Everything You Need to Know About SEO (for Painting Contractors)
Search engines can bring more than half of your total website visitors. This is more than the average traffic that a website gets from direct traffic, social media, email, advertisements, and third-party website links. Best of all, visitors from the search engine results page have a more positive reception towards the information on the page they visit. This makes it easier for your content to convince them of the benefits of your service and to take action on your offer immediately.
Unfortunately, having a website for your business does not mean it will attract traffic from search engine pages. This is why SEO for painting contractors is a necessity to maximize the potential of your website. With it, your website has a good chance of appearing in your customers’ search results and attracting visitors who are interested in what you have to offer.
What is SEO?
The Benefits of SEO for Painting Companies
SEO can help improve your website’s search ranking. It can even help your website get to the first page of your target market’s search results. But, how does an improved search ranking help your business? Well, here are the benefits of SEO for painting contractors:
How Painting Contractor SEO Works
SEO and local SEO improve your website’s ranking in your target audience’s search results. Although both of these have similarities, there are key differences in how each one operates that you need to know. Moreover, it’s difficult to grasp how SEO works if you have no idea how search engines provide their users with their search results. So, here’s what you need to know about how search engines, SEO, and local SEO for painters work:
How search engines work
Backlinks
These are links in third-party websites leading to your page. Search engines see backlinks as proof of a page’s authority since it signifies other websites see the page’s content as valuable.
Although having more backlinks help, quality trumps quantity when it comes to it. Search engines will place more value on backlinks found on websites and pages that are relevant to the linked page.
Page speed
If it takes too long for a page to load completely, its visitors are more likely to exit the page and choose another search result. Since search engines want their users to get the best search results, they see slow-loading speed as a negative ranking factor.
Relevance
Search engines rank the indexed pages according to how useful it is for the user’s search. This includes how well the search keywords match the page’s content and context, and how others users using the same keywords interact with it.
Freshness
Search engines consider the date when the page was published or last updated. However, freshness only becomes a factor for queries requiring the latest content, product-related search, content about recent or recurring events, and topics that have frequent updates.
Mobile-friendliness
Since several users browse the internet through mobile devices, search engines consider mobile-friendliness as an important factor for ranking search results. A mobile-friendly website is readable, easily navigable, and fast for anyone accessing it through their mobile device. Implementing a responsive web design is the most popular and preferred method by Google to make a website mobile-friendly.
Location
Search engines take note of pages that may be relevant for local searches. If the search query requires local results, search engines will provide the pages closest to your device’s location.
Language
Search engines consider language as a ranking factor. However, language only becomes relevant for sites targeting a specific language in a multilingual country or region. The user’s search query and search preferences determine when language becomes a consideration for their search results.
How SEO works
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, SEO are the actions taken to improve your search ranking for your audience’s search results. The actions taken in search engine optimization can be divided into two categories – on-page and off-page. Here’s how each aspect of SEO works:
On-page SEO
Technical SEO
This is the optimization of your website’s code and structure. Technical SEO improves user experience, page load speed, and navigation. Aside from encouraging your visitors to browse multiple pages on your website, the improvements that technical SEO brings will also make it easier for search engine bots to crawl through and collect information from your web pages.
Keyword optimization
Your content should contain the right keywords to attract your audience to your website. Search engines also use these keywords and their placement to determine the relevance of your content to your audience’s search query.
Links
Placing links leading to your pages or other websites contribute to improving your page’s search engine ranking. Links going to other pages in your websites ensure that search crawlers go to these pages. On the other hand, those leading to external pages can help determine the quality and usefulness of your pages.
Off-page SEO
Natural links
Manually built links
There are links acquired through link-building efforts. These include backlinks from customers and influencers and your guest posts on other websites
Self-created links
These links are the ones you will find in online directories, forums, blog comments, blog comment signatures, and press releases. It is important to limit self-created links to pages relevant to your website, industry, and target keywords.
How SEO works
On-page SEO
Technical SEO – This is the optimization of your website’s code and structure. Technical SEO improves user experience, page load speed, and navigation. Aside from encouraging your visitors to browse multiple pages on your website, the improvements that technical SEO brings will also make it easier for search engine bots to crawl through and collect information from your web pages.
Keyword optimization– Your content should contain the right keywords to attract your audience to your website. Search engines also use these keywords and their placement to determine the relevance of your content to your audience’s search query.
Links – Placing links leading to your pages or other websites contribute to improving your page’s search engine ranking. Links going to other pages in your websites ensure that search crawlers go to these pages. On the other hand, those leading to external pages can help determine the quality and usefulness of your pages.
Off-page SEO
Natural links – These are links placed in the content of a third-party website without any input from the owner of the linked page. High-quality and unique content is more likely to have natural links due since other websites will use it as a reference for their content.
Manually built links – There are links acquired through link-building efforts. These include backlinks from customers and influencers and your guest posts on other websites.
Self-created links – These links are the ones you will find in online directories, forums, blog comments, blog comment signatures, and press releases. It is important to limit self-created links to pages relevant to your website, industry, and target keywords.
How Local SEO for Painting Companies Work
Local SEO comes into play when a website aims to attract an audience from a specific location, country, or region. Businesses with physical locations make use of this to get the most visibility when their customers perform a search nearby. You can see this in play when you search for a restaurant or store near you. The results will include a list of businesses near your location related to the search you made.
However, local SEO is not limited to the list of relevant businesses in the search results. Traditional SEO practices still have a role to play if you want to maximize the potential of local search for your business. This is evident with businesses targeting audiences located in a specific location but does not have a physical store nearby. As a painting contractor, this applies to you since your service areas may be too far away for local search to include you in the list of businesses nearby.
Best Practices in SEO for Painting Businesses
There are several ways to optimize your website for search engines. However, this does not mean that there are no established practices that will help improve your search ranking most efficiently. Here are some of the best practices in SEO that you can use to achieve a better search ranking:
01
Run an SEO audit before planning a new SEO strategy
You need to know where your website stands before planning your new SEO strategy. This is why you must first perform an SEO audit before anything else. An SEO audit involves the analysis of the following:
- Technical elements such as URL structure, page speed, redirects, crawlability, mobile friendliness, and duplication
- On-page elements like site content structure, keyword use, metadata, and internal linking
- Server log (crawl budget analysis and user agent analysis)
As you can guess, an SEO audit can get technical. The reports from the analysis will also not provide you with actionable recommendations on how to improve your site’s search ranking. An SEO specialist or agency knows to perform the audit for you and has the experience to provide solutions for your website.
02
Provide your audience with relevant content
Internet users are looking for valuable and relevant content when they use search engines. The only way you can reach your target audience when they need information related to your business or painting services is to target the keywords they use. However, do not forget to place equal importance on the quality of your writing. Your use of keywords must not come at the cost of your content’s readability and value for your audience.
03
Write for your audience and not the search algorithm
Many website owners and businesses make the mistake of prioritizing the search algorithm when writing their blog posts and articles. What they don’t realize is that it only takes one major search engine guideline update for all their work to become worthless. This is why prioritizing the value you provide to your audience will always be the best approach when creating content for your website.
Moreover, you are not aiming for a higher search ranking just for the sake of it. You are aiming to improve your search ranking to attract more visitors to your website. These visitors must read and understand your content for them to take the action you want them to make.
04
Never duplicate content
Search engines want to provide their users with valuable content. However, this content should be unique and original, or else search engine algorithms will penalize your website’s search ranking. This is why you must never post duplicate content on your website. You need to create fresh, unique, and valuable content that your audience will not find anywhere else on the internet.
Moreover, you must ensure that your website is set up so that search engine crawlers will not index multiple versions of the same page. This will prevent your website from being penalized in the search ranking since any content found in different URLs is considered duplicate content.
05
Make use of header tags to structure your content
Headers make it easier for your readers to understand the structure and flow of your content. It also makes it possible for them to scan your content and get the main points of your article. Aside from these, search engine crawlers use headers to see the relevance of your content to the search engine keywords targeted.
06
Cross-link your pages, articles, and blog posts
Placing internal links in your content will make it easier for your readers to browse more pages on your website. Of course, the placement of these links should make sense by only linking pages that are relevant to the content and the text used for anchoring the link.
Aside from easier browsing, placing internal links makes it easier for search engine crawlers to index your website. This decreases the chance of the crawlers leaving a page unindexed. Moreover, these links make it difficult for black-hat SEO websites to duplicate your content on their page.
07
Update your content
Search engines like recommending fresh content to their users. This is why newer content has a better chance of ranking at the top of your target keywords. You can keep your content fresh by updating your old articles by adding the latest information or deleting those that no longer hold true.
08
Complement your SEO with search engine advertising
Search engine ads are the first things your target market will see in their search results. It is no surprise that these ads have a higher chance of attracting clicks from search users. Moreover, these ads do not require crawlers to appear on the search results so you can expect your landing page to appear faster on the results as an ad than an organic search result.
You can use these advantages to improve traffic to a landing page when you just published it. The ad can help bring immediate traffic to your website, which improves page ranking indirectly. Also, search users who see your ads are more likely to click on your page in their organic search results.
09
Hire SEO services for painting companies
It is best to hire an SEO agency to ensure long-term success for the website’s search engine optimization strategy. SEO agencies stay updated with the latest guidelines and practices for optimizing a website for search engines. Moreover, agencies have experience with performing local SEO for painting companies or house contractors so you can expect they will take care of every aspect of it.
What to Look for in SEO Services (for Painting Contractors)
If you made it to this point in this article, you probably realized that SEO can take a lot of work. And, if you have similar thoughts to other sensible business owners, you are thinking of delegating this to a qualified agency. But, before you do so, you must first know how to find a qualified SEO service agency for your business. Here’s what you need to look for:
They can provide case studies of their successful SEO projects
A case study will show how an SEO expert approached and solved an issue. Knowing their process gives you an idea of what to expect from them and whether they have the skills and experience to deliver results or not.
They have experience in providing local SEO for painting companies
It is best to hire an agency with experience in providing SEO for painting contractors. Your business will benefit from this experience since they already have a familiarity with your industry and customers. At the very least, they should have experience with a few contractors that serve the same customers that you do.
They explain their process for SEO to you
Before hiring a marketing agency, you must have a short consultation with them first. The consultation should include a discussion about their optimization process for you and you can determine if they have the skills and knowledge to implement SEO for your website. Their process should include an SEO audit, which requires them to have access to your web analytics. If they do not have this as part of their process, it can indicate their lack of experience or knowledge about SEO.
They will request access to your web analytics
Having access to your web analytics is essential for anyone to implement SEO for your website properly. This is why you don’t need to be surprised or wary if an SEO services company requests access to your web analytics. This is to be expected and indicates that they will provide a measurable return for their service.
They do not guarantee results for their SEO services
Search engines are the ones in control of the algorithm that determines a page's search ranking, so there's no way an SEO specialist can guarantee a result from optimizing a website. If anyone claims their service can provide guaranteed results or, worse, immediate ones, it’s probably due to them implementing black hat SEO practices. These practices can provide immediate results in the short term but they will only hurt your website’s search ranking. It can even lead to your website not appearing in the search results at all.
Are You a Painting Contractor Who Needs Help With SEO?
We understand that it can be difficult to find the right SEO services provider for your business. This is why we offer a free consultation for all our potential customers. There’s no risk for your business and you get the perspective of a professional digital marketer on how SEO can apply to your business specifically. Moreover, we also offer other digital marketing services so you can pick the brains of an expert on the specific applications of digital marketing for your paint contracting business.
Contact us today to schedule your free consultation!