How to Get Your Lawn Mowing Business to the Top of Google

Is it worth my time getting to the top of Google?

How do I get on the map?

How much does it cost?

I can’t really beat Jim Mowing and the other guys, can I?

Lawn Mowing SEO

These are questions I commonly hear from lawn-mowing professionals. Actually, I’m asked these questions from any business.

I’ll answer them first. Yes. It’s worth your time getting to rank at the top of Google. You could pay over $10,000 a month to advertise at the top of Google. Yes, it is unaffordable and unlikely to get a return on investment in the lawn mowing industry. You can get to the top of Google in the lucrative free listings with SEO. If you do, you should see free leads coming through without having to pay for them. The Google map is vitally important for lawn mowing businesses, and as you’ll see below, it’s fairly easy to do if you’re consistent and stick with it.

The good news is that it is free! Ranking at the top of Google in the free results only costs your time and effort. The same is true for Google Maps.

The best news is you really can beat the big companies. Read on to find out how!

Okay, so what do I need to do?

That’s easy! Just do the following four steps.

Hook up on Google Maps for free.

Content. Publish some new content on your website every week.

Get links to your website.

Repeat 2-3 until you’re better than the competition.

That’s it. There’s no secret.

There are, however, more important details in each step, so here they are…

Hook up on Google Maps

This is by far the easiest thing to do for an independent lawn mowing company with potentially the greatest impact. Just go to https://www.google.com/business/ and follow the instructions. Be sure to do the following:

Include your real address. Google will be sending you a postcard in the mail to verify you.

Please include high-quality photos (including a photo of yourself). Hopefully, some of you will be mowing lawns as well.

Answer EVERY. SINGLE. QUESTION. Don’t shortcut. A complete profile is more trusted by Google.

Update often. Google needs to see that you are active. I suggest updating your availability, when you’re on holidays, any specials you have going on, your times, new photos, and so on. Try to update at least once a month. Once a week would be even better.

Once it is active, link to it from your Facebook and webpage and any other page you can.

It’s free. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be on Google Maps.

Content

Before we jump in and start writing any old thing, we need to decide what it is to write about. Start with the following….

Geebung Lawn Mowing Prices. (see the GreenSocks example)

In the article, you should include anything you can think of about yourself and mowing lawns in your suburb, such as:

How long you’ve been mowing lawns in SUBURB;

Why you enjoy mowing lawns;

Equipment that you own (include photos);

What’s included in your price;

How long you’ve been living in the area and why you like the area;

Pictures of your lawn, plus photographs of as many lawns as you can;

Before and after images of lawns in the suburb;

List all the parks and sporting grounds and how much you’d charge to mow them if you had to;

Use images to break up your content (Image credit: Place)

How to write an article?

Personally, I write down the headings and subheadings first. I think about the main topics I want to discuss and write them down in the dot-point form. Then, I just fill out each subheading and heading until it’s complete.

What is good lawn mowing content?

If you just “re-write” an existing article, Google will kind of know about it—even if you use a thesaurus. Google wants to see unique ideas with unique answers.

Readers love photos to help break up the content.

Try coming up with five different versions of a heading and ask friends and family to choose which one they are most interested in. Here’s an example….

You’ll never guess what I found while mowing a lawn in Aspley

Use BuzzFeed.com for creative ideas on excellent article headings.

Usually, I publish an article on my own website, but it is also an advantage to publish your hard work on a different website. See the links for more information on this.

As often as you can. Once a week would be ideal if you are starting until you are beating your competition. Then, once a month should be fine to keep your ranking for a particular suburb.

What about home page content?

Your home page needs content, too! Update this content at least once a month.

What about keywords in my lawn-mowing content?

Can I mention words I want to rank for all the time? NO, NO, NO. This is called keyword spam and will get you banned by Google. It’s good to mention important words that you want to rank for, but they need to flow naturally in your content. For example…

BAD: I was mowing a lawn last week in Aspley for a lawn-mowing customer, and I found an old shoe in some long grass that I was mowing. Luckily, my lawn mower, made by Victor Mowers, missed it. I stopped my lawn mowing, and inside the shoe was a lawn mowing wallet with $500 in it. Mowing paused while I returned it to John, the lawn-mowing customer who left me a $20 reward for mowing his lawn. I was very happy mowing lawns that day for lawn mowing in Aspley.

GOOD: I was mowing a lawn last week in Aspley, and I found an old shoe in some long grass. Luckily, my Victor mower was missed. Inside the shoe was a wallet with $500 in it. I returned it to John, the owner, who left me a $20 reward for the job and the shoe. I was very happy.

These don’t matter anymore. Words in your content are what matters.

What are they? Do I need them? How do I get them?

If someone is linking to you for a year, Google will like this much more than a link that has existed for only a week. Like a fine Scotch Whisky, older is better. Google does this as a mechanism to fight link buying and selling. Moral of the story… 1. A link will become more valuable over time.

Where to get links?

Ask everyone you know to consider linking to you from their website.

Go to networking events in your industry. Maybe a gardening meetup? Sponsor one of the events with a free lawn mow, and they might link it to you.

Ask a gardening website if you can write an article abthreeut 3 tips for a green lawn in return for a link back to your site.

Ask friends, families, partners, associates, and customers who own websites. Maybe your local mower repair shop?

Facebook. Gumtree, your Google Maps listing. These may not help directly, but they are easy and can’t hurt.

Local newspapers. Offer free lawn mowing to their readers as a prize?

Negotiate with competitors. What can you do for them? Send them a short two-sentence email.

Please pay it forward. Ask what you can do for others. They may want to link to you if you hint at it.