Are you looking for ways to improve your construction business’s SEO?
Having been a digital marketer for around 10 years now, this is something I get asked about A LOT. And it’s true that SEO – in some form – is always going to be relevant.
However, many businesses end up approaching me for advice on their SEO for the completely wrong reasons.
For instance, perhaps you’ve heard that getting to the top of Google and ranking highest for specific keywords should be your number one priority – when in reality, this definitely isn’t the case.
“But hang on a minute – isn’t that what SEO is all about?” – I hear you ask.
If you’re feeling confused, all will soon become clear.
Below, I’m going to tell you the real reason you need SEO, as well as the tips you should really be focusing on to improve your SEO in all the right ways.
What you need to know about SEO
Businesses say to me all the time that keywords and Google rankings are surely the most important thing when it comes to SEO – when really, this is quite a dated view on how the internet actually works.
Whenever I explain this, and I hear the same sentiments as above, it always feels like I’m having a bit of a delayed conversation from around 10 years ago.
Let’s play this out with Dave’s Construction for a second. It usually goes a little something like this:
Dave: “I need to get the number one ranking in Google for construction in Edinburgh – will you help me?”
Me: “Wait a minute, Dave – why is this so important to you?”
Dave: “So I can get more traffic to my site.”
Me: “But why?”
Dave: “So I can sell more.”
Ah, so we’re actually getting to the bottom of things. What Dave doesn’t know, however, is that getting more traffic to your website will NOT necessarily increase sales if your web pages aren’t already converting.
In order for Dave to sell more, and increase the quality of leads he’s getting to his website, he needs to opt for a more holistic approach that incorporates SEO as part of a bigger strategy – such as inbound marketing.
This will help optimise Dave’s website for converting all that lovely traffic once it gets there. Otherwise, Dave will likely be no better off than he was before.
Tips to help improve your SEO
Of course, there are still ways to improve your construction business’s SEO in all the ways that really matter – which is particularly important if your traffic from organic search is very low,or if you’re not showing up in Google’s top 3 results after typing in your main keywords.
I’ve put together the following three main tips and tricks to help you out:
Tip 1: Get a Google My Business Listing
I usually say to my clients: If you can’t afford to do SEO, PPC ads or anything else on Google, simply set up Google My Business and encourage customers to leave reviews.
This is an easy way for more visitors to find your website and business information, and will help increase your website’s visibility in the long-run.
For more about Google My Business, read my blog post entitled: ‘Why Construction Companies Need Google My Business‘.
Tip 2: Ensure Google can index your pages
Secondly, another of the most important things you can do is to check your web pages are actually visible to Google, and that it can clearly index them.
You can use Webmaster tools to do this, or alternatively an inbound marketing or SEO agency can check this for you, which should give you a better idea of what Google actually sees on your site.
A quick trick is to type into Google ‘site:’ followed by your website address (so ‘site: www.stargazerdigital.co.uk’). This should come up with all of the pages of your website, and most if not all should be there – if the numbers don’t add up to the number of pages on your site, there’s an issue.
Tip 3: Check your keywords
You can also try the same trick above but add a space and then your chosen keyword at the end (so ‘site: www.stargazerdigital.co.uk inbound marketing). Again, if your website doesn’t come up, that’s another indication there’s a problem.
You should mention keywords on your web pages, but more importantly, ensure:
- You’re writing helpful content naturally around them
- You’re not overstuffing them (by repeating the same keyword 10 or 20 times on a page)
- You’re providing valuable content on topics your customers are actually searching for
Hire a professional
I could go on about other small tips and tricks to improve your construction business’s SEO all day, but to be honest, if you’re running a business like Dave is, the chances are you probably have enough on your plate already.
Hiring an inbound marketing agency to take on this aspect of your marketing is probably the smartest move you (or Dave) can make – and will help lighten the load and go a long way to ensuring you’re on the right track.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for ways to improve SEO for your construction business, but aren’t sure how to go about it, we’ve opened up some home truths for you. The reality is, SEO will NOT help with sales unless it’s combined with a more holistic approach such as inbound marketing.
However, there are still tips you can try to ensure your SEO is actually working for your website. These include getting a Google My Business listing, ensuring Google can index your pages, and checking the keywords on your website.
There are other SEO tips out there, but the best advice I can give you is to hire an inbound marketing agency or SEO company to help you so that you don’t get bogged down in too many of the small details.
Which element of your SEO needs to be improved upon the most? Let me know in the comments and I will do my best to help you out.