How Carpet Cleaning Services can enhance their Websites to Increase Traffic
Regardless of the nature of a business today, there is a greater demand than ever to have a strong online presence. Consumers expect to be able to find information online now and are unlikely to employ services from anyone that isn’t visible in this manner.
PR Newswire reveals that 76% of consumers will search for an online presence for a company before even considering visiting premises in person. Individuals today are more time-conscious than ever, and they expect information to be available at their fingertips.
This means even if a business operates solely from brick-and-mortar premises, they still need to be online, and visible. This has brought a higher need for SEO strategies and an understanding of how to drive traffic.
Carpet cleaning firms have found too that they need to be more internet savvy and grow their online reputation.
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Common problems facing carpet cleaning services online
One of the biggest issues for carpet cleaners is competition. As the number of business owners that traditionally have relied on the Yellow Pages realizes the importance of being online, competition for SERPs becomes harder.
Understanding that an online presence is important doesn’t mean that there is a strong level of knowledge in how to make a website perform well.
1. Lack of SEO knowledge
Many companies of this nature will have no one on site that understands website maintenance, or the need for SEO. They may have hired a web agency to create their website, and since then minimal work has been done on keeping the site performing.
It is also possible that they may unwittingly resort to poor SEO including black hat techniques such as keyword stuffing. Understanding all the Google penalties and how to recover from them is the realm of SEO experts usually.
2. Lack of local SEO
Services like carpet cleaning are primarily based around a set radius. It is unlikely that you would search for a carpet cleaner in London if you were based in Nottingham for instance. This means that local SEO is more essential to these types of businesses than it is to international companies.
A huge 46% of all Google searches are for local information. This will include retail outlets, restaurants, places of interest, and services including carpet cleaning. And 92% of people looking for local businesses will only click on firms from the first page of SERPs.
Importance of local SEO for a cleaning service
Over the space of 2 years, the search terms ‘near me’ and ‘close by’ grew by 900%. Someone looking for a London carpet cleaner will expect search results to show services in their vicinity. Failing to carry out local SEO can mean losing out to rival cleaning companies that have invested time in their web strategies.
These are some of the benefits of having a solid local SEO strategy for a carpet cleaning company. In fact, these benefits apply to any company that wants to be visible to a local audience.
1. People prefer local businesses
To make a profit, businesses need consumers. To get consumers they will need to be easily found. High street shops have a certain amount of passing traffic and footfall, but websites are a little different.
There were about 1.88 billion websites running online in 2021. Finding most of these websites would be impossible without knowing their URL or by the use of search engines. To appear in SERPs requires a site to be performing well, and for good SEO practices to have been conducted.
In 2020, as Covid arrived, local businesses took new importance. 93% of consumers used online searches to find local businesses that year. Preference for local businesses has remained, but without SEO, a carpet cleaning service may never be found.
2. Businesses can be found in an emergency
Carpet cleaning may not sound like an emergency, but there could be occasions when time is constrained, and a carpet must be cleaned. Spills can stain carpets, and some floor coverings are extremely expensive. An end-of-tenancy clean may result in the need for a quick carpet clean to enable the return of a security deposit. Whatever the reason may be, anyone wanting to book a carpet cleaning in a hurry will almost certainly look online.
Local SEO can ensure that a business and its contact details are listed clearly on Google My Business or social media.
3. Increased traffic and more calls
Local SEO strategies will mean a business is relevant to searches being conducted online. This means they are reaching more targeted audiences and will make more conversions.
Organic traffic means you are getting motivated consumers and visitors with intent. Organic searches are said to account for more than 40% of revenue for online businesses.
How can cleaning companies rank higher on SERPs?
To gain all the benefits of being a local company means having good SEO strategies in place. Without these, a business will struggle to appear high in the search results.
SEO agencies employ many methods to improve local SEO and SEO in general. They will carry out an audit of a website and then put together a plan or strategy to improve the performance of that site.
They will look at several different areas that may be underperforming and look to make improvements there. These can include the following.
- User interface
- Google metrics and the user experience
- Loading times
- Keywords and phrases
- Content
- Loading times
- Contact details
- Social media
- Customer reviews
- Backlinks
1. Content
Content is one area that helps to improve local businesses. Guest posts can improve search rankings, and having relevant content can keep audiences engaged. While a carpet cleaning business may not have an avid audience, quality content helps to improve trust and can lead to a site becoming a local authority in its niche.
2. Contact details
A very basic area that can easily be forgotten, or not fully completed. Social media, Google My Business, and websites should have all contact details including phone numbers, emails, and physical addresses visible.
The average internet user is said to lose interest in a webpage after 15 seconds. If your contact details are not available, the visitor will move on to another website.
3. Keywords and phrases
Another important area for local SEO is to have relevant keywords. An SEO agency will conduct keyword research to find the most relevant phrases and the ones that will help in organic searches.
Understanding how to use keywords is critical. Researching competitors’ keywords and phrases is another vital part of this type of SEO.
4. Social media
Having a website is vital these days, but social media is also a powerful tool for local businesses. 52% of consumers found new businesses through Facebook in 2018. Not everyone will locate a website, many will find a business on social media first. Often through a recommendation.
Summary
Carpet cleaning companies don’t operate in the way that eCommerce businesses do, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t require an online presence. A business that primarily provides local services needs an online presence more than ever.
Relying on word-of-mouth or Yellow Pages is for times gone by. Most people today will pick up a smartphone and search on Google anytime they need to find some information or look for a local service. Without local SEO, a carpet cleaning service may as well be invisible.