SEO tips to boost your website ranking

Updated 8 May 2024
Small Business Web Designs
There are many things you can do yourself to boost your website ranking in the search engines naturally.  In fact, we highly encourage you to do much of this yourself first and measure the results with time before making a decision to engage an SEO provider.  

Most importantly, the ranking of a website takes time, often 3-6 months to see an effect.  Aged websites that are several years old get a lot more Google preference, so a new website's success can't be controlled unless you implement as many of the below suggestions as possible. With time and taking advantage of the these suggestions, we can give assurances that your website will have the best chance when it comes to search ranking and client engagement. 

Here are 12 SEO Tips and Tricks you can do yourself to help your website rank for the long term and organically.  This means that they are legitimate ways to strengthen your website's authority (as opposed to many "black hat" techniques that don't "stick").

1. Update the content on your website regularly

Small Business Web Designs
CONTENT IS KING when it comes to website rankings.  The most proven way to make your website rank in the long term is to continually add good quality and relevant content to your site.  Update and extend your staff profiles, publish articles, blog posts, services and business news – you have the freedom and the access with our easy self-management access to your site.

The more information online, you increase the chance of getting found by searchers who use the keywords you are naturally writing about and the Google ranking becomes natural to match your site with their query.  We can help you set up a Blog page for $100. 

2.  Create a Google Places listing

Small Business Web Designs
A Google Places listing allows your website to come up on Google with a prominent map and your contact details on the right side of the search results when someone searches for your business.  An example from one of our clients can be seen here. You can do this yourself, otherwise we can do this for a one-off fee of $100. 

If you already have a listing which was automatically generated by Google, you can connect your listing to your UR.  Type in your business name. If a map comes up, click “Manage this business”. If it’s not already under management, follow the steps to complete verification.

3.  Create a Social Media campaign and use it

Small Business Web Designs
Social Media pages provide high quality backlinks to your website, which strengthen its importance for search engine ranking purposes. We strongly encourage you to create and maintain social media pages that can be relevant to your business; the more, the better.  While you may think that social media is not relevant for your business, think again.  You can almost always find ways to be relevant and it is to your advantage to do so.  

Examples include: Please note, when you make updates/posts to your social media, make sure you include a link back to your website in order to gain the long-term benefit for ranking purposes.  It is up to you to maintain regular updates of your social media accounts - the more you put in, the more you will get out of it.  Google perceives sites that have a lot of social media activity to be better authority sites because they are "interacted" on social media through likes, comments and shares across the web.  If this is happening to your site, then you are providing good things that the internet wants to see and social media is one way for Google to measure this.

For more helpful information, please see the SEOMoz Beginner's Guide to Social Media.

4.  Network With Websites In Your Industry And Cross Link Your Site

This is known as "backlinking" and is the process of exchanging links between sites in your industry.  You may want to ask other website owners if you can post a guest blog on their site to share some interesting industry knowledge.  When you visit other websites, it's a great idea to contribute thoughtful comments and ideas to articles, blogs and places that encourage sharing.  You should request from the owner if they can allow you to include a link back to your site so readers can find you and in exchange it's a great idea to suggest that you will post a link back to their site from your own website.

Share your website with friends and family via your social media accounts, mention your web address in your email signature and keep awareness of your website high.  

Try to get a link back to your site on high quality, high ranking and relevant websites as this is one of the most important things that Google looks for when it's algorithm calculates your ranking.  It shows how well networked your site is on the Internet, so get out there and start sharing your link around.

5. List Your Business On Local Directory Listings

Research New Zealand directories and list your business profile on them.  Make sure you create a strong profile with a link back to your website and if possible, make use of the additional review features on these sites (see the next tip below).  This will help you leverage off the existing traffic from these websites, your business can show up more regularly in search results and you get the benefit of good quality backlinks from these pages to your website.

Some examples include Google Plus, and HotFrog.  We also recommend mKiwi New Zealand Search Engine - Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and NZPAGES as an effective New Zealand-focused directory links. 
Important - please do your due diligence before signing up to any paid services from these directories. We do not vouch for any paid services as they can come with mixed results and may not deliver leads as promised.  Free listings are generally safe and provide all the necessary benefits for backlinking and search purposes.

6.  Gather and Present Customer Testimonials and Social Proof on Third Party Feedback Review Websites.

Small Business Web Designs
Having third party review sites is critical for SEO value and business verification. Potential customers can check your business is real and reliable.  Testimonials sell businesses and we rely on them for our business.

Contact a range of your clients over the last 12 months and request their feedback. We recommend setting up Social Media links such as a TrueLocal listing, a Google Plus/Places listing and/or a Facebook Business page with reviews on it, these links are highly valuable to have to your site and moreso when there are reviews on there.

Your business is real, credible and you have the testimonials to prove it, so make these external proofs visible to give reassurance of your service.  Include the testimonials on your website, share them on your social media pages and link them back to your site from your review pages. 

7.  Create Regular Discounts / Promotions to Stimulate Interest

Promotions create a sense of urgency for readers to enquiry, especially when the offer is time limited.  It's a great idea to write on your website "Call now for our special new customer promotion" or similar.  For best results, place your discounts on the top-of-the-fold of your page, so they can be viewed as a user immediately lands on the page without having to scroll down. 

8.  Experiment with “attention grabbing” headlines on your website

Strong, convincing headlines can have more impact.  When you emphasise the benefits of the offer, make sure offers are compelling (and not unresponsive promotions such as 5% discounts etc).  An example may be: "30% Off For All New Customers in April - Call Now For a Free Quote"

9.  Create clear, prominent and increased calls-to-action on your pages

Small Business Web Designs
The effect of having excellent content, promotions and attention-grabbing headlines is limited without prominent calls to action, urging your reader to act or do something - eg "Call now for a free quote", "Email your details and we will get back to you within 24 hours", "Like our Facebook page to win a free prize". 

We will optimise your site displaying phone numbers and enquiry forms, but it can be a matter of personal taste as to how much you want to repeat these.  It may not suit all industries to have a "pushy" or "sales-y" feel to them. 

10.  Publish a Photo gallery

Visuals on a website are essential for prospective customers to look at.  They enhance cognitive engagement with what they are reading and generally have more impact on a user experience.  If you have photos of your work, make sure you add them to a gallery on your site to showcase your work. Alternatively, you can use stock photos to have the same effect if you don't have your own ones.

11.  Create guarantees for your work

Small Business Web Designs
Add reassurances (guarantees) to your work for leads who will approach you.  Assurances make your services more enticing and less risky for the potential client, so they are more likely to be interested and get in touch with you when they are comfortable and have low risk.

12.  Consider making a video to upload on the home page

Videos have been shown to have a higher conversion rate in terms of leading a potential client to call or email you.  Consider making a video for your site as a video has a high conversion rate.  It also does not have to be too difficult or expensive to create a video, you can try Fiverr for some cheap and good quality introductory videos.

13.  Change your domain name to an exact match domain for a highly searched keyword

You can change your domain name to an exact match domain for a highly searched keyword.  For example a highly searched keyword in your industry may be "Builders Auckland", so having the domain www.buildersauckland.com.nz gives it more ranking strength when users search this keyword.  Most of the time your business name is most relevant as your domain, however if an 'exact match domain' is still available for registration, it may be worth considering depending on your circumstances.  If your chosen domain is available we can register it for you for a one-off fee of $45.  Chat to us today if you need help making this decision. 

Access our further resources and information about SEO