How can construction companies improve search rankings - five easy steps
- Publish relevant content
In our age of search engine dominance, high quality content is key to making sure that customers can find you online. Quality content that includes key search terms that customers are using will increase traffic to your website, if it is regularly updated.
A good way to ensure your website can be easily found online is to use relevant keywords where possible, whilst keeping the messages around that word or phrase clear and concise. The best way of doing this is to put yourself in your customer’s position and ask; what phrase would they type into Google to find my product or services?
What is important is that the text is authoritative and informative and that it isn’t copied and pasted from another source. A good way of ensuring this is to appoint a PR agency that specialises in the construction sector, like us, that can draft quality content that is relevant to your industry and your audience.
- Update your website regularly
There is a temptation to think that once you have created a new website then the job is done. However, if you want your website to continue performing well in search results then you need to keep the pages updated and refreshed.
It can be something as simple as adding a news story about a new product or service. Or, you can add a blog, which as a really effective way of including keywords and addressing a question that some of your customer may type into Google. For example; ‘how do I comply with the new fire regulations for rainscreen cladding’, will have been used many times in the last few months. If you’re a insulation, cladding or framing manufacturer or a developer this kind of approach is a great way to keep your website refreshed and relevant. Remember, updated content is an important way that search engines determine a website’s relevancy.
- Establish external link (backlinks)
Another very effective way of achieving a better Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) position is to create backlinks with external websites. For instance, if you are a building product manufacturer, a link from a website such as RIBA Journal or Architects Journal will carry much more credibility than a link from a paid for advert in a local free press. Likewise, a backlink from a site such as Construction Enquirer will carry much more authority with search engines and will be more effective than links from lesser ranked sites or paid for links.
We are a PR agency that specialises in the construction sector and that means we have experience of setting up these backlinks from highly credible external websites. For instance, we regularly comment on blog posts, post on forums, write online articles and search the internet for relevant sites in order to build these all important backlinks. In addition, we carry out regular SERP checks to ensure that any activity relating to SEO, backlinks or updating your website that we carry out is having a positive effect on your search engine ranking.
- Make sure your metadata is accurate
Often, when we begin working for a new client, we go back to basics and check that their website has the appropriate metadata in place, including meta descriptions, to ensure that it is effective for SEO purposes.
The meta description is the short paragraph that is embedded onto the back of a webpage and appears on a search engine, under the page headline, to describe the website that is found.
When a search is carried out by a potential customer using a term/keyword that features regularly within your meta descriptions, a search engine is more likely to rank your site higher than competitions with inaccurate or less metadata. This is because sites such as Google use specific algorithms to determine which websites are relevant and more likely to answer the query better than others. Therefore, it is important to check that each page on your website has a quality meta description in place, as the more information you can give Google, the better your site will rank.
A good PR agency that has a lot of experience in digital and content marketing, like Dragonfly PR, can work with you to create a series of strong meta descriptions and regularly monitor them to ensure they continue to work and your website ranks high amongst your competitors.
- Create relevant links
Instead of using ‘Click here’ on your website (which has no relevance to search engines), try and use descriptive links. This will definitely benefit your SERP / SEO ranking and here’s an example:
Our PR and digital marketing services can help you generate more sales leads. This works much better than ‘To find out more about our products and services, click here.
Following these simple steps will mean that you optimise SERP rankings. We are PR and digital marketing agency that specialises in the construction sector, working with some of the leading building products manufacturers in the UK.
We’re a friendly bunch, happy to share our ideas, so call us today on: 0114 349 5344 or email: john@dragonflypr.co.uk.