all it is. 😊 Now let’s check it out together and get you ranking higher in Google.
What Is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a set of practices designed to improve a website’s rankings and visibility in Google, Bing, and other search engines.
According to SEO expert Neil Patel, “SEO is the process of taking steps to help a website or piece of content rank higher on Google.”
This is the purpose behind SEO. When Google crawls your site, it’s trying to determine what your site and pages are about. Then when someone types in a particular search, Google offers up the best solution based on the language of that search along with other factors such as location, past search history, etc.
So service providers who can leverage SEO will be able to drive growth and visibility and have an edge on their competition.
Keywords for service providers
Keywords are the words and phrases that people type into search engines to find what they're looking for.
Step one for SEO is to define what keywords you want your website to rank for. Your service provider business has keywords that your ideal clients will use when searching for your services.
For instance, interior designers might focus on terms like “luxury interior design” or “eco-friendly home decor,” while accountants may target “small business accounting services” or “tax consultant for freelancers.”
If you’re targeting local clients, including the location(s) you serve is key.
Tucson financial advisors
Pasadena architects
The best advice for figuring out your keywords is to think of the words and phrases your ideal clients would use.
Avoid jargony, industry-specific or technical terms unless you’re trying to get the attention of other industry insiders.
The better you’re able to rank for keywords that align with your ideal clients’ searches, the more quality traffic your website will get.
This is SEO in a nutshell. 🥜
Free keyword research tools for service providers
There are some great free resources for keyword research: One of the best is Google search itself.
Google search - drop down list + “people also ask”
Type in your search, hit return, then click inside the search bar itself to display a drop-down list of related searches. “People also ask” shows related searches but isn’t appearing as often as it used to.
This screenshot shows my search for “Napa estate attorneys” and the drop-down list of related searches. It also shows “People also ask” which shows additional popular related searches.
Google Trends for service provider businesses
Google Trends shows how many searches there are for a specific keyword within a set timeframe. It’s especially helpful because you can compare different keywords.
I use Google trends for more general, macro searches. It also provides some geographical data and related search terms.
Answer Socrates
Answer Socrates is a free tool to discover common queries people are asking. Type in questions relevant to your services and see what comes up.
Find common keywords to target or find topics people want to know more about and write a blog post about them.
Use Answer Socrates to find questions people are asking on Google about for free.
[Need help drilling down on who exactly you want to work with so you can better figure out what they want to know about? Get my workbook dedicated to defining your Ideal Client Avatar]
Longtail keywords for service providers
What’s a longtail keyword? Its a phrase with 3 or more words.
Longtail keywords are targeted, less competitive, and have lower search volumes than shorter keywords, but they often attract more qualified traffic that’s closer to making a purchasing decision.
Yes! This is exactly what we want to target!
By creating content for your service business that incorporates longtail keywords, you have a better chance of ranking in search for those keywords.
For example, instead of targeting a broad term like "primary care," a longtail keyword would be "female primary care providers in Atlanta."
The specificity helps service businesses attract a more focused audience who are probably searching for exactly what they offer.
According to search guru Brian Dean of Backlinko, now Hubspot, 92% of all search queries are long-tailed keywords. (Backlinko via Hubspot)
According to SEO software Moz, longtail keywords are valuable for businesses looking to rank in their niche or local area because they are less competitive and have a higher conversion rate than more generic keywords.
Longtail keywords are great at capturing your ideal clients’ search intent, especially for for niche or specialized services, so go after those longtail keywords!
SEO Strategies
Now that we’ve defined basic SEO terms, let’s get into how we can implement SEO to attract traffic to your website.
Write A Clear Homepage Headline
Your homepage is often the first page visitors will see, and you know the saying - you only get one chance to make a first impression. So your homepage needs to clearly state who you are and what you’re about.
Google is trying to replicate a user experience as best it can through it’s crawling. Google assumes that if it can’t understand exactly what you do, then site visitors will also be confused.
If search engines are able to understand what your particular design business is all about, then you will be rewarded by being more easily discoverable when your ICA (ideal client avatar/community) searches for you.
So if you specialize in kitchens and baths, make that clear. If your passion is historic home renovation, make it clear. Do not rely on just your imagery to do that job for you (more on imagery below.)
Help Google help your service business!
In other words, whether it’s your website or your social profiles, you need to immediately communicate your brand message. Otherwise, visitors might be confused about what services you offer. (Hint, your headline should include some of your longtail keywords.)
Heading Hierarchy & Keywords
Search engines assign your website headings and body text an SEO hierarchy. Visually, Title tags (blog post titles for example) and H1 headings are the largest and get the most SEO juice.
Search engines give the most weight to Title Tags, then H1 headers, then H2 headers, H3 headers, etc. down the line.
A tag in html is basically formatting that provides the directions for visual content you see on the web. For reference, the underlying html code for a title would be written as <title>THIS IS MY TITLE</title>
H1 - SEO For Service Providers
H2 - SEO For Service Providers
H3 - SEO For Service Providers
H4 - SEO For Service Providers
Paragraph 1 - SEO For Service Providers
Paragraph 2 - SEO For Service Providers
Paragraph 3 - SEO For Service Providers
HEADING BEST PRACTICES:
Include the page’s primary keyword in your headings
Don’t “keyword stuff” your headers. Keyword stuffing is using your keywords excessively for SEO purposes. Web crawlers can pick up on this if done a lot over time and penalize a site for it.
Optimizing imagery for SEO
SEO is all about getting eyeballs on your services so ideal clients then inquire about working together or make a purchase. This doesn’t just mean your headings and body text, it also includes your images.
Each image on your site can contribute toward your SEO ranking, but only if you take the time to optimize it. Google can’t “read” images well (yet), so help Google help your service business by optimizing them.
IMAGE OPTIMIZATION BEST PRACTICES:
Use the right file format -JPEG for larger photos or illustrations and PNG for graphics with fewer than 16 colors
image file size - Compress images to reduce file size without losing quality. I usually use a free tool like TinyPNG for this
Image file name - Use descriptive, keyword-rich file names instead of generic names like "image237FINALFINAL.jpg (you know you’ve been there 😆)
Image alt text - help search engines understand the image content, especially for text-heavy images like infographics. Include relevant keywords.
Mobile responsive - make sure your images are responsive, meaning they adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions. This improves user experience and contributes positively to SEO rankings. Website builders like Squarespace do this automatically, but always double check.
Your service business images can also rank in search
One more point: in addition to helping your overall SEO, the images themselves can rank in search. And according to Moz, 1/3 of all Google searches are for an image. (Moz via Hubspot).
I can attest. I optimize all of my images, and so many of them pop up on page 1 of Google because of it! So especially if you’re in a visual / creative business, make sure your imagery has names and descriptions.
Boost your service provider website in search by taking time to optimize the images on your website.
Service provider blogging
Want more visitors to your website? Of course! What’s one of the very best ways to do it? Blogging!
Blogging is an exceptionally powerful tool for SEO, particularly for service providers who want to boost their visibility, and even more so for service providers looking to rank in local search.
Here’s a secret - ranking for non-local keywords often isn’t that difficult with consistent and strategic effort.
I’ve hit page 2 of Google in under 3 weeks and page one not long after for non-local (worldwide) search
And ranking in local search usually isn’t difficult with some consistent effort and strategic keywording:
If you’re a local service provider, blogging about your services while including references to the locations you serve can be search engine gold.
Blogging about your services as they relate to your community, local events, news, or industry-specific tips can help capture local search queries specific to their geographic area.
Each blog post is an opportunity to include local keywords that potential clients might use when searching for services nearby, such as “home renovation services in Portland” or “Miami tax advisory for small businesses.”
Again, search engine gold.
ChatGPT and blog posts
The truth of the matter is, if you regularly publish fresh, high-quality, keyword-rich content, you can significantly boost your service businesses rankings, locally or worldwide. What this doesn’t mean is a generic blog post copy/paste out of ChatGPT.
ChatGPT can get you going for sure, but YOU are the special sauce, and Google is quite skilled at telling the difference.
Want to know more about blogging for your service business? I do the deep dive in these posts:
Backlinks
An added SEO benefit of writing a quality blog post is that it can generate backlinks for your site.
Backlinks are a link from someone else’s site to your own. Backlinks occur when someone thinks so highly of your content they link it to content of their own as a reference.
Think of backlinks as endorsements from one site to another.
For example, when I write posts like Best Indoor Plants For Beginners on my home and garden blog, I link to research produced by university horticulture departments with scientific data about how best to grow them. (My undergrad degree is plant science in case that one came out of left field. 😉)
What I don’t do is reference another house plant blog post that appears to have just regurgitated content from yet another house plant blog post.
[BTW - by linking to my post above rather than just typing the title, I’ve created another backlink for my blog, Greenhouse Studio. Like how I did that?]
If you write quality blog posts, you will find that sometimes people will link to your post as a reference. Backlinks serve as a vote of confidence about your content from other websites and Google picks up on those vibes and rewards you for it.
Internal Links
Internal links are links on your website that lead to other related content on your site. They help boost your ranking for two main reasons:
Internal links help Google to understand that your content is intertwined and related - one part of a larger body of work.
Internal links also make navigation easier for users, encouraging them to spend more time exploring your services.
In the previous section, I linked to a few Scale Studio blog posts. It wasn’t random. I’m trying to create the best user experience by providing additional information on a related subject and hopefully Google will take note also.
URL Slugs
What the heck’s a URL slug? (Not a garden pest!) A URL slug is the exact address of a specific page or collection item on your website.
Your URL is your unique website page address. For example, the URL for this page is: scalestudio.co/blog/seo-service-providers
The slug is the part that changes depending on what page you’re on, and it always follows your domain.
My domain is: scalestudio.co
The slug is: seo-service-providers
Your slugs factor into SEO. They aren’t a major component, but we want to optimize all we can.
Slugs should be both short and descriptive. 3-5 keywords for your blog post URL Slug is a best practice.
For primary pages (About, Services etc) I don’t insert keywords into the slugs to keep them concise.
SEO for service providers: conclusion
Quality content is designed to meet the needs and answer the questions of your target audience, making it more likely to be shared, increasing visibility and backlink opportunities.
Bill Gates famously said “Content is king” and he was right. Why? Because Google rewards webpages that satisfy the needs of the searcher.
I do prefer my version though which is “Quality content is queen.” :) 👑
Search engines continue to refine their algorithms to prioritize user experience, but the importance crafting top-tier content stays consistent.
So implement these SEO strategies on your service business website and let it marinate. Add new content, update old content, and with a little patience and time, leads and purchases will happen.
If you have any questions or comments, please drop me a note below. Be sure to check back for my response (I always respond) since no notification is sent.
