SEO For Painters – How To Get More Painting Leads For Free

If you’re a painting contractor looking to get more painting contracts and leads, then the first thing you should be doing is SEO. Painter SEO can seem daunting at first, but if you understand the fundamentals, it’ll be easy to start implementing and improving over time.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a key part of any good online marketing plan. But what does that mean?

SEO is about getting your painting business website to show up higher on search engine result pages so you can get free painting leads without paying for ads. 

When people search for your services, you need to be seen, which drives more clicks and traffic. And hopefully, those turn into painting leads. 

For painters, focusing on Local SEO can help your website rank better, bring more visitors to your site, and get more painting leads—all without spending money on ads.

This guide will show you how to get started with SEO for your painting company.

1. Keyword Research: Figure Out Exactly What Your Customers Are Searching For On Google

The first step in starting an SEO strategy for your painting company is to do some keyword research. 

You need to understand the exact words that someone is searching for on Google. You’ll then turn around and use those keywords on your website so that Google clearly understands who you are and what you do. 

If you just throw up a website and expect free painting leads to come knocking on your door, you’re not going to be happy. Be thoughtful about the keywords that you search for. 

There are a couple of free tools that you can use to find keywords for your painting business:

1. Google Keyword Planner
2. Google Trends

Google Keyword Planner is a tool used within your Google Ads account. It’s free, but you’ll need to use a credit card to set up your account. Don’t worry, you won’t be charged unless you start an ad campaign. 

It’s the best keyword tool you can use because the data comes directly from Google, and that’s where you want your site to show up. 

Google Trends is a free tool that shows what topics and keywords people are searching for over time. Painters can use it to discover popular search terms related to painting services, helping you choose the best keywords to improve your SEO and attract more local customers.

Here’s how you’ll Use Google Keyword Planner to Find the Right Keywords:

1. Start a new search to “Discover Keywords”
2. Input a few ideas that you have. Try keywords like painters near me, house painters near me, garage painters, cabinet painters, exterior painting, interior painting, commercial painting. Input as many as you can.
3. Change your location to the city that you operate in. Include nearby cities and towns as well.

4. After you submit your keyword ideas, you’ll see a results page that looks like this:

Here’s how you analyze the results:

1. You’re looking for keywords that have decent search volume. If a result says 0-100 average monthly searches, there might not be enough people searching for that phrase to make it worth your while. But anything over 1K monthly searches is worth your while.
2. Compare that with the competition. If a search has low competition, it means it will be relatively easy for your painting company to show up in those searches. 
3. Ultimately, you want to select keywords that have High Volume and Low Competition. This is your sweet spot. These are now the keywords you want to have within your website.

Make note of every keyword that makes sense to use for your business. Save these. You’re going to be using them a lot

Implement Your Target Keywords Throughout Your Website

Now that you’ve found the keywords that you should be ranking, it’s time to start implementing them throughout your website. 

If your website is outdated, or you have trouble updating it, check out Real Grow For Painters. It’s an all-in-one platform that includes a modern website and SEO tools for Painters.

When you include your keywords, type them in exactly as Google has them written. 

There are 4 key areas that you need to have your keywords:

1. In the H1 Heading Tags and Title Pages on each page of your site. 
2. In the meta descriptions for each page of your website. 
3. In the sub headlines (H2, H3, H4) of your website.
4. In the body paragraphs on your website. 

In this Example, the target keyword is “general contractor in Miami” so it’s been included in the main headline, with a few other words to give it a human touch. 

To Improve Your Local Painter SEO, Create Specific Pages On Your Site for Locations and Services You Offer

If you’ve already got a website, I’m sure you have at least a homepage, about page, and contact page. Now, you want to add many more pages to your site. There are 3 different types of pages you’ll add. Service pages, location pages, and blog pages.

It requires some work in the beginning, but just trust that it’s worth it in the long run if you want to improve SEO for your painting company.

Service Pages:

Create a page for every type of service that you offer. Include the correct keywords on every section of the site. For example:

• Interior Painting In [Your City]
• Exterior Painting In [Your City]
• Garage Painting in [Your City]
• Cabinet Painting In [Your City]
• Residential Painting in [Your City]
• Commercial Painting in [Your City]

Location Pages:

Create a page for every location that you operate in. Start with the top 5 cities that are around you, then expand on it from there. 

For example:

Interior Painter in Orlando

Interior Painter in [City or Town Next to Orlando]

Blog Pages:

Another great way to implement keywords throughout your site is by creating a blog. 

Having a blog on your website is important for improving your SEO rankings as a painting contractor because it gives you a chance to regularly add fresh, relevant content that search engines love. 

Each blog post is an opportunity to target different keywords related to painting, such as “best interior paint colors” or “how to choose a house painter.” 

Blogging also allows you to answer common questions your customers have, which can improve your site’s visibility in search results and show you as an expert in your field. Plus, consistent updates tell Google that your site is active, which can help boost your rankings over time.

Create and Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

A Google My Business profile is essential for painting contractors because it helps you get noticed in local searches and boosts your visibility on Google Maps. It’s perfect for improving SEO for your painting business.

When potential customers search for painters in your area, having a fully optimized profile increases your chances of appearing in the “Local Pack,” which shows the top three businesses for local searches. 

Completely fill out your your business hours, contact information, reviews, and photos of your work. Update it regularly. Use your keywords inside of your profile. Link your profile to your websiteTo enhance your GMB profile even more, make sure you’re collecting reviews from your customers. The easiest way to do this is to set up an automation to collect reviews from customers after you’ve completed the job for them.

Backlinks: Connect Your Business Around The Internet

Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. Think of them like online recommendations. When another website links to your site, it tells search engines like Google that your website is trustworthy and has useful information. The more quality backlinks you have, the more likely your site is to rank higher in search results.

Backlinks are important for painter SEO because they show Google that other websites find your content valuable. 

If a popular home improvement blog links to your painting business, it signals to Google that your website is worth showing to more people. 

To get backlinks, you can reach out to local businesses, home improvement blogs, or community websites and ask them to link to your site. You can also create helpful content, like painting tips or how-to guides, that others may want to share and link to on their own websites.

The easiest way to get backlinks are to link your website to your social media channels:

• Facebook Business page
• Instagram Business Page
• Nextdoor
• Yelp
• Google My Business
• Tik Tok

You can also search and find local directories to post your website link. You can look on your local Chamber of Commerce website to see if you can post your business there. Search for big companies’ websites that show “preferred vendors” and link your website there. 

Internal Linking:

You’ll also need to the pages of your website to each other. If you write a blog post, include at least 3 links to service or location pages. On your service pages, link to locations pages. And Visa Versa. You want to create an network of links on your website. 

Submit Your Site To Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you see how your website is doing on Google. It shows how many people are finding your site, what search words they use, and if there are any problems with your site. 

For painters, using Google Search Console is important because it helps you understand what’s working and what’s not when it comes to your SEO. By fixing any issues and improving your website based on the data from Search Console, you can help your site rank higher in search results, which means more people will find your painting business online. You can also submit your site to Google so that Google “reads” your site faster. This will help you start getting more traffic and leads quickly.

Give It Time, Nothing Happens Overnight

Let’s recap:

• You’ve researched your keywords
• You’ve implemented them throughout your website
• You’ve set up Google My Business
• You’ve Linked Your Website internally and externally
• You’ve submitted your site to Google Search Console

What’s next?

Give it some time. SEO is one of those things that can take time to start reaping the rewards. It’s a compounding effort. Every month that you add pages and keywords to your site, the better chance you have to start ranking higher in Google.

But ultimately, it’s worth it. Over time, you’ll start getting more free painting leads and you’ll be dominating your local market. 

Follow these basic strategies, and you’ll be on your way to improving the SEO for your painting business!