You have just launched a new website. You want the homepage to say everything about the services you offer. If people get to that one web page, it says everything they need to know, right? Why do you need anything more than that? The short answer: Keyword optimization.
Key Term Optimization
Let’s say you are a plumber in Vancouver, Washington. When people Google the words “plumber Vancouver, WA” (or simply “Plumber” because Google knows that person is searching from the Vancouver area), you want to come up on the first page of results. That is a great strategy, and will gain you a lot of business from people searching for that term in that area.
But what about the person who searches for “clogged drain” or “water heater repair”? That person still needs your plumbing services, but is using alternative terms to find the plumber they will ultimately call. That person will not see your website in the search results because the only term your one-page site is optimized for is “plumber.”
You could add words like “clogged drain” and “water heater repair” to your one page. but now your watering down the subject of the page. Google and Bing will not recognize one page to be about 10 different topics. Instead they will rank the page lower in search results as it doesn’t seem to be about any one thing in particular. It lacks focus.
The best strategy is to create a new page for each of those terms. When you have one page for “plumber” one for “clogged drain” and another for “water heater repair” the search engines are able to see what each page is about. They recognize you offer a service for each of those terms. With other important SEO steps in place, your page will be visible in the search results for those terms because the content on the page is focused on that one subject.
Fresh content
Another benefit in creating a shiny new page for the search terms you want to target is adding new content to your site. When you add new pages and update current pages the search engines have a reason to visit your site more often. The more they see new information being added to your web pages, as well as new pages being added to the site, the more frequently they send crawlers by to check you site.
The more you add the more your site is seen as an authority on a subject. Not only does your site have a lot to say about plumbing, it also discusses the top 10 reasons people’s drains get clogged or the warning signs that your water heater needs repair. This is important, relevant data. It builds authority with the search engines not to mention trust with the consumer.
Case Studies
As an example of how well adding a keyword-focused page can be in converting web searches into sales, we can look at a couple pages that EWS has added recently. Effective Web Solutions recently published a webpage for a locksmith client. We focused on the key terms around “safe cracking.” In the 30 days prior to the publication of that page the company had received nine safe-related calls. Once the page was published on the their website that number doubled, getting them 18 calls in the 30 days that followed.
EWS published a page for an auto repair company on “computer diagnostics.” They had received six calls in the month that preceded the publication of that page. Once the page went live, they had ten calls in just the first ten days for that same service.
Building pages for these search terms allowed these companies to double the number of customers calling for that specific service. Not too shabby, huh?
Not All Key Terms Are Created Equal
It is clear from the above examples how important adding keyword-focused pages can be. But, those key terms needs to be the right ones. There are plenty of examples where people want a page focused on, say, a product name—let’s say a major brand name in the world of synthetic siding. Yes, adding a page with that term will mean people searching for that brand name are more likely to see and land on your webpage. The more important question, though, is: What is the likelihood that anyone is searching for that brand name? Most customers won’t know (or ever care) what the best brand name in siding is. They want to find and select a reputable siding service and then trust that company to use the best siding available.
Keyword Strategy
A good SEO company does its homework on key terms before focusing a page on one. They find terms that potential customers are using to find the types of services a company offers. While a company knows their business inside and out, they may not know what a layperson is searching for to find their service. Those are the terms to build pages for.
Now, that doesn’t mean every page will land of the first page of search results in Google. Many things go into getting a page to be visible and the ranking high. Some are within an SEO company’s control (like the key term density, or number of times the key term is used on a page) while others are not (like how old the URL is and whether that term is in the URL). The more competitive a term is for a specific location, the more difficult it is to get a high ranking. A plumber looking to rank for “plumber” in Seattle will have more competition than an auto body shop trying to rank for “upholstery repair” in the small town of Fife, Washington.
Nevertheless, building new web pages using a good key term strategy remains the best way to drive web searches to a website for that specific term. Some pages will be easier to rank than others, depending on the competitiveness of the term as well as the city/area where you want to rank.
For more information on these or other SEO best practices, contact Effective Web Solutions.