Homepage Optimization For Local Business with Two Main Business Categories?

[ForwardMotion]

When optimizing a websites homepage for a company that has two main categories, what is the best practice, i.e. lawn care and landscaping? Especially since you can only choose one primary category on Google Business Profile. I am planning to have a service page for each of their services, which they have quite a few, especially ones that fall under the lawn care category (i.e. lawn mowing, irrigation, leaf removal, etc...). Should I optimize the homepage for both the keyword phrases lawn care and landscaping services and then create pages for all the services + location? It is my understanding from the 2023 Local Search Ranking Factors that the main keyword of your homepage should match your GBP primary category, i.e. lawn care service, secondary category landscaper, is that correct? Not sure what best practice and most effective way would be to structure the homepage in this case. Any and all guidance in this situation would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Should I optimize the homepage for both the keyword phrases lawn care and landscaping services and then create pages for all the services + location?

Great question! I would do some SERP analysis to see what is currently ranking for "lawn care" vs "landscaping services" in the local area. The services are so closely related in terms of search intent I bet the search results are similar enough you can target both keywords on your homepage. I would probably start off this way, and then after a couple months if you find the homepage does not rank well enough for one term compared to the other, you can consider creating a separate service page for it.

for their other services, as long as they are all unique enough I would create pages for them all + service area pages for all the major towns/cities in their service area. the important thing to remember here is test test test!! if you find a page is canibalizing another for an important term, don't be afraid to combine the pages and redirect or vice versa. You can always go back and undo anything you did if you don't like the results

 

[ElizabethRule]

the main keyword of your homepage should match your GBP primary category

I don't think it needs to match exactly, for example maybe "lawn care service" is the best primary category for you but there is a lot more search volume for "landscaper" (I dont know if this is true or not, just hypothetical) - i might optimize my homepage for more "landscaper" related terms while still mentioning "lawn care service". Google's category names are not always indicative of what users are searching for the most!

 

[ForwardMotion]

I don't think it needs to match exactly, for example maybe "lawn care service" is the best primary category for you but there is a lot more search volume for "landscaper" (I dont know if this is true or not, just hypothetical) - i might optimize my homepage for more "landscaper" related terms while still mentioning "lawn care service". Google's category names are not always indicative of what users are searching for the most!

Thank you very much Elizabeth! Great information for me to think about. I've even been doing some research on the intent of each keyword, like landscaping vs landscaper. So much to think about it can get very overwhelming. Your newest video on implicit vs explicit really shed some new light on things I hadn't really thought about, but makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing all this great information!

 

[ElizabethRule]

Im so glad that video helped! Looking at results for explicit vs implicit search really highlights how differently Google can treat local search results based on 1 keyword. This is changing all the time too so I agree it can be a lot to keep up with!

In this case of landscaping vs landscaper I think Google would likely treat the results similar to how they treat attorney vs lawyer - similar if not the same results as the keywords are so similar.