Last year, we created the free Brand Guidelines Template here at Pandora Agency to guide small business owners, entrepreneurs, and people looking to enhance their personal brand. The goal was to help them define their brand’s visual and verbal identity, ensuring consistency in all brand communications across different platforms. But when we looked at the feedback from those who downloaded it, one thing stood out – most of the respondents were in professional services.
Additionally, half of the respondents wanted us to cover search engine optimisation topics, with the majority having more awareness and traffic challenges. Specifically, 9 out of 14 professional service businesses face brand awareness and traffic challenges. That’s why we’re writing this.
Why Does SEO Matter for Professional Services?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for professional services because it allows them to reach potential clients actively searching for their services online. It boosts awareness, credibility, and ultimately generates more leads and sales through organic search results. It is also a cost-effective way to attract qualified customers to your website compared to traditional marketing methods.
Here are five ways you can use SEO to boost awareness around your business and attract the right traffic to your website if you are in the professional business space:
How to Create Awareness for Professional Service Business With SEO
1. Target long-tail keywords
If you’re in the professional service space and you’re either new or just growing, then you might want to stay clear of some short-tail keywords. This doesn’t mean you can’t target those highly competitive keywords if you want. In fact, we have seen cases in the past where content from smaller businesses outranks the “big players” on Google SERP. So, sometimes, the quality of the content, including rich data and authenticity, plays a role in determining how well you perform on search engine results.
Having said that, new businesses should opt for long-tail keywords. A long-tail keyword is a specific, longer phrase, usually three to five words, that targets a niche audience and is less competitive than short keywords with one or two words. They often reflect how people naturally search for information online, leading to higher conversion rates when used effectively. Here’s an example for clarity: if you operate a legal service in Lagos, Nigeria, instead of just optimising for keywords like “business lawyer,” which might be hard for you to compete on, go for “business lawyer for startups in Lagos” to attract highly relevant clients. This keyword is not only long tail; it is specific and location-based.
2. Use FAQs
Using FAQs on professional business websites can improve SEO by providing rich, keyword-optimized content that answers common user queries. Such content helps search engines understand your business better, potentially leading to higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). Additionally, FAQs can help increase organic traffic to your site because they usually address relevant keywords and questions people are actively searching for related to your industry.
Your FAQs can answer common client questions on your website, such as “How much does a divorce lawyer cost in California?” or “Where to hire an accounting firm in Lagos” to rank for informational searches. However, these are just examples. You may need to use keyword research tools to find what people are searching for in your niche and location.
3. Boosts Trust & Authority with High-Quality Content
Professional businesses thrive on trust. You need quality content marketing and a good digital footprint to boost trust and authority in today’s digital age.
To create high-quality content for a professional business, focus on valuable, informative content demonstrating expertise in your field and authentic knowledge. This must be consistent, well-researched, and aligned with your brand values while actively engaging with your audience. With that, you’ll establish yourself as a thought leader through various channels like blog posts, articles, social media, and industry publications.
You must go beyond surface-level information and offer insights and data-driven perspectives. Address challenging questions within your industry to showcase your expertise. Your content can also include e-books, case studies, and video content. You might also leverage communities like Reddit, quora, and social media platforms to enhance your credibility, which in turn creates more awareness about your brand.
4. Improve Local Visibility
Most professional service businesses serve a specific location. It could be an accounting firm serving businesses in Lagos, Nigeria or a law firm in Abu Dhabi. Local SEO ensures that your business appears in local results when people in your city or region search for services like yours. To improve local visibility for your professional business, focus on optimising your Google Business Profile using location-specific keywords.
For example, a keyword like an Accounting firm in Alabama or a management consulting firm in New Delhi is more location-specific and should be well-optimised. You can also create content around local keywords, such as where to find the best accounting firm in New Delhi or How much it costs to hire an accountant in Alabama.
It is also important that you learn how to actively manage online reviews, build local backlinks, and engage with your community through local events and partnerships. If you do not have reviews already on your Google Business profile, it does help to request them from your customers after offering them satisfactory services.
Finally, ensure your business information is accurate and easily accessible to potential customers in your area through online platforms like Google Search and local directories. All these will positively impact on your business’s brand awareness and website traffic.
5. Optimise for Google AI Overview, AI-Powered Search Bots, and Social Media
In recent times, marketers and business owners have come to witness many algorithm changes in how search engine result pages work. Visitors now have more alternative sources of getting information beyond clicking on links to your websites. Prominent among these sources are AI overviews, AI-powered chatbots, and social media, which are pioneering zero-click marketing.
What is Google AI Overview?
Google’s AI Overview summarises search results using AI, often pulling key information from different sources and displaying it at the top of search results. This means that even if your website ranks on page one, users might get their answer without clicking on your site. However, this gives you high visibility, boosts your credibility, and has the potential to gain more traffic than other businesses.
Image of Google AI overview content drawn from different sources, including the Pandora Agency website.
How to Optimize for Google AI Overview:
- Prioritise topical authority by creating clusters of related content.
- Ensure your website has strong technical SEO fundamentals, including fast loading speeds and mobile responsiveness
- Regularly update content to maintain accuracy and relevance.
2. How to Rank on AI Search Engines & Chatbots
Apart from Google, people now use AI search assistants like ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Perplexity to look up services.
How to Rank on AI-Powered Search Assistants:
To rank well on AI search engines and chatbots, follow these easy steps:
- Focus on creating high-quality, authoritative content easily understood by AI algorithms.
- Use relevant keywords and a clear structure.
- Focus on factual information with credible sources while also ensuring your content is human-friendly and easy to read.
Key Takeaway
Trust, authenticity, and authority play a key role when it comes to growing professional businesses. Knowing what your audience wants and providing value is one good way to earn the above credentials. It’s also important to master how to show up when your business or the services you offer are searched for in the digital space; that is how you increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your business.
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