When should an Austin contractor start slow season SEO?
An Austin contractor should start slow season SEO in the first quiet month on their own Search Console chart, and that month differs by trade. National Weather Service normals for Austin's Camp Mabry station put the average high at 97.8 degrees in August and 62.5 degrees in January. An AC company's August, a plumber's hard freeze and a roofer's storm work do not land in the same months, so a slow season copied from somebody else's calendar can be wrong for you.
To find yours, open the Performance report in Search Console, set the longest date range and switch the chart to Monthly. Google's Performance report documentation says the time granularity menu is there "to spot trends." Google's Analytics help says "Search Console keeps data for the last 16 months," so the chart covers a full year and shows a few of those months twice. The low months on that chart are your slow season, at least as far as Google search is concerned.
If your site is too new for that, Google Trends can show the shape of demand for a service in your area. Google's Trends FAQ says results are scaled on a range of 0 to 100 and can go down to city-level geography. Those numbers are relative, not search counts, so use Trends to see when demand rises and falls and not how many people searched.
Why slow season SEO has to start before the rush
Slow season SEO has to start early because Google does not act on your changes right away. Google's SEO Starter Guide says "Some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months." The same guide says you likely want to wait a few weeks before judging whether the work helped.
Crawling runs on Google's schedule too. Google's recrawl documentation says "Crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks," and that requesting a recrawl multiple times for the same URL will not get it crawled any faster. A service page rewritten the week the rush begins may not be read until your crews are already booked and nobody has time to check it. The same page rewritten in the first quiet month has time to be crawled, checked and corrected.
What should a contractor fix first during slow season?
A contractor should fix service pages first, starting with the searches the site already shows up for. In the Performance report, sort queries by impressions and look for two things: searches where people see your site and rarely click, and searches no page on your site really answers. A query like "water heater replacement round rock" with impressions and no page of its own is a better brief than a keyword tool will hand you.
Slow months also give you the one thing a copywriter cannot supply, which is what your crew actually did. Google Search Central says its ranking systems are designed to "prioritize helpful, reliable information," and one of its self-assessment questions asks whether content demonstrates "first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge." Have the person who ran the jobs talk through last season: the problems, the fixes, what customers asked on site. Then put that on the page. That list is also where we start with our local SEO work.
How to use the slow months on your Google Business Profile
Use the slow months to bring your Google Business Profile up to date, because a busy season leaves it behind. Google's local ranking guide says "Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results," and it groups the ranking factors under relevance, distance and prominence. You cannot move distance. You can work on the other two.
Reviews are the place to start. The same guide ties prominence to how many reviews you have and says "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking." Go through last season's finished jobs and send every customer the same review request link, then reply to the reviews that piled up while you were slammed. Do not offer a discount for a review and do not ask only the happy customers: the Google Maps content policy prohibits incentives and selectively soliciting positive reviews.
Then check your posts and photos. Google's posts documentation says "Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set," so a post from the start of a busy season can be gone by the end of it. Add photos from this year's real jobs, since Google's photo guidelines say an image "should represent reality." If your slow season runs through the holidays, our year-end local SEO checklist covers special hours and exporting your Search Console data.
Should you pause Local Services Ads in the slow season?
Pause Local Services Ads in the slow season only if you cannot take the leads, and otherwise turn the budget down. Google says you choose a budget "based on the number of new leads you want every week" and "can adjust your monthly budget whenever you need to." Google's Local Services documentation says to pause or edit campaigns in the Local Services Ads inbox rather than the main Google Ads interface.
Slow months are also a good time to look at how your Local Services Ads are set up, since you can check the service list and call handling without leads coming in at full speed. Spending more will not change where your Business Profile ranks. Google's local ranking guide says "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."
What slow season SEO will not do
Slow season SEO will not guarantee a busy spring. Google's guidance on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a top ranking, and that includes us. What the work does is get your pages and profile accurate, crawled and complete before demand comes back, instead of after. If the phones start ringing before you finish the list, write down where you stopped and pick it back up next time it gets quiet.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start slow season SEO?
Start in the first quiet month on your Search Console chart. Google says some changes could take several months to take effect and crawling can take a few days to a few weeks, so work done right before the rush may not be seen in time.
How do I find my slow season in Search Console?
Open the Performance report, set the longest date range and change the time granularity to Monthly. Search Console keeps data for the last 16 months, so the low months on that chart are a fair first read on your slow season.
Should I turn off Local Services Ads when it is slow?
Only if you cannot take the leads. Google lets you adjust the budget whenever you need to, based on how many new leads you want each week, and campaigns are paused from the Local Services Ads inbox.