SEO Archives - Hurricane Web Design

Trends And Developments In SEO in 2018

August 4, 2018/0 Comments/in SEO /by Cary Blackburn

There have been more than a few critical SEO developments and trends so far in 2018, and as we are just over halfway through the year, it seemed like a good idea to take a look at these. One trend in 2017 was the way that quality replaced content, as Google made numerous updates to their algorithm, and that trend of cracking down on spam and low-quality content has continued during this year.

The constantly changing digital landscape means that SEO becomes more critical every month, almost every day you might say. It’s a certainty that there are considerable benefits to be enjoyed for any company that takes the time and trouble to improve their website and provides a better customer experience.

Matching the search terms used by those searching, to the information on a website is the primary aim of Google. One of the main focuses is coming up with quality content to match the user’s search, and Rankbrain, cornerstone and LSI content are all helping to make that happen. However, there are other techniques and innovations pending that are set to change the world of SEO even more.

Voice Search

The growth of voice search and virtual assistants seems to be assured, following on the success of some names that most of us are already familiar with, including Cortana, Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant. Using a voice-activated speaker as part of everyday life is essential to just over 70 percent of those who own one, according to Google.

Quality website content is more important than ever when potential customers are using voice search, as the technology typically searches for the closest match to the question when hearing a sentence. Also, voice search has the drawback of not being able to search using one or two keyword terms.

Video and Animation

As searches become ever more sophisticated, Google has the capability of distinguishing between good and harmful content. Video attracts most viewers, and its significant advantage is that it can increase audience interest and engagement, meaning that video is at the forefront of all of these SEO changes.

Google is then more inclined to believe that your website has quality content and can be trusted when users spend more time on the site. And of course, it increases your chances of a higher ranking for your site if Google has more trust in you. YouTube and other sites can also be optimized for SEO, allowing them to appear in those all-important search results.

Reviews

About 90 percent of customers will look at other user reviews before visiting the website for a specific business, making user reviews and comments extremely important. In fact, winning the sale or losing the customer can all depend on whether the customer was able to find positive and favorable reviews, indicating just how important these can be for any company.

Reviews by customers often contain your keywords too, and they can also be regarded as the primary source of user-generated content relating to your business. And because there is more trust in the brand or product, a site that is highly rated will enjoy a higher Google ranking. Trustpilot and similar sites optimize SEO by integrating their trust boxes.

Our in-house SEO experts make a point of keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of SEO, and any new trends that can potentially affect you. If your goal is to be on the first page of the search results, it’s a must to use SEO effectively and embrace any changes or new ideas. The rest is all about having accurate and complete information on your site. If you would like to find out how we can help with your search engine optimization talk to the experts at our SEO Vancouver agency and see how we’ve helped others obtain more leads and business with SEO.

Web Design & SEO Tips for 2018

July 20, 2018/0 Comments/in SEO, Web Design /by Cary Blackburn

Billions of people go online to search for just about anything you can imagine, which is why all companies need to have a presence online. However, what good is a website if nobody can find it? Search engine optimization can help your site get in front of your targeted market because it is designed to draw visitors to your site.

You have to engage with your visitors if your goal is to convert them into sales. By having an SEO focus on your site’s design, you will be on your way to achieving your goals. That being said, here are some useful tips to help:

Focus On Making Things Easy For Readers

Have you ever visited a website and quickly left because it is too difficult to navigate? How about clicking on a link only to be shown an error page? These things are annoying. Asides from SEO, you need to focus on user experience. Web design is all about user experience. If you’re serious about converting traffic to customers, then consider this:

Create easy to navigate pages
Make sure to include internal links (link to different pages from within your site)
External links should open in a new window
Call to action statements should be easily understood
Each web page shouldn’t be content heavy because people become easily distracted
Make sure your website is giving everything your readers want

Pay Attention To Visuals

These days, people retain visuals more than written text. If you want people to remember what you are offering, then focus on making sure your website is visually appealing. Most people leave sites that are text heavy. That said, consider the following:

Use images that don’t slow your website down
Don’t use popups, overuse ads or have music play automatically
Break up content by using boxes and colors
Your call-to-action statements should be bold.

If you want to boost your SEO efforts, then focus on your website’s visuals. This can lead to people spending more time on your site.

Use Fresh Info

If your website has content that is outdated and not valuable, then your visitors will exit your site fast. Eventually, you’ll lose traffic, and you will struggle to convert traffic into paying customers. Fresh content can help people solve issues that they are currently facing, and fresh content increases the chances of them becoming paying customers. Consider this:

Old content that is not valuable or no longer useful will eventually lead to your SEO rankings to fall
Content should be relevant to your industry and should be on-point
Fresh content tends to show up higher in the search engines results pages

Bear in mind that you don’t have to keep changing your content every single day. Generally speaking, doing it a few times per month should be enough.

Mobile-Friendly

Nowadays, mobile optimization is far more critical than it has ever been. If your website is mobile-friendly, then you’ll have a better chance of converting website visitors into paying customers. Consider this:

Searches via mobile are becoming more common
People who find websites via search results and are not able to load them will go to a different site, which can lead to SEO rankings to fall.
Users want to be able to quickly and easily find info on any device. Otherwise, they will find other sites that are mobile-friendly.

If you want to improve your rankings via web design, then make sure your website is mobile-friendly.

Create Social Profiles

Everyone is using a mobile device which is not a secret. Asides from that, people are using social media. Just about everyone in the world is active on social media to a degree. You can create a social media page and direct traffic to your site from it. You might be surprised at how much traffic you can send to your website via social media. That being said, consider the following:

Plug-ins should be used to connect to various social media platforms, and they can be used to showcase your most recent posts as well as increase your page likes over time
For people to get to know you better, you should write an excerpt for your business or website
High-res images can impress people, so make sure you use them and don’t forget to include relevant titles.

Doing all of the above will help you grow your social media following and can help you connect with potential customers from around the country and the world.

If you want to improve your rankings in the search engines results pages, then keep the above website design tips for SEO in mind or contact our SEO Vancouver company. Remember, having a well-designed website and focusing on search engine optimization can go a long way.

5 Tips to Help Boost your Website’s SEO Ranking

January 29, 2018/in SEO /by Qurban Shah

If you are a newbie, you might not be familiar with the word SEO, but there is no need to worry, we will take you point by point. Let’s first get familiar with SEO. It stands for Search engine optimization. These are some methodologies and techniques that can bring your blog to the top of the ranking.

You will get more traffic to your website when a person searches Google if your work appears on the first page. Let’s look at it this way. When you are searching something on Google, you always click on the first two or three links and never bother to go further. The links on the top have the highest ranking and traffic. If you have visited any other SEO blog, you know that they all talk about these tips to rank your site because these are really important.

If you are struggling with getting your blog on the top, here are some detailed steps for you to follow. Go through these thoroughly, and you will be able to do better.

High-quality content

Use of wrong grammar and irrelevant stuff is the biggest turn-off. Imagine if you are in a hurry and try to search something, but all you are getting are long sentences which have nothing to do with the topic. Will you ever visit that site again? Likely the answer is no. Same goes for the grammatical mistakes and poor use of words. Try to increase your vocabulary and do not linger on with the same thing again and again. If your grammar is not very good, you might consider downloading a grammar checker.

Use Images

It is the human psychology that he/she gets more amused by the colors and graphics. Always try to illustrate things with some pictures or videos. When a person looks at a long page of just words without visuals, it gives a negative impression on his/her mind. Imagine yourself here, you open a document, and it’s all in written form, you will try to read it at first, but at last, it will look like a big headache. You will consider another document, where things are explained with images. What seems better now? Obviously, the picture document one.

Optimize Page Speed

2018 is the age of doing things rapidly. Every single person you see is in some hurry. And what is the point of using the internet when you are not going to get the result on time? Some might consider going to the library if it will take ages to load the page.

Keep your site error free. It is a pain when after a minute full of loading the page it ends up giving an error. Also, Google and Bing consider google page speed as a plus point when ranking the site.

Now, the point is how to increase the page loading. There are several things that you can do to make your website load faster. Some people use caching plugins. Another way to do it is by optimizing the image size. The larger the image is, the more time it will take to load the page.

Utilize headings and proper subheadings

Making your document just a massive bulk of words is such a bad option. No one likes to run into a wall of text, especially when you are trying to illustrate a procedure. Always make points or headings. Go in stepwise order. An unorderly document is never appreciated. Properly write things, as when the reader gives a glance at the page, he decides in few seconds whether or not he is going to go further. Try to make it worthwhile.

Qurban is a freelance writer who offers to blog, ghostwriting and copywriting services. He works in close collaboration with businesses providing digital marketing solution that increases brand awareness and search engine visibility. He’s currently working for Vibbi.com, which provides quality Instagram followers, likes, and views.

SEO Guide for Home Renovation Contractors: Get More Traffic for Your Website

November 20, 2017/0 Comments/in SEO /by Cary Blackburn

Everyone wants to understand how SEO works these days. We specify “these days” because the rules for SEO are continually changing. Since Google has over 200 ranking factors that must be considered, it’s essential to keep up with these changes to rank well in Google searches.

Undoubtedly, if you own a home remodeling and landscaping business, you want to learn new ways to earn more money, get more traffic and stay ahead of the competition. The best way to ensure this is to get the top spots in search engine results for your site’s relevant keywords.

Do you want to increase your website rankings? We have tons of ways to help. Follow the important tips below. However, understand that the best way to accomplish this goal is to post the best content. We didn’t include it on our list of tips because the top online home renovation and remodeling sites automatically provide the best content.

1. Get Relevant Links

When relevant links are linking to your website, this tells Google that your site is credible and authentic. Unfortunately, not all links are helpful links. The more authoritative and relevant these links are, the better it makes your website look.

It’s also essential when local companies link with each other which spotlights local service areas for top search engines. When it comes to SEO, opt to use a few high-quality links instead of millions of low-quality links.

Although there’s no way to control which websites link to your content, there are things that can be done to get more traffic to your home renovation and remodeling website.

Post good quality content. Remember that there aren’t steadfast rules when it comes to the length that each piece must be. Shorter is not always bad, and longer is not always good. Make sure that each post is the right length. Don’t write fluff.
Post on social media sites to get more traffic.
Link to other good quality sites, so their website owners do the same for you.
Ask to write guest posts for other websites.
Get published in popular home renovation and remodeling online magazines.

2. Get Social

Now let’s get some things straight about posting on social media. The number of followers that you have has nothing to do with how Google ranks your website; however, Bing does place value on social media interaction. It was once important to Google as well, but it no longer impacts Google’s ranking algorithm.

But it is still important to interact with social media sites because the top search engines regularly crawl them. So, if someone does a search on one of these sites for keywords such as “home renovation,” or “remodeling,” you should have a Facebook page or Twitter account that is optimized for these words. If you’re lucky, your website will show up in the top search results for these keywords which is why SEO is crucial for home renovation and remodeling websites.

3. Use Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs ensure that searchers can get back to your site’s homepage once they’ve viewed other pages on your website. Using breadcrumbs is beneficial because viewers can move deeply through your website and improve your SEO bounce rate. In addition to helping visitors, breadcrumbs improve your website by:

Highlighting keywords on various pages and showing how web pages are related to one another.
Improving the content hierarchy of your site, which is also known as the internal linking structure.

4. Use SEO Optimized Post Titles

Make sure that each post title is optimized for search engines, but do not keyword stuff. Your website will be penalized if you keyword stuff. Most importantly, the keywords that you want to rank for will be diluted and lose importance. Make sure that your title has an SEO optimized title, but also ensure that the keyword is included in the content post.

Also, optimize keywords for search engines, but make sure they are readable for your website visitors. All post titles show up in online search results. If they seem too optimized, online searchers will not click on them which means that your site will never rank highly, and it may also be penalized in the process.

If you are looking for help with SEO for your home improvement business, give us a call for local SEO Vancouver BC.

3 Basic Web Design Hacks to Skyrocket Your Conversions

November 17, 2017/0 Comments/in SEO /by Cary Blackburn

Traffic is only as good as it CONVERTS into phone calls, sales, and revenue for your business. You can have the best website designed in the world, but if you cannot get your visitors to take action, you’re not going to be able to monetize the traffic.

In this article, we will discuss some basic and beginner-friendly tactics to ensure that people who visit your website get enough information to feel comfortable enough to pick up the phone and call your business or fill out that Contact Form. This is mostly applicable to independent business owners who may have put up their site a while ago and have not seen tangible results from it yet.

Prominent Call to Action

Make sure your PHONE NUMBER is visible no matter where the visitor is on your site. An easy way to do this is to make it prominent in the top right corner of the site, visible on all pages along with your Navigation Menu. If your website does not have a prominent and clear call-to-action, ask your web design company to set one up as soon as possible.

Making it difficult for your customers to find your contact details is one of the biggest mistakes that beginner business owners make, especially when they haven’t had a professional consultation. For a customer to find their way to your Contact page just to find your number is big No-No!

You need to understand that your customers are going to be different kinds of people and at different places in the buying process. Some are going to want to call you right away and will get frustrated if they can’t find your number. Others won’t feel comfortable calling you just yet but might fill in a Contact Form to find out more. So, you also need to have a prominent secondary call-to-action to capture these leads.

Add Trust and Credibility Elements

Understand that MOST people who come across your website DO NOT contact you. And think about why. Is it that they are just browsing for the services you provide and not really looking to buy? Or were they disappointed that the information on your site was not sufficient, so they went to look for someone else? Or perhaps you did have enough information, but they just didn’t feel comfortable or didn’t trust you yet?

All these are possibilities you must consider to improve your conversion rate. Think about the first impression that your site is giving to your visitors. If necessary, ask some people you know about how they feel when they first visit the site. It always helps to get a fresh visitor’s opinion on a site you might feel biased about as you may have put a lot of work into it.

Once you have a list of potential issues, think about how you can solve them on your site. For example, if trust is a factor, you can add some of your past client’s logo so convey that other businesses have trusted you. You can put up video testimonials as well.

If credibility and information is a problem, you can display some of well-known websites, magazines or newspapers that you have been featured in, put up photos of events you have spoken at or a video of a TV interview.

Harness Social Media to Humanize Your Business

Your website is the online representation of your business. But don’t forget that people feel most comfortable buying from other people, rather than websites. This is particularly true for B2B businesses and service-based businesses.

As a human, you can only be at one place at a time. But as a website, if you do it right, you can be in many places and always be operating! So don’t make the mistake of hiding behind your website. Instead, use it to ramp up your presence online, create and publish as much content as you can, and you will see your organic leads go through the roof!

Social media helps to accomplish exactly this. It tells your visitors that your business is active and current and values their customers enough to engage with them on social media platforms. You can embed your feed in the Sidebar of your website if it goes with the look of your site or you can simply.

Vancouver Web Designer

Hurricane Web Design Vancouver
#1002 – 1831 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC V6G 1E4
(604) 256-7081
https://www.hurricaneweb.net/

How To Maximize Your Local SEO Performance For Health Benefits Firms

November 13, 2017/0 Comments/in SEO /by Cary Blackburn

Local SEO uses different algorithms compared to your standard search engine optimization campaign, confusing many health benefits business owners looking to maximize their local traffic. Thankfully, our experts have created a guide on how to get ahead in the competitive local SEO game. Below are seven techniques guaranteed to increase your organic search engine traffic and ultimately provide a much-needed boost to your bottom line.

1. Research Related Keywords

Anybody who has ever done anything related to search engine optimization is probably tired of thinking about keywords, but we assure you that they are a necessary evil if you want your campaign to produce results. Unlike other platforms that tell you keywords are essential without explaining how to use them, we’ll walk you through the process.

The first step is to download Google’s AdWords tool and set up a campaign. Next, type your website’s URL into the provided keyword tool. This brings up a list of the keywords associated with your business and website.

On the left-hand column, you will see a list of “Ad Groups” from which your results above are derived. Manually delete any that do not pertain to you, and you should be left with between five and 15 groups of words that you’re looking to rank for.

Finally, highlight each group and ensure that your website has a page optimized for those terms. If you don’t have one yet, create them as needed using the guidelines below.

2. Construct Landing Pages For Search Phrases

Keywords work best if each page on your site only focuses on a few of them, so it’s best to have multiple landing pages instead of one gigantic one. First, identify which page you want to associate with a particular group of keywords. Examples of this in the health benefits would be “dental benefits”, “health benefits,” and “employee benefits.” Then, optimize the page you selected by including the relevant phrases in the following five places.

A. Meta Title
B. Meta Description
C. Actual URL
D. H1 Tag
E. Body Content

These are the areas Google looks for keywords in, so including them in all five locations should increase your SEO substantially.

3. Acquire Local Citations

There are three primary factors considered in local SEO rankings: time in operation, links back to your website, and reviews. The first element is mostly outside of your control, so let’s focus on the other two starting with backlinks.

Local SEO demands a specific type of link called a citation that includes your location. The best way to get these is to create a profile on local online directories such as Google My Business. Make sure that all of your listings have the same NAP (name, address, phone number) information, as even an insignificant discrepancy such as writing out “avenue” versus abbreviating it “Ave.” can be enough to confuse Google.

A variety of powerful tools are available to help you get these citations, including White Spark and Moz Local. Alternatively, YEXT offers an automated directory solution if you would prefer to do it yourself. However, we have noticed that professional services such as Moz Local consistently deliver better results than trying on your own.

4. Building Editorial Links

Citations are a good start, but all of their links include “rel=nofollow,” programming language that prevents Google from following that link to crawl to your site. We need Google to find you, so editorial links are required as a roadmap.

The best way to get these is to perform a quick Google search on “Guest Contribution Health Benefits,” where “health benefits” is the name of the field you’re in. You could also search for “Guest Contribution Dental Benefits.” The resulting websites should all allow guest contributions, enabling you to write content containing your links to them.

Any links provided in your author’s bio are likely to be of the “nofollow” variety, but the actual articles you contribute will not. Therefore, make sure to include relevant links in every post!

5. Social Media Signals

It isn’t enough to merely post on social media: you need to use it to build valuable relationships with your target market. First, you need to start by providing quality content. If you’re not, the tips below cannot help you.

Once you have quality content, you can retarget it toward your local target audience and use the provided advertising tools to rack up likes, comments, and shares. This interaction tells Google that people are talking about your health benefits business, boosting your reliability for the keywords you identified during the first step.

6. Obtain Reviews

User-generated content such as reviews is the final thing considered in your local SEO performance. The best way to get positive reviews is to just ask for them, providing your Google+ and Yelp pages to make it convenient for your customers to do so. You can find additional review sites to recommend by adding the word “review” to the keywords you are trying to rank for.

Google values positive reviews very highly, so adding them to your online resume is sure to boost your SEO performance.

7. How Are You Doing?

Finally, you need to track your SEO so that you know it is working as intended. Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools are both great ways to segment your search traffic. What are your customers searching for? How often do they make a purchase? Affirmative answers to questions like these serve as reliable indicators that the campaign for your health benefits business is going well!

Doing search engine optimization yourself can be difficult and time-consuming. If you are wondering how you are doing with your SEO, talk to a Vancouver SEO consultant at our office.

How To Choose Keywords For Roofing Companies For Better SEO

November 8, 2017/0 Comments/in SEO /by Cary Blackburn

If you own your own roofing business and your goal is to improve your search engine rankings, knowing the ins and outs of keyword research is a must – unless you are using an SEO agency. Using the free keyword planner from Google can help you to find roofer themed keywords that can boost traffic:

List The Services You Offer
What Is Your Main Target Service Area?
Use Google’s Keyword Planner to Research the Phrases
Incorporate Your Keywords On Your Pages
Add The City You Service To Your Keywords

List The Services You Offer

Write down all services provided by your roofing company, such as commercial roofs, inspections, and repairs, installing new roofs. The point is to research your keywords for SEO purposes although eventually, each service will have its own page.

What Is Your Main Target Service Area?

It’s highly recommended to keep things simple by ranking in the main town or city that your physical address is based in.

Use Google’s Keyword Planner to Research the Phrases

Enter the services you provided in the list above as keywords in the keyword planner. Use your primary service area as the city when prompted.

Look for the keywords that have the highest volume when it comes to search volume from potential customers, and then organize based on the service they are under, once you have chosen the high volume keywords.

Incorporate Your Keywords On Your Pages

Quantum Roofing in Maple Ridge does a great job incorporating keywords into their content – http://quantumroofing.ca/areas-served/maple-ridge

Of course, your goal is to enjoy stronger SEO rankings and to achieve that goal you should now incorporate these keywords into the text on your roofing company’s website. Make sure you don’t overstuff these keywords, but at the same time use each of them in their respective pages on your site.

It’s worth making the point again that you absolutely should not stuff keywords into your text, however tempting it might be to do that – effective SEO is about so much more than just stuffing the keywords into your blog or content.

Add The City You Service To Your Keywords

Cooper Roofing City Serviced With Keywords

Example of how Cooper Roofing added the city they service with their keywords “…Vancouver roofers specialize in…”

Use city phrases too on each of the individual pages on your roofing company website, alongside your chosen keywords, but make sure you are only using the keyword on its relevant page.

Here’s an example of how it begins to come together. If your location is in Vancouver, and your chosen keywords are ‘best roofing repair’ you may want to incorporate an H tag on the page that relates to repair services that might say something like ‘Why You Should Choose Us For Roofing Repair In Vancouver.’

SEO Techniques For Property Management Success

November 7, 2017/0 Comments/in SEO /by Cary Blackburn

Most property management companies rely on traditional means of gaining new clientele. Those means typically comprise print advertising and referrals from tenants and landlords. These methods have its value, but there are newer methods, like search engine optimization (SEO) that have just as much if not more value in today’s world.

The job of a property manager is a big one. Not only is it a responsibility to draw in new clientele, but it is also a responsibility to close on every deal. A property manager has to always think about meeting sales goals and consider the needs of the client while gaining their confidence. It is a big job that is possible using essential SEO techniques.

SEO is a way of essentially marketing your website in a way that makes it appear at the top of search engine results. There are several different strategies and techniques that you can employ to achieve search engine optimization. Considering how many people use the Internet to find a property to rent or buy, it is a set of techniques that no property management company can afford to ignore.

Conduct Keyword Research
Consider Local Traffic
Optimize Entire Website
Keep Websites Simple
Use Social Media

Conduct Keyword Research

A keyword is a word or set of words that a person would enter into the search query of a search engine. When constructing a website, it is important to fill your website with content that features this keyword or keywords. To determine what word or words are best to use there are resources like Keyword Tool and Ubersuggest that will help. Use the words in descriptions or page titles on the website. Do not just awkwardly fill the site with random and repeated keywords not formulated in prose. Doing so can actually hurt your search rank.

Consider Local Traffic

Even though there is a worldwide reach on the Internet, a property manager needs to focus their reach in the immediate vicinity. It is crucial that people not located in the state, area, or region can find a website as there are long distance real estate transactions. However, the vast majority of the clientele for property management companies comes from the immediate vicinity. Choose keywords that are based on location. Examples of location-based words are the names of cities, towns, or neighborhoods. In many instances just listing the physical location of the management, office triggers a keyword in a search engine. Improve these chances by doubling up and adding a Google business page and account for your company.

Optimize Entire Website

It is not just the home page that is suitable for SEO. Every single page on a website can be optimized to bring legitimate and targeted traffic to a site. Every page has the ability to convert a visit into a client. There are several ways, specific to the purpose of each page, to accomplish SEO techniques.

Short URL – Make URL’s as short as possible. Make them unique yet easy to remember and understand. Describe the business in the URL if possible.
Use Heading Tags – These tags describe the purpose of the page to a search engine.
Use Page Titles – After the search engine determines the page heading tag is valid for the search, the page title is the description listed in the search results. Optimize the title with keywords that satisfy both algorithms and the user reading the description.

Keep Websites Simple

Red Hawk Property Management’s website is a great example of a clean and simple, yet effective website.

Simple does not mean boring or basic. Simple means that it is easy to use with little unnecessary images, text, or advertisements. A simple site that is straightforward and easy to use will encourage clients to use your service, and it will encourage search engine crawls. The crawls will create traffic, and the ease of use will convert that traffic into clientele.

Use Social Media

The use of social media in addition to website optimization is crucial for success in today’s market. It is easy for this to seem like an extra responsibility in addition to website optimization. The following techniques will prevent double work:

Link Platforms Connect all the social media platforms possible. Several social media sites facilitate this link allowing one post to be shared across several platforms.
Share Website Content There is no need to create content for both social media and websites. Create material that is suitable for all platforms.

If you are a property management company looking for help with your search engine optimization, call us for SEO marketing Vancouver BC today.

Seven Ways For Dentists To Improve Their SEO

November 4, 2017/0 Comments/in SEO /by Cary Blackburn

Dentists running their practices lead hectic lives, so it’s understandable if you have put off getting into SEO. However, SEO is vital for any modern business’s chances to succeed. Consumers are increasingly likely to use a search engine to help them locate a local dentist, so you could be losing out on a lot of potential patients without an optimization strategy. Here are seven tips that will help you improve your search engine performance:

Claim A Variety Of Local Listings
Using Local Keywords
Ask For Reviews
Inform The Public What You Do
Ensure That Your Listings Are Consistent
Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Write A Blog

1. Claim A Variety Of Local Listings

The first step in getting search engines to prioritize your business is to claim a local business listing on platforms such as Google My Business, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local. Search engines smile upon business owners who have filled out and verified their listing on these services, and doing so is 100 percent free of charge.

While you’re filling out your company’s information, it is essential to be both thorough and accurate. Be sure to update all of your listings if your phone number, address, or any other critical information changes.

2. Using Local Keywords

The average private dental practice has no chance of rating highly for extremely competitive search terms such as “dentist,” but thankfully you don’t need to. Individuals almost always seek a dentist in their local city or neighborhood, meaning that it is good enough to rank well for “neighborhood name dentist .” For example, a dentist in Richmond, BC would be more interested in his ranking for “Richmond BC dentist” than he would be for “dentist” or even “BC dentist.”

It is important to remember local neighborhoods and alternative names when selecting your local keywords. For instance, the dentist above may need to rank highly for “dentist downtown Richmond BC” if he wants to attract patients just in the downtown area of Richmond, while a more specific listing such as “dentist Steveston” may appeal to a hyper-local prospective customer base. The best way to know which terms are essential for you is to see what your competitors are using.

Below is an example of how a dentist in Richmond has used local keywords to optimize their meta title:

Richmond Dentist – Dr. Kaltio Dentist Richmond BC – Dental Office

3. Ask For Reviews

Positive reviews have the apparent benefit of reassuring prospective patients of your skills and reputation, but they can also boost your SEO. Positive reviews on sites such as Yelp feature prominently on Google as well, so they are read by many who would never visit the source site. Reviews posted on your local listing above are also extremely prominent, especially since Google’s search engine algorithm considers reviews for its rankings.

The best way to get a patient to leave a review is to just ask for one. Reviewers tend to stress the courtesy of your office staff and how long they had to wait before you could see them, so excel in these two areas if you want the most favorable reviews.

4. Inform The Public What You Do

“It may be tempting to provide a link to your website and expect potential clients to visit it, but this does not always happen.” states Cary Blackburn of Coronation Internet Marketing – Toronto SEO Company. “Instead, try to include all of your information in every listing you have. Not only will this entice more people to visit your site, but it will also appeal to patients looking to limit the hassle on their end.”

For example, a dentist with a specialty in pediatric dentistry should mention this fact in every online listing they can. This will help them rank well in searches for their area of specialization while simultaneously encouraging prospective clients to give them a closer look.

5. Ensure That Your Listings Are Consistent

Search engines are smart and getting smarter, but they’re still prone to dumb mistakes. For instance, if your NAP (name, address, phone number) information varies between listings, search engines assume that it is two or more separate practices! This is true even if the discrepancy is silly, such as writing out Avenue in your address on your website but shortening it to Ave. on Google My Business. Make sure that every listing is perfectly identical for the best SEO performance.

Another common problem for dentists is an inconsistent name. John P. Smith, DDS and Smith Dental Associates, Inc. could well be the same company, but search engines may not realize it. Pick one name and use it throughout your entire digital footprint.

6. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

As more people browse the internet on a tablet, smartphone, or another device, it is becomingly increasingly important for your website to run well on these devices if you hope to secure their business. One easy way to do this is to ensure that the guts of your site use responsive design, guaranteeing that it automatically adjusts to any screen size. Click here to see a dentist’s site that is mobile-friendly.

It is also easy to test your page’s performance on mobile. Google offers a Mobile Friendly Test to give you a baseline of what customers can expect. You should also try to access your site using a variety of devices and internet browsers for firsthand knowledge of what prospective patients are experiencing.

7. Write A Blog

Finally, a blog is a great way to help Google’s algorithm find you. It loves content that updates or changes over time, so a site that lists only critical business information can start to feel stale. A maintained blog ensures that this never happens to your site, keeping it relevant indefinitely.

Dentists have a broad variety of topics to blog about, including mouth maintenance tips, scientific breakthroughs, and dietary information. Topical keywords or your areas of specialization are also strong subjects to consider writing on. Your blogs will also add additional keywords to your site, helping search engines respect you as the authority figure in your industry that you are.

Conclusion

The seven tips above can help transform a dental practice with mediocre SEO ratings into a leader in their local market. Good luck! If you need help with your rankings, find out more about how our Vancouver SEO company can help you.

Local Carpet Cleaning Company SEO: Use These 5 Steps To Rank Better In Google

November 3, 2017/0 Comments/in SEO /by Cary Blackburn

Just like other companies, carpet cleaners must find ways to entice new customers. Unfortunately, when most people need their carpets cleaned, they only look at the top companies in online Google searches. If you aren’t one of these listed companies, you’re missing out on new customers. Thus, it’s imperative that your company ranks highly in Google searches via SEO or search engine optimization.

This article discusses a 5-step process that will help your company get higher search engine rankings. However, it’s good to understand this SEO process and its potential to gain more carpet cleaning customers.

3 Reasons Why You Must Take Local SEO Seriously
Find Keywords
Optimize Keywords in These Two Important Places
Create Links and Citations
Ask for Company Reviews
Track Results

3 Reasons Why You Must Take Local SEO Seriously

Customers No Longer Use the Yellow Pages for Company Inquiries

In the past, it was easy to advertise in the Yellow Pages and get new customers. However, 97 percent of consumers search online to obtain information, and Google is the number one online search engine.

Get Free Traffic

Business advertising has changed over the years, but this doesn’t mean it’s gotten cheaper. The higher your company ranks in online searches, the more free traffic it could receive. More traffic means that you have more chances to get more customers and spend less money to get that traffic.

Receive Quick Results

For most national and global companies, it can take as long as 12 months for their online search rankings to increase. However, most carpet cleaning companies are local. This is beneficial because you don’t have to compete with national and global companies. You only have to worry about local competitors, and most of them haven’t tapped into local SEO yet. The good thing is that your rank could greatly improve within only a couple of days.

Thus, local carpet cleaning companies should use the following five steps to boost their overall rankings in Google:

1. Find Keywords

The first step to getting better SEO rankings involves putting together a list of carpet cleaning keywords. For example, pick generic keywords such as “carpet cleaning,” “cleaning carpets” or “rug cleaning.” Find words that describe your company’s services. Once the list is complete, open a Google AdWords account.

Don’t worry because the account is free, and you won’t have to pay to initiate an ad campaign. Opening an account just gives you access to Google’s Keyword Planner, which lists thousands of keywords from numerous niches. Use the planner to research your list of keywords. It has statistics about how many times your chosen keywords are searched for. Not only can you estimate possible future traffic, but also find other keywords that you may not already have on your list.

Now, it’s time to compile a final keyword listing based upon your keyword planner research. Divide your keywords into the following two types of keywords:

Buying Intent – When a person uses this type of keyword in an online search, chances are, that person is ready to buy. For instance, a keyword such as “professional carpet cleaning Vancouver” means that this person is looking for a carpet cleaning service in Vancouver. All in all, concentrate on buying intent keywords because they will attract buyers quickly. Make sure they are prominent on your company homepage.
Research Intent – When a person uses this type of keyword in an online search, at this point, he is just researching your company. Do not focus on research intent keywords as much as buying keywords during advertising campaigns. This is because they don’t lead to quick conversions. Use them in posts that describe your company’s services. When customers are ready to make a buying decision, they’ll already be informed about your company’s carpet cleaning services.

2. Optimize Keywords in These Two Important Places

Make sure that your final keywords are optimized on your company website, and on your Google My Business page.

Google My Business Page

Consider this page to be a little summary of what your company has to offer. This information is usually listed on the “Map” area of Google’s local business results. Not only will this make your company more noticeable, but you can also expect to get higher rankings in Google’s search results.

It’s harder to get this type of ranking with just a regular website. But make sure that your Google My Business has the following complete and correct information about your company:

Verification – Create a page and submit it to Google for verification. Once it meets Google’s approval, you will see a green checkmark by your company’s name.
NAP – This stands for the company name, address, and phone number. Make sure that all three things are correct. Keep in mind that this will be shown all over the internet, but you want to emphasize that you have a local business. Do not list your company with an 800-phone number. Choose a local number.
Categories – According to Google guidelines, you must list company categories per the services performed, and not by the benefits received. List both primary and secondary services. For instance, carpet cleaning may be your primary service. However, your company may also offer upholstery cleaning, RV detailing and even leather cleaning. Do not leave these secondary services out. Try to list at least 3 to 5 service categories.
Description – Create a description of your company with a minimum of 100 words. Make sure it ends with an attention-grabbing call-to-action. Use the following format for your company description: Name the company and its main services. List the city where your company is located. Talk about company history and why customers keep coming back. Provide a local company phone number and end with a strong call-to-action that tells potential customers what to do. Consider offering a nice discount.
Hours – List your company’s hours. Ensure they are the same as other listings on the Internet. Also, distinguish between service and office hours.
Pictures – Put plenty of images on your Google My Business page. This is a great way to grab the attention of potential customers. All photos must be crisp, sized a minimum of 10KB and have a resolution of 720px x 720px. Also, change the default Google My Business background. Choose a background that displays your company’s brand instead.

Your Company Website

Focus on SEO for your company core pages. These are the homepage and service pages. Make sure they are optimized with plenty of buying keywords. Next, optimize your company’s blog and FAQs pages with intent keywords. Concentrate on the following:

Homepage – When it comes to your homepages, pay the most attention to the title tag. Consider it to be just as important as book chapter titles. It should have at least 50 characters and formatted to show your company’s, name, primary service and city location.
Meta Description – this element should be a minimum of 100 characters. It should also name your primary service and have a call-to-action. The best format is to list the company name, the primary service, your city, a phone number and something to entice customers such as a discount.
H1 Headline – This headline must list your company’s main service. Not only should it describe what your company does, but it must also have a great call-to-action.
Page Copy – This copy should review your company within 500-1000 words. Display company history, services and customer testimonials. Be certain that it does not contain grammatical errors.
Service Pages – Each primary service must have a separate page that is filled with numerous buying intent keywords. The same rules used to optimize your homepage should be used for each primary service page.

This is an example of how you should use your keywords within your page titles. Our Phoenix website uses the following title:
“Phoenix SEO Consultants – The SEO Arizona Experts – Search Engine Optimization Company”

3. Create Links and Citations

Since the foundation of your SEO campaign is done, start creating links and citations. Both of these things can significantly boost your rank with Google. Also, it helps you to get more potential customers.

Citations – What is a citation? It lists your company’s name, address and phone number. It is an online company NAP. Place citations in places such as Facebook, yellowpages.com, your local Chamber of Commerce and even different carpet cleaning directories. Such directories are both free and paid. Research Google Analytics to see which type of directory will drive the most traffic and lead to the most conversions.
Links – Google uses many factors to rank websites. One such factor depends on whether or not your website has a lot of inbound links from other authoritative websites. Connect with other companies in your industry in different cities. Obtain links from these types of websites. You could even consider trading web links with industry companies. Also, find out where the competition is getting authoritative links by utilizing online tools such as Moz Open Site Explorer.

4. Ask for Company Reviews

Asking for reviews is very beneficial. First, this convinces potential customers to take a chance on your company. Also, it shows Google that your business is legit. Most review sites can help in this respect, but Google My Business will drive the most traffic in a quick manner. Email satisfied customers and ask them to review your company’s services. Make sure there is a link to your Google My Business profile in all emails. Do this on a regular basis, and you’ll find it very advantageous for your company.

5. Track Results

Track the results of all SEO campaigns. This is the only way to know if they are working and if adjustments need to be made. There is a lot of information to track, but concentrate on the following three things the most:

Rankings – Google factors in your browsing history when it determines your page rank. In order to get the right rankings, you must use a specific tool known as the Google Search Console. The name was changed from Google Webmaster. Use this tool to check search engine rankings a minimum of once a month. Also consider purchasing a paid tool that is listed on RankRanger.com. This tool allows you to get information from each SEO campaign.
Traffic – Use Google Analytics, which is a good way to track results. It shows how much traffic is received and which website pages are providing the most traffic. You’ll also see how much traffic is generated based upon the Google search engine. Track results and look for trends.
Conversions – When your website visitors do what is listed in your call-to-action, this means that you have a conversion. For instance, if they want them to call you for carpet cleaning, you’ll give them a discount. Google Analytics lets you monitor phone and website conversions. Also, you’ll see which of your website pages have the worst and best conversions.

It’s Time for You to Follow These Steps!

Now, you can see how SEO campaigns can drive traffic to your business. Follow these steps in order:

Find keywords
Optimize keywords in these two places
Create links and citations
Ask for company reviews
Track results

If you are still struggling with your SEO, we can help! Find out more about our SEO services in Vancouver.