In this post, let’s get into everything you need to know about keyword optimization. To improve your cleaning business website’s organic rankings, drive qualified traffic, and more; it’s the way to go.
After all, discovering the most effective keywords for your cleaning business website doesn’t just happen.
However, it’s a different story if you’re willing to invest time and dedication into the keyword research process. Plus, with a willingness to strategize even after you researched for the best keywords, you’ll be nailing it.
So, here, we’ll walk through what you need to do.
Optimize on-page SEO elements
Want your cleaning service site to be acceptable to Google and other search engines? Then perfect on-page optimization. With a search-friendly site, you can get attention and automatically haul in visitors.
For one, craft an irresistible title—- one that draws people in. With the use of a high-converting keyword, create something catchy, thought-provoking, and easy-to-read.
Good thing is, there are many tools that have your back on this matter. For one, you can use CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer.
The logic behind this is that not even most readers who encounter a title will read the rest of the article. If a title looks boring and contains generic information, most readers would rather do something else with their time.
Especially if these readers have other options to check out, they’ll dismiss your article. To change their minds, the solution is to present them with a title that’s interesting — and almost too good to be true.
And apart from the title, you should also optimize these on-page elements for your cleaning service website:
- Headings – Assign and organize headings to make your site’s copy clear. Use the H1 tag and distribute H2 (H3, H4, and more) tags to the rest of the sections.
- Meta description – Incorporate a target keyword into your meta description. Make it enticing, concise, and encourage click-throughs.
- ALT attributes – Add ALT attributes to the images you feature in your cleaning service site. These attributes make your site accessible to browsers and visually impaired audiences.
Create informative content
Start by creating and publishing one piece of great content. Then, be consistent and build your way to the top.
Remember, the content remains supreme. If you produce useful content that resonates with your target audience, you’re giving them a reason to check you out.
However, don’t forget that creating content for the mere sake of having something on your site is a bad move. Sure, getting your hands on the best keywords and using them in your content may drive traffic to your site. The way you incorporate these keywords into your content, though, can affect how visitors think.
The right keywords can help visitors find your site. From then on, it’s your (and your website’s) time to shine. If you load it up with useless content, you won’t hear from them after a single visit — and maybe ever again.
So, focus on distributing informative content. The better the quality of your content, the higher the chances of your message getting across effectively.
What types of content make for an informative and engaging piece, you ask? Here are three of them:
- Infographics – They’re visually appealing, informative, and easy-to-read. For example, design infographics that showcase facts about your cleaning service business.
- Case studies – Share how you helped clients with their homes. What makes case studies a hit is that they’re ripe with real-life information and relatable examples.
- Videos – Present a simple whiteboard animation that describes the advantages of cleaning, for example. Videos are powerful, easy-to-digest, and highly entertaining.
Use trends
On a related note, look out for trends, too. You can design a content strategy that revolves around trending keywords. Then, you can leverage your keyword-rich content by letting it go viral.
Trends can help you determine what’s still in and what’s worth abandoning. Watching them is useful because it tells you which keywords are worth targeting for your cleaning service website.
It’s also important because it presents you with an opportunity to adapt to new practices. With how fast the world moves nowadays, checking trends is how you can keep up with the times.
Don’t forget; it doesn’t matter how much effort you put into keyword research. You’re wasting time if you’re aiming for outdated keywords.
Imagine crossing your fingers that you’d rank for a keyword that nobody cares about anymore. So learn the trends.
Want tips on how to catch trends? Here are some of them:
- Subscribe to your competitor’s newsletters – Assess how they’re doing and be familiar with their current SEO breakthroughs. If they aren’t marketing via email, a quick pitstop to their website will suffice.
- Use tools – Google Trends and BuzzSumo, for example, can help you search for what’s interesting to people within a period or on social media networks.
- Engage with social media communities – Mingle with the crowd on Facebook, Instagram, and more. The goal is to have a feel of their likes and dislikes and recent practices.
Build a solid internal linking structure with keyword-rich anchors
Let’s say a keyword you’re targeting is “contact cleaning services.” What you should do, therefore, is to use the terms as anchors for an internal link to your business’ contact page.
Plus, points for using keywords well. You also deserve points for informing your visitors where they’re headed.
Then again, using keyword-rich anchors that will fuel your cleaning service site’s growth is one thing. Sprinkling these keyword-rich anchors mindlessly is a terrible idea.
If you will use anchors, use them in a way that won’t confuse web crawlers. To win search engines over, don’t make the lives of these web crawlers difficult.
So, instead of using the same keyword-rich anchors for links to different pages, use a unique one for every page. To follow up on the earlier example, use “contact cleaning services” as the keyword that points only to your site’s contact page.
Here’s what else you can do to be on your way to a solid internal linking structure:
- Link to great pages – Create links to your pages that require the attention of visitors. If you have an existing webpage that isn’t of the best quality, revise it first.
- Continue “as you go” – Keep building your internal linking structure with every post you create. Be consistent rather than rush in to place links everywhere in your site in hopes of it working just as effectively.
- Link unnaturally – Forcing links defeats the purpose of incorporating relevancy to your site’s content. If a link will decrease your site’s contextual relevance, leave it as is.
Increase external links
(Source)
Links that point from your cleaning service website to other websites are important, too. So, it’s also a good idea to build external links using keyword-rich anchors.
Out of 90 influential ranking factors, your site’s number of external links is one of them. And word on the street says that these external links are more powerful than internal links.
They help improve your content’s quality and pass link equity.
However, increasing external links isn’t the best way to go on some occasions. For one, if you create a link that points to a post published by an unreliable website, your own website will be tainted with a similar reputation. To help your case, follow these recommended external links practices below:
- Don’t link to poor-quality resources – Shady sources are off the table, and so are resources that don’t increase your content’s value.
- Always check your links – Use link checkers to assess whether the external links you once used are still working.
- Be descriptive – Including keywords is ideal. However, prioritize using appropriate and descriptive anchor text.
Optimize for mobile
Mobile users are different. Compared to desktop users, they’re usually focused on user experience.
They’re more into getting instant information — and in digestible bites. And, as time marches on, the number of mobile users is increasing.
The good news is, they have the potential to drive lots of traffic. They can also increase conversions, improve brand engagement, and more.
So, if you don’t optimize your cleaning service website for mobile, you’re basically ditching traffic — and losing money.
To resolve this issue, why not optimize your keyword-rich content for mobile? Here’s what you can do:
- Improve load time – Increase your cleaning service website’s speed to avoid letting visitors wait. Compress media files and minimize HTTP requests, for example.
- Fix navigation – Make your site’s internal search frictionless and eliminate broken menus.
- Feature easy-to-read text – Unpleasant and gibberish texts need to go. So, revise any message that elementary school kids won’t be able to understand.
Use a keyword optimization checklist.
Having a checklist for your cleaning service business is like having a plan. You can test a keyword’s specific features and scrutinize its strengths and weaknesses. You can also identify any promising opportunities for it.
More importantly, you already know what to do with a keyword if you have a plan. If unexpected obstacles in your marketing strategy eventually come up, make adjustments as you see fit.
For example, a keyword you’re set to target becomes too costly for your budget. Then, you can remove it from your plan and pick another keyword instead.
So, here’s what you can do as you create a checklist:
- Segment your keywords – Categorize keywords based on their relevance to your business, for example. You can assign a specific group of keywords to a list of highly relevant topics, then do the same for a different group.
- Align new keywords with existing pages – Revise existing pages or create new ones to include newly discovered keywords. And, as you’re revising old pages, update your content’s quality, too.
- Make a list and generate long-tail variations – Generate keyword ideas to be used as long-tail variations. Then use this list for specific topics.
Acknowledge the buying journey
Use keywords to accommodate your potential customers throughout their buying journey. This includes the moment you see them as mere leads, and the day they become your client.
You can play this out even better by creating customer-centric content based on the most applicable keywords. Then, offer it to them to help them see what makes your cleaning service business unique.
Granted, you select effective keywords that can attract people to your cleaning service website. Remember, not all potential customers immediately know what they want. They may not even know if they want a product and/or service.
It is your job, therefore, to persuade them to see you have something useful for them. The idea is to help them make a decision that can benefit them — and your cleaning service site.
Here are the phases of the buying journey:
- Awareness phase – Consumers in this phase know that you (and others in the cleaning service industry) can offer a solution to their problems. So, answer common general questions like “How long does a standard cleaning service take?”
- Consideration phase – At this phase, consumers already know the specific solution to their problems. You need to build trust because they’re already evaluating their options.
- Decision phase – At this phase, consumers are ready to be your cleaning service’s client. With keywords like “Schedule a cleaning session”, you can extradite matters.
Prioritize organic competition
Look at a list of competitor keywords that are already generating traffic from organic search results. Then focus on using the most relevant ones for a page.
The reason? Based on their hits in organic search, you already have proof that these keywords work.
So, if you use them on your own cleaning business website, they’ll also work. They’ll also drive traffic, increase leads, and more. If you have nearly the same business goals as your competitors, you can tweak them a bit to fit your own goals.
Here are three search operators that you can use:
- Allintitle – This refers to an “allintitle:” search where you can find all search results that contain a specified keyword in their title. For example, allintitle: “cleaning service area”
- Exact phrase search – This refers to your exact search inside quotes. For example, “cleaning service area”
- Inanchor – This refers to an “inanchor:” search where you can find search results that contain a specified keyword in an anchor text. For example, “inanchor:“ cleaning service area’”
Get Google to index important pages
You should also check if Google indexed your cleaning service website’s important pages. Getting indexed by Google means it will present your page’s URL because of a relevant search query.
If you create quality content and make sure that your site performs at its best, you may not have to worry. You’ve done your part. By the looks of it, it’s only a matter of time for Google to pay attention to your site — and its pages.
However, if you want to guarantee that the search engine notices your site’s page, it’s best to regularly “check in.” Is one of these important pages the result of an in-depth keyword research process, for example? Then, it’s understandable to want to know if your hard work paid off.
Think of this as if you’re getting your hands on a local cleaning service business directory. You want to find out if you’re there, right?
So, here’s what you can do to get Google to index your website’s pages:
- Eliminate low-quality web pages – Created pages that don’t add value to your site? Remove them immediately.
- Feature the webpage in your sitemap – A sitemap informs Google which page is important and which isn’t. So, it’s up to you to include a specific page in your sitemap.
- Fix internal and external links – Links direct Google to other destinations. So, it won’t appreciate encountering links that aren’t working.
To find out if you’re in Google’s database, use “site:.” Then enter your page’s URL.
For example, let’s check the service page of Love My Maids. So, I’ll use the search operator “site:” and enter Love My Maid’s page URL on Google. Below is an image the reflects the result of the search:
As it turns out, Google already indexed the specific page.
If you want to look for other pages that Google has marked, use the same search operator and enter a website’s address next to it.
In the following image, you’ll see that when I searched for indexed pages from Love My Maids’ website, a list of about 100 results came in. This means Google has indexed about 100 pages in Love My Maids’ website.