Google has increasingly favored local businesses in its search engine results. Local search is affecting industries across the board and construction is no exception. Moz recently released the most important SEO factors and were extraordinarily thorough. We have condensed the results into a list of its 10 key SEO ranking factors.
10 SEO Factors to Focus On
Moz measured positive SEO factors in 4 categories- localized organic factors, local stack/snack pack factors, difference-making factors in a competitive environment, and factors experts are focusing more on since the snack pack update. We compared the most important factors of all four categories to rank your most important SEO factors of 2016.
1. Domain Authority of Website
Domain authority is a metric given by Moz on a 100-point scale. To calculate, it uses many metrics and rankings related to SEO. It measures the domain as a whole, rather than just a single page. The goal of the metric is to represent the overall authority of the domain itself. To improve your domain authority, focus on improving your overall SEO.
2. Consistency of Structured Citations
It’s important to remember NAP (name, address, phone number) when you want to maintain structured citations. Make sure that across the web’s directories, your business name, address, and phone number are consistent. If your construction business moves locations, be sure to review your citations and change all of them to remain consistent. If your old address comes up on a few directories, it will negatively impact your SEO.
3. Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain
Being listed on a high-quality, authoritative website will help improve your SEO. Some authoritative sources are newspapers, industry associations, high-profile bloggers, and local business indexes. The higher the quality of sources, the better it will improve your ranking. Create good content on your construction blog to increase chances of an organic link. You can also try link building- seeking websites where links can be placed.
4. Quality/Authority of Structured Citations
Your structured citations need to be on high-quality sites as well. First, focus on getting listed on the most authoritative business indexes. Then, expand into more industry-specific or local indexes. Look at the domain authority and age of the directory when finding sites to be listed. If you get the sense that the site is low-quality, avoid listing your business there because it can have a negative impact on your SEO.
5. Physical Address in City Search
Location is playing a major role in search. Search results are affected by the city the user types into the search and the city that the user searches in. If someone in Chicago searches ‘construction firm’ in Google, Chicago construction companies will come up in search. Similarly, if he or she types ‘construction firm Chicago,’ Google will pull up construction firms with addresses in Chicago. In a more rural area, it may pull from surrounding cities as well. Ideally, your business’ address will be located in or around the city where you earn most of your business. If not, you may want to consider landing pages that highlight your work in that city.
6. Quantity of Native Google Reviews
Google reviews are becoming more important than ever in your search rankings. The number of Google reviews there are about your construction firm impacts your rank. It’s also extremely important that these reviews have text; being rated 5 stars multiple times is not enough. With the Google update, some text reviews are displayed in the snack pack. A project well-performed increases the chances of a positive, textual review. If you know that you left a customer satisfied, consider encouraging them to leave a review. Just be selective about who you choose to encourage.
7. City in GMB Landing Page Title
GMB or Google My Business allows you to verify your business information. The city placed in the GMB landing page needs to match the city in the search term or in the user’s physical location. This will ensure it comes up on the result page.
8. Click-through Rate from Search Results
Google measures the number of people who click the link to your page against the number that had the opportunity to do so. This is called the click-through rate or CTR. The better your firm’s CTR, the higher you should be in the results.
9. Proper GMB Category Association
Back to GMB, the category you select for your business matters as well. Selecting a category incorrectly means you are not optimized for the right audience and your online information made be seen as inconsistent with your business category. This hurts your rank. For example, your construction business should select a category to reflect such, rather than a category like food or retail.
10. Proximity of Address to Point of Search
The closer the business is to the searcher, the more likely they are to come up. If your construction firm is down the street from the user, it is more likely to come up than someone 20 miles away.
Common SEO Themes: Quality, Consistency, and Location
3 themes are clear among the top SEO factors- quality, consistency, and location. In order to rank, make sure all listings of business information, particularly NAP, are consistent. Links and listings for your site need to be on authoritative websites, and importantly, not on sites of low-quality. Location is becoming increasingly important for search, especially when users are looking for business. If your location is not where your target customer can find you, it can hide you from potential business. Also keep in mind that Google cares what is being posted on Google. Verify your information on Google and encourage textual Google reviews from your customers. Keeping all of these things in mind will help your firm succeed in search engine visibility.