How does an SEO company get their clients top visibility in Google for one of the most competitive industries in one of the most competitive markets? When a Google employee referred M&D Locks and Keys to us several years ago, we had no idea what we were in for. The locksmith industry is one of the toughest markets to promote online. Here’s how we did it…
No locksmith in Brooklyn has enjoyed better online visibility than M&D Locks and Keys. Certainly, the SEO strategy for M&D has been robust, but it also helps that their emergency lockout service is among the best in the city. One of the comments I often make at speaking engagements is that, “the best marketing starts with your business. As good as DINOMADIC is at promoting businesses in Google search results, there isn’t much we can do if you do not run a good company and offer consumers a good service.” Indeed, I have turned away many new clients because they just weren’t good at what they do. M&D is the best locksmith in New York so that has made it easier for us to promote them.
That being said, there are several SEO techniques we used to help make M&D more visible, especially considering the level of locksmith spam we contend with every day. The industry is rife with scammers and companies trying to game the search engines for better visibility. In addition to promoting the website, we implement a daily campaign to fight locksmith web spam.
Have a Conversion Focused Website
The first thing we did was redesign the website to not only optimize it better for search results, but to improve conversions. We found that even when consumers were visiting the website, they weren’t necessarily buying so we created new content from scratch that was unique, relevant and compelling to consumers. We understand that when most consumers are locked out, they don’t want to waste time reading a bunch of content so we put the important points near the top of the page, above the fold in in bullet point format so consumers could get the information they needed quickly.
Knowing that search engines prefer hyper-local content, we created pages that are specific to Brooklyn communities. So when a consumer is locked out of their car in say, Flatbush, M&D locks and Keys is right at the top of search results for locksmith Flatbush.
Mobile Search Optimization
In addition to redesigning the website, we knew that the bulk of locksmith business comes from mobile searches. The website is a WordPress responsive theme, which means it is optimized for any device with any screen size. Normally this is a good idea as Google favors mobile friendly website over others, but the problem is that responsive designs are very slow to load. Google prefers fast loading pages over slow ones so in order to increase speed, we made the mobile version completely in html. This took M&D’s load score in Google’s online speed testing tool from a terribly weak 32/100 to a lightning fast 91/100. This move not only made the website a better experience for consumers, but it also helped to improve search visibility even more.
It’s Not About Your Website, It’s About Your Business
Our off page search engine optimization included plenty of social activity and the addition of high quality and authoritative inbound links. We cleaned out all the links that we thought were spammy and left M&D with a highly authoritative web property that Google loves.
TIP: Use search engine optimization for your third party business profile pages, not just your website.
An approach we take for all of our clients is to promote their business in search, not just their website. Most SEO consultants focus only on the website. We knew that M&D would get more phone calls if we promoted their Yelp listing. So not only does their website show at the top of search, so does their Google Plus page and their Yelp profile page. Both of them have plenty of 5 star customer reviews. The gold stars show right within search results, which provide a big boost to conversions.
How it Works
There is a lot of technical work we do for our clients that is far too complicated to describe in a blog post, but the important points to remember is to make sure the website has plenty of unique, relevant and compelling content for the consumer. Try to write pages on specific products or specific areas. The pages are much more likely to be visible for consumers that way.
Backlinks were heavily abused by the locksmith industry and recent Google updates have penalized many of those companies. Inbound links are still very important, however, as long as they are relevant and come from a legitimate source. Paying for links will get your website banned. Participating in social media helps to get natural links and mentions of your business around the Web.
Finally, always remember that your marketing should be about your business, not just your website. What third party profile pages can you promote? Do you have a Yelp profile? You certainly should be optimizing your Google Plus Business Page (named Google My Business). You can also promote a Facebook fan page, a second website, a blog and any one of your hundreds of business directory profiles.
To learn how you can use search engine optimization to promote your locksmith business, contact Dino Maiolo at dino@dinomadic.com or visit our website for more search engine optimization tips.
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