Are you ready to give a boost to your organic search rankings? Are you looking forward to growing your online audience? Well, today is your lucky day as we have the complete SEO checklist for Interior Designers and Home Remodelers.
What Is SEO All About?
Before we get down to the SEO cheat sheet, let’s see why it is so important to go for SEO optimization. It is all about creating your website in such a way that it ranks high on search engines. After all, it will do you no good to have the best content on the web and still be unable to make it to the top because you didn’t get picked in the algorithm.
How Does It Work?
It is pretty simple. Search engines send bots to all the websites on the internet and they collect information and index these websites. Next, the algorithm gets to work and analyzes all those websites to rank them. Once analysis is done, several factors will determine the order in which they would show.
Checklist to Follow to Rank Higher
If you are looking for information that can help you rank at the top of the search engines in 2021, you just found it right here!
So, without wasting any more time, let’s get down to it!
1. Basics – Start from the Bottom
In this section, we will look at some basic tips and tricks every website owner should follow. Also, we will discuss some tools which will help you climb up the ranks.
a. Install Google Search Console: If you are looking for a very powerful and easy to use tool, Google search console is the tool to go. Best of all, it is free.
But, what does it do?
It helps you track the success of your website and its performance on Google. Moreover, it provides the following features:
- Tells you which keywords are ranking on Google
- Helps you submit and make a sitemap
- Helps in fixing website errors
- Lets you stay in touch with the Google support team
Hence, if you are serious about ranking your website, installing Google search console is a MUST.
b. Google Analytics: Once you have assessed your website, it is also important to see how people use your site and how they find it. This means you need to check what words the people are typing that they reach your website.
For this, install Google analytics. It helps you:
- See what type of traffic you are getting from Google.
- Find which pages on your website or what content is giving you the most traffic.
- Helps you in analyzing if your traffic is increasing. If yes, at what rate
Tip: Go ahead and integrate both your Google search console and Google analytics and see how many features you get!
c. YOAST – Know Where You Go Wrong: You can either use YOAST for free or upgrade to a premium account to know where your written text stands. Is it SEO-friendly or not? Better yet, the YOAST plugin is excellent to optimize your WordPress website for SEO.
2. Keyword Checklist – Know What Ranks
Keywords are the lifeblood of any content which goes on the internet.
After all, how can you rank high if you don’t know what the users are searching for?
Even if you have the most researched articles, the most appropriate information and still you can’t target the popular keywords, it is of no use.
Below is a checklist of steps to find trending keywords:
a. Discover the Long Tail Keywords Do you want to know the best way to go about it? The simplest way is to start typing in Google. Have you ever seen Google suggest words?
For instance, if you type “Interior Designer” and Google suggests “Interior Designer Marketing” this means that most of the people that are asking for an interior designer mean they are looking for marketing tips. So, this is a long-tail keyword. Hence, you KNOW for sure these suggestions rank highest on Google. Keep in mind that these keywords are the ones that will give you the most conversion rate.
How?
Well, these are specific phrases like “Interior Design for kitchen remodel?” This will have fewer searches as compared to “interior design”
b. Identify What Competitors Are Ranking on
For this, use the SEMrush tool and go ahead to see which competitors are competing with you on the same keywords.
c. Find Money Keywords
There are different types of keywords:
- Short-tail
- Long-tail
- Normal keywords
Apart from these, there are “Money Keywords”. Undoubtedly, these are the keywords that are going to give you conversions, sales, and profits.
But, how do you find these?
The best thing about all of this is that you don’t need to do much. Yes, there are some free tools and A LOT of premium tools which help you in this process. So, with the help of Keyword Planner (free tool by Google now combined with AdWords) or any other tool of your choice, you can research different services and products to identify what your head terms are.
Money keywords are high competition, high returns!
d. Keyword Map –Know Where To Go
Once you have the major keywords in hand, until and unless you know what to do with them, it is of no use, right?
So, equipped with the keywords, the next step is to do mapping. In this step, you need to focus on what and where you will use these keywords, what content will you build around it and where you will publish it.
e. Focus On What Is Being Asked
Knowing what people are asking is important to you. After all, these are the questions you need to answer with your content. Hence, it will rank higher.
With the keyword planner tool, you will find all the questions asked about that particular keyword.
f. Difficulty Level Miracles happen! But, in fairy tales!
Therefore, you need to realize that you won’t be able to rank your website overnight. There are some keywords which are difficult to rank. On the other hand, there are some keywords which are easier to rank.
How can you know?
The keyword planner tool has the option to see how difficult it is to rank a keyword
3. Technical SEO
Create a strong foundation for your website through which can help it to be indexed.
a. HTTPS – Know How Important It Is HTTPS has been imperative to ranking websites since 2014. Today, it is imperative to use HTTPS.
Tip: Check for a little padlock on the side of the website.
b. Check Google Index You need to be sure that there are no duplicate websites. All the variations of your website should redirect you to
the same website.
c. Crawl Errors – Silent Killer These are issues the search bots find when they try to read a website and errors are encountered like (broken
links, 301 redirects, etc.). Again, the Google search console will let you identify and treat these crawl errors.
d. Page Load Speed You must have a good page loading speed. Usually, it should be a few milliseconds. If it takes any longer, the users will
get bored and shift! If that happens this means that you will lose conversions.
e. Fix Links Outbound and inbound links are another important consideration to see if you want to ensure you rank higher on search
engines. An audit report or Google search console lets you know about broken links.
f. Mobile – Friendliness Your website/webpage must be mobile-friendly. This is a major ranking factor and makes the user experience
better. Remember most searches start on a mobile device so ensure that your website is mobile friendly. Again, you can do this with
Google’s mobile-friendly testing tool (https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly).
g. URL Structure – Keep It Simple A good URL makes it easier for the bots to crawl and identify what your website is all about. Hence, it
makes ranking easier.
Tip: Use hyphens to separate words
h. Structured Data Structured data is essential to include if you want your website to rank. This is what the bots read to better understand
what your website is about. Structured data also helps you organize your site and the better organized it is the easier it is for the bots to
know what your website is about.
4. On-Page SEO and Content
Once you have done all this, now it is time for the real action!
With more than a hundred websites with the same content, how can you ensure that you stand out from the rest?
Well, by following these tips below:
- Titles: This is the first thing that comes in front of the user when they open the webpage. So, keep in mind to include the main keyword in the first title. Moreover, title case is a must.
- Duplicate tags: Ensure you don’t have duplicate information or tags on your page. This will result in redundancy and can make you fall down the ranks
- Meta Description: This is what shows below your title when your website ranks, so be sure that it is within 174 characters. Within this character count make sure to explain exactly what your website is all about and include any important keywords that help this explanation.
- Heading 1,2,3: Include all 3 headings in your content. H1 should be the title of your content. Include the main keyword here. H2 is the 2nd heading and needs to have the keyword also. The rest of the headings should be H3 titles.
- ALT tags: Images help rank you better. Ensure that all images on your pages have alt tags which tells what the image is showing that ties back into your page and the topic/theme. When you have alt tags on your images you have a greater chance of your images being found in search as well when users click on images instead of search or all.
- Internal Linking: There should be enough internal links and backlinks in your content that link to other pages on your website for additional information. This helps with keeping people on your site longer when you have interesting information to share.
- Up to date content: Ensure the content on your website is up to date and relevant for the end user. Regularly update the content on your site to ensure it is relevant for today’s information consumption. Also add content that people are looking to find and engage with.
Content – Unique and Catchy
As you already know, there is hardly any topic in the WORLD which has not been addressed on the internet already.
So, why should people read your content and not move over to another page?
The answer is pretty simple. Keep in mind the following steps and you will have A+ content which will attract the readers.
a. Well-Researched – Even though it seems very obvious, most people don’t do this. The easiest way is to research on the keywords to ensure how to use them. Secondly, see what the competitors have written. Go to a search engine and look for the top websites for your keyword/topic. Open their blogs/webpages and see what content they are offering. Read through it, make pointers, and see how you must write. Once the end user finds a source with good content, they trust they tend to come back to that same source for other information.
b. Keyword Density – Another important consideration is to see the keyword density. You don’t need to stuff keywords to increase your ranking. In reality, keyword stuffing only ends up getting your page banned on Google. The keywords should not be more than 2.5% in the entire body of the text.
c. Anecdote/Catchy Opening – Always start with some anecdote or story or a little conversation. Start with a promise of providing the readers what they are looking for. This will capture their interest and hook them till the end. But remember the content needs to back up that catchy opening or you will lose the trust of the readers.
d. Conversational Tone – Keep a conversational tone. Frequently ask questions from the readers so they think they are directly being addressed. Your content should aim to enlighten but also engage the readers and keep them coming back for more.
e. Active Voice – Use the active voice frequently. Reason being, it uses fewer words and makes the writing concrete and concise.
f. YOAST – Check Your Work – ALWAYS run your writing through different writing software like YOAST. This will tell you what is the readability score of your writing. Make sure to use shorter sentences to make the content readable.
5. Off-Page SEO
This is all what happens off the website. Basically, it is what others think of your website, if they mention it or not. Think of it like this, if a lot of blogs and websites are talking about you or mentioning your work on them, it means you have something unique. Google takes into consideration external mentions of websites into account.
a. Back Links – Backbone of Your Website: Links are an integral part of ranking high on Google and other search engines. No matter the uniqueness of the content, you need to have some websites linking to yours. Initially, you should do this yourself. Your main page should have appropriate links to your content pages and category pages. The key is to make sure no page stands alone. All should be linked to one another in a proper way, refer back to internal linking in number four.
b. Thematic Keywords: Target the most relevant keywords. Thematic keywords are the ones having relation to a particular topic. Going for these will organically and naturally make your page top on the list for linking to other pages. Use a keyword planning tool to find those thematic keywords for your site.
c. Anchor Text: Use anchor texts to link with high authority pages. These are clickable words that direct the reader to some other page. Some common anchor text words are, click here, check out this page, see more here, etc. Differentiate the anchor texts and overtime you will see your ratings improve.
d. NAP Citations: Make sure you list your NAP on the top search engines and directories. NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. You must be consistent with this information across the web or the search engines will get confused. There are several tools available on the market today that are used for finding relevant citations for your website. There are some other ways you can increase off-site SEO ranking:
- Be a guest writer for another website
- Blogger outreach (guest blogging)
- Attend podcasts and get them to link back to your site
- Use GOOGLE MY BUSINESS and complete your profile
- Generate positive reviews that link back to your website
There you are, we have explained all the crucial steps for ranking your interior design or home remodeling website in the search engines. This checklist will help set you apart from the competition if you implement these tips. So, what are you waiting for?
Happy Ranking!
These are just a few tips to help you optimize your website for local search. For additional information take a look at our SEO section or resource library for additional marketing tips. If you want to speak with one of our professionals contact us or schedule a strategy session so we can help you grow your business.