SEO for Architects Guide by Joanna Vaiou
Hi there, this is Joanna Vaiou and I am a Freelance SEO Expert Services provider from Greece. I welcome you to my 100% Free SEO for Architects Guide.
SEO Architect Guide – 8 Tips to Market your Architecture Business on Google
Contents
Imagine if you have an architectural company in London, UK and every time a person searches Google.co.uk for “London architects”, or “architects in London”, or “best architects in London”, or “best London architects” etc, your website was ranking at the top organic spots.
This would add trust and authority in your searcher’s eyes that you are one of the tops in your niche, which in your case is “architectural firms in London. As a result, you would likely get requests from Google by people who want to hire the best architect in London.
Now that you have a clear idea about how SEO works, let’s go and see 8 things you can do today to improve your SEO status.
1. SEO for Architects TIP #1: Register a “Google my Business” Page
Add your Firm’s local business information:
- Name
- Address
- Phone
- Website
- Company Description
- Working Hours
- Contact email
- Areas of Service
- Category
… to Google Maps through the “Google my Business” directory of Local Businesses that Google owns.
Are you already there? Good for you!
If you are not already there, you should go straight ahead and list your business with your full local business information so people who live near you to be able to find you when they use Google Maps and Google’s regular search engine to find an architectural firm in their city.
Make sure to keep your Google My Business page alive by:
- Creating posts with images, introduction text for the image post, and a link back to your relevant page on your architecture brand website
- Uploading optimized relevant pictures to your page’s “Photos” section
Follow the steps in the video below, the process is the same for all types of local businesses.
2. SEO for Architects TIP #2: Add your Website to Local Citation Sites for Architectural Companies
Add your website and other business information to the directories below.
Make sure to add your complete business information with links back to your brand website and your brand social network pages. These are 30 high domain authority websites from which you can get a relevant backlink to your website’s homepage and this will improve your SEO strength. Choose the ones which apply to where your business is located.
List of 30 Citation Business Directories for Architects (from BrighLocal.com)
- houzz.com
- homeimprovementpages.com.au
- buildzoom.com
- aiachicago.org
- infolink.com.au
- construction.co.uk
- ehardhat.com
- homeblue.com
- 4specs.com
- local-construction.net
- theconstructioncentre.co.uk
- homeandgardenlistings.co.uk
- directory.myhammer.co.uk
- architectsusa.com
- 1800contractor.com
- homeservicesengine.com
- designsourceguide.com
- architectsindex.com
- innerleithen.org.uk
- architectsofaustralia.com.au
- tradwebdirectory.com
- wansteadvillagedirectory.com
- tccn.ca
- 123contractorquotes.com
- architecturefirms.co.uk
- buildersyellow.com
- architectsdirectory.com.au
- architect-listings.com
- localcontractors.co
- churcharchitectsdirectory.com
3. SEO for Architects TIP #3: Apply these 5 White Hat Search Engine Optimization Techniques in the PowerPoint Presentation I am sharing next in order to:
a) Build a Solid SEO Base with Google and
b) Make Google and your future clients trust you by offering top value & helpful resources for free.
To build a solid SEO base with Google your website needs to be technically correct (optimized with no errors) and adhering to Google’s rules.
Apply these 5 White Hat SEO Techniques for your website and brand in Google.
4. ONSITE SEO
The actions that take place on your website’s pages in order to create an SEO friendly and Google friendly website are what we Search Engine Optimizers call “OnSite SEO” strategies.
These strategies include:
> keyword research in order to choose the best ones and build your pages accordingly to these goals in order to bring you the most possible relevant traffic to your website
> Creation of custom SEO Titles, Descriptions, Htags, OnPage content (copy) per target SEO Page
> Image SEO Optimization which means creating custom image file names, image titles, image descriptions, image alt tags according to the right target keywords per page
> Technical SEO Audit that checks for duplicate content or duplicate URL pages, reduces loading speed of a webpage, minimizing 404 pages, etc
> Internal Linking: when you create links from pages on your website back to another page of yours to show Google what your page which receives the link is about etc.
5. OffSite SEO – Acquiring Mentions from External websites in a hyperlink format
OffSite SEO includes all the ways that a specific page URL can acquire a mention from an external website in the form of a hyperlink (link or backlink, these terms mean the same thing). When someone clicks on an external link they are led to your own webpage which in Google’s eyes counts as a vote.
So, according to the quality of the mention (a link is considered of high quality when it comes from an external website that is relevant to your niche and a website that already has important SEO authority in Google’s eyes), they will likely factor it in, next time they evaluate your website for SEO rankings.
To educate yourself around Backlinks, go ahead and read my PowerPoint Presentation on Slideshare below.
Learn what types of links are out there that you can get and their importance.
Links Definition in Search Engine Optimization, their Types, and Importance for Google rankings.
6. Build a Trustworthy Brand in Google’s and Users Eyes
SEO should occur along with Brand Authority building.
For SEO to be long term efficient, your architectural firm’s content marketing team must create new pieces of content that help people who search Google to find answers about your architectural services.
In order to gain your potential new clientele’s TRUST in your brand, they need to see your brand as an AUTHORITY in your niche.
You can apply the following:
- Offer top value content for free to your users through your blog and social media channels
- Answer their questions in a friendly and professional way
- Be real on social media
- Interact with them. on social media
- Ask them what they struggle with when it comes to choosing the best architect to build their custom dream home so you know where their pain is and create top-notch “how-to” guides and articles that reply to your users’ questions
7. “ORM” or “Online Reputation Management”
A successful “Online Reputation Management” service is when someone types your brand name in Google search engine’s box and only sees organic listings that are either all under your control and management or they are all positive representations of your brand in Google.
When a potential new client of yours hears your brand name for the first time and goes to Google your Brand name, what do they see? Do a test, go to an in private Google Chrome browser, do an incognito search in Google for your brand name.
Question:
What are the top 10 organic results on the top page of google for your Brand name?
When someone types your brand name the best results they can see are the ones that are completely under your management and control.
These types of results can be the following:
- Your business website
- Your Branded Google my Business Page
- Your Branded Twitter Page
- Your Branded Linkedin Page
- Your Branded Pinterest Page
- Your Branded Instagram Page
- Your Branded Facebook Page
- Your Branded Slideshare Page
- Your Branded Blogger Page
- Your Google+ profile
- Your Youtube Branded Page
- etc…
How many of the above powerful websites appear for your brand name on the top page of Google?
You want them all ranking on the top page because you likely know how important the 1st impression that you give to a potential future client is.
8. SEO Competition Analysis
This strategy includes diving into premium SEO Tools like AHREFS and spying on your competition.
In SEO, when we say “Competition” we mean the top 10 organically ranking page URLs for the keywords that you want to rank on the top Google page for. This is an advanced strategy and if you are serious about your Architecture SEO results, you should invest in such premium tools and have an expert use them to draft the best strategies to beat your SEO competition.
I have shared the above 5 Strategies in more detail below.
This presentation is from a live “SEO Techniques” Workshop that I gave at the Divani Caravel Hotel in Greece in November 2017 during an entrepreneurship festival that took place at the luxurious hotel in Athens.
With this final tip, we reached 3+5 = 8 tips (or strategies) that you can use to improve your Search Engine Optimization score for your architectural brand and get your firm noticed by Google and potential future clients that are interested to find home builders or any other architectural related specialist that fits their custom needs.
What I Do for International Architectural Firms
I am helping architects / architectural companies, firms & corporations by optimizing and marketing their web properties (websites, google maps listing, youtube videos, pdfs, ppts, etc) in Google and other search engines.
What my Clients Gain from what I Do
The goal is for my clientele’s branded web properties to initially Gain (and then Sustain) TOP visibility at the higher ranking spots in Google and other search engines, in order to regularly generate new leads (potential new clients/customers/sales). This is what SEO does.
It is like you (as an architect professional) make the decision to invest in a “lead/customer/sales” generation machine for the architectural services that are destined to bring you new business for years and years to come.
How Does This Happen through Search Engine Optimization Marketing Method?
Brand Visibility, Leads, and Sales increase for an architectural company with the help of professional SEO support via acquiring warm, relevant & laser targeted traffic when these people search (REAL – TIME) the top Google organic (SEO) results page in order to find an architect / architectural firm in a specific, city, a country or globally.
Top Google Page SEO Results vs Paid Ads Results
The SEO results appear “naturally” (organically) before your potential new client’s eyes on Google when they search for your services.
The 2nd way to appear on the Top Page of Google before your potential new client’s eyes for your services related keywords is by opening an advertiser’s account with Google’s paid (direct) advertising program/platform named “Google AdWords”.
You may have heard this method as “Pay per Click” (or “PPC”) advertising.
Relevant article: 9 Actionable Real Estate Greece SEO Marketing Tips for Greek Realtors.
By now you probably have understood the basics of Search Engine Optimization and how your company can practically benefit from it.
Now it is time to move on to my SEO tips and strategies that your architectural firm can use for free and improve your brand’s status and visibility in Google.
Google is (in the majority of countries) the largest local, national, and global search engine where the clients who want your services use, in order to find an architect to build their custom:
- dream home
- office
- business
- any residential or commercial property etc
Thank you for visiting our SEO for Architects – Marketing for Architectural firms free Guide page. Stay updated to our blog’s marketing architecture feed as we will be sharing actionable marketing strategies for architects and designers with pdfs, blog posts, and others.
Video Resources
What is SEO and how does it work?
How to show up in Google Related Searches & Autocomplete
Resources:
- A guide on hiring a Search Engine Optimization services company
- How long does it take to learn SEO?
- SEO consult guide
- How to get your website and brand on Google multiple times
