Every contractor aspires to have their business show up at the top of the local pack. While you may be putting your head and those of others (external experts whom you get working for you) in chalking out and putting SEO optimization strategies to work, you also need to keep an eye out for mistakes that could throw water on your ambitious plans. How? You may be committing the commonest of SEO mistakes without even realizing it and then wondering why your strategies are not translating into better results with Google. Here are the 7 biggest mistakes made by contractors which you need to avoid if you are to see your business grow.
7 Biggest Mistakes Which Need To Avoid:
1. Not creating a comprehensive Google Business Profile
When a customer googles up ‘roofers in Philadelphia’, the first thing they’re going to see is the Google Local Pack. It’s a page that lists contractors that correspond with the keywords ‘roofers in Philadelphia’, with details that include years of experience, services offered, number of star-rated reviews, phone contact as well as clickable directions to the website and physical address. Clicking on each individual business will provide further details about the business like working hours, business description, photos relating to its services (before and after), customer reviews, new business updates and so on. This is the first page that customers come across when they initiate their search for a product or service; about half of the customers landing on this page will likely click the call button to speak with a contractor listed on this page. A lot of contractors are either unaware of the power of this free facility from Google and if aware, still fail to use it to their advantage.
How to avoid this mistake:
Make sure to use your Google Business Profile optimally by comprehensively filling it. Add photos and reviews. Talk more about your business. Make sure to mention all your services. This will not only enable your business to get a better Google ranking but will also help your customers get answers to any or all questions that they have concerning your business. And as you know, every question that you answer takes your business one step closer to a conversion.
2. Not having content that’s beneficial to customers
Imagine a website where the name of the contractor appears multiple times across every page. Or where almost every page shouts out a call to action in some form or other. Or where the services are projected as the ‘best in the area’ or ‘number one in the category’ without any real substantiation. Lastly, picture content with an overdose of keywords – this seems to be a favorite with many contractors. An overly sales-driven approach not only makes customers leave a business page within seconds of browsing, it also takes the business out of Google’s book of preferred contractors.
How to avoid this mistake:
Ensure that your content is focused on the customer and not just your business. It would be advantageous to develop wholesome content that presents services without overtouting, shares insights that the customer can relate with, includes tips and developments that give the customer reasons to keep visiting your website, lists experiences about how your business helps resolve specific problems, and so on. Content that shows you care more about customers than revenues will earn you rewards both in terms of ranking as well as goodwill.
3. Not updating your website
Building a website for your business is not merely a formality, but an ongoing journey. A lot of contractors create a website because they’re told it’s necessary, not because they feel it’s important to their growth story. As a result, a lot of websites get older in years without really getting any better in content. A website without any change or upgrades gets noticed by Google, which looks for ‘newness’ in every website that it comes across. The reason it does this is to ensure businesses continue to up their game and content when it comes to serving their customers.
How to avoid this mistake:
Keep your website updated to reflect the fact that you’re a dynamic contracting business that’s in tune with changing customer and industry trends. Some ways to ensure consistent freshness in your website include upgrading project photos, featuring the latest developments in terms of services or other benefits, showcasing new customers or clients who speak positively about your quality, adding blogs or articles that keep customers informed of new trends and practices, and so on.
4. Not having a site that’s mobile-responsive
It’s a known fact that a majority of customers do their searches for everything from roofers to painters to deck builders on their mobile phones. Contractors who fail to adapt to this trend continue operating with websites that do not fit the dynamics of the phone-dependent world. The result, when the customer desires to look up a contractor, the website fails to open or becomes unresponsive. Furthermore, keeping with its customer-first policies, Google too has shifted its preference to sites that’s mobile-ready and responsive; it indexes mobile-ready sites first and penalizes those that are not.
How to avoid this mistake:
Start by checking how your website opens up on smaller devices like phones and tablets. Does your website fit the phone screen and clearly display the content? If your site doesn’t open clearly and consistently across smaller screens, invest in adapting a mobile-friendly version of your existing website and see your customer connections increase.
5. Not having the necessary speed
Customers usually seek answers to their problems in the middle of their hectic routines. This may therefore be someone who’s trying to look up a deck contractor for urgent repairs while at a signal, someone who’s looking up roofers to plug a leak in between a meeting or even someone who’s looking up windows contractors to replace a broken window while on a treadmill. Websites that fail to open or are slow in their job will drive customers to other businesses. Lastly, speed is also among the factors that Google uses to rank hundreds of competing business websites.
How to avoid this mistake:
Ensure that the content you put up (this includes images, videos and animations) doesn’t load your website to such an extent that it takes over 3 seconds to open. Ensure your web pages open in tandem with the customer’s clicks. Clearing junk and cutting down the size of your content will keep your website agile and your customers coming back to you in the future.
6. Not having pages with unique content
What happens when a business website has two pages with the same content? Google, upon seeing these pages, is unable to figure out which piece of content to rank. As a result, it drops both pages. In technical terms, this is called keyword cannibalisation – where your web pages damage the ranking chances of each other. This usually happens when contractors put their main content on the opening page and then replicate extracts from here under dedicated sections in other pages.
How to avoid this mistake:
Do a detailed search of your content to identify content that is getting duplicated. If you find such pages, leave out the one that you think is more important and remove repeating keywords from the other page.
7. Not having genuine contact details
Some businesses will go to any extent to increase their number of customer enquiries and leads. One technique that’s commonly used by a lot of contractors involves posting addresses and numbers of different areas where the business is not officially present. These could be mailbox addresses or the number of friends and associates, all to create the illusion of a business that’s locally present. Google keeps an eye out for suspicious looking contact details and one way it ensures authenticity is by looking for consistency in business details across all digital platforms. Odd looking variations in a business’ details will lead to a significant drop in Google rankings.
How to avoid this mistake:
If you have someone doing your SEO optimization, don’t just leave things entirely to their discretion. Make it a point to check the details of your business that get listed across directories or social media platforms. Ensure complete honesty and genuineness when sharing your business information with the outside world.
Making mistakes is an essential part of every business life cycle. So if you’ve made any of the above-listed SEO mistakes, it’s ok. Relax. But make it a point to start undoing these mistakes with the positive recommendations stated in this blog. Because when it comes to SEO optimization, getting more things right and fewer things wrong will get you moving up the Google ladder faster. We’re SocioSquares by the way, a 11+ year old digital marketing agency that specializes in enabling small businesses and particularly home improvement contractors to achieve their growth goals with sharper, faster and more economical SEO efforts. Reach out to us if you think your business could do with a better, more customized SEO optimization plan and we would love to help you.
