The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to SEO for Service Providers- Part 2 of 2
Part 1 of this article includes how to discover your keywords. You’ll need those for the strategies we’ll cover here, so get over there if you haven’t yet!
Now, let’s get started …
Two SEO strategies that every business should have:
Your best SEO strategy will involve some version of two overall strategies:
On-page SEO
On-Page SEO involves all the things that you can do directly on your website. These are things you directly control.
It includes how you write your content, and how you approach blog posts, and for our purposes, I also include …
Technical SEO
Some people treat this like a different category, but since these small details are within your control, I keep them here.
Many of these are small and easy to address. They’re also the easiest to overlook.
Off-page SEO
Off-Page SEO includes all the SEO that you’ll do outside of your website.
It’s largely things you can’t control, but these have some serious SEO juice. With a well-developed strategy here, you’ll be able to make big changes in your search engine results.
On-page SEO strategy
If you’ve read Part 1 of this guide, you’ve actually already done a big part of your on-page SEO strategy. You’ve found your keywords and you know how important content is! You also know that Google is your bestie! So, let’s put it to work.
First, pick your main keyword, the main thing you do, e.g. “website design” “acupuncture” or “reiki.”
Now, make sure that your main keyword appears once in the first and last paragraph of your homepage.
Then, make sure it appears once or twice on the rest of your homepage’s content, depending on how long it is.
Avoid using your keywords too many times (known as “keyword stuffing”) because your content will read awkwardly to both humans and Google.
Remember that Google’s goal is to give people the best results they’re looking for, so if your site seems confusing, poorly written, or like you’re trying to manipulate your content, Google will lower your ranking.
[I know I talk about this a lot, but I hope it’s clear that simply talking about what you do and the problem you solve is enough to get Google’s attention.
Of course, we can get more techie than that, but at its heart, SEO is simple.
Okay, back to strategy….]
Once you’ve put your main keyword on your homepage, and sprinkled it throughout the rest of your site, let’s look at your other keywords.
These are usually things that describe your demographic, your location, terms that are unique to your industry, etc.
Use these in a natural way on the rest of your site, just like you did with the main keyword on your homepage. Remember, talk like a human, beware “stuffing,” and you’ll be fine.
Internal Links
Now, let’s make sure people stay on your site to keep reading.
Internal links are the links within the body of your website. For example, linking to your About page with text like, “Read more about me” or when you link to your Contact with text like, “Email me today.”
These links encourage people to stay on your site, which Google notices.
Note that the phrases “Read more about me” and “Email me today” are your anchor text.
In addition to your regular pages, use internal links in your blog posts, too. Link relevant blog posts together where it makes sense, and make sure you use relevant anchor text, no “click here” language.
The anchor text should tell your user exactly what they’re going to be doing, e.g. “read more about our company vision” or “register now.”
Keywords in Blog Posts
Use your keywords and phrases as grist for your blog posting mill. (If you’re not a writer, no worries. Base your podcast and YouTube video topics on your keywords. Then, include your transcripts in blog posts for SEO fuel.)
Consider creating at least one blog post for each keyword or phrase.
Use Your Analytics
Finally, support your On-Page SEO efforts with Google Analytics (or another analytics service).
How are people finding you? What pages are they visiting? How long are they staying? What are they doing?
Get a good tracking system (Google Analytics is free) and learn how to use it. Track the pages that are doing well and improve the ones that aren’t.
Technical SEO Strategies
These are small things you can do, but they’ll hurt you if they’re wrong or missing. Start with these to stop any SEO bleeding on your site right away.
Meta Page Titles and Descriptions
These are the titles in the META section of your website. They’ll only show up in the .html code, not actually on your site anywhere.
Nearly every website builder has a place to enter your own page titles and descriptions. Look for it when you create a new page and make use of your keywords!
In Squarespace, it’s here:
Most other DIY builders have something similar. In WordPress, you’ll enter this information into your SEO plugin, like Yoast.
Here’s how to create them:
Page Titles
Keep them short, up to about 7 words (up to 70 characters).
Don’t use words that are in your URL.
Use good, specific keywords (You can use hyphens and the “|” symbol to separate names or phrases), e.g. “Sports Acupuncture Home | Sally Jane” (assuming none of those are in your URL).
Each title should be specific to each page, e.g. I could say “Services” and it would be fine, but a better, keyword-rich title would be “Squarespace Website Design Services by Diane Whiddon”
It shows up in Google searches as the blue (or purple if you’ve clicked on it) link in search results, so make sure it’s descriptive and clickable.
This is the title for my homepage. Obviously, you can be a bit more descriptive than I’ve been here, just keep it at or under seven words (70 characters).
Page Descriptions
These can be a few sentences (up to 160 characters).
They should be specific to each page, just like your page titles.
They appear in Google searches as black text (or gray if you’re in dark mode like my image below) underneath the link, and answer the questions, “What is on this page? What will I get when I click this link?”
Notice that this is the only place you can control what people see when they do a search. This is huge. Make sure your titles and descriptions are appealing to Google AND your ideal clients so in the sea of links, they pick yours.
Okay, please do a better job than I’ve done here. My homepage description needs work. It’s fine and includes my main keywords, but I could definitely flesh it out a bit and make it more clickable/appealing.
Slug/Permalink/URL
This is the actual URL of each page.
It needs to be accurate and include keywords. (This will probably happen automatically but beware if you change a blog post. You might change your blog post title, but your old URL will still have your old title in it, which will confuse Google.)
How to Write a creative headline that doesn’t include keywords:
Most of the time, you’ll want to create searchable headlines that include your keywords.
But sometimes, you’ll get a fun idea for a blog post and you’ll want to title it something clever or attention-grabbing that isn’t searchable at all.
What then?
When you write a creative headline that doesn’t include keywords, make sure that your page titles, descriptions, and permalinks are keyword rich!
For example, let’s say you’re a Thai massage therapist and you want to write a blog post about bending people into pretzels. (I actually had a wonderful Thai massage therapist who always said that this was her favorite thing to do. She was amazing. Anyway … )
Let’s say you want to write a catchy, attention-grabbing blog post with the headline, “What We Can Learn from Pretzels” or “How Pretzels are Good for Back Pain” or something.
Here’s your new blog post. You’ve titled it whatever you want, and not worried about keywords (although actually “back pain” is probably a good one if that’s one of the problems you solve for people).
“Pretzel” probably isn’t one of your keywords, but the title is weird enough that you might get some extra clicks or shares from it, so you want to try it.
To let Google know that you’re not actually pivoting to running a local bakery, you can create a Page Title that’s something like, “Flexibility and Stretching: The Miracle of Thai Massage” and a description that maybe mentions pretzels, but includes a lot of relevant keywords so people know what they’re clicking on in a search.
Here you’ve a written keyword-rich title and description under your SEO settings, so that anyone searching for “massage” and “pain and stiffness” will find your post and see what’s it about on the results page. (To make this even better, we should add “back” before pain, but I missed that.)
Now, go into the settings for your blog post page, find the permalink, and change it from www.yoursite.com/how-pretzels-good-your-back to www.yoursite.com/how-flexibility-improves-your-spine/pain/whatever your point of the article is.
Again, we probably could have added “back pain” in here, but you get the idea. These are relevant search terms. Pretzel? Not so much.
With these changes, your blog title might be cutesy to your audience, but your page titles, descriptions, and permalinks will be strategic to Google.
Alt tags
Make sure EVERY picture/image has one that accurately describes what the picture is. Don’t get crazy stuffing them with keywords.
These should be accurate descriptions of what the picture is, not places for you to stuff your brand or keywords.
For example, “White woman working at a laptop at a pink marble desk” or “gold scissors, a calculator, and other office supplies on a black desktop".
It’s important not only because Google will notice and dock you if you don’t have them, but also because they make your site accessible. It’s optimized for people who are visually impaired.
Google can’t see pictures, but it can read code, and those ALT tags tell your viewer what the picture is.
XML Sitemap
XML sitemaps are an old-school thing (I built them by hand when I first started designing websites back in 2006), but Google still likes them, so people keep doing them.
It’s a coded document that tells Google what all of your pages are, what’s on them, and how often they’re updated.
If you’re on Squarespace, this gets built automatically for you, so you don’t have to worry about it.
If you have a WordPress site, you can get a plugin that builds this for you. The Yoast SEO plugin has this capability, too.
Heading Tags
Google also notices your H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5 tags. It gives more weight to the first few and weighs the words in these tags more heavily than regular text.
Most of us (me, included) simply use these for formatting and don’t think too much about keywords. If we want to bold something or create a subtitle, we use Heading tags.
This actually isn’t bad practice because if it’s something you want to stand out, chances are it’s important, and it’s okay for Google to see it that way.
To get a little more strategic, use keywords in your Heading tags to spell out more of what you’re talking about.
Off-Page SEO:
Okay, now you’ve got your keywords, you’ve cleaned up all the technical parts of your site, now it’s time to get strategic about what other people are saying about your site.
How to drive highly-targeted traffic to your site
This is so important because just getting more people to your site isn’t necessarily what you’re looking for.
You want people who need what you’re offering and who are ready to do what you want them to do.
If you get a lot of people who need your offer, but they’re not ready to buy, or a ton of people who are ready to buy something, but aren’t desperate for what you’re selling, then all that extra traffic isn’t going to do you any good.
Traffic is everything.
BUT
All traffic is not equal.
Figure out exactly what you want your visitors to do.
Do you want to sell widgets?
Or is your current goal to build your list?
Or to get clients in the door to increase your cash flow?
Each group will behave differently and be attracted to different content.
For example, there are probably a lot of people who might not be ready to schedule a massage today, but who would be happy to be on your newsletter of stress-reducing self-massage tips.
If your goal is to build that list so you can later promote and sell your online products to it, then having content that focuses on your location and walk-in specials won’t attract people that will help you fulfill your ultimate goal.
Knowing your specific business goal and what you want your visitors to do to help you achieve that goal is going to influence who you want to attract and how you’ll attract them.
Create stuff to share with them
Obviously, you have your product or service that you’re trying to sell. Awesome.
But, what else can you create to add value?
A short video tutorial on how to use your widget that you can list on YouTube?
An ebook that explains what to do before they need your services?
Or a blog series where you can outline common solutions to other problems that your demographic has?
What else?
This stuff should build your likability and expertise.
This will keep your visitors coming back to your site and/or convert them to subscribers or clients.
Create some awesome, compelling content that attracts your ideal clients and motivates them to do what you want.
3 steps to attract visitors:
Talk to the kinds of people you’d like to attract.
For example, if you do carpal tunnel massage techniques, talk about your recent visit to a quilt show or an office building. What would you do to support that demographic? How would you treat them? Serve them? An entire article on that will be very keyword-rich for that demographic.
Bonus: Once you complete the article/blog post/newsletter, send it to an online quilting group. If they like it and visit, the incoming traffic and possible links that they’ll share will influence how valuable Google thinks the article is.
It also might bring in a few clients.
Brainstorm a few demographics you’d like to get and where you might find them. What would you talk about? What do they need or want? What specific problem could you solve for them and how could you share it with them?
Get them to talk about you
Now you’ve got stuff to build your audience, stuff that can be posted, shared, liked, and commented on.
Be likable
Let your personality shine through. You don’t have to be the funniest or smartest writer out there. You only need to be you.
Your ideal clients will resonate perfectly with your special brand of awesomesauce.
In fact, they’re out there right now settling for someone else because you’re not creating your body of work and promoting it so they can find you.
A note on vulnerability in your content: There’s a huge push to “show your vulnerability” online, but don’t do it in a way that sacrifices your expertise.
It’s great to tell a story about how you burned the soufflé at Thanksgiving, but not necessarily if you’re a caterer. I totally appreciate and value authenticity, but make sure that your stories capitalize on your expertise, especially when you’re building your biz.
Be the expert you are
Talk about what you’re passionate about with confidence.
You’ve got this. You know what you know.
You’re an expert, or you wouldn’t want to create a business around it. Trust that and give advice and help to the people you know you can serve.
Share it
Pick a social platform that you enjoy that aligns with what you love to do. For example, if you’re a writer, don’t feel pressured to be on YouTube. If you love talking, do a podcast and don’t feel pressured to write.
Your ideal clients are more like you than you think. If you’d rather skim an article than watch it on YouTube, your ideal clients will, too.
Use good keywords in both your descriptions and tags.
Put stuff on your site. Embed the video in a blog post, if possible. Don’t make people have to visit YouTube to view it.
Article marketing
Reddit, Hacker News, etc. – These are invaluable if you’re into them. Join and submit articles if it speaks to you, although these have their own rules and etiquette so spend some time on a platform before you start posting there.
2. Get inbound/external links
Ah, the holy grail of SEO. This is the goods for Off-Page SEO.
Getting other people to talk about and link to your content in meaningful ways gives Google the impression that you’ve created valuable stuff.
Writing guest posts (and being a guest on podcasts)
Writing guest blogs is still a great way to increase your traffic if you can write for a blog that has a big audience. Don’t waste time on a rarely visited blog unless you love the owner or have another good reason.
When you write the byline that links back to your site, use good, relevant anchor text, and vary the landing pages. For example, about half of your guest posts should go to your website’s homepage, and half to other pages.
When you’re submitting your idea for your blog post, appeal to them with a benefit. Show them how your content will appeal to their audience, make them look good, or do good in the world. Don’t make it about you. Focus on the site owner.
3. Create a Google business profile
Google is particularly biased toward their own products. (Surprise.)
If you’re in a brick-and-mortar store or you travel to your customers, get a Google Business Profile account to let Google know who you are and what you’re doing.
This feature allows you to get on Google Maps, which is paramount to great search results if you have a store.
If you don’t have a physical location, you can’t get a GBP, but the other methods above will do plenty for you. Feel free to skip this step.
4. No fourth step required. Google will notice. I promise.
Okay, I hope that’s given you a clear understanding of at least one or two things you can do to increase your rankings. You’re in more control of them than you might think!
Also, SEO isn’t rocket science, so I hope we’ve alleviated some of your anxiety around it if you had any.
If you’d like more support, check out my services below!
