By Chris Keenan on August 9, 2017
We spoke earlier about why keyword research is important to your pest control operations, but we wanted to dig a little deeper as to how you can complete the research itself.
Keyword research is more than just finding a keyword such as “rat” or “rodent” and placing it in a keyword generator. If it were that easy, then many would just do that themselves and there would be no need to hire marketers.
Alas, it is a bit more involved than that, but we wanted to provide the basic steps behind each part of the process to finding the right keywords for your local pest control business’s website.
What is your goal for your pest control operations? Do you want to make a monthly goal of 30 customers homes treated? 300 customers homes treated? Once you understand what your goal is, you can then start to plan your keywords around the business you want.
How do keywords reflect business? Well, providing keywords such as Same Day Service or Free Inspection may net you more clients than another pest control business who does not offer these perks. Having phrases that coincide with your business goals or offer ways to get more customers in your schedule every day can help you start to formulate your business plan.
Once you have an idea of what keywords you want to drive business, you also have to find keywords about what exactly it is you do. Words such as Pest Control and Exterminator are starters. You also want to add in the pests you cover as a starting point.
After the first two steps, you may think this is a breeze, but the deeper dive begins next.
There isn’t a shortage of pest controllers in any given area because pests are a problem everywhere. Having words such as Pest Control and Exterminator does not really pan out great for anyone because the competition is too high. Having the pest names does not help much either. This is where deep dives into keywords begin. You have to take the most basic keyword and turn it into a long-tail keyword.
What’s a long-tail keyword? It’s just a keyword that makes a broader term more specific. Take the phrase Pest Control, for example, adding Texas Pest Control Company makes it a bit more specific, but still could be better. Taking the word Cockroach and adding Control or Extermination next to it is also a step in the right direction, but you should go a bit deeper. A good example of a very micro long-tail keyword could be Midland Cockroach Control because now you are down to a city and the service they need.
After this, you want to play around with the service portion, so Midland Cockroach Control also could be Midland Cockroach Extermination or Kill Cockroaches Midland. You need to find a way to say the same thing in multiple ways.
Now that you have taken the basic steps to finding the right key phrases to have on your website, now it is time to place them in a way that does not seem forced. Google knows when you keyword stuff or just place all the keywords in there without it making much sense.
Taking the time to find the top three phrases based on your keyword research that people are searching for and then incorporating them into your web pages will benefit your pest control company and ensure you are rewarded by Google for having quality content. Remember, write for your audience, not for search engines.
Chris Keenan WeGetLeads.com
Chris Keenan is President of WeGetLeads.com, a search marketing and lead generation provider. He has over 10 years experience marketing and consulting for local businesses.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/wegetleads/