If you’re a contracting company owner, it’s important to make sure your website is getting as much online visibility as possible. After all, potential customers are more likely to find you if your website is ranking high in search engine results pages (SERPs). This is why business owners often ask, “can I do SEO by myself.”
SEO is one of the marketing tactics that a lot of business owners think they can do themselves. After all, it’s only optimizing your website and making sure your keywords are in the right place, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. SEO for contracting companies can be particularly tricky because of the nature of your business.
If you want to know how to do SEO yourself, there are plenty of resources out there that can help you get started. In this blog post, we’ll provide some tips on how to do SEO for your contracting company. Keep reading to learn more!
Can I Do SEO By Myself?
You can do SEO yourself, which is called DIY SEO (Do-It-Yourself Search Engine Optimization). It will take a ton of research, practice, and trial and error to get it all correct for your business. The best approach is to start with the SEO actions that are absolutely necessary.
First, let’s look at what SEO is.
What Is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
SEO is the short form for Search Engine Optimization. It’s a marketing strategy done over a long period of time to expand a business’s digital presence on Google and other search engines. Properly done SEO should help your website rank highly on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages), thereby increasing organic traffic.
SEO includes keyword research, content creation, creating an optimized Google Business Profile, and more technical actions. All of the different parts of SEO work together to have a large effect on your website’s ranking.
The Best Approach For DIY SEO
The best place to start is creating a checklist that starts with either getting a website or doing an SEO audit on your current website. This checklist will help you make sure you don’t miss anything, and with SEO, everything is important.
Let’s look at the 5 elements of SEO that you need to know about so you can answer yes to “can I do SEO by myself.”
5 Essential Parts Of SEO
1. Local SEO
Local SEO is the process of optimizing a business’s online presence in order to attract more customers from specific geographic regions. It is an important part of any contracting business’s marketing strategy, as it can help to boost visibility and significantly improve lead generation.
Local SEO starts with creating a Google Business Profile. It contains your business information, including location, services, reviews, and more. This is a huge sign to Google that says your business is real and trustworthy, making it worth ranking higher so more people can see it.
2. Keyword Research
When it comes to “can I do SEO by myself” or hiring an expert, keywords are essential. They are the terms and phrases that people enter into search engines when they are looking for information, services, or products related to your contracting business.
There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing keywords:
- Think about what terms (target keywords) your potential customers would type into search engines to find your business (like bathroom remodeler, exterior painting, etc)
- Make sure to use keywords throughout your website, including in the title, tags, and description
- Keyword stuffing your website and content is recommended against, as this can actually hurt your ranking because Google considers it a shady tactic
- For beginner DIYers, you need to only focus on one primary keyword for a page
For contracting businesses, appearing in the top results for relevant keywords can be the difference between getting new clients and missing out on opportunities. While it is possible to do SEO without using keywords, it is much more difficult and time-consuming.
3. On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the process of optimizing a website for Google search with the goal of earning higher web traffic levels and improving the overall visibility of the site.
This is a tricky one for people wanting to know, “can I do SEO by myself.” This is because you need at least a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. There are a number of factors that go into on-page optimization, including title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and keyword density.
4. Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to the measures taken to optimize a website for better search engine visibility that isn’t directly related to the website itself.
One of the most important aspects of off-page SEO is link building, which can be done in many ways, such as guest posting, directory submissions, and social media engagement.
Whether it’s a yes or no for “can I do SEO by myself,” we definitely recommend all contractors use social media. You can use it to increase brand awareness and make your business seem more human and thus relatable. Another recommendation is to not buy links. While it may be easy, Google is not fond of this SEO tactic and may penalize your site.
Other things that can be done to improve off-page SEO include creating informative and shareable content, claiming listings, and getting online reviews.
5. Technical SEO
Technical SEO is the practice of further optimizing a website for Google’s search algorithm. It is a process that encompasses many different factors, including site structure, server configuration, and redirects.
The goal of technical SEO is to make it easier for Google to index and understand your website so your content can be correctly ranked in search results. Then more potential leads can find your business.
This is one of the other, more complex parts of SEO that makes the answer to “can I do SEO by myself” more challenging. It’s best to leave this to professionals, as messing it up can create enormous obstacles to ranking on Google.
Is DIY SEO Hard?
While the answer to “can I do SEO by myself” is a yes, it’s not an easy yes. SEO is challenging and laborious, as many business owners find out when they try it on their own.
SEO requires a solid understanding of how search engines work and what kind of content they are looking for. You also have to keep up with the ever-changing algorithms of search engines. Then you need to also do website health updates, content creation and updating, Google Business Profile optimization and care, link building, and the list goes on.
Business owners either outsource their SEO or hire an in-house team to handle it. Then they can focus on handling the leads that come in from SEO and running the other parts of their business.
Top Tools You Need For Do-It-Yourself SEO
If you’re still interested in knowing “can I do SEO by myself,” here is a short list of tools you can use to help your SEO strategy:
- SEMrush: research keywords, keep track of your website’s health and ranking, see your organic traffic, and more
- Google Analytics: get an in-depth look at your website’s traffic, ranking, and more
- Google Search Console: track your technical SEO status and your website
6 Steps For DIY SEO
These are the 6 basic steps to follow if you still want “yes” to be the answer to “can I do SEO by myself.”
1. Set A Baseline For Your Organic Search
The first step in any successful SEO campaign is to establish a baseline. This means setting up a data tracker so you can measure your progress over time. Without a baseline, it will be difficult to know if your efforts are actually paying off. Luckily, there are plenty of free and low-cost tools available online that can help you get started, like Google Analytics.
2. Keyword Research For Content
Once you have a data tracker set up, it’s time to start thinking about keywords. Keywords are the foundation of any good SEO strategy because they help you target the right audience with your content. There are a number of different ways to research keywords, but one of the easiest is to use Google’s Keyword Planner tool. Simply enter a few relevant terms and see what related keywords pop up. From there, you can start incorporating those keywords into your website content.
3. Optimize Content For Your Website
Once you have some targeted keywords, it’s time to start optimizing your website content for those keywords. This means making sure that your titles, meta description, headers, and paragraphs are all optimized for the keywords you’re targeting. It also means ensuring that your website content is high-quality and informative so that visitors will want to stick around once they land on your site.
4. Backlink Analysis
One of the most important ranking factors for SEO is backlinks, which are links from other websites that point back to yours. Google sees these links as a vote of confidence in your website, so the more high-quality backlinks you have, the better your chances of ranking high in SERPs. You can use a tool like Moz’s Open Site Explorer to check who’s linking back to your website and whether those links are helping or hurting your SEO efforts.
5. Dive Into Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to all the behind-the-scenes optimization that goes into making sure your website is easy for search engines to crawl and index properly. This includes things like optimizing your site’s speed and performance, as well as making sure there aren’t any broken links or 404 errors on your site. While technical SEO can seem daunting at first, there are plenty of resources available online that can help walk you through the basics.
6. Keeping Up-To-Date
When it comes to “can I do SEO by myself,” the final step is staying up-to-date with all the latest changes and updates. This includes both algorithm updates from Google as well as changes in best practices. After all, what worked last year might not work this year, so it’s important to always be learning and evolving along with the ever-changing world of SEO. Luckily, there are plenty of great resources available online, like Moz’s blog, that can help keep you informed about all the latest news and developments in the world of search engine optimization.
SEO Tips To Follow
Here are some useful SEO tips to use if you’re still thinking “yes” to “can I do SEO by myself.”
1. Create Helpful Content
One of the best ways to improve your SEO is to create content that is helpful and informative. This will not only help your website rank higher in search results, but it will also help you attract more visitors to your site. When creating content, be sure to research your topic thoroughly and see what the top-ranking posts are like.
2. Optimize Content Title Tags
Make sure that your title tags are descriptive and accurately reflect the content of your page. Use keyword-rich titles for your page so Google and visitors know what the page is about.
3. Internal Links
Linking to other pages on your website can help improve your website’s SEO. By linking to other pages on your site, you are giving search engines more information about the content on your site. Internal links can help visitors navigate your website more easily, keeping them interacting with your brand longer. When adding links, be sure to use keyword-rich anchor text that accurately describes the target page.
*We recommend internal linking between blog post pages and not to your service pages, as this can actually hurt their ranking if not done correctly
4. Update Content
One of the best ways to improve your SEO is to keep your content fresh and up-to-date. Outdated content can quickly become irrelevant, which will cause your website’s rankings to suffer. If you have outdated content on your site, consider updating it. Regularly adding new content to your site will also help improve your SEO.
5. Improve Your Click-Through Rate
Your click-through rate (CTR) is a measure of how often people who see your website in search results click on it. A high CTR indicates that people find your website relevant and useful for their needs. There are a number of factors that can influence your CTR, such as the position of your listing in search results and the quality of your title and description tags.
6. Find Keyword Gaps
Identifying gaps in the keywords that you are targeting can help you improve your SEO strategy. These gaps may indicate areas where you are not adequately targeting potential customers with relevant keywords. Filling these gaps can help you attract more traffic from people who are searching for your services or products.
7. Link Equity Building
Link equity is the value that is passed from one webpage to another through links. This value is important because it helps determine a webpage’s ranking in search engine results pages. The more link equity a webpage has, the higher it can rank in SERPs. Therefore, it’s important to build links from high-quality websites that are relevant to yours if you want to improve your SEO strategy.
8. Improve Site Speed
A fast-loading site provides a better user experience, which can lead to higher CTRs and conversions. They also tend to rank higher in SERPs because people like them more, and Google likes what people like. There are a number of ways you can improve site speed, such as optimizing images, minifying code, and using a content delivery network (CDN).Â
9. Monitor Your Progress
Monitoring progress is essential for any successful SEO strategy. By tracking key metrics such as organic traffic, CTRs, and conversion rates, you can gauge whether or not changes made to your website are having the desired effect. Regular monitoring also allows you to adjust course if necessary so that you can continue achieving desired results.
Start Your SEO Journey With CGN’s SEO Website Audit And Marketing Strategy
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the daunting task of starting your SEO journey, don’t worry; we’re here to help! For business owners like yourself, “can I do SEO by myself” is a fair question, but if you want real results, hiring a team is the best route.
CGN offers a comprehensive SEO website audit and marketing strategy that will give you all the information you need to get started on your SEO journey. We can also work with you every step of the way to make sure your business reaches its full potential online.
Ready to take your business to new heights? Schedule a call with us today!
