When you create well-written content with the intent of providing the user with the answers they need (or didn’t know they needed), search engines will reward you.
The weather is warming up, AC systems are turning on, roofs are starting to dry off, and summer vacations are just around the corner! This is a busy season for most of the home services industry, and while the boards are getting filled and the calls are rolling in, are you maximizing your SEO efforts to capture all those leads out there?
At RYNO Strategic Solutions, we’re here to help! Dive into our “SEO Spring Cleaning” checklist for 7 quick and easy ideas to improve your SEO!
1 — Create High Quality Content
In the SEO world, content is king – but that doesn’t just mean any ol’ content will do. When it comes to Google and other search engines, they want to put the best possible answers in front of their customers, which means relevant content with authority is going to have the best chances of ranking high.
There aren’t any real substitutes for great content. Even if your website is snazzy, fast, and mobile-friendly, if users aren’t getting the answers they need – they aren’t going to stay for long!
Bonus Content Tips!
- Always write for the user, not the search engine
- Avoid duplicate content on your website
- If your website is built on WordPress, using the Yoast SEO plugin can help give you content insights like their “Readability Score”
- Tools such as SEMRush can give you advanced insights into how to improve your SEO content
- Creating helpful blogs to answer frequently asked questions can bring in lots of traffic to your website!
2 — Utilize Alt Text
Alt text is a pretty easy, but very powerful thing you can do to improve your SEO! Any images on your website will have the option to include “alt text”, which is just a short description of what the image is about. This is important for two distinct reasons. The first is to help the search engine understand what the image is. While we’re getting close to a world where that’s a possibility, for now, search engines need your help understanding what pictures are about!
Alt text fields are also a nice place to add in some keywords or the location you do things, which can further help your SEO. Secondly, alt text helps users that use assistive technologies, like screen readers, navigate your website and its content. This impacts the accessibility of your website, which in turn positively impacts your SEO!
3 — Don’t Forget About Internal Linking
Internal linking is another really simple yet effective way to improve your SEO. Not only does internally linking one page to another help pass authority, it helps users navigate your site! If the search engine likes page A about AC repair, for example, and the search engine likes that page – linking it to a related service page (page B), like AC installation, will signal to the search engine that page B is also a great result to show the user!
One thing to be sure you’re doing is making sure the “anchor text” (the text on that page that you’re creating the link with) is descriptive of the page you’re linking to. Otherwise, the user clicking that link might be confused at the page they are taken to, leave, and signal to the search engine that people aren’t getting the results they were looking for.
4 — Create Short and Simple URLs
URLs are another great opportunity to improve your SEO! Have you ever noticed a really long URL with lots of strange characters and symbols? Messy, right? Well, search engines notice that, too! Technically speaking, that extension past your domain is called a “slug”, which is highlighted in this example: jimsheatingandcooling.com/ac-repair-tampa-bay. When you make a new page, you can change what that slug looks like.
Having short, descriptive URLs for your site’s pages is good for SEO. You should avoid using filler words like “a” or “the”, and also avoid lots of numbers or symbols. When the page URL is simple and descriptive, it’s another way to tell the search engine and user exactly what it’s all about.
5 — Use Those Header Tags
There’s nothing worse than landing on a webpage to see a giant block of text. These days, that’s a surefire way to get someone not to read your content! Instead, using plenty of header tags (i.e. h2, h3, and so on) is a good way to both break up and organize the content on a page.
Having proper headings is more visually appealing, and allows for users to easily navigate the content as they see fit. Anything that encourages users to be more engaged with your content is going to be good for SEO, so using header tags is a no-brainer!
6 — Regular GBP Updates
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) can be a goldmine! Lots of search users click on GBP listings to look at business hours, reviews, photos, and more. Being engaged with your GBP profile can be a huge boost to your SEO, as users will be more likely to use your business if they can see you’re active.
Adding pictures and posts regularly, ensuring your hours and location are correct, and responding to reviews – good and bad – are all great practices. Plus, Google prefers to show a more robust GBP listing with services listed, good reviews, accurate contact info, and engagement – a win for your SEO!
7 — Hire An Expert!
While these simple tasks on our checklist can help your SEO, there’s still a whole lot more that can be done! For many business owners, doing this all on your own doesn’t make any sense.
Whether you have your own internal SEO marketing person or team, or you hire an outside marketing agency for SEO, these tips can help improve your business.
SEO means leads, and leads mean revenue… so what are you waiting for?