Putting the Local in Local Funeral Home Marketing

Almost half of all Google searches have a local flavor. People are looking for businesses, services, or information relevant to where they are. Of course, that’s especially true for many funeral home searches: Virtually without exception, people want a provider in their area.

The vast majority of people (97 percent) use online sources to find out most of what they know about a local business. That means if you’re not showing up in SERPs when someone conducts a local search for funeral home services, it’s likely that person won’t ever learn about your firm.

Businesses often try to show up for local searches with keywords. “Funeral home in Billings,” “funeral service providers in Dallas,” or “burials in North Canton” are all examples of local keywords related to funeral services.

But everyone else is doing this too. With every deathcare firm in your city potentially fighting over placement in SERPs, you need more than keywords to stand out. One way to do that is to make your content truly local. Here are some tips for doing so:

• Create local landing pages. If you have funeral homes in multiple locations, your website should include a local landing page for each one. Ensure that people searching with hyper-local intent—that means they’re looking for a funeral home in their neighborhood, not just their city—have a chance at finding your pages.
• Write blog posts incorporating local-relevant information. Include local keywords and other information throughout your site. If you can mention local landmarks, events, and organizations in a natural way, your site might be perceived by search engines and visitors as more authentically local.
• Ensure your NAP data is consistent. NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. Make sure the way your business NAP data is listed on your website—and any off-site profiles you have control over—is consistent. That helps Google trust the information about where your location is. Even details such as whether you use Road or Rd. or Street or St. can be important.