SEO services in Washington State

Local SEO and the map pack in Washington State

How is local SEO different across Washington State?

Washington had 7,705,281 residents at the 2020 census, and 4,018,762 of them, more than half, lived in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area. The Cascade Range divides the state. The west side is wet, green, and crowded. The east side is semi-arid and far less populated.

Google ranks map results on relevance, distance, and prominence. The two sides of the state put those factors in a different order.

Seattle: plan by neighborhood

Seattle is the largest city in the state by land area as well as population, at about 84 square miles. Water and hills cut it into neighborhoods, and residents search by neighborhood name. A coffee shop in Ballard is not competing with one on Capitol Hill.

The first scan in Seattle is usually a 5-mile grid, and it tends to show a top 3 area that stops at a bridge or a body of water. Map distance and travel time are not the same thing here, and customers choose by travel time. Area pages should name neighborhoods, not only "Seattle".

Puget Sound: several cities, one metro

Tacoma and Bellevue are large cities in their own right, inside the same metro as Seattle. A business in Bellevue should lead with Bellevue. Its Business Profile ranks best there, and customers on the east side of Lake Washington search by their own city.

Eastern Washington: fewer competitors, longer drives

Spokane is the second-largest city in the state and the center of the east side. Around it, towns are farther apart and competitors are fewer. A trade business there often drives much farther than its rankings reach, which makes area pages for each town the main tool. See service area landing pages.

Vancouver sits at the state's southern edge, and businesses there should check whether their customers search from across the state line as well.

Which Washington rules affect local marketing?

This is a summary, not legal advice. Check the current rule text before you publish.

Contractors: the registration number goes in your advertising

This is the rule that catches the most Washington trade businesses. The Department of Labor and Industries requires all construction contractors to register. State law then requires the registration number in advertising:

• What it covers. Materials used to solicit business from retail customers, including cards, signs, papers, and documents that show the contractor's name or address.
• What is exempt. Signs on vehicles, on-premise signs, broadcast advertising, and alphabetized listings that show only name, address, and phone.
• The penalty. A fine of up to $10,000 for violations, apart from inadvertent errors.

Put the number on your website, your Business Profile description, and your paid ads.

Two more points from the department:

1. Registration requires a bond and insurance. The bond is $30,000 for general contractors and $15,000 for specialty contractors.
2. Registration is not a competency license. It does not test trade skill. Do not describe it on your site as a license that certifies your work.

Attorney advertising: two rules remain

Washington simplified its lawyer marketing rules. The Washington State Bar Association's blog reported that the Supreme Court eliminated Rules 7.2, 7.4, and 7.5 and moved their content into the comments on the rules that remain:

• Rule 7.1 requires that communications be truthful and not misleading.
• Rule 7.3 allows solicitation unless it is misleading, the person's condition impairs their judgment about hiring a lawyer, or the contact amounts to harassment.

Under the revised rules a lawyer may say they are a "specialist" if that is truthful. See local SEO for law firms.

What this means for Local Services Ads

Google checks licenses or registrations where the law requires them, so have your Labor and Industries registration number ready before you apply. For lawyers, Google checks the state bar license of each lawyer in the firm.

What does the Local SEO program need from a Washington business?

The program requires:

• a verified Google Business Profile at a real physical address
• at least 10 reviews
• a rating of 3.5 stars or better

Details are on the Local SEO services page and the packages page. To see how a scan shows a wall at a bridge or a ridge, read how to read a map grid report.