Ready to learn how to do local SEO for pest control companies? You’re in the right place.
In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn:
And tons of SEO best practices. Let’s dive in.
Free SEO Diagnosis – Find out what’s holding your pest control company back from ranking #1 in Google.
How to Optimize Your Google Business Profile (4 Critical Factors)
Your Google Business Profile (formally Google My Business) is the most critical piece of local SEO strategy.
And you’ll need a GBP to rank in Google’s local pack (sometimes called snack pack, 3-pack, or just Google Maps).
Sadly, most pest control companies focus on factors that have little impact on search engine optimization performance.
Here’s what to focus on instead:
Factor #1: Your Business Name
There’s overwhelming evidence that having exact or partial match local keywords in your business name is effective.
Take a look at this example below:
Notice that two of the three pest control businesses have the exact search query in their business name.
All three have a partial match that includes “pest control.”
Does this mean you should change your business name?
Not necessarily.
You may consider using a DBA (Doing Business As) and building a micro website.
- So instead of “Generic Brand Inc,” you’d become “[YOUR CITY] Pest Control Pros.”
Remember that this is not a requirement for ranking on the first page.
But it’s a useful tool if you’re starting a new pest control company with a big review deficit.
Factor #2: Your Address
The second most important variable is where you’re located.
It’s simple: to rank in a particular city, you need an address there.
Not in a suburb outside of the city. It needs to be in the heart of that location.
Everything else I’m about to show you will be useless if you don’t get this part right.
Factor #3: Reviews
We’ll keep it simple: you need as many positive reviews on your Google Business Profile as possible.
But that’s not all.
To have any chance of performing, you need to match or exceed your competitor’s review volume.
Unfortunately, the online review deficit will resemble Mount Everest in major metros like Dallas.
Going after a secondary city would be wise if you’re building a new pest control business.
For example, look at the difference between “pest control dallas” and “pest control garland.”
You could chip away by dominating one small city at a time.
And as you build authority, you can go after the major metros.
Factor #4: Local Business Citations
Online directory listings aren’t a big ranking factor for local search results.
But there are two things you should do:
First, ensure your business information, known as NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number), is consistent across all listings.
Second, new business listings should be created on the most important directories.
Here’s a list (you can also use Loganix to do it).
I recommend joining the Chamber of Commerce in your local market and any professional associations in the pest control industry, like the National Pest Management Association.
And even donate to causes in the local community (which can often result in a quality backlink).
How to Do Keyword Research for a Pest Control Business
Go to the Rankability Keyword Research tool and enter a keyword like “pest control + [YOUR CITY].”
Next, create a Google Sheet that will be the hub for all the local SEO efforts you’re about to do.
Now, export the keywords from Rankability and add them to your Google Sheet.
Examine the keywords and highlight those with different search intent.
“Search intent” is what a searcher tries to accomplish when conducting their search.
For example, we know the intent of someone searching for “termite treatment St Louis Mo.”
That means we can build a perfectly relevant web page around this specific keyword phrase.
The more relevant it is to the keyword phrase, the better you’ll fulfill the intent.
When you do so, your page will rank better in Google and drive better conversions from local customers.
At this point, the goal is to identify long-tail keywords for pest control solutions like:
- “pest control in [YOUR CITY]”
- “bed bug extermination in [YOUR CITY]”
- “grocery store Pest Control Services in [YOUR CITY]”
Notice that each of these phrases has a different intent. That means that you should create dedicated landing pages for each.
I’ll explain how in a second.
But at this stage, identify all keywords that have commercial intent.
Technical SEO Audit
I recommend using Screaming Frog to conduct your technical SEO audit.
Start by connecting the Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google PageSpeed Insights, and Ahrefs APIs:
Then start the crawl, export the result, and add it to your Google Sheet.
There are a few opportunities you’ll want to identify within this audit:
Internal Linking Opportunities
Go to the “Crawl Depth” column, sort A-Z, and look for pages that are more than three clicks deep:
In short, you’ll need to push these pages further up in your site architecture.
This will help Google crawl and index these pages. There are a few ways to accomplish this goal.
First, if it’s an important commercial page, consider adding it to the main navigation or the sitewide footer.
Second, you can create a hub page like this for YouTube SEO.
Third, you can find pages that are higher up in your site architecture and place internal links.
Speaking of internal links, go to the “Unique Inlinks” column and look for pages with less than three internal links.
This indicates that you need more internal link coverage. So, search your CMS for relevant pages to inject internal links.
If you don’t have relevant pages, it’s a signal that you don’t have enough topically relevant content.
I’ll explain how to solve this problem in a second.
Keyword Cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization occurs when two or more pages target the same exact keyword phrase.
For example, if your homepage was targeting “pest control St. Louis” and you also have an internal page targeting the same keyword, it would be wise to consolidate these assets.
Go to the “Title” column, click the filter, click “Text Contains,” and begin searching for keywords that may be cannibalized.
Generally, you only need a dedicated page if the search intent differs.
For example, “best pest control company in st louis” vs “st lous pest control” does not deserve two pages because they’re variations of the exact phrase.
However, “pest control St. Louis vs “rodent control St Louis” have different intents and deserve a dedicated page.
Poor SEO Performance
Scroll to the right to find the data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Ahrefs.
I recommend filtering to see pages with 0 organic traffic, clicks, impressions, and backlinks.
Some options for these pages are deletion, redirection, consolidation, optimization, or upgrading.
Slow Loading Speed
Loading speed is one of the biggest variables for user experience.
But to be clear, speed isn’t an SEO ranking factor.
What IS a ranking factor is how users interact with your page and website.
If it’s slow, it will produce negative user signals, such as pogo-sticking (users going back to Google), exits, and short dwell times.
As a result, it’ll likely impact SEO performance.
Based on Google’s recent court case, it’s proven that they use user data to inform Google search results (via Google Chrome).
In addition to loading speed, your web design, layout, and experience on mobile devices can influence user engagement.
So, make sure your website design is built with the primary objective of maximum conversions.
Anything that distracts from that objective should be eliminated.
Minor Technical SEO Actions
There are some low-priority actions that you’ll want to tackle as well, like:
- Optimizing Meta Descriptions
- Fixing Broken Links
- 404 Link Reclamation
- Broken Table of Contents
SEO Content Creation
There are only a few actions you can take when it comes to getting more out of your SEO content on your pest control website.
1. Upgrade
Upgrading existing pages is one of the most reliable SEO tactics.
I recommend running your keyword and target page through Rankability’s Content Optimizer.
It’ll then show you the relevance gaps you have on your page.
View these keywords as topics and create new sections on your page to build a highly relevant asset.
As a side note, these keyword suggestions are based on your top-ranking competitors for the target keyword.
Always improve the content and page first before you optimize.
2. Optimize
Using Rankability is more than enough to optimize any page on your website.
But there are some basic on-page SEO principles that you need to follow, like placing your primary keyword in the title, meta description, and URL:
H1 (are H1 tags a ranking factor?)
First sentence:
Once you’ve upgraded and optimized all your important pages, it’s time to build more topic authority.
3. Create
The first type of new content you should create is for commercial pages.
Start by creating pages for each of your core pest control services + the primary city you’re targeting.
So you should have pages like:
- Carpenter Ant Extermination in [CITY]
- Pest Management in [CITY]
- Termite Control in [CITY]
- Pavement Ant Extermination in [CITY]
- Subterranean Termite Extermination in [CITY]
- Rat Extermination/Removal in [CITY]
- Mouse Extermination/Removal in [CITY]
- Squirrel Removal in [CITY]
- Cockroach Extermination in [CITY]
- Bed Bug Extermination in [CITY]
- Flea Extermination in [CITY]
- Mosquito Extermination in [CITY]
Use Rankability (reviews here) to help you create high-quality and relevant pages to expand your customer base (organically).
Then, you’ll want to target cities in your service area, such as “pest control + CITY.”
But don’t stop there:
You should also create BoFu (Bottom-of-the-Funnel) content, such as case studies because it’s a great way to build trust and authority as a pest control company.
Link Building 101
All the previous actions will help improve your search engine rankings, but building your domain authority is the key to long-term success.
“Domain Authority” is a broad phrase referring to the overall strength of your website from a backlink profile perspective.
Now, most pest control companies struggle to get quality backlinks because they lack a fundamental piece of the equation.
And that’s creating linkable website content. Linkable, high-quality content is a valuable and helpful asset you can promote in your link outreach efforts.
For example, website owners are likelier to link to a valuable, helpful asset than a random commercial page.
Some examples are infographics, data-driven blog posts, and even free tools.
I recommend using ChatGPT to give you some ideas. Use a prompt:
- “Give me 20 linkable asset ideas for a pest control company based in St Louis. Focus on data-driven assets, free tools, etc.”
It’ll then spit out many ideas you can expand upon.
I recommend creating at least 5-10 assets to start. One important point here, though, is to make sure that the assets are perfectly relevant.
They should be relevant to your core service offering and the location that you’re serving.
Don’t create something like “What is Pest Control?” because this will trigger national search results.
Instead, you’d want to create something like “2024 Mouse Statistics for St. Louis City.”
Bonus Pest Control Marketing Techniques
Everything I’ve shown you will help you deliver awesome SEO results.
However, SEO is only one channel for lead generation.
You should also layer on other channels to improve your online visibility.
Here are some secondary ways to reach your potential customers:
Local Service Ads
You’ll find Google Local Service Ads in most pest control SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), usually positioned above traditional Google Search Ads and organic results.
In short, you should consider investing in LSAs because they will help you occupy more SERP real estate.
Traditional Google Search Ads
Google Ads are positioned above organic results 99% of the time.
So it makes sense to allocate some of your budget towards it.
Remember, search marketing aims to occupy as much SERP real estate as possible.
Doing so will increase your chances of collecting as many qualified leads and potential clients as possible.
Use the Google Keyword Planner to get the most accurate and relevant keywords to target for your ad campaign.
Social Media Ads
Most pest control companies underutilize social media ads and miss out on qualified website traffic, leads, and new customers.
You can narrow your target market down to the specific city you’re targeting.
Then, just let Facebook do its thing, and it’ll place the ads in front of the most relevant audience.
I recommend creating an offer like “25% of your next pest control service” to encourage users to take action.
The best channels for social media ads for pest control are Facebook and Instagram (as of right now).
Email Marketing
You should consider building funnels to take pest control marketing to the next level.
First, identify who your target audience is.
- Are you going after residential home services or commercial customers?
If it’s commercial, what type of small businesses are you targeting?
The more specific you can get, the better your funnel will perform.
Next, you’ll need to create lead magnets. You can use ChatGPT to help you brainstorm ideas.
Use a prompt like:
- “Give me 20 lead magnet ideas for a pest control company based in St Louis that targets restaurants.”
You can also use ChatGPT to build the lead magnet.
Then, once you’ve created your lead magnets, map out your funnel.
An effective funnel should start with the lead magnet and then present an offer when they sign up for a limited-time discount.
A small percentage will convert, and those that don’t will be added to your email list.
From there, you should send them an automated email sequence that nurtures them by getting them to know, like, and trust you as a pest control company.
Once again, you can use ChatGPT to help you formulate the nurture campaign.
Now It’s Time to Take the First Step
It’s time to launch your pest control SEO campaign.
Now, you have a few options for expanding your online presence.
First, you can try to do it yourself as a pest control business owner.
The second option is to use pest control SEO services that can handle your heavy lifting.
Either way, don’t wait to take action. I can promise you this: your competitors aren’t waiting.
Good luck!
Frequently Asked Questions
Should your company invest in pest control SEO services?
Yes, but only if you’re working with an SEO agency that specializes in helping pest control companies.
Don’t work with a generic SEO expert because they won’t understand the nuances of the pest control industry.
What about reputation management?
Your Google Business Profile is the pillar of effective reputation management because it will appear whenever someone searches for your brand.
However, you should secure listings on popular directories like Yelp, Angie, and Thumbtack.
You should also make it a daily habit to monitor the SERPs for any negative press so you can respond quickly.
Need a pest control SEO company to help you get more qualified leads and clients?
Let’s chat.
