Did you know that Google updates its search algorithm up to 600 times each year? This means that getting your painting business website to the top of Google (and keeping it there) is extremely competitive with constantly moving goalposts. Further, keeping up with these fast-paced changes and being able to capitalize on digital marketing trends can begin to feel like a full-time job.

If you’re a painting business, you need to be thinking about search engine optimization (SEO). Being aware of SEO trends and implementing SEO strategies correctly can spell the difference between your phone ringing off the hook with new leads finding you online or being relegated to virtual obscurity.

In this article, we’ll share the top 7 SEO trends that painting companies should be aware of in 2023 and beyond.

Why SEO Is Essential for Your Painting Business

92% of Americans use the Internet on a regular basis, and 76% of people look for local businesses online before making a purchase decision.

In a nutshell, this means that if you do not have a prominent digital presence, you’re missing out on huge revenue opportunities. SEO is essential because it involves tactics that result in a business being more visible on search engines. When your painting company is more visible due to higher search engine rankings, you get more business. Period.

Benefits of SEO for painting contractors include:

• Higher traffic volume to your website
• More qualified leads
• Better brand awareness
• High return on investment (because you’re not paying for advertising)
• Credibility among the local community
• Increasing returns over time
• Ability to target your target audience
• A better user experience for visitors to your website
• Synergistic benefits with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns

Even though there’s a lot to keep track of in the world of SEO, you’ll be reasonably up to date if you familiarize yourself with the top 7 SEO trends that relate to painting businesses.

1. Author Authority Is More Important Than Ever

For the past several years, SEO experts have been promoting the importance of the EAT acronym, which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust. This acronym was shared internally by Google in the Search Quality Rating Guidelines, and it prioritizes websites in search results that can establish themselves as an authority in their space.

Painting businesses can differentiate themselves by embracing these principles. Though Google is tight-lipped about the specific ranking factors it uses to rank websites, insiders have admitted that the EAT principle is considered in several of Google’s algorithms.

In December 2022, a second E was added to the acronym: Experience. The new acronym is

EEAT, which includes:

• Experience: When someone visits your website, do they have a good experience? For example, does it load quickly, is it easy to navigate, and does it have links to your social channels?
• Expertise: You can climb the ranks by demonstrating the amount of knowledge and experience you have about a topic.
• Authority: Are other high-quality websites linking back to yours?
• Trust: Does your site protect user privacy, provide accurate information, and follow ethical practices?

A quick way to level up your EEAT score is to create content and design a website that considers your target audience. Consider the specific problems and questions your customers are facing when they decide to start looking for a painting company and address those directly through FAQ pages, contact forms, clear calls to action, social proof (reviews), helpful blogs, and images that represent the quality of your work.

2. Auto-Generated Content is Getting Slapped

If all you get out of this article is the importance of the EEAT acronym, you’ll be ahead of your competitors in the painting industry because so many of Google’s ranking factors are relevant to this principle.

Google’s number one priority is creating a positive search experience, and that means ensuring that Google makes the right calls when it decides which websites to rank. You’ve probably heard of people writing web content and entire blog posts using artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT, Jasper, etc., and this goes against what Google is trying to accomplish.

Google prioritizes content written by real people, not robots. Though Google hasn’t officially admitted to suppressing AI content, they do admit that high-quality, original content is what gets rewarded.

To signal to Google that your content was written by a real person, including the following elements on your website:

• Author bios at the bottom of blog posts
• An author page that includes bios of all of your content creators
• Links to the social media accounts of authors
• Links to other content written by each author

3. Voice Search is on the Rise

Thanks to Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, more than half the population has access to voice search-enabled devices. This is an important implication for SEO because it means that you’ll be able to take advantage of longer tail keywords that more closely mirror how people speak when they’re looking for something, as opposed to how they type.

For example, instead of the classic “painting companies near me” that people type into the Google search bar, you can also begin optimizing for phrases like “painting companies in [city] that are open on weekends.

4. Video is Increasingly Prominent in Search Results

As technology continues to evolve and people increasingly consume video content, search results that incorporate video are expected to outperform text-based search inquiries. Specifically, YouTube videos show prominently in Google search results, so if your painting business doesn’t have a YouTube channel, this is an ideal time to create one.

When creating videos for search, we recommend optimizing videos with keywords in the titles and descriptions. Be sure to link your YouTube videos back to your site and consider embedding those videos on your site as well.

5. Local SEO Continues to be a Gold Mine

Whether you have a single location servicing a handful of zip codes or you have a painting empire, showing up in local search results is a game changer. Specifically, the goal is to show up in the Google Map 3 Pack.

It’s estimated that businesses in the Google Map 3 Pack get up to 61% of clicks, which can result in a flood of traffic and qualified leads. As a painting business, there are several SEO strategies you can employ to gain prominence in the 3 Pack. The highest leverage activity will be to create and optimize your Google Business Profile, including filling out your profile in its entirety and earning a high number of positive reviews.

6. Search Intent Remains Important

Everyone typing something into the Google search bar has search intent, so the key is ensuring your website has content that addresses and answers what a user is searching for. As the algorithms have become more advanced, Google has also become better at matching searchers to websites that will actually help them.

One of the best ways to capitalize on this trend is to engage in keyword research to find out what your audience is searching for. From there, you’ll be able to create content that’s genuinely helpful and can lead to attracting more business.

7. Artificial Intelligence is Officially Here

2023 has been the year that artificial intelligence has gone mainstream, and Google is embracing AI and machine learning in full force.

A few years ago, Google announced RackBrain, which leverages artificial intelligence to anticipate and optimize search results for the user experience. Armed with this data, Google can better identify the websites that align with search intent and provide more relevant search results.

So, what does this mean for painting companies?

In essence, the more things change, the more things stay the same. Google has always prioritized the user experience, and they reward websites that match what someone is searching for while providing visitors with fast-loading sites that are easy to navigate.

Instead of figuring out how to leverage ChatGPT (like everyone else on the planet), what painting businesses need to understand about AI is that it will become increasingly better at identifying websites that are the real deal.

If you want to be ahead of the trend as 2023 comes to a close and we enter 2024, be ready to go back to the basics – building a website that serves your audience by providing the information your potential customers are looking for and making it easy for them to contact you.

Is Your Painting Business Ready to Rise Above the Competition?

SEO is a powerful tool to have in your digital marketing arsenal, especially because it doesn’t require a constant influx of advertising dollars, and the results can build momentum over time. However, for local painting contractors, the competition is fierce, and everyone is looking for an edge.

At Painter Marketing Pros, we work exclusively with painting businesses to help them dominate their local market. We stay abreast of the latest trends and take proactive steps for our clients to ensure they remain on top.

To learn more about how we can help your painting company, contact us to schedule a free strategy session.