The Ultimate SEO Guide for Pressure Washing Companies

The Ultimate SEO Guide for Pressure Washing Companies

Search engine optimization is a strategy no business with an online presence can do without. If a small business does SEO poorly, it ends up in the same place that a TV show that airs on an obscure channel in the middle of the night does. It may be a wonderful show, but it is hard to gain a following because it is hard to find. People are just most likely to visit a site that appears higher in search results, while those on the second or third pages receive significantly less traffic. However, with the right small business SEO services in place a small business can beat the competition and get a great ranking in search results. Here is the ultimate SEO guide for Pressure Washing Companies so that you can dominate search results and increase your website traffic.

What is Search Engine Optimization Anyway?

Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of optimizing your business’s website so that it can be found and indexed by search engine crawlers, which are bots that crawl the internet, finding and ranking content. 

Successful SEO for small businesses involves using several key components of content marketing.

Keyword research–

This is when you learn which terms and phrases your potential customers type into search engines. In finding out what people are searching for to find related businesses, to find information about your business, or to find information about a topic related to your business, you can create content that is useful to them. Any good keyword strategy is monitored and updated regularly as the trends of how people search are always changing. 

Copywriting–

If your pages are uninformative or confusing, people will move away from your site not too long after entering. At the opposite end though, if you create useful content that is laid out well, readers will be more likely to read your whole webpage. This will ultimately increase the average time a user spends on your site. The overall average for site on the top 10 of google results is three minutes and ten seconds. 

Content Marketing–

A well-crafted content marketing strategy emphasizes writing blog posts with each focusing on a specific keyword that can inform and engage your target audience. 

Link building–

The number of internal links (linking to existing content within your own site) and external links (when a different site links to your content) is an indicator that SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) used to determine the quality of your site. 

Usability and UX–

SERPs will downgrade you if you have a clunky, slow-to-load, or hard-to-navigate website. Then of course a well-designed page keeps visitors around longer too.

Local SEO–

A good local SEO strategy will involve incorporating the tactics listed above, but focusing specially on your immediate surroundings. 

The Ultimate SEO Guide for Pressure Washing Companies

Tip 1: Focus on technical SEO

Technical SEO is the process of optimizing the structure of your site pages so that the crawlers can properly “read” and index your site. 

Even if your actual writing is amazing, problems with technical SEO will hamper your site’s ability to rank highly. So before creating new content, invest in the quality of your content from a technical perspective. 

• Create a sitemap and submit it to google–depending on what tools you use to build your site, there are plugins you can use to create a sitemap. Yoast SEO is one for WordPress users that generates a sitemap automatically and keeps it up-to-date when you publish new content. 
• Prune old pages that don’t perform–If your site has a lot of pages that don’t get traffic, your rankings will be negatively affected. 
• Fix broken and old links–The SERP robots will downgrade your content if you consistently send your reader to outdated or broken links.
• Optimize your images–Use relevant images with appropriate captions. You should also use the “alt text” section to give a description of the image. 

Tip 2: Optimize On-page SEO

On-page SEO is all about the words on the page. While the key point is always to create interesting content that naturally incorporates your target keywords, it’s also important to structure your posts in a way that gives you the best chance of being located in a search. 

• Optimize page titles and headlines–Your headline is a big factor in your click-through rate, which is itself a key part of how SERPs determine their rankings. The click-through rate is the percentage of people who view your headline and end up clicking on it. Something catchy that is about 60 characters long so that it doesn’t get cut off. If the title is too long, the SERP will insert an ellipse at the end of the character limit. 
• Use proper header tags–The headers you use for each section of your post can be optimized to contain relevant keywords. Also, by making your site clear to readers, you will boost those time-on-site metrics.
• Clean up your meta tags–Every content management system allows you to enter meta tags, which are essentially just descriptions of your content. These tags are used by search crawlers to make sure the description of your site matches the content on the page. In using relevant keywords and descriptions in your meta tags, you ensure the crawlers know what your page is about. 

The 50 Best SEO Keywords for Pressure Washing Companies

Tip 3: Build Authority with Links

Having other sites link back to your site improves the position in search engines. Research has shown that the number of sites linking to a page correlates with a high SERP ranking more than any other SEO strategy. 

In order to build local links, you’ll need to have an outreach strategy. This could be as simple as creating a spreadsheet that includes the names, emails, and numbers of your potential contacts. It can include local newspapers, bloggers, events pages, and (non-competitive) businesses. Positive media mentions go a long way for up-and-coming small businesses. 

Important Factors To Consider When Building Backlinks

Before jumping into the different types of backlinks to acquire, it is important to understand what makes them so valuable in the 1st place. As mentioned before, not all backlinks are created equal. Some provide way more value to a business than others. That is because backlinks are evaluated on three simple levels.

The Authority of the linking website

The most valuable types of backlinks come from authoritative websites. That just makes sense. Looking at a website’s domain rank or page rank can tell you the quality of the backlink you will be receiving. The higher the domain rank, the better the quality of the backlink. To find out the domain rank of a website check out tools like Ahrefs Website Authority Checker, or Moz’s Free Domain SEO Analysis Tool. 

Do-Follow vs No Follow Links

When a website includes a hyperlink to another website they can choose whether to create a do-follow link or a no-follow link.

Do follow links tell search engines to give SEO value or credit to the link

No follow links tell search engines to ignore the link and therefore not providing and SEO value or credit

Since do follow links send a better signal to search engines, they are more valuable than no follow links. 

The Location of a Link

Every website has a sitemap and content structure. Therefore it is important to remember that where your backlink originates from is important. The most valuable types of backlinks appear in the main body of the website content. Links that appear in a website’s header, footer, or sidebar of the page may not provide as much value. So when building backlinks for your website remember that placement is key. 

Now that we understand backlinks and how they are assigned value let’s take a closer look at the best types of backlinks for small businesses to target. 

The Best Types of Backlinks for Small Businesses To Target

Editorial Backlinks 

The best type of backlink a business can receive is an editorial backlink. This is when another website refers back to your website via link due to a content piece you have written. Examples of editorial backlinks include:

• A backlink from your content as a source of information
• Referring to your website for additional information
• Citing your website as the creator of an infographic or image
• Interview

Guest Blogs

Guest posts or blogs are another great form of backlinks for your business. When you submit a guest post to another website oftentimes a link will be included in your editorial bio. These types of backlinks help to increase your website’s trustworthiness and authority within your field.

Business Profiles

When you create an online business for your profile you can often include a link back to your website. You can create business profiles on business listing websites, social media networks, and online directories. 

Badge Links

If your business is looking for ways to expand its credibility, badge links are a great way to do so. Winning awards for “Best Of” or “Top Business in XYZ City” can go a long way in increasing the authority and visibility of your website. 

Building A Quality Backlinking Strategy

The bottom line is that backlinks should be an essential part of every business owner’s SEO campaign. By focusing on high-quality backlinks instead of just any type of backlink will go a lot further in helping to build the type of website authority that you want.

The 4 Key Benefits of Small Business SEO Services

So now that we have had a chance to break down SEO components for small businesses, what are some benefits? 

1. SEO will help your small business build brand awareness

If people continue seeing your brand name somewhere on the first page of SERP, they will become more aware of your presence. The next time they might need a product that you are selling or service you’re providing, they are much more likely to remember you.

2. SEO will help your small business beat the competition

Even if your stronger competitors are bigger players in your industry, you can still beat them and attract more clients to visit your pages. The key is in optimization. When you invest in SEO, you rise through the rankings and if your brand optimization is done right, you can even surpass their rankings. 

3. SEO is cost-effective 

Small businesses usually have a limited budget that doesn’t allow for any wasted funds on marketing. That is the advantage most large businesses will carry. However, an SEO strategy can be a way for a smaller business to get the same results without spending a ton on advertising. 

PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is an effective way for a company to attract new customers, but this strategy is reserved for big players who can afford it. Small companies usually simply cannot. What they can do though is to have an SEO strategy that will get them to where the big competitors are in terms of search results. 

Once you have traffic that starts coming in, your ranking will be good enough that new customers will come in without investing in paid marketing campaigns. You will have to maintain the SEO, but the cost of that service is significantly lower than what you would pay for ads. 

4. Long-lasting results

Investing in ads will get results, but only as long as they are running. Money spent on SEO will last significantly longer, as it will bring you some new customers over a longer period. 

SEO won’t bring instant rewards, but that is not the point of the strategy. The goal is to rank higher overall and remain there long enough to raise brand awareness and improve conversion. 

Conclusion to The Ultimate SEO Guide for Pressure Washing Companies

Running a small business is already hard enough, and SEO might seem like something that can be pushed to the side. However, the longer you wait, the further you may fall in the search results. This can have an enormous impact on search results, organic traffic, and revenue. If you start today with these tasks from our Ultimate SEO Guide for Pressure Washing Companies to help ensure people that could be customers can find you online, the easier and stronger your business will grow.