A high performing SEO marketing strategy is crucial for an architectural firm.
There can be dozens of architectural firms in any one area. Your company needs to find a way to distinguish itself from all of the competitors in the area. SEO (search engine marketing) is the way you can make sure your company has an advantage.
If you don’t stand out from all the other companies in your area, you can get lost in all the options on the internet. This means that you get overlooked for contracts you were more than qualified for.
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What Is The Role Of SEO For an architectural firm?
The main role of SEO for architects firm is to rank higher in search results, drive website traffic, and see an increase in online sales. With so much competition, an architectural firms need to make sure they stand out from the crowd. That’s where a comprehensive SEO strategy comes into place.
SEO is a vital part of any company’s marketing strategy. The internet is full of websites and it can be hard to find what you are looking for. Results for some search queries can go on for dozens of pages and have thousands of results.
By using keywords and other marketing techniques properly, you can boost where your business lands in these search rankings. The higher you rank, the better.
On-Site SEO Strategies
On-site SEO is everything that you do to optimize your website for search engines. This strategy can also be called on-page SEO. Here are the most important parts of on-site SEO and ways you can execute them on your website:
Keyword Optimization
Keywords can be anything from one individual word to a longer phrase.
Successful SEO for an architectural firm hinges on choosing and implementing the best keywords for your specific services and location. Before optimizing your website and creating content, you need to do keyword research.
That research will help you determine the most commonly searched for words and phrases about your topic. It is those words and phrases you will need to integrate into the technical aspects of the website and the content you create.
Proper use of these keywords will help drive more traffic to your website by attracting the attention of search engines.
Title tags, meta descriptions, alt tags
These three pieces are also crucial for search engines being able to find your site and your content. It is important to work your keywords into these areas as well.
- Title tags – Title tags are HTML that is used to identify the title of your page. These titles are displayed on SERP pages as the clickable headline for that particular page. These shouldn’t be too long and should have your primary keyword sprinkled in.
- Meta descriptions – This is another HTML element. These descriptions are what appear as the description of an article or page in an internet search result. You will want to include your keyword in this description as a way to entice readers to click on your content. Good meta descriptions help increase click rates. Google likes meta descriptions that are between 180-230 characters. If your description is longer than that, it won’t be visible on the screen preview.
- Alt tags – Alt tags are descriptions of visual elements that help those who are vision impaired. Sprinkling your keyword into the description is helpful for search purposes but it is most important to provide an accurate visual description.
Sitemap Creation
At the very least, a sitemap is a detailed layout of your website.
If you have ever scrolled completely down the homepage of any website, you should notice a sitemap link at the bottom of the page. What we see on a sitemap and what search engine crawlers see are two very different things.
From the perspective of a search engine, a site map tells it what pages on your website are the most important.
A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the URLs for your site and any other details about your site a search crawler could need. This sounds complex to create, but there are countless tools available to help web designers pull together a sound sitemap file.
Well Structured Website
SEO and web design work hand in hand. You have to make sure you have optimized your site content rich with keywords. You’ve worked on all your meta descriptions, title tags, and alt tags.
There are still other steps you can take to make sure your site ranks high with search crawlers. Having a high functioning website is more than just putting some content and a few pictures onto a site and hoping for the best.
Here are some ways you can use a well structured website to boost SEO for architectural firm.
- Responsive Design – Making sure your site is mobile friendly. Over 50% of searches now happen on mobile devices. The ability of your site to perform on these devices is part of your ranking authority.
- Speed – The speed of your website is crucial. The best pages on the web load in less than a second. Users have come to expect fast site load speeds and will leave a page if it doesn’t load quickly. How fast your page loads also plays a role in how high your page is ranked by search crawlers.
- Usability and Readability – The overall layout of your site is also important. Users don’t like sites that are clunky and difficult to navigate. If your site isn’t easy to use, visitors will leave as fast as they arrived. Building this trust also plays into your SEO rankings. If visitors don’t stay on your page for very long, search crawlers take that into account.
- Linking – You will need a strategy for developing quality backlinks. The more people that link to your site helps create authority for your website. This also applies to how many quality websites link to your website and content as well. These links also help boost your ranking with search engine crawlers and indexers.
Off-Site SEO Strategies for an architectural firm
While On-site SEO Strategies are things that you do to boost the ranking of your website, off-site strategies are things that you do to boost your profile that doesn’t involve your website.
While this is different from the keyword research and other techniques you take to boost your website, these steps are just as important at boosting your online reputation and driving traffic to your site.
Google Business profile
Google Business Profile is one of the many tools that Google offers businesses to help them manage their online reputations and to help customers find the businesses they are looking for.
The first step for a business is to claim their Google Business Listing.
Once you have done that, you can work with Google to fill in any of the needed details. This free service helps companies interact with customers online as well as manage their online reputations. You will also get tips from Google advisors on ways to attract more attention to your business listing. One tip they offer is to add pictures.
Businesses with pictures get more traffic and contacts that a company that did not add pictures to their Google Business Listing.
Business Listing
On Google and other sites, there are business listings that a company can claim. Claiming your listing means you can ensure the information listed for your company is accurate.
The information you can verify includes your business name, address, phone number, website address, and other details that can help a customer contact you and/or visit your physical location.
Reviews
Google and other sites allow customers to review a business and speak about the service they received, what they thought of the product, etc.
It is important to take the time to answer every single review, both negative and positive. This sends the proper message to your customers plus it gives you the chance to address any customer issues.
Should a customer post information that is incorrect, this is also a chance to counter that information as well.
Online Review Sites (Yelp, etc.)
Outside of Google and your own website, there are many other places that customers can leave feedback about your company. Places like Yelp, Angie’s List, etc. are just a few of the websites customers can leave their thoughts on your business. Make sure you have an active account on every site that permits customer reviews of a business.
You want to be able to thank people who leave positive feedback as well as counter any less than stellar reviews that are left for your business.
How To Use Content Marketing As Part Of Your SEO Strategy
Not everyone recognizes the powerful role content can play in an overall SEO strategy. Also, not everyone realizes that content is more than words on the page. Content covers so many other elements, including pictures and video. Using those as part of your overall marketing plan is a way to help with so many of the points already raised, including developing your authority on issues and creating trust with customers.
Here are some ways you can use content marketing to boost SEO for an architectural firm:
- Harness video and use it to your advantage. You can use this medium to showcase so many things that you do. You can show off the best tools to use to complete a certain task. You can show how you and your team complete a certain project. The sky’s the limit in how you can use video to show what you do in architecture.
- Use photos to show before and after shots of a project. In addition to video, you can use photos to share a step by step story of how to complete a task. You want to make sure you show what you can do and why your company is a better choice.
- A blog is also essential for architectural SEO. You want to make sure that people view you as a trustworthy source of information. A blog can help you do that. Create your blog by sharing the latest tips and tricks along with relevant news for the architecture industry. This will help you gain the authority you need for your business.
SEO For for an architectural firm – Where To Get Started
Many architectural firms owners don’t think SEO can benefit their business.
These companies prefer to think word of mouth is what will grow their business. While that is essential for growing any company, SEO can still help architectural companies greatly. A high performing SEO strategy can help searchers find you online and out you at the top of the overwhelming number of results.
Regardless of which type of SEO service your architectural business requires, DIGIMEA has you covered! We are a one-stop shop for digital marketing for architects and SEO for architecs that own an existing website or want to build a new website, and our team is ready to design your company’s next SEO campaign today. So, if you are architectural firm that needs SEO, PPC, website design, local SEO for architects listing optimization, or social media marketing services, email our digital marketing specialists at DIGIMEA now at digimea@digimea.com.