We look at a lot of Google ranking reports at Pittsburgh SEO Services LLC, and every once in a while we’ll come across a website that looks pretty good at first.
There are keywords ranking on Google. Some might even be on the first page.
Then we start looking at what those keywords actually are.
That’s when the picture can change pretty quickly.
A company might rank extremely well for its business name but barely show up when someone searches for the services it provides. Another website might have a bunch of rankings, except they’re for phrases that are so specific that very few people are actually searching for them.
This is why simply saying, “My website ranks on Google,” doesn’t tell you all that much.
The bigger question is what you’re ranking for.
Would a Potential Customer Actually Search That?
This is one of the first things we look at when reviewing keywords.
Think about a roofing company in Pittsburgh.
If the company’s name is Smith Brothers Roofing and it comes up first when someone searches “Smith Brothers Roofing,” that’s certainly a ranking you want.
But that searcher already knows the company’s name.
What happens when a homeowner in the area has never heard of the company and searches for:
“roof replacement Pittsburgh”
“roof repair Pittsburgh”
“roofer near me”
“storm damage roof repair”
Those searches can be much more interesting because the person is looking for a service, not a specific company.
If your competitors keep appearing for those searches and your website doesn’t, that’s something worth paying attention to.
Customers Don’t Always Use Industry Terms
We’ve seen this plenty of times.
A business owner knows exactly what a service is called because they’ve been doing the work for years.
Their customers may call it something completely different.
Contractors are a good example. There can be a technical term for a particular repair, product or installation method, but the average homeowner may just type a simple description of the problem into Google.
That’s why choosing SEO keywords based only on industry terminology can send you in the wrong direction.
We’d rather know how your customers are searching.
Sometimes the phrases aren’t fancy at all. They may simply be “deck builder Pittsburgh,” “pest control near me,” “replacement windows Pittsburgh” or “carpet cleaning Pittsburgh.”
Simple doesn’t mean bad.
If that’s what potential customers are searching for, that’s where you want to have a presence.
Location Can Make a Big Difference
This becomes even more important for a local business.
Let’s say you’re a contractor that works throughout Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities.
Getting website traffic from Texas isn’t going to help much.
Even within Western Pennsylvania, there may be certain areas where you want more business and others where you don’t normally work.
That’s something an SEO strategy should take into account.
We work with a lot of local businesses, and for them the goal isn’t necessarily getting the largest amount of website traffic possible.
It’s getting found by people in the areas they actually serve.
A smaller number of visitors from Pittsburgh, Wexford, Cranberry Township, South Hills or another service area can be much more useful than hundreds of visitors from places the company doesn’t work.
Take a Look at Page Two Before Giving Up on a Keyword
Page-one rankings obviously get most of the attention, but we don’t automatically ignore everything else.
Sometimes a ranking report shows a good service keyword sitting at #12, #14 or #18.
That’s interesting.
The website is already showing up. Google knows the page exists and apparently sees some relevance between that page and the search.
It just isn’t high enough yet.
Depending on the website and the competition, that could be an opportunity.
Maybe the page needs better content. Maybe the title and headings aren’t focused enough. There could be an internal linking issue, a lack of authority or several competitors simply have stronger pages.
We’d rather find those opportunities than start blindly adding new pages to a website.
Also Check Which Page Google Is Showing
This one gets overlooked.
Say your business offers kitchen remodeling and you have a full kitchen remodeling service page.
You search one of your main keywords and discover Google is ranking an old blog post instead.
Why isn’t the actual service page showing up?
There isn’t always one simple answer, but it’s worth investigating.
The service page may not have enough information. The website structure could be confusing. There may be several pages competing for the same keyword.
Just adding more content isn’t always the answer.
Sometimes the existing website needs to be cleaned up and better organized first.
More Rankings Doesn’t Automatically Mean More Business
It’s easy to get caught up in numbers with SEO.
Twenty keywords became 40.
Average position improved.
Organic traffic went up.
Those numbers can be helpful, but we still want to know what happened on the business side.
Did more people call?
Did more people request estimates?
Are people finding the services you actually want to sell?
Are you showing up in the communities where you want more customers?
That’s the part that matters.
We’d rather see a local contractor rank well for a handful of searches that regularly bring in potential customers than show them a report with hundreds of rankings that have very little to do with generating business.
Start by Finding Out Where You Actually Rank
If you haven’t looked at your Google rankings recently, that’s a good place to start.
Pittsburgh SEO Services LLC offers a free Google search ranking report that can show where your website currently appears for different keywords.
Sometimes the results aren’t what a business owner expects.
You may discover you’re doing better than you thought.
You may find several keywords that are close to the first page.
Or you might discover that nearly all of your best rankings are for your company name rather than the services you’re trying to sell.
Any of those findings give you something useful to work with.
From there, we can look at keyword research, your website content, on-page SEO, local search visibility, links and other factors that may be holding the site back.
SEO isn’t just about collecting rankings.
It’s about being there when someone who doesn’t already know your business goes to Google looking for exactly what you do.
Want to See Where Your Website Ranks?
Pittsburgh SEO Services LLC offers a free website report and consultation. We’ll take a look at your current Google visibility and help identify areas where your website may have opportunities to improve.
Pittsburgh SEO Services LLC
412-250-7965
www.pittsburghseoservices.com
Jon Crain has written hundreds of website design and marketing article blog posts.
He is the sole owner of Pittsburgh SEO Services LLC which is a small business in Pittsburgh PA that specializes in affordable wordpress websites and digital marketing campaigns. Jon Crain has a marketing degree specializing in digital marketing and holds multiple internet marketing certifications. Jon Crain has over 25 years of experience along with managing hundreds of website projects and marketing campaigns. He also has won a variety of awards over the years from Tribune Review, Post Gazette and other publications.