How to Beat Out Your Competitors on the Google Results Pages
The world and business is centered around the internet. It’s a leading place for businesses to attract new leads, as more and more people rely on websites to shop and find business recommendations.
With people Googling the plumbers, contractors and HVAC companies that they’ll rely on, it’s essential that your business is one of the first ones they see.
It becomes a problem when your competitors are appearing before you on Google. When that’s the case, it’s likely they’re also getting more leads than you.
The answer is simple: your competitors are trying to show up and you’re not. Or, maybe you are trying, but your efforts are proving unsuccessful. Take this as your sign to improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
But how should you get started?
Unleash Your Inner Detective: Research Like a Pro
You’ll want to do a bit of research to find out what people are searching, where you fall in those searches and familiarize yourself with your company’s website.
Look for:
Key messaging
Different services
Logos and slogans
Overall site structure and organization
What to Do With This Information
Once you’ve gathered this information, you’ll be able to have an idea of what you do differently than your competitors. You’ll see what they’re doing better than you and what you’re not doing at all that they seem to be doing.
You also may have an idea of the changes and improvements you can make to your website.
Master the Art of Strategy: Crafting Your Winning Game Plan
Once you have some research completed, you’ll be able to form an effective strategy based on your specific goals. Additionally, remember that you will need to be able to look back later and measure the success of these efforts by looking at specific data points. For more information about these performance indicators, check out our blog on the four most important metrics for small business owners.
Unlock the Power of Keywords: Boost Your Online Presence
Look for keywords that your competition isn't optimizing toward. Keywords are the terms your business wants to be found on Google for when they’re searched. For businesses in the home service industry, you’ll want to include the services you offer and the cities you serve.
For example, a list of keywords for a roofing company could look like “residential roof repair,” “new roof construction” and “roof installation Buffalo.”
To improve your keyword targeting, it's important to conduct thorough keyword research and identify keywords that are both relevant to your business and have less competition. You can also use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer to find relevant keywords.
Transform Your Website: Analyze and Plan for Success
Perform a thorough audit of your website, looking at the content of your website. What are the key messages? Are there clear places where you direct site visitors to act, like prompting them to call your office or fill out a form?
At this stage, you’ll also want to see if the keywords you chose are anywhere on your site, worked into the content. To make this easier, make a spreadsheet of what webpages you have to see if they’re missing some of the keywords and if there is a clear direction for site visitors.
Once you’ve gathered this information, you’ll be able to create a plan. Prioritize the pages that should be fixed. You’ll want to focus on your homepage, service/product pages and your contact pages. Other pages will come secondary.
Make Your Vision a Reality: Execute Your Plan with Confidence
Follow your plan. Slowly you’ll be able to see your website crawling up the Google search result pages and get more site visitors. Once visitors are on your site, they’ll be able to find the information they need and be more likely to contact you.
Once they’ve contacted you, it’ll be on your team to close the lead and secure another customer.
Don’t be discouraged if it takes several months to note significant improvements. Search engine optimization is a marathon, not a sprint. It also requires continuous work to make and maintain high rankings on the Google results pages.
No Time to Create a Custom Strategy to Beat Your Competition? Here’s What to Do Instead!
This can easily become a lot of work and you may not have the manpower to improve your website. If that’s the case, it’s best to keep your team doing the work they do best. When that’s the case, you can call in the experts on search engine optimization.
Teams like ours at ThreeSixty can help you improve your website, and more importantly, help you fill up your pipeline and close more customers.
Contact Us
Looking for More Help?
If you’re looking for more information about improving your website to close more customers, check out our blog dedicated to improving web design to give site visitors the best chance of turning into a lead.
