What’s the first thing someone does when they’re looking for a new salon? It’s the same as when they look for shoes, clothes, or a new car. They go to a search engine like Google or Bing and are presented with a long list of search engine results.
That Search Engine Results Page (SERP) would have thousands of results. However, most people never get beyond the first three or four and rarely scroll past the first ten results.
Imagine a potential client searching for a “balayage hair salon” eager to find their next color transformation. They scroll through Google results, contacting the top three salons that appear.
While your trend-setting stylists consistently deliver vivid, dimensional balayage – without securing prominent first-page search visibility, your salon stays unseen. Never discovered by that excited searcher ready to book.
The reality is – that no matter how exceptional the services, how talented the team or how delighted the existing customers are, salons failing to rank highly in search results remain invisible to new visitors exploring options online.
But the moment your salon website captures those critical top search rankings, an entire world of new clientele is suddenly unlocked. This is what SEO helps you to do!
A whole branch of online marketing is devoted to helping businesses improve their position in search results. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) configures your website and entire online presence to make your salon more relevant to search engines. This article covers what SEO best practices look like in 2026 and how they can benefit your salon.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Simply put, optimizing a salon’s online presence is a strategic process to achieve higher visibility in search engine results for relevant beauty and hair service queries. The higher your salon ranks for searches people are likely to do when needing beauty/hair services, the greater number of impressions, clicks, and walk-in traffic you earn from search engines.
But why does your salon’s website need SEO?
From social media ads to printed flyers, marketing avenues promising new clients seem endless for salons. Yet most options share a common pain point – continuous investment costs that strain budgets.
But what if reliable visibility and bookings didn’t require expensive ongoing campaigns?
Since most salons run on slim profit margins, Search Engine Optimization makes the most sense for salon businesses. Here are a few reasons why:
Pay-per-click ads like Google Ads can cost anywhere from $1 to 10+ per click, and the budget adds up quickly for unpredictable traffic. Organic SEO leads cost nothing upfront and bring targeted visitors.
Optimizing existing web pages is more affordable than building new landing pages (which is a must when you run paid advertisements). SEO improves what already exists on your site to attract organic search visibility.
Ranking for locally optimized keywords like “salon Minneapolis” or “hair color in dallas” taps into searchers ready to book in your area.
SEO delivers a consistent stream of traffic month-to-month without ongoing advertising expenses compared to paid channels. Results compound over time.
In addition to visibility and discoverability, SEO enhances perceptions around credibility and authority in search. Given the majority of searchers rarely venture past the first few results, achieving a top positioning signal to prospects that a salon provides quality, trusted services.
How Search Engine Works?
Now that we comprehend the importance of SEO let’s understand how a search engine works before proceeding to optimization strategies.
It’s no secret that Google dominates the search market with over 90% market share. Nevertheless, the goal of any search engine is to provide the most relevant results quickly to match users’ inquiries.
Search engines make a complex process seem effortless. You type in a search term and, within seconds, receive a long list of results sorted by relevance. The higher a result is on the list, the more connected it is to your original search. However, arriving at these results involves several steps.
Crawling
Search engine web crawlers, or bots, constantly scan billions of web pages to find available content. They travel from link to link in search of online content.
Indexing
Once crawled, the search engine indexes web pages and stores information about content, location, search keywords, recent updates, and other factors. This indexing step is part of the way the search engine determines what is most relevant to a given search.
Ranking and Serving
When a user inputs a search term, the engine goes through its index and, using advanced algorithms, delivers the ranked results. The most relevant results appear at the top of the page.
Now that we have an overview of how search engines work, let’s try to understand the geographical classifications of SEO.
Geographical SEO Classifications
As we learn about salon SEO, it’s crucial to understand targeting dimensions based on service area – namely, the difference between local, national, and regional efforts:
Local SEO
This targets search ranking improvements in your immediate servicing vicinity – city, ZIP codes, neighborhood, etc. For a salon, this usually spans a 10-20-mile radius at most. Tactics would focus on city-specific pages, localized content, and Google My Business optimization.
National SEO
National SEO works for salon businesses selling beauty products online. In this case, you want your product catalogue to be visible across the entire country. After all, people can buy the products online from your website, irrespective of their location.
Note: If you have an online shop and a brick-and-mortar salon(s), it’s easy to be confused about which way to go: local SEO or National SEO?
We had a similar situation with one of our salon clients, and we got pretty sweet results by mixing those two! We optimized the service pages for local SEO and their online shop for national SEO. Reach out to us if you need further advice on this.
Additionally, for salons targeting specific metro regions, there is…
Regional SEO
This is a slight expansion from local SEO that looks to capture search presence across a broader metro area that may span multiple adjacent cities, suburbs, or counties. This may require targeting additional surrounding Geo-targets.
As a local business, most salons should focus on dominating search visibility, specifically in the regions they serve physically.
Three Fundamental SEO Components
Now that we understand that salons should focus on local SEO, let’s examine the three components of a successful SEO campaign. While much of SEO’s focus revolves around website content, as SEO professionals, we know it’s much more involved. Many necessary signals are not visible to the average website visitor but only to search engines.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO includes items that affect the user, such as keywords and content quality. It also involves less obvious factors, such as the website’s navigation structure and image descriptions.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to how your site interacts with other sites. Part of this effort is backlinking, getting other sites to link to your site. It also involves building a reputation for the site through social media, guest blogging, or other means.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO involves factors that affect your site’s performance with web crawlers. These include structural elements, page speed, and backend coding elements.
What factors impact search engine rankings?
What exactly makes one salon site appear on page one of Google while another on page 5?
The answer lies in algorithms – the computerized logic behind search engines that assess website elements to decide which are most relevant for a user.
While the Google algorithm uses over 200 factors to determine a site’s rank, as a salon owner, you should know some of the most important elements that significantly impact search engine rankings.
Content Relevance
Search engines try to match results with a user’s intent. Strategic usage of relevant hair/beauty service keywords throughout page copy and metadata signals search query relevance.
For example, a salon specializing in eyelash services ranks higher than a salon that offers extensions as a secondary service when someone searches for “eyelash extensions near me.”
Location
As a brick-and-mortar business, the search engine will give more weight to salons near the user’s physical location.
Content Quality
Informative, well-structured content written for users proves expertise in beauty services better than thin brochure-like pages. Search engines pay attention to spammy content that overuses or “stuffs” keywords onto the page. Natural, well-written information that will appeal to human users is always the best choice.
Backlinks
Relevant websites that link back to your site give it authority and legitimacy, improving its place in search rankings.
Reviews
Positive reviews, especially in your Google Business Profile, demonstrate the value of your business. Search engines give well-reviewed businesses a better place in results.
Pro-tip: When you ask a satisfied client to leave a review for your salon, request them to be as detailed as possible and include the service they received. This will be a natural addition to search engines and help improve that particular service’s ranking.
Technical Infrastructure—Is your website secure? Is the website code properly structured? Do pages load fast enough? The answer to all these questions must be yes to help you qualify for relevance and earn rankings.
Site User Experience – Factors like mobile optimization, site speed and thoughtful design impact user experience, which Google values. This creates positive usage signals.
Domain Authority – Historical performance and longevity of the overall site domain influence rankings potential for new pages
Now that we’ve explored the eight underlying elements that have the most influence on determining prominent search visibility, let’s shift focus to one of the most foundational ranking signals – keywords.
Salon SEO – Step #1: Keyword Research
What is a Keyword?
A keyword is the phrase a user types into a search engine. Ideally, the content on your page will include phases that match or relate to common search terms. For example, a hair salon will want to include terms that reflect its services: “hair salon”, “perm”, or “Brazilian blowout.” An exact match signals to the search engine that the content is relevant to the user.
Importance of Keyword Research in Salon SEO
Keyword research is the first step of an SEO content strategy. You create a list of frequently searched words and phrases related to your salon’s services. Intent is another consideration when looking at keywords. For example, “perm” might be too general as a keyword because the user could be searching for a DIY perm product instead of a salon.
But how do you know what keywords people are searching for?
Specialized SEO keyword research tools save time by providing information about the value of different keywords, such as their search volume and competitiveness. A keyword with high search volume but low competition is the sweet spot where a website can improve its ranking quickly. You might begin with a free tool like Google Keyword Planner. However, more advanced searches depend on the additional data from paid keyword tools found on sites like Ahrefs and SEMrush.
Local relevance of keywords
As a location-based business, the best keywords for your salon will reflect where you are and what you offer. Local relevance is essential for salons, so you will use phrases that incorporate your city: “best hair salon in Memphis,” “hair stylist in London,” “hair dye salon in New York.”
Your ideal keywords also include specificity about the services offered at your business. Optimizing your site for a keyword like “salon” is too general. Keywords that reflect your specialities help search engines match you when a user looks for specific services like hair extensions, nails, and facials.
A Note on Longtail Keywords
In general, longer keywords are less competitive than short keywords. It is difficult to rank for a short keyword like “hair salon” because large businesses and major chains have big budgets and can invest more in SEO. Smaller businesses should aim for longer keywords because they often have more buyer intent behind them. Someone searching for “hair salons that dye hair near me” is probably closer to booking an appointment than someone just searching for “hair salon” or “hair dye.”
But my salon offers multiple services. Do I need to do keyword research on each of them?
Great question! Yes, when a salon offers multiple services (most salons do). It is essential to conduct thorough keyword research for each specific service you want people to find you in search results. Here are a few key reasons why:
Each service has its own unique set of related keywords and search patterns. For example, popular keywords around hair services are quite different than nails or facials. Doing the research identifies precise terms for every offering.
It allows you to optimize different site pages around each applicable service line. For example, you may have separate pages for haircuts, color, extensions, bridal, etc., each targeting specific matching keywords.
Ranking well for keywords related to ALL the services you provide allows you to attract and engage the full spectrum of prospective clients searching around related beauty needs online.
Now that we have a solid understanding of keyword research, let’s use it. In the next step, we’ll learn to optimize existing pages to include the keywords we’ve researched, and in step five, we’ll discuss creating new content with those keywords.
Salon SEO – Step #2: On-Page SEO
On-page SEO involves structuring the content on your website. It consists of the placement of keywords, each page’s structure, and the entire site’s overarching organization.
Content Quality
Search engines reward websites for providing relevant, original content. It doesn’t have to be perfect prose, but it does need to connect with your intended audience. Copying content from another site or using generic AI-generated content is not the best strategy here and may even lower your rank in search engines.
Natural Keywords
Sprinkling relevant keywords in your content is an essential SEO practice. However, keywords should appear naturally without feeling forced or awkwardly phrased. It would help if you also placed keywords in content headings because search engine bots give more weight to headings than regular text.
Header Tags
If you discuss about your website with a developer, you will probably hear terms like H1 and H2 headers. To the viewer, topical headers are often distinguished by size, but they are not just playing with fonts. Headers are essential components in an on-page SEO strategy. To the search engine, they provide a simple way to store information about your site.
H1: The largest header acts as a title for the entire page.
H2: Section headers describe large chunks of content.
H3 (and beyond): Each header should relate directly to less content.
Meta Tags
Meta tags are specific HTML code elements that provide additional information about a web page to search engines and browsers. You don’t see them visually on the page itself. However, two commonly optimized tags are meta title and meta description.
Page Title Tag: This goes inside the page’s <head> element. This displays the title seen in search engine results listing your page. Aim for 55-60 chars using your primary keyword.
Meta Description Tag: This is another metadata snippet that summarizes page content shown in search listings. Keep it around 155-160 characters while working on secondary keywords.
When crafted effectively, title tags and meta descriptions preview what a page offers using keywords. This provides a relevant signal to match searches and influences click-through rates.
For example, a Hair Styling page could have a meta title of “Hair Styling Techniques for Thick and Curly Locks | Salon Name” and a meta description incorporating “expert hair styling for curly and thick hair textures.”
Overall Website-Related SEO
After you have optimized your salon website’s home and service pages as described above, it’s time to examine how they relate to one another. A well-organized site is helpful to both human users and search engines.
Clear Navigation
Keeping your site user-friendly means making it easy for viewers to find their way around. Links to your booking form or contact page should be displayed prominently.
Purposeful Page Hierarchy
A clear hierarchy of pages makes it easier for search engines to discover all your content. For example, an optimized page address for a service page will be something like “https://mysalon.com/services/perms/”.
The Power of Images
Pictures make your site relatable. Although using stock photos of beautiful models is tempting, you may be better served by using authentic pictures of your staff and clients. Beauty is a relational business, so let people see who you are!
For SEO purposes, images are also a place to include more keywords. The search engine reads the file name and alt text of your images, with each image for use by screen readers. These are great opportunities to add keywords without stuffing them in your main content.
What is alt text?
Alt text is a description of the image attached to the image itself. Search engines cannot see and interpret what images on your website contain, so they rely on alt text. Most modern website builders (including WordPress) allow you to add it while uploading the image.
Loading Speed
You would have noticed that when you land on some sites, it takes them forever to load. When that happens, you may automatically navigate away, thinking there’s something wrong with the page. However, this pause may simply be the result of poor website-building practices. Research shows sites with the fastest load times tend to outperform slower counterparts in competitive search rankings. Google even factors page speed into position algorithms now. Quick loading indicates an efficient, modern web presence aligned with user experience priorities. By compressing images, eliminating bloated code, upgrading hosting and leveraging browser caching, sites strike an optimal balance between visual appeal and lean performance.
Salon SEO – Step #3: Local SEO
For salons, most new client inquiries come from nearby residents searching for things like “eyebrow waxing Seattle” or “curly hair cut near me.” So, focusing on location-based SEO is vital.
Google and other search engines can recognize when someone is looking for a nearby service. The results will reflect that intent, listing local businesses at the top of organic results, often connected to a location map. Even though the pool may be smaller, you still want your business to be at the top. That’s where Local SEO comes in.
Claiming Your Google Business Profile (GBP)
In the Google universe, your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the key to improving your local SEO. Think of it as a Facebook or Instagram page, but for Google, Your GBP appears when someone searches specifically for your business or clicks it on the Google location map. The platform displays helpful information like your address, operating hours, and customer reviews.
In case you haven’t done it already, you must claim and verify your business. Typically, all you need to do is search for your business name, and Google will give you the option to “Claim This Business.” As part of the process, you will be asked to verify your relationship with the business. You may be asked to produce organizational documents or send a video showing your connection.
Adding Google Business Profile Information
Once you claim your GBP, the best practice is to provide as much information as possible, letting clients know you are active and engaged. While accurate information about your location, hours, and services is essential, you can add much more to entice new clients.
