Your spa has emerged on the other side of the pandemic, but reconnecting with clients and attracting new ones is proving tough. Or perhaps you’re a fledgling company, attempting to stand out among the 19,000 health and wellness businesses in the US.
Whichever scenario you find yourself in, search engine optimization – in particular, local SEO – is your new best friend. If you’re at the planning stages of a launch and considering construction tips for building your new salon and spa, then of equal importance is the SEO infrastructure needed to build and grow your business online.
The spa and wellness industry was worth 12.1 billion dollars in 2020 in the US alone. SEO is crucial to ensuring visibility in this lucrative sector. More importantly, in your local area among your target audience.
You can test the effectiveness of your local SEO by typing your business category into Google or Google Maps. For example, by searching for ‘spas near me’. If your business isn’t featured in the results, it isn’t being optimized. Your more digitally savvy competitors will thus be getting your share of the pie as well as their own.
What’s the difference between SEO and local SEO?
The basic principles of SEO and local SEO are to increase online visibility and ensure your business site ranks ahead of its competitors.
The latter, however, focuses specifically on online results relating to your local area. 46% of all Google searchers are seeking services in close proximity to where they live or work.
For businesses with a brick-and-mortar operation, a presence in the local community is imperative. Effective local SEO allows Google and other search engines to recognize your spa’s proximity to the searcher and rank it accordingly.
For small businesses, a clever SEO strategy can be marketing gold. It doesn’t eat up your entire marketing budget, leaving more resources to invest in the customer journey e.g. through purchasing tools such as customer engagement management software.
How does Google rank a business for local SEO?
So, how is your business ranked for local SEO? Google assesses various aspects of your online presence. Its algorithms use these to decide how relevant your site pages and digital footprint are to the search query. How well this correlates will determine your spa’s position on the results page.
The three top-ranking results for local SEO are commonly called the ‘Google three pack’. Displayed at the top of the search engine results page, these are accompanied by a pinned map showing the physical locations of each business.
Certain variables are used to connect searchers with suitable local businesses – namely relevance, proximity, and prominence.
Optimizing your digital footprint for local SEO success
This will likely have left you wondering how to successfully optimize your business for local SEO. Luckily, we’ve got some useful tips to get you started.
1. Website optimization
You may have a standout website, but if it’s not receiving traffic, it’s of little use. Fortunately, most host sites offer analytics tools and there’s lots of advice and resources online to help optimize your website for SEO.
Squarespace, for example, has a comprehensive SEO checklist that will walk you through the best practices for building your site. There are also post-publication checks you can use to test search engine efficacy.
Consider search intent when writing content for your website to help convey the right message. Google is intuitive and capable of discerning between a surprising amount of information. If your business’s intended purpose is clear, it will rank more highly.
A spa that offers medical treatments, for instance, will want to capture searches by using niche keywords such as ‘sports massage’ or ‘sports injury’. To enable Google to make this association, include information and keywords in your content that define your business (we’ll take a look at keywords in more detail below).
2. Citations and local links
The Google three-pack is collated based in part on citations. Citations can be in the form of business listings, social media pages, blog posts, or guides that link back to your website, leaving virtual footprints.
In 2019, there were an estimated 3.8 million Google searches every minute. Many of these were fact-finding exercises on local businesses. GMB, YELP, Bing Maps, and Facebook are all citation sources you’ll be familiar with. The more of these virtual arenas your business name, address, and phone number appear in, the more confidence Google’s algorithm has in your credibility.
Be sure to check your company details correlate across all marketing channels. Don’t be tempted to abbreviate in some places – for example, by substituting ‘Street’ for ‘St’. Decide on a preference and stick to it.
Making your details easy to find online makes your job simpler too. Much like sales management software can help with closing deals, this approach reduces the amount of time staff have to spend on the phone confirming your address to clients and providing them with directions.
3. Building trust
Forbes cited ‘trust’ as being fundamental to an effective marketing strategy. As SEO and local SEO rely on a set of parameters dictated by Google algorithms, Google searches are perceived as unbiased.
This has established a relationship between Google and the searcher as one of authenticity. Organic SERPs are like testimonials, offered up by Google (the voice of authority) to web users.
To build trust in your brand, look to position yourself as a point of reference. Through blogging, social media, and/or YouTube, you could offer advice on the importance of why you should look after your body and health.
Creating valuable content that benefits your customers makes you a voice of authority in your field. Linking any of these channels back to your website will thus improve your business’s local SEO ranking.
4. Google My Business profiles
Google My Business (GMB) will literally give you street cred (with Google Maps) and serves as a repository for all your useful online data.
If you haven’t yet claimed your business listing, register it now. Without a GMB profile, you won’t be able to fully optimize your rankings.
As Google is the largest search engine, with a reported 91.75% market share in 2020, you can’t afford not to.
5. Keywords
Keywords play an integral role in search engine optimization and should be used on your website, in your GMB profile, and in citations. There are several online tools to help you generate them. Here are just a few:
For successful local SEO, the same concept is followed – i.e. a specific phrase relating to your business offering is used – but with the addition of a location. For example, ‘massage near me’ or ‘Thai massage Long Beach’. Research keywords thoroughly and incorporate those that are most used by searchers to find the sort of services you offer.
To refine keywords, include modifiers that stress your unique selling proposition. This supplementary information makes it easier for Google to rank for relevance and allows you to market to a specific audience.
For instance, if baby boomers make up the primary demographic in your area, you might include the modifier ‘seniors’. For example, ‘seniors massage Phoenix’. This would position you perfectly for offering senior care at your spa.
Keywords used in text ads for e-commerce can help drive traffic to your website too. Maximize profits by selling your spa or salon’s retail products online in this way to improve SERP rankings even further.
6. Mobile optimization
You should also optimize your website for mobile devices. Check ease of use and ask customers for feedback to rectify any existing issues.
In the US, 61% of all organic search engine visits are made via mobile. Check fonts are compatible and image sizes are not too big to load.
If a customer’s mobile experience is subpar due to inaccessible information, they’re likely to abandon their fact-finding mission. Having gone to the lengths of creating a beautiful website or app, make sure it’s responsive as part of your client onboarding best practices.
7. Reviews
Reviews are one of the many factors involved in customer purchasing decisions. Research suggests there are 5 stages of decision making, with reviews forming part of the second step.
Reviews are dual-purpose and an essential cog in the cycle of consumerism. Your client will reflect on their experience, and it’s essential a system is in place to encourage feedback at this point in the form of a review.
The value placed on reviews is thought to be higher than that of a personal recommendation. Crucially, local SEO algorithms take note of both reviews and their ratings, so use this opportunity to resolve any unfavorable feedback and appease unhappy clients.
Invite reviews on a variety of platforms and keep them coming. Google values review diversity as well as quantity.
If your sales techniques training is not on par, reviews can also aid in laying the groundwork and helping to close more sales moving forward.
Slow and steady wins the local SEO race
Improving your search engine rankings can be a big commitment, and it won’t happen overnight. If you decide to enlist an expert, look for someone who understands your business. Both business-to-consumer (B2C) and B2B SEO services follow a similar framework, but there are subtle differences in these marketing strategies.
As local SEO is concerned only with your direct, local competitors, it’s not as daunting a task as optimization on a national or global scale. Once implemented, it can yield much quicker results. Start taking small steps today to put your spa on the map.
Bio:
Jenna Bunnell – Senior Manager, Content Marketing, Dialpad
Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted unified communications system that provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. Check out her LinkedIn profile. Jenna has written for such domains as flippingbook and voilanorbert.
