SEO for Pest Control Businesses

Are you a pest control business looking to boost your online marketing presence? Look no further than SEO.
The way that consumers are looking for local services have changed. Once upon a time, consumers would observe and find the services that they need in the Yellow Pages. However, times have changed as over 95% of people find local businesses on Google search as opposed to every other method of finding a local business. With this in mind, having a high ranking on the search engine results page (SERP) will go a long way to get business to attract customers. To gain a large amount of quality web traffic for your business, you can implement search engine optimization (SEO).
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Is SEO worth it for my pest control business?

SEO will benefit your pest control business in multiple ways. Here are the main advantages to implementing SEO for your pest control business:
When trying to find a service, the majority of people open up Google search and type in the product or service that they need. What does this mean for your pest control business? To obtain more leads and customers, you will need to stand out on Google’s SERP. SEO does exactly this, as connecting relevant searches to your pest control services. For example, if a potential customer searched up “pest control services” on Google Search, you obviously want your pest control business to be among the top search results. With proper SEO implementation, your business will have a high SERP ranking and you will stand out to those that need immediate pest control services. This will increase your leads.
Compared to other advertising methods such as billboards and newspaper ads, SEO reaches people right when they need your services. These traditional methods are basically a shot in the dark, hoping that a consumer will see and require the service at the exact time of viewing. However, SEO reaches people when they search for pest control services. This means that you are significantly more likely to gain leads and sales, as you are making services available for the ideal opportunity.
In today’s day and age, the goal of businesses should be to rank high on Google’s SERP. To demonstrate how important it is to rank high, around 95% of all web traffic only go to the first results page and SEO has 20x the traffic potential when compared to pay-per-click (PPC). The higher your ranking, the more web traffic, leads and revenue that your business can generate. SEO keys in on this, increasing your online visibility in the process.
These are the main benefits to implementing SEO for your pest control business.

How can SEO be implemented for my pest control business?

There is a step-by-step process to implement SEO for a business:

1) Determining the best keywords (Keyword Research)

  • The first step in SEO is determining the best keywords that relate to your pest control services. Determine what keywords relate to your services, for example “exterminator”, “Bug removal” and “Pest control” are keywords/keyphrases that will be commonly searched when customers seek pest control services. After this, you can create a Google Ads account and use Google’s Keyword Planner to determine the best keywords in terms of competition and relevance.  
  • Once your keywords are narrowed down, you can group them into two different categories:
    • Buying Intent: this type of keyword refers to potential customers who are ready to make a purchase. For example, if someone searches “emergency pest control”, they likely require extermination services immediately. Buying intent keywords will provide your business with quick conversions, meaning that these keywords should be entered onto your homepage and service pages. You should prioritize these keywords for immediate conversions.
    • Research Intent: this type of keyword referring to people that are only “looking around”. They are unlikely to instantly purchase your services, but may be researching your services for a future purchase. For example, someone searching up “what is pest control” indicates that they may require pest control services in the future. Research Intent keywords are not as key as buying intent, but they can be useful for company blogs. Using research intent keywords in blogs will allow customers to discover the benefits of your services, so that they can make a future purchase. 

2) Keyword Optimization

  • Now that you have gathered a list of keywords, you can begin to optimize them on your Google My Business (GMB) page and your website.

Google My Business (GMB)

  • Your GMB page is a listing that appears in the “Map” area among the Google local business results. The listing displays a general idea of the company and simply having a GMB listing can improve your SEO. When compared to a website, it is much easier to boost your GMB listing rankings over your website SERP ranking. 
  • Your GMB Listing should have the following sections filled out:
    • Verification: for your listing to be active, you must claim and verify your business. Once verified, you will see a checkmark and “verified” next to your company name.
    • NAP: Checking if your NAP (Name, address, phone number) is correct on your listing is obviously important. It is best to use a local phone over other phone number types. 
    • Categories: adding 3 to 5 business categories for your listing will make it easier for customers to find your services. For example, you could choose “Bug Removal Service”, as one of the services that you provide.
    • Description: your description should consist of 100 to 200 words that demonstrates a simple overview of your company. It should include the name of your company, your services, your city, what separates you from other pest control businesses and a call-to-action such as a phone number. 
    • Hours: Your hours of operation should remain the same throughout the internet, they should be updated regularly.
    • Images: Adding photos of your team and your services in action can go a long way in luring in customers to purchase your services. Your images should be high-quality and should be less than 5MB.

Optimizing your website

  • Your website’s homepage and service pages should be optimized based on your buying intent keywords. Meanwhile, your content pages such as your blogs, should be optimized with research intent keywords. Here is a overview of how your web pages should look: 
  • Homepage: Your homepage should consist of a couple of different elements. 
    • The most essential of these elements is your title tag. Your title tag should indicate your industry and the name of your business. For example, “Toronto Pest Control Service | {Business Name}” would be a strong title tag (tag should be 50 to 65 characters long). 
    • The next important element is your meta description which should indicate your main services and it should have a suitable call-to-action. For example, “{Business Name} will provide you with the best pest control and bug removal services in Toronto. Call us today at {Phone Number} for a free service. 
    • Another element on your homepage is your headline. Your H1 tag (aka your visible headline) should indicate your primary category in a concise way. For example, “Pest Control service in Toronto” would be a strong headline. 
    • Finally, the last major element is your page copy. Your page copy is a larger overview of your company which should provide background information, your main services and an effective call-to-action. Your page copy should be 500-1000 words in length and the content should be informative and easy to read for web users.
  • Service Pages: To highlight each of your services, you will need to create a page highlighting each of your individual services. Each service page should also highlight your buying intent keywords.

3) Obtaining citations and Links

  • In completing the first two steps, your local SEO campaign is now ready to move to the next step, which is to obtain citations and links. Citations and links will boost your Google rankings while demonstrating your business reliability to consumers. 
    • Citations: A citation is a business listing that contains the business NAP in an online directory. There are many different types of online directories such as 411 and Yelp which are national directories. You can also find local and industry-specific directories to add to your business. Most directories are free of charge, however, some may have a price. 
    • Links: Having a variety of strong inbound links on your website will boost your Google rankings. You may be wondering, what makes a strong link? Strong links have well-written content that offers valuable information. The obtain links, you can connect with businesses online or in-person and inquire if they are available to trade links.
seo for pest control companies

Optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) listing and your website will improve SERP ranking.

4) Gather Reviews

  • Getting a large quantity of high-quality reviews takes care of two birds with one stone. Not only will positive reviews demonstrate that your business is reliable to web users, it will also boost your search ranking. To get as many reviews as possible, you can request for regular customers to leave a review of your business. As a result, you can gain many positive reviews that will boost your Google ranking.

5) Monitoring your results

  • Now that your SEO campaign is up and running, you can track your results and determine where you can make improvements.  In terms of results, the most important components that you should track include:
    • Rankings: to track how your website ranks among its competitors, you will need to use a ranking tool. For example, Google Search Console is a free tool that can be used to track your ranking from month to month. 
    • Traffic: To determine the quality and specifics of your web traffic, you can use a tool such as Google Analytics. With a tool such as Analytics, you can determine how strong each of your web pages are in terms of engaging your web traffic and which web pages will need to be improved. 
    • Conversions: A conversion is a certain action that you want your web visitors to take. For example, signing up for blog updates or getting a customer to press the “Call us today!” button on your website are both examples of conversions. To track conversions you can use a software such as Google Analytics and determine which of your web pages have the best conversion rates.
  • These are the 5 major steps in implementing SEO for your pest control business.

Want SEO Optimization for your pest control business?

Now that you have a better understanding of how SEO can benefit your pest control business, we recommend that you contact 23e2 Digital Marketing. 23e2 Digital will provide you with the best SEO practices for your pest control business. We also urge you to contact us, if you have any questions about SEO or our services.
Ready to start your new project but have a few questions? We are here to discuss.