You want more local exposure on Google. 

You want to remain competitive with other electrical businesses in the area.

You want to increase your leads and phone calls on a consistent basis that an ad campaign can’t provide.

SEO is your solution.

If you don’t know what SEO is, don’t worry. We are going to break down everything there is to know about electrician SEO and how to leverage it to increase your phone calls, leads, and local visibility on Google in this guide.

What Is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a set of techniques designed to favor Google’s algorithm to improve your digital presence and ranking performance in the search engine results pages organically.

The more visibility you have on Google (especially when you rank in the top three search results), the more likely users will click on your business’s website and potentially convert into customers.

Unlike other marketing strategies for electrical businesses, such as paid advertising, SEO is a long-term strategy. An effective SEO campaign may take three to six months to gain traction but once you rank at the top of the results page, you could potentially continue to rank there for years to come. 

As an electrical business that services local clientele, you want to focus on formulating a local SEO strategy. Let’s dive into that a little deeper below.

What Is Local SEO?

Whereas SEO is an all-encompassing practice for national businesses, Local SEO strategies hone in on increasing your digital presence and ranking performance for localized search queries.

As an electrical business, you want to show up in the top-performing page results for keywords like:

• Electrician near me
• Electrical contractor near me
• Best electrician in [city]
• [city] electrical business; 
• And dozens of other local keyword variations your target audience is searching for on Google

Local SEO strategies that can help improve your ranking performance for keywords like these include:

• Google Business Profile optimization
• On-page SEO, such as building out location pages
• Increasing Google Business Reviews organically
• And more

We will talk about these strategies and how to implement them in detail below.

What Is the Goal of Local SEO for Electricians?

The goal of local SEO is simple — it’s meant to help increase your phone calls, leads, and sales.

But how do you effectively implement local SEO strategies to reap outcomes like these?

Let’s start with the basics.

When Your Target Audience Searches for Keywords Like ‘Electrician Near Me,’ Here’s What Shows Up

Imagine you're a customer that needs electrical services for your home. How would you go about acquiring an electrician? 

In today’s digital age, you’d likely pull out your smartphone and type something like “electrician near me” into Google. 

The first thing that pops up is the Google Local Pack. Here’s an example of what the Google Local Pack looks like:

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The Google Local pack is a highly coveted ranking position for any local business. Only three businesses are featured here at a time. And most importantly, 50% of users typing in localized search queries will click on one of the three businesses listed here.

The Google Local Pack generates 93% of local search queries typed into Google, so putting effort into increasing your opportunity to rank in the Google Local pack for valuable localized keywords in your industry is highly lucrative.

How to Rank in Google Local Pack

Let’s go through some basic requirements and strategies for ranking in the Google Local Pack.

Create a Free Google Business Profile

First thing’s first —you must have a Google Business Profile to rank in the Google Local Pack. 

A Google Business Profile is a free listing tool that allows you to show up on Google platforms such as the search engine results page and Google Maps. These listings feature important information about your business, such as:

• Your address and contact information
• Your service areas
• Hours of operation
• Services and products you offer
• Reviews from customers
• And more

Here’s an example of what a Google Business Profile looks like on Google:

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Creating a Google Business Profile is just the first step in potentially ranking in the Google Local Pack for valuable, localized keywords. You need to optimize your profile to maximize your visibility. 

Google provides some tips on how to improve your local ranking performance. Let’s go through some of these tips in detail.

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Be as Descriptive as Possible

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Above all else, Google values user experience. Because of this, providing detailed, comprehensive information is critical. 

There are ample opportunities to provide comprehensive information on a Google Business Profile. Some areas to focus on include: 

• Maximizing the 750-character limit for your business description to provide as much information about your business as possible. How long has your electrical business been operating? What sets you apart from other electrical businesses? You can also infuse some local keywords into your copy for optimization.
• Adding as many relevant categories, service areas, and service/products as possible
• Adding as many photos and videos featuring your business and services as possible
• Adding any relevant attributes. Is your business woman-owned? Do you offer online quotes? Are appointments required? 

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Add Service Areas

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As an electrical business, you likely service multiple locations and cities. You can list up to 20 service areas on your Google Business Profile. 

Adding service areas to your Google Business Profile allows you to rank for localized keywords in multiple cities you service. For example, let’s say you’re an electrical business that services multiple cities in the panhandle. You want to rank on Google for keywords like: 

• Electrician Destin FL
• Electrical business Fort Walton Beach FL
• Electrical contractor Navarre FL
• And multiple keyword variations involving these locations

You must add service areas to your Google Business Profile to rank well for multiple locations.

It can be tempting to max out on adding service areas to your Google Business Profile but make sure you are only adding service areas that you are willing to drive to for jobs.

Add Services/Categories

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When it comes to categories and services, you want to be as comprehensive as possible. 

Google provides specific categories for businesses to choose from based on relevancy. As an electrician, your primary category is an obvious choice — Electrician. “Electrical engineer” is another category that you can add as secondary.

When it comes to listing services, you can add and customize your own services.

Some services you may offer as an electrician include: 

• Ceiling Fan Installation
• Lighting Design and Maintenance
• Track and Accent Lighting
• Security and Landscape Lighting
• Circuit Breakers and Fuses
• Circuit Breaker Panel Replacement
• Hot Tubs and Spas Power
• High-Tech Troubleshooting
• Surge Protection
• And more

Google allows you to create a description for each service that you add to your listing. Remember, Google values comprehensiveness, so this is your time to shine!

Adding services can increase your chances of ranking for local searches that are service-based. 

For example, if you include “Spa & Hot Tub Wiring” as a service on your Google Business Profile, you could rank above competitors who don’t include this service on their profile in the Google Local Pack and search engine page results.

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Make Sure Your Name, Address, and Phone Number Are Consistent With Your Website

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One thing that Google looks for when it comes to websites and Google Business Profiles is NAP (name, address, phone number) consistency. 

Google wants to provide a high-quality experience to users, including sending them to sites and Google Business Profiles that are legit and trustworthy. 

Google wants to know that you are who you say you are, and one way to prove that is to ensure your business name, address, and phone number are consistent across the web, including:

• Your website
• Your Google Business Profile; and
• Local search directories and third-party review sites

Get Frequent, Consistent Google Reviews — And Respond to Them

Now more than ever, Google Reviews play a critical role in visibility and ranking performance for local businesses, thanks to a Google Core Update released in December, 2021.

The frequency, quality, and number of reviews you have associated with your Google Business Profile can play a role in your ability to rank in the Google Local Pack.

Why are reviews important? Because they build trust. 

Think of it this way: 

You’re looking for an electrician in your area to install some lighting in your home. You search “electrician near me” on Google and three businesses pop up in the Google Local Pack. 

Business #1 has 67 reviews with an average rating of 3.7

Business #2 has 86 reviews with an average rating of 5.0.

Business #3 has 29 reviews with a 5.0 rating.

Which business did you click on? Probably business #2! 

This is why it’s so important to ask happy customers to leave a review on your Google Business Profile. You can even create small cards or flyers with a QR code and instructions on how to leave a review to help encourage your customers to help you out.

4 Tips on How to Rank in the Search Engine Results Pages

Now that we’ve discussed some strategies to improve your ranking performance in the Google Local Pack, let’s talk about where the other 50% of users typing in local search queries are clicking on results — the search engine results page (SERPs).

#1: Create Location Pages to Target Location-Based Keywords for Each of Your Service Areas

To rank in the SERPs for keywords for multiple locations, it’s a good idea to create location pages for each city that you service. 

This allows you to provide comprehensive, hyper-focused content that is optimized with local keywords your target audience is searching for. And since Google loves comprehensiveness, creating location pages can impact your ranking performance in the SERPs.

Some information to include on your location pages is:

• Information specific to the location: This includes information like the type of services you offer in that specific area and frequently asked questions.
• Information that builds trust: This includes local awards and recognition you may have received, reviews/testimonials from customers in the area, and more
• Information that provokes action: This includes call to actions such as form submissions, appointment calendars, and phone numbers.

#2: Create Service Pages to Ensure Google (and Users) Know What You Do

Keep in mind that users also type in location-based queries around specific services like: 

• Lighting installation [city]
• Hot tub electrical wiring [city]
• Ceiling fan installation near me
• Etc

Creating individual service pages optimized for local keywords can help increase your chances of ranking at the top of the SERPs for service-based queries.

Some information to include on your service area pages include:

• Details about the services your offer
• Pricing
• How to schedule an appointment for service
• What to expect on the service date
• Frequently asked questions
• Reviews specific to the service
• And more

#3 Optimize Your Website With Technical SEO

Let’s get into the weeds with technical SEO. Technical SEO focuses on the “behind the scenes” aspect of your website. Some tasks involved with implementing technical SEO best practices are:

• Ensuring your website is secured with an SSL certificate
• Ensuring your site is mobile friendly
• Boosting your website’s page speed
• Ensuring your site has proper site architecture
• Creating a sitemap

While important for local visibility, and ranking performance, technical SEO is very, well… technical. Outsourcing technical SEO to a reputable SEO agency is an excellent idea so you can focus more on growing your business and not pulling your hair out trying to learn how to code.

#4: Create a Blog Content Strategy That Drives Traffic

Aside from localized search queries, your target audience is also searching for long-tail queries, like: 

• How much does it cost to install a ceiling fan?
• How do you hook up a hot tub?
• How do you change a fuse in a fuse box?
• Etc

How do you rank locally for keywords like these? You create comprehensive, killer blog content dedicated to answering these questions.

An effective blog content strategy actually does three things:

1. It allows you to rank well for keywords your target audience is searching for near you, which can potentially lead to conversions.
2. It increases the overall organic traffic to your website.
3. And most importantly, it can increase your site authority.

What is site authority? It’s basically a metric of how trustworthy Google views your website. 

The bigger your site authority, the easier it is to rank for local keywords in the SERPs AND Google Local Pack.

One of the most significant components that play a role in increasing site authority is backlinks, which refers to other sources linking to your content on their website. 

The best way to increase your opportunity of getting backlinks is to rank at the top of the SERPs page for informational blog content.

Best SEO Keywords for Electricians

Here Are Likely Some of Your Most Important Keywords to Target

To make sure you’re targeting the best opportunities for local keywords for Google Business Profile and webpage optimizations and long-tail keywords for blog content, you’ll want to complete keyword research. 

Keywords with a high search volume and low keyword difficulty (which indicates how competitive it is to rank for a given keyword) can provide the best value to your business.

High-value, local keywords can look differently based on the type of keywords most frequently searched in a given area. 

However, long-tail keywords for blog content typically have the same value on a national scale. Here are some question-based keywords you can leverage to create comprehensive, optimized blog content.