Digital Marketing: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 101

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website to have it show up on search engines like Google and Bing when a customer types in keywords (words in the search bar) that match the services your company provides. Most people call it organic or unpaid traffic because unlike paid search, it’s all determined by an algorithm and you can’t directly pay to show up. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s actually free. Getting search engine optimization (SEO) results takes constant upkeep and optimization of your website and most home services professionals pay someone else to take care of this portion of marketing for them. Google and Bing stay in business by providing relevant search results to their users, so they scan/crawl your website (with robots) to better understand what your website is about. They use that data to determine who should show up in what order when a customer types in different keywords.

How is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Used in Home Services Marketing?

Home services companies use SEO to show up on the first page of Google or Bing for keywords that are relevant to their business. Companies that invest in SEO want to expand their visibility for people who are IN-MARKET for their services, as this traffic is very targeted.

What are the Pros of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

There are a lot of tangible benefits to investing in SEO.  The biggest pro of SEO is that you aren’t paying for every click and once you get ranked you’ll get a lot of very good leads and it’ll only cost you what you are paying your SEO provider. For good SEO results, you should expect to spend anywhere from $500-$2,500 a month. SEO pulls in quality, targeted traffic that are directly looking for your services.  Customers who find you through SEO have a high likelihood of converting and will ultimately increase your website traffic, sales and leads. Overtime, it’s also one of the most cost effective strategies and can lower your overall costs to acquire a customer.

What are the Cons of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

SEO takes time to see results and there are a lot of companies out there that claim to get you SEO results who actually don’t do the necessary and required things for it to have the business impact that should be seen for the investment a home service professional has made. This makes it difficult for a home services business to trust that it could ever work, and they’ll usually be very hesitant to try it again.  SEO also takes time. Usually it’s going to take you between 3-6 months to get leads from your efforts and a home services professional may start getting antsy about making the investment without seeing it pay off for months.

What are the Key Elements that Should be Done to Ensure Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is Successful?

A successful SEO strategy requires certain elements, but it also requires staying on top of what Google and Bing and what they want from a company to be considered relevant. The factors that impact your SEO rankings today include content marketing, on-page SEO and off-page SEO.