SEO is complex. Shop owners may think it’s just about throwing some keywords on a page a bunch of times. However, it’s more than just putting the right keywords on your website. Showing how complex it actually is, simply saying that’s only a piece of SEO and not the whole story. Some shop owners think having a website with content is enough. Still, to maximize your online marketing efforts, you must also use your off-site SEO methods. You need to engage within your community and show you are your brand’s SME (Subject Matter Expert).
What is SEO and Why It is Important to Your Marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of maximizing the number of visitors to your website by ensuring that your site ranks as best as possible on search engines like Google. SEO is about building strong authority so your target customer can find you during an applicable search. An awesome website with high-quality content about your services is excellent for search engines since it shows them you know what you’re talking about. It will only be successful if your website functions well and if the content helps people find what they’re looking to find.
Why is it essential to your business?
● 97 percent of consumers search for local businesses on Google or Bing
● It can improve your online visibility
● It helps you get found organically
● It gets you more calls and more appointments
● Builds Strong Authority
On-site and Off-site SEO—What is It?
When it comes to on-site SEO, it’s a simple question. Does your website provide a good user experience? On-site SEO is what it exactly says it is. It is everything you do on your website to optimize for search engines and real-world users. It includes the content you are putting on your site, how it is structured and the tagging on your site. If your website is eye-catching, easy to navigate, has clear calls to action, and answers users’ questions with high-quality content, then you’ve created a fantastic website that search engines will promote.
Off-site or off-page SEO is everything you do off your website to build your brand and online presence. Off-site includes what we do for our branding outside our website and what occurs naturally. Suppose there is a news article about something your shop is doing in the community. In that case, it can show engagement, even if there’s no link to your website. Search engines will see your brand mentioned, which will count toward your SEO status.
How to Improve It
There are many options for shop owners to choose from when trying to improve off-site SEO. Brand building is the key to success, and there are certain aspects to focus on to maximize your SEO and business.
One vital action is citation building and management. Your citations are found in online directories and include all your pertinent business information like name, address, phone number, business hours, and website. Think of it like this. There are many different “phone books” found online that are directories. Your entry in those directories is your citations. You want to ensure that your contact information is listed correctly, no matter which “phone book” a customer refers to. This consistency is suitable for both the user experience and search engines.
Get people engaged with your brand on social media platforms.Engagement enables you to build your brand not only on that platform, but that success will also translate to search engines. Social media is another place where users can learn more about who you are and your services. You can also include forums and other user groups in this category. For example, you could be a BMW specialist active on a BMW forum.
Your Google My Business listing is essential to your online success as a local business. In many instances, your GMB is the first thing people interact with when they engage with your brand, whether they Google you by name or discover your brand when searching for a local service such as “brake repair near me.” You want to make sure your GMB information (name, address, phone) is accurate, and you also want to make sure you’re building your review count and score there. We know that your review score on GMB is a ranking factor in local results and influences peoples’ buying decisions. If a product or service has a poor review score, we have this natural hesitancy about spending money on it. The opposite is true if the score is overall positive. The same thing goes for your GMB. Work on acquiring positive reviews, and reward yourself with increased local visibility and a higher conversion rate.
Community engagement is also a form of off-site SEO. When you’re involved in your community, your brand spreads by word-of-mouth and naturally translates into more online mentions. An example of community involvement may be an event a local news outlet covers that spreads throughout social media, on forums, or other groups.
Link building and backlinks are essential parts of off-site SEO. Link building can be through citation management, but the best link building occurs naturally. Let’s use community involvement as an example. If another website was to talk about your event, discuss your brand, who and what you do, and then link back to your website- that’s an example of a backlink. The more of these you build to your website over time, the more backlinks you have or “referrals” from other places. When these come from other high-quality sites, search engines like Google reward you with more authority and visibility.
Want to learn more? This information was covered by Margaret Palango, CEO of Autoshop Solutions, in a Babcox webinar that you can watch on demand here: https://learn.autoshopsolutions.com/seo-webinar/.
Autoshop Solutions is an automotive digital marketing agency specializing in websites and internet marketing solutions. Want to know more about our services? Let us help you stand out above your competition. Please visit us at autoshopsolutions.com.
This Article is Sponsored By: Autoshop Solutions
