Home / Industries / Funeral services
When someone dies, the family has to choose a funeral director within a few hours, often from a phone and while grieving. They look for a nearby name, a number that answers and simple information about what will happen. My job is to make sure your business appears at that moment, with accurate contact details and pages that explain your services plainly.
15 years in SEO
4 books on SEO and GEO
200+ sites tracked every day
1M / month visits to my e-commerce site
They trusted me with their visibility
Darty
Eurofins
Cegid
EBP
CNP Assurances
Ingram MicroWhat the family reads before calling
On a Saturday evening, a family in Cognac is looking for a funeral director. Your website appears third. Its title says “Home” and its description gives neither the town nor the on-call service. Rewrite these two lines.
Fig. 1. Three results on a Saturday evening. Only one is a business based in Cognac. (Someone was answering the phone that evening. The result shown didn't say so.)
What this means for you. I rewrite the title and description of every page so they say what matters: the town, the on-call service, the services and how to get a quote.
SEO for a funeral director is the work that makes the business visible on Google when a family in its area looks for who to call after a death, or looks into a funeral in advance. It relies on an accurate Google Business Profile, a reachable phone number shown everywhere, and pages that clearly describe the services, the steps and how prices are set. It is written with restraint, and in line with your profession's disclosure obligations.
The problem
For “funeral directors” followed by a town, the first results are often funeral comparison sites, directories and national networks. The family fills in a form or calls a number that doesn't belong to a local business. They don't always know who they're talking to.
The search often happens in the evening or at the weekend. If the profile shows “closed”, an old number or the address from before a move, the family calls the next business. They have neither the time nor the strength to check elsewhere.
Many websites in this trade consist of a home page and a sentence of condolence. The family looks for what a service includes, what they need to do first and how to get a quote. They don't find it.
An audit, for real
The site below doesn't exist, but its flaws do: they're the five I spot most often. Hover over a number.
Supporting you with dignity
For three generations, our family has stood by yours.
Contact formFig. 2. Fictional site, reconstructed. Any resemblance to yours would be a good reason to call me.
What your customers type
Six plausible searches, given as examples. They happen in two very different situations: the urgency of a death, and planning ahead, months or years before. The real list comes from the research on your area.
What works
It's the first contact with the family. I check the name, address, category, phone number and opening hours. If you provide an on-call phone line, the profile must reflect it exactly. Each office and each funeral home has its own profile, with its address and access details.
On a phone, the family must be able to call without searching. The number appears at the top of every page, in large type, with the hours you answer. A contact form doesn't suit an emergency. It can stay for pre-paid plan or memorial enquiries.
Burial, cremation, repatriation, funeral home, civil or religious ceremony, memorials: each one answers specific questions. A dedicated page describes what the service includes, what remains the family's choice and the steps in order. The text stays simple, with no sales language.
The question of cost weighs on families, and they don't always dare to ask it. A page says what makes up the price of a funeral and how to get a written, itemised quote. The form and content of this information fall under your profession's obligations: you tell me what they are, and I apply them.
Formalities after a death, how a service unfolds, access to the funeral home, parking, visiting hours: this information takes a weight off relatives. It is also looked up by people coming from far away to attend the funeral who don't know the area.
What costs dearly
The old line on the Google Business Profile, the new one on the website, a mobile in a directory. The family doesn't know which to dial, and a call lost in those hours doesn't come back.
If the on-call line goes to an answering machine, it needs to be described differently. Accurate information about the hours you answer is better than a promise that leaves a family alone.
Doves, candles, sunset skies: these stock photos are everywhere. The front of your office, the viewing room and the faces of the team say more about who you are.
A list of trade terms tells nothing to someone arranging a funeral for the first time. Each term needs a simple sentence saying what it covers.
The method
Four steps, starting with what helps a family in the first hours.
One-minute test
Five frank questions to find out whether support makes sense in your situation. Sometimes the answer is no, and I'll tell you.
Close to home
In Charente, a funeral director may be based in Angoulême, in Cognac or in a small town such as Jarnac, Barbezieux, Ruffec or Confolens. Families, however, are sometimes spread out: one child in Angoulême, another far from the département, arranging things remotely. It's this distant relative who searches online, and it's for them that the profile and the website must be accurate.
In the two towns, a family searches with the name of the town or neighbourhood and compares several profiles. An independent firm stands out there through precise information: who answers, where the viewing room is, what each service includes.
In a small town, the business is known to the locals. It's less known to relatives from elsewhere. A search for “funeral directors” followed by the town's name must show your profile, not just those from the neighbouring town.
A relative who lives far away has to sort everything out by phone and email. They need clear pages on the formalities, access to the funeral home and the cemetery or crematorium concerned. These details save them several calls.
Beyond Google
Some people now put their question to an AI like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Mistral, because they don't know what to type. For example: “my father has just died at Angoulême hospital, what do I need to do and who can take care of the funeral?”. The AI describes the first steps, then sometimes names one or two businesses. The family calls one of them without looking any further.
To name a business, the AI relies on what it reads: the website, the Google Business Profile, directories, the local press. It keeps information that is clear and consistent: an address, a number, an on-call service, services described. A firm whose website simply explains what it does and where it is located is more likely to be named than one that only shows a home page. I work on this clarity at the same time as on Google rankings.
Question asked to an AIMy father has just died at Angoulême hospital. Who can arrange the funeral in the next few days?
Three possible answers in this area:
Fig. 3. Reconstruction, names hidden. This is the spot we aim for: on the list, with the most precise description.
Three typical cases
These three cases are fictional and illustrate the method. None of them matches a real business. Your plan will start from a review of where things stand.
It's well known locally, but its Google Business Profile carries an old number and its website is several years old.
The three sites share a single profile and a single contact page.
Headstones are a share of its business, but the website says almost nothing about them.
In practice
Pricing
The fee depends on four things. I give you a precise amount after a free first thirty-minute conversation.
Together, let's devour your competitors.
One by one, and in order. Every spot gained makes the next one easier to take: that's why it keeps growing. See the method
Who you're talking to
My name is Kévin Papot. More than fifteen years in the job, four co-written books, and the Newp agency, co-founded in Charente. I also run my own online shops, in France and internationally: one of them went from zero to a million visits a month.
Before we talk tags, we talk margin, average basket and profitability. When you book a call, I'm the one who picks up.
FAQ
Yes, if you stick to informing. A family searching needs to find an accurate number and clear explanations. Making that information accessible does them a service. I write no promotion or sales hooks, and you review every page.
How families are informed about prices is governed by your profession's obligations, and you're the one who tells me what they are. Within that framework, explaining what makes up the cost of a funeral and how to get a written quote helps families decide calmly.
I don't recommend approaching a family in the days following a funeral. Some leave a note of their own accord, later on. You can simply make the profile easy to find and reply soberly to each review received.
With few words and a great deal of restraint. A case is not discussed in public. A brief reply expresses your regret, offers a direct conversation and gives a name to contact. I can help you write it if you wish.
Ignoring them won't make them go away. Your Google Business Profile does, however, appear on the map, above or alongside them, for searches that include a town name. That's where the call from a local family is won, and that's where I start.
It's a service many relatives look for. It requires the family's agreement and a clear rule on how long notices stay online. If you offer it, each notice should be a simple page, with the details of the service.
It depends on what the network lets you manage. The office's Google Business Profile, its opening hours, its photos and its page on the network's website are often in your hands. I look with you at what can be changed before suggesting anything.
If you offer them, yes, on a page separate from the urgent side, because the reader isn't in the same situation. The content of that page touches on rules I don't rule on. You tell me what can be written.
Corrections to contact details and opening hours are quick to make and usually show up without a long delay. The website pages take longer to find their place. I don't promise rankings; I report back on what changes.
I propose a first version, sober and without flourishes, based on what you tell me about the way you work. You correct it. In this trade, every word counts for the person reading it, so nothing is published without your agreement.
See also
30 minutes · video call · with me
Together we look at where you stand on Google and in AI, and what should change first.
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