Consumers and business buyers frequently use Google to find products, services, and companies. In fact, Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches every day. And because local searches make up about one-third of all searches on mobile devices, service contractors should make sure their websites are built for SEO. High rankings on relevant Google searches can bring in a steady stream of inquiries and new clients. Here are seven SEO features every service contractor website should have.
- Mobile-First Design
- Google gives preference to mobile-friendly web pages in its rankings. This is not surprising, since mobile Internet access exceeds desktop access. If your website is hard for mobile users to navigate, your SEO performance will suffer. Even worse, whatever mobile users find your site will probably not stay long and instead hire a competitor.The first step is implementing a responsive design. Responsive websites adjust automatically for different size screens. Then, for mobile display, make sure your site has:
- A phone icon locked at the top of the page. This enables users to call you on impulse even when scrolling down.
- Extremely simple and easy-to-use navigation.
- A simple contact form.
- Short paragraphs.
- Lots of white space.
- NAP
- To stand out in local Google searches, your company name, physical address and phone number should be on every page of the website. This information is called “NAP” in the SEO business (for name, address, phone).If you have multiple addresses, you should consult with an SEO specialist. Depending on the number and location of your facilities, you’ll need specific site design to rank well in each location.
- Service Pages for Each Important Keyword
- The more relevant your web page is to what people are searching for, the higher it ranks. The words people use in their searches are called keywords.If you are a residential contractor, have separate pages for keywords such as basement remodeling, kitchen remodeling, roof repair, etc. This tells Google your page is all about those specific keywords. Very important! Contractors sometimes try to pack too many keywords into the home page or general service pages. This dilutes SEO rankings.
- SEO-Friendly URLs
- Every URL on your site should make sense to Google and users. Include the page’s most important keyword. Use dashes to separate words. Avoid symbols and numbers that have no meaning to users. Keep them as short as possible. To illustrate:
- abc-company/remodeling-services/kitchen-remodeling-chicago
- ABC_Company/cat/?xYz123_904
- Again, an SEO specialist can help you structure URLs to best suit your company’s keywords and area(s) of service.
- Good Internal Links
- Google looks at a website’s internal links to figure out which pages are most important. So, if kitchen remodeling is your most important service, that page should have the most links to it from other pages of your site. This tells Google that when people search for “kitchen remodeling,” that’s the page to show them.This is why your top navigation should always link to your most important service pages. Top navigation links are very important in Google’s ranking formula. Also, putting links there helps site visitors find those pages.
- Valuable Content
- Google is getting better at judging the quality of a site’s content. Your home page and service pages should be relevant, useful, engaging and original. High-quality content outranks mediocre content, all other things being equal.Content should be free of grammatical errors, have short paragraphs, use bulleted and numbered lists, and have plenty of subheads. The easier your content is to read, the more people will read it.
- Conversion Excellence
- Remember, the purpose of SEO is to get inquiries and clients. Just getting a lot of site traffic from Google doesn’t help you.Once Google users come to your site, are you giving them incentive to reach out? To get more phone calls and form inquiries…
- Have enticing offers that relate to the content on a given page.
- Use seasonal offers to make the offer more relevant and add gentle time pressure.
- Put a privacy statement on your inquiry form. Visitors worry that a company will sell or give away their personal information to spammers.
- Overcome skeptics by stating your years in business, BBB rating, and other information that makes people confident you can do the job.
- State warranties and guarantees.
- Display client endorsements.
If your website has all seven of these attributes, Google traffic will increase. Better yet, you will see more inquiries and new clients because your website is not just SEO-friendly, but visitor-friendly.
About the Author
Brad Shorr is Director of Content Strategy at Straight North, an Internet marketing agency specializing in B2B SEO, PPC and website design.
