065 - SEO for Service Providers

Podcast Highlights:

00:01 Prologue

01:12 Introduction of the topic

01:56  What are the common problems service providers face when creating content for their business?

02:52  Some guidelines for creating effective content.

04:54  Why are leads from content very valuable? 

05:18  What is 'the one question per blog' strategy in order not to run out of content ideas?  

06:08  Example of questions that goes to your customer service team and can be added to the list of topics to write about.

06:44  Why is it necessary to ensure that your content will meet Google's expectations in order to succeed in SEO?

07:59  What makes the Customer Service team an excellent source of information for a content to write about?

08:59  Call to action to leverage on SEO for your content.

09:54  End

SEO for Service Providers 

SEO for service-based businesses is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood strategies. Many business owners think that SEO doesn't apply to them because they offer a service rather than a product. This could be further from the truth!

In order to get new customers, you need to be found online by people who are searching for the services that you offer. And what's the best way to stay on top of the competition?

It's time to learn from the expert, Gert Mellak. Using search engine optimization in ranking your site in SERP is essential. In fact, SEO is even more important for service businesses, as you are often competing with larger companies that have more resources to throw at their SEO campaigns.

Today, we are going to talk about how SEO can be the greatest asset for such a service-based business. And if you own one or work with a service-based business, this episode is for you. 

Why Is SEO Important for Service-based Businesses?

Do you provide a service to clients? If so, SEO is something that you need to be thinking about. 

SEO is a process of optimizing your website and content so that you can rank higher in search engine results pages. When target customers search for services like yours, you want your website to be one of the first results they see. In short, it's a powerful tool for obtaining customers in a variety of ways.

Users search the internet not only for content or products but also for service providers. For many businesses, the internet is their primary source of customer acquisition. Target audiences probably start their search for a carpenter or electrician on Google. So, how do you handle SEO for a service business?

There are a few key considerations to bear in mind. But, before we jump in, quickly point out that over at SEOLeverage™️, you're going to find all our episodes. And there's also going to be a written version about what we talked about here; the main SEO tips and resources.

SEO Best Practices for Service Providers

The process of search has shifted dramatically over time. There was a time when getting high search engine rankings meant keyword stuffing into your article. But, it's not the case now. It's now all about figuring out a search query's intent or the entire content.

Here are the basics of SEO and how you can use it to improve your business. So, if you're searching for a way to grow your business, SEO is something you should consider!

Implement intent-driven content

Every search engine query has a distinct goal in mind. It's to create content with intent.

We see very often with service-based businesses, and as Gert honestly audits hundreds of websites every year, they have created content, essentially with the idea of sharing it on social media. And this comes with a really big problem: this content very often doesn't have an intent that would serve a search user.

You can be the best expert in your industry. Or can be the service-based business with the most experience in your area. But it still doesn't mean that the content you produce follows something that Google wants to rank. It might be interesting, but not what they are searching for. And in this case, the content for SEO purposes is useless.

However, this doesn't mean you have to throw everything away if SEO does not work. But at least manage your expectations because content that works great on social media doesn't automatically rank well. 

According to Gert, in his experience, there are a few guidelines you need to implement to get better results. But here's one of the most important ways you need to do:

Make sure every search intent is answered once on a particular article.

Very often, people confuse keywords with search intent. And they think that only one keyword can be mentioned in one article, or they try to stuff keywords into an article because they need to be there for this article to rank for 20 different keywords. You really want to think about it from a search intent point of view.

What is the query where this article you're about to publish is going to be the best answer that Google can rank? And when you think about it this way, you're going to find questions.

If you focus on creating content around particular questions, you're going to make sure that your answer is in line with what Google users expect. Thus, you're going to make sure that you leverage the experience you have on your company. As a result, it's going to be easy to find topics to write about.

For example, years ago, a client of Gert wanted to create a blog and didn't want to know what to write about. And back then, they didn't even do official inbound marketing. Gert and his team have implemented a great strategy that has worked for many years now: collecting questions and answering them on a blog, and every day, you can get leads from those articles.

These kinds of leads are very valuable for two reasons:

• One, because people have done their own research to find this, which gives them confidence if Google points to an article that answers exactly their question.
• Second, they're in the moment where they are open to suggestions for solving this problem, and probably also for purchasing this service. 

Search for content ideas

Gone are the days when Google's algorithm returned search results based just on keywords. It's all about purpose these days, and search engines are getting better at guessing what we're looking for. 

So, how can you give information and let them know you can solve it for them? Where do you get more content ideas?

Talk to your sales team

If you're out of content ideas, it's time to ping and talk to your sales team.

For example, what are the questions they are getting that you could answer on a specific blog and make it easy to answer one question per blog post?

We often want to rank for high search volume keywords. But many people coming through those keywords will not be in the right moment, will just be exploring, and will not be ready to take action.

However, if you go for smaller keywords, especially if you solve people's problems or questions before purchasing, this kind of content brings in the right people. And this is what you want to have on your website, perhaps the best to share on social media.

Talk to your customer service team

Do you want more content ideas? Go to your customer service team. Your team would best answer the following questions:

• What issues come up after you deliver your service?
• What kind of questions do your existing clients have?
• What type of service do they need after you provide your service?
• What kind of follow-up questions do they need to be solved?
• What kind of additional product or service?
• Are they interested after you have delivered your initial service?

Once you've got answers to the question, you can come up with better content ideas. Your team can make a note in some spreadsheet. And then, you have a list of topics that you can then write about.

There are a lot of content ideas that come out of daily things that happen. So talk to your team. Your team knows much more than they will admit. Make a brainstorming session, make this a business lunch, or have coffee over zoom. 

Talk to an SEO agency

Now, if you're a service-based business and you want to leverage SEO for your content and your business growth, we encourage you to head over to seoleverage.com.

Gert and his team would love to check out your website and what you're doing in terms of content. And usually very able to tell you whether this works or won't work for you or where the potential is that you already have or where you might be missing out on something. Furthermore, guide you on the next steps in SEO strategy.

You can also get a quick audit directly on his website, which is cheap and will give a good head start with SEO—moving forward and making sure that you focus on the right things.

Here's the Real Thing

When you write about a topic, check what Google wants to rank. You can copy and paste a question into the Google search box, and then you're going to get an idea of what Google would like to rank in this case.

If your content is vastly different, because, for example, you have 200 words in Google and seem to be ranking 1500 word articles, you will find it really hard to rank. At the same time, if you have the best depth, article 5000 words well researched, well-referenced, and so on, if Google actually wants a simple answer in 200 words, you're also not going to be ranking.

Google is going to tell you what they want to see. And the better you are at combining your experience, your know-how about this, with Google's expectations, the more SEO success you're going to have. So, if you're looking to grow your service-based business, an SEO team is definitely something you should consider!

Connect with Gert Mellak:

Website: https://seoleverage.com/

Email: [email protected]