The Science of Search Engine Optimisation
Traditionally the construction sector has always been the kind of industry where winning business relied heavily on knowing the right people and making sure you were in the right place at the right time. Wherever you are in the delivery chain, relationships are still an essential element of success but, thanks to the internet, information on your competitors is more accessible to your contacts than ever before. These days it’s no longer enough to catch up with clients on the golf course/at the bar/over lunch, you need to make sure your website is working hard to keep you front of mind too.
Most companies understand the importance of having a professional and easy to navigate website but, whether you’ve spent £thousands or put something cheap and cheerful together in-house, it won’t be adding value to your business unless your customers and prospects can find it. And when I say find it, let’s be clear: I mean find it quickly, with minimal effort and before they’ve come across half a dozen competitors. In these days of online searches, poor attention to detail when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO) means that death by Google is always a threat, no matter how impressive your website might be.
The problem is that there is no quick fix to improving your search rankings (unless you want to pay for sponsored search results) and SEO is much more of an art than a science. There are, however, some simple things that you can do to improve your chances of rising to the top of the pile online and they start with knowing your sector, your business and what you want to achieve.
Here are our top tips:
- Spend some time researching your competitors online: what key words bring them up in searches and how can you counter their results with your own key words and phrases
- Develop key words and phrases that define what you do, focusing clearly on what your customer groups are looking for and ensuring that you use your key words in both headers and body copy
- Encourage traffic to your website as this will help to improve your rankings: you can do this using blogs, calls to action on direct mail and PR, e-newsletters, competitions etc.
- Include SEO strategy and delivery in your brief to you web developers/designers
- Ensure that you keep your website updated with news, case studies, downloads etc as this content will help generate search results