If you are a home service provider in Edmonton, such as a plumber or an electrician or one of the many HVAC technicians, you understand the imperative need to reaching local customers. Edmonton’s affluent population with a growing need for home services bring you the possibility of missing massive portions of the market if your business is not visible online.

Being a digital marketing expert with 20 years of experience and living in Alberta about 50 years, I have personally seen the difference such optimization for local SEO can make for businesses in Edmonton. For home service providers, there is no time for luxury when it comes to being easy to find in search results; instead, it becomes a necessity. People are looking up services like yours every day, and most people search online. The question now is whether they will find your business or your competition.

In this post, I shall share actionable local SEO tips that would really help your home service business rank higher in Edmonton’s local search results thus attracting more clients.

Why Local SEO Matters to Home Service Providers in Edmonton ?

Now, before I give you some specific tips let’s just talk a little bit about why local SEO is so valuable for your business. So, if I need a plumber or an electrician here in Edmonton, I’m likely to go into my search box on Google and I would look up terms like “plumbers near me” or “best electricians in Edmonton.” They are what we call local intent searches. That means this person wants to find a business nearby.
Google’s algorithm sorts the most relevant local businesses to the top of your search results. That means that, if your business is not optimized for local SEO, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to get in touch with those new customers who are actively seeking your services.

Tip 1: Claim and Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

A local SEO strategy is built around your Google My Business (GMB) listing. This is the application which Google uses to show your business on a map for local search results and in Google Maps.
Claim it: First, if you haven’t claimed your account yet, claim your GMB listing. This will allow you to control how your business shows up on Google. If you’ve already claimed your account, make sure it’s fully optimized.

Here’s how to optimize your GMB listing:

• Business Name: This should be an official business name and not include extra keywords. Google penalizes keyword stuffing in the business name.
• Address and Service Areas: Ensure that your address is accurate and specify the areas you serve within Edmonton. If you are a service-area business, like most home service providers do, you can list the neighborhoods or communities you cover.
• Phone Number: Use a local number with an Edmonton area code. Google prefers businesses with local numbers more than toll-free or out-of-region numbers.
• Business Hours: You always want up-to-date business hours. You don’t want to inconvenience people, and this will increase trust.
• Add Photos: Add great photos of your work, team, and business. For home service providers, a pic of your vans or team or before-and-after images can really add credibility.

Pro Tip: Keep refreshing your Google My Business profile with fresh images, service updates, and posts. Google favors active profiles by showing them more frequently.

Tip 2: Optimize Your Website for Local Keywords

This is your digital storefront. Even though you’ll be getting some traffic from Google My Business, your website needs to be optimized for local search terms in order to really convert visitors into clients.

How to Do It:

1. Use location-specific keywords: Place keywords related to Edmonton throughout your website. For instance, something can’t be just “plumbing services,” but using the keyword “plumbing services in Edmonton” or “best plumbers in Edmonton.
2. Service Pages by Specific Location: Develop a separate page for each service you have provided; if you are working in various parts of Edmonton, create location-specific pages. Being a plumber, this would mean services such as, for example, “Drain Cleaning in West Edmonton” and “Emergency Plumbing Services Downtown Edmonton”.
3. NAP Consistency: Confirm that your Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) are accurate and consistent on your website and throughout all of your online citations. This allows Google to have enough facts to be able to confirm that your business is legitimate.

Pro Tip: Publish testimonials from Edmonton customers on your site. This’s only going to assist in lifting the trust of a potential customer, but also provide an opportunity for you to more naturally include local keywords.

Tip 3: Build Local Citations and Directory Listings

Local citations are references to your business on other websites. They are among the key ranking factors in local SEO. For a home service provider, a listing in all the trusted local directories where you operate may help jump-start your online visibility.

Here’s what you can do:

• Submit your business to local directories: This includes some of the most popular Edmonton-based directories, such as the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, Yelp Edmonton, and HomeStars. Ensure NAP details are consistent everywhere.
• Industry-specific directories: Businesses in an industry-specific directory, TrustedPros, Houzz, or Angie’s List, service providers for the home.
• Encourage Local Mentions: If you have a good relationship with local suppliers or you have a good relationship with real estate agents, ask them to mention or link to your business on their respective sites.

Building local citations helps Google confirm your business is legitimate, which increases the chances of ranking in local searches.

Tip #4: Generate and Manage Online Reviews

Online reviews are one of the strongest local SEO drivers. Not only do they build trust with potential customers, but Google also considers reviews as a ranking signal for local search results.

Here’s how you can utilize reviews:

1. Ask for Reviews: Once you have completed a job, ask satisfied customers for a review on Google. You can also request to leave a review on industry-specific platforms like Yelp or HomeStars.
2. Respond to Reviews: Google favors businesses that interact with their customers. Whether it’s about a positive or negative review, always be sure to give a response promptly and in a professional manner. This will show that you actually care for customer feedback that could help improve your local ranking.

Pro Tip: Never incentivize reviews, such as offering a discount for a review-that is against the rules of Google and may invite some penalties. You should instead extend wonderful service and simply ask.

Tip 5: Create Hyperlocal Content

Content marketing is a long game strategy that is useful not only for SEO but also to make your company an authority in the home services sector.

Some ideas:

• Blog Posts on Local Issues: Pen blog posts about common issues encountered by clients in Edmonton regarding home service. For example, “How Edmonton Winters Affect Plumbing” or “Electricity-Saving Tips for Homeowners of Edmonton.”.
• Local Guides and Tips: Great guides like “How to Find the Best Plumber in Edmonton” or “The Ultimate Checklist for Hiring an Edmonton Electrician.” Geo-term usage can be integrated within the content.
• Case Studies and Success Stories: Use case studies of successful projects that you have completed in specific neighborhoods. For example, “How We Solved a Major Plumbing Issue in Edmonton’s Mill Woods Community.”

The more local content that is created, the more relevant your business will appear in local searches.

Tip 6. Leverage schema markup for your local SEO

Schema markup is a type of code you add to your website to help search engines understand what’s on it. Adding the LocalBusiness schema to your site could further improve your exposure in rich results like the

Local Pack and Google Maps.

• Contact Information Schema: Use schema markup that includes your business’s contact information, address, and phone number.
• Service Schema: Use schema markup to explain what kinds of services you have available-such as plumbing, electrical work, or HVAC services.

This is a little bit technical, but the reward in getting search engines to index your site correctly for the local version of searches can be huge

For a home service provider in Edmonton, it’s not about ranking higher through local SEO; it’s about being found by the right customers at the right time. Start by claiming your Google My Business listing, optimizing it with local keywords on your website, building citations, managing reviews, creating relevant content, and using schema markup to dramatically improve visibility in local searches.

But if all that feels overwhelming to you, then that’s where we come in. Finspire Labs is a company that has local SEO and web design specialities specific to the business like yours. We’ve been operating for 20 years with some insightful knowledge of the unique market of Edmonton, which enables us to improve your online presence-that converts clicks into customers.

Want to take your home service business to the next level? Let’s get started today!