Transcription:
Do’s and don’ts don’t keyword stuff but do explain what you do in sentences and in paragraphs that make sense, adding that keyword, maybe one time per paragraph, making sure it shows up in like a headline or two on a page or on a blog but, don’t think that you have to stuff, your page full of that keyword to rank for it.
That’s old-school techniques that have gotten shunned by search engines in general. That’s being Yahoo Google in general. When you write not only for your blogs but even on your Google business profile and even on Facebook, just explain what you do in a fashion of, how you’d speak to your grandma.
the best, way I can explain it is if you speak to the public, like you speak to your grandma, you’re going to be getting a lot of people to like you because I’m sure you’re, you don’t your grandma likes you for a reason because you’re kind, compassionate and you bring value. And that’s what you need to think [00:01:00] about when you write for the public.
Hello, welcome to another episode of digital marketing shop talk. I’m Mike Mahaffey, Valero Circles Media Production Specialist, and here with me always is I’m Jeremy, I’m the Senior Marketing Director at Valero Circles as well. Awesome. Jeremy, we’ve had a lot of good conversations talking, some good digital marketing tips and tricks, and, resources and strategies that a lot of home service business owners Could be using or should I say should be using when it comes to their digital marketing strategies And helping their business grow.
That’s the heart and soul behind this podcast, but today, Jeremiah, we talked a little bit behind the scenes. We just want [00:02:00] to talk we’ve both discussed maybe some do’s and some don’t when it comes to digital marketing in businesses because there is when you’re scrolling through the internet and you’re looking up things that you could be implementing into your business.
There’s a lot to sift through. There’s a lot of content getting posted out there. You’re seeing a lot of headlines like Google Secrets, and Google Hacks doing this, doing that to help your business. How do you know what are the things that you should be doing and maybe some things that might get you in trouble?
Or I should say there’s just so much out there. Maybe some things that you should be prioritizing instead, but Jeremy I know you probably see it as well when you’re scrolling through YouTube or you’re scrolling through your social media, all the different content, all the different content out there that is for lack of a better term, clickbait.
For businesses to click on when it comes to [00:03:00] tricking Google and whatnot, what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I think there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things. And I think that the majority of the public doesn’t understand the concept behind what Google is trying to do for the public and they start going down rabbit holes that aren’t good for them.
A simple example of that is going to be like on your Google business profile. Do you know what the keyword Did the term keyword stuffing means, Mike? Yeah, you’re talking about what it is like, when you’re writing a blog or you’re writing content on a page, you just really want to rank well for one word.
So you put that word in pretty much two times a sentence. You just put, you’re flooding, that content with that word. Yeah, exactly. And the thing is, Google knows what you’re trying to do. They’re not gonna reward you for it. They’re not necessarily gonna penalize you for it, but they’re not gonna increase you in rankings if [00:04:00] you’re doing a keyword stuffing.
So do’s and don’ts don’t keyword stuff, but do explain what you do in sentences and in paragraphs that make sense. Adding that keyword, maybe one time per paragraph, making sure it shows up in like a headline or two on a page or on a blog. But, don’t think that you have to stuff, your page full of that keyword to rank for it.
That’s old-school techniques that have gotten shunned by search engines in general. That’s Bing, Yahoo Google in general. So when you write not only for your blogs but even on your Google business profile and even on Facebook, just explain what you do in a fashion of how you speak.
Your grandma. I think that’s the best, way I can explain it is if you speak to the public, like you speak to your grandma, you’re gonna be getting a lot of people to like you because I’m sure you’re, you don’t your grandma likes you for a reason. It’s ’cause you’re kind, compassionate [00:05:00] and you bring value.
And that’s what you need to think about when you write for the public. So I was gonna say, would you say if you were to keyword stuff and say, I wrote an article and put. Put the keyword that I want to rank for 10 times. Do you think Google would penalize me for that? It’s not that don’t, it’s not that you’d get penalized.
Cause they know what you’re doing. They won’t de-rank you for it. Although with algorithms changing all the time, they could mark you as spam like a spam post or something like that. So I, guess the thing is, we don’t know Google never publicly says we’re going to derank you for this.
They just released an algorithm that makes people’s pages, and websites fall and rise regularly. So I know we’ve talked a lot about the acronym EAT with Google and what they’re searching for. And I know when it comes to Google and when they’re crawling websites, they’re crawling different blogs keyword stuffing is not going to work.
But what is going to work is your content and your [00:06:00] quality. They want with the EAT, they want to put you as a trustworthy source and expert in your field. So if you’re, leaning more into, the content, the quality, actually putting something out there that is valuable, then that’s more likely to have Google favor you than, just putting the word 10 times and just waving like a flashing red light warning sign that says.
Google, I want to rank for this. Google, I want to rank for this because you put it in there 10 times. Yeah, but Google’s going to know it and they’re going to read it. Like, your audience is going to, and it’s the quality content if you’re just keyword stuffing. So I think that’s a, it’s a really good thing to look for.
Jeremy, I’m glad you brought that up just because I think it is as we’ve said with EAT, you want to be putting out good content. And that just goes across the board, a really good content. But I know for me when we’re [00:07:00] talking pre-show about do’s and don’ts spitting off of what you’re saying with keyword stuffing and SEO, really leaning into SEO.
I know a lot of home service business owners and, people trying to rank will just go for the super competitive words. So let’s say they’re they’re a roofer. You’re, they’re just going to be writing content and trying to rig for a roofer, roofer near me, roofing, roofing in my city, and all this stuff.
And it is good before I say anything, it is good to still put content out there that has those, and you still want to be part of the competition. But odds are, if you’re getting in and you’re trying to do it now, it’s a little too late because those words have just been so They’re just so competitive in everybody around you.
Every business around you is ranking or trying to compete for those words. So it is going to be very unlikely that you’re going to become one of the top [00:08:00] resources for that because you don’t have that authority. The companies that have been building that are going to be that authority, but what you are going to want to do is.
Once again, you still want to, you still want to put effort towards those, but I wouldn’t put all your effort. You’re going to want to go for some of the words that we’ve talked about. Focusing on some of those FAQ questions. Some of those may be longer, longer-form, long-tailed keywords as we like to call them.
Like answering more specific questions. Yes, they’re going to have a lower search volume than those super-popular words. But you’re more likely to rank for those words. Because the people that are searching for those words are coming for a purpose. They’re typing in, they’re typing in that FAQ, that frequently asked question into your Google, there’s Google search bar, or they’re typing in I need roofing in such and such city in, in, New Orleans or something they’re typing in these longer [00:09:00] form words because they have a purpose and they want to come to it And you’re more likely to write for those words And I know Jeremy he’s the marketing director as we already said and he heads Valor circles blogging campaigns and blogging strategies I know you’ve worked with the team to implement some of these longer words With these locations and whatnot mixing up the different verbs Maybe you can speak a little bit more to the keyword strategy for companies that aren’t just looking for the top end, top of the top, the most popular competitive words.
Yeah. Just as an example we’re using roofers as an example right now, instead of going for roofing, some of the keywords I’d be going for are signs. You need a new roof, maybe like 10 signs. You need a new roof. And five signs to know when you can save your money, right? That title is long, but it’s going to show value to Google.
So show value to people who look for it. And you’ll end up ranking for other items [00:10:00] inside the article, not just for that search term, but for roofing, for shingles curled up shingles moss on shingles, stuff like that, where the content that you know is going to show up in that in that writeup.
And then you’re gonna start ranking for those words accordingly because you’re bringing the authority. Not keyword stuffing, but being very, valuable to people who show up to read your react blog. In full circle, when you’re writing articles with those types of headlines too you’re, writing content that people want to read.
And as we already talked about a little bit ago, when you write good content that’s, that adds value to possible audiences or consumers, they’re more likely, Google’s gonna favor, or gonna be more likely to favor you. And people are going to be more likely to appear or even come to your site because you’re providing good content.
As I said, there are a lot of things we can talk about do’s and don’ts in SEO. As I said before, I have a good [00:11:00] digital marketing do that I want to get to. But before we steer away from SEO, I want to, think of one more don’t. That you want to do. And I know we’ve talked a little bit about it in past podcasts, but I want to emphasize when it comes to SEO, you don’t want to trick Google or try to trick Google, you’re going to see so many different videos, so many different articles that are going to say Google hacks or Google tricks or doing all these things.
The last thing you’re going to want to do, the biggest emphasis I can say about this episode about do’s and don’ts, is you don’t want to try to trick Google. If you try to go around there, if you try to go around their guidelines, odds are it might work for a week or two, but as soon as Google catches on.
And they will penalize you. They will de-rank you. They will suspend, maybe remove your Google business profile. There’s a close to, if not a complete zero tolerance when it comes to going outside [00:12:00] of Google ranking or Google’s guidelines, you got to think there we’re playing Google’s game.
We desire to rank well on Google and when it’s on their platform, we have to play by their rules. And so if we try to go outside, just think of it like any, sport you might play, any game you might play. If I’m playing football on my right, or our offensive lineman tries to hold someone, that’s a penalty.
Like you any, way you try to. So if you try to take advantage of a system, they’re going to penalize you. And Google is the same way. If you try to go outside or around the rules, they will catch you and they will derake you. And then the next thing you know, you’re going to be losing business because you’re going to be trying to fight to get your Google business profile unsubs, unsuspended.
And as we’ve experienced before, if your Google business profile is suspended by through anything like that, it is not an easy game to play. So once again, you’re at Google’s mercy. [00:13:00] All you’re going to be doing is submitting a bunch of requests to get your Google business profile back.
And it is not fun. All right, Jeremy, we just discussed some of the don’ts when it comes to trying to trick Google. But I know you have one more thing that you want to emphasize home service business owners do not do when it comes to digital marketing. We want to know what services you provide your clients.
But there’s a, there’s a trend I’m seeing of services as a soapbox. And what I mean by that is have you ever watched a movie and a movie takes place in the city and there’s always that one person that’s on, on a soapbox, like saying the end is near or like screaming the megaphone and people are just walking by them.
Have you ever seen that? I got that scenario before. Oh, yeah. Most definitely, whether you’re in a big city or you’re going to a [00:14:00] big sporting event. Yeah, you see those all the time. What happens is we hear you, but we are not going to pay attention to you because it almost becomes annoying, right?
You might get one or two things from business in your lifetime of doing that. So what I mean by service as a soapbox, is don’t just sit there and tell people what you do over and over again. Instead, show the value you bring. By doing the services that you’re doing for people and testimonial videos, right?
Before and after shots like that, are fantastic. Don’t just sit there and say I’m an electrician. I’m an electrician. I’m an electrician. I’m an electrician. Cause what’s going to happen is people are just gonna be like, okay, we get it. You’re an electrician. The chances of me using you now are vague or small.
So definitely something I see that happens over and over again. I want to make sure people listen to this podcast, understand, and bring value first. If you’re just, I was gonna say, if you’re just shouting what you do, you’re shouting what you do. It’s [00:15:00] they know, like how many commercials do we see baking commercials?
How many commercials do we see of insurance? Like just because you’re telling them, Hey, this is what I do. This is what I do. They could name probably five or six other companies that do the same thing. So by exactly what Jeremy is saying, you want to demonstrate your value, want to demonstrate how you can Distinguish yourself from those other, companies.
So it’s here we started to the soapbox. You also don’t want to, you don’t want to just be in your, in their face with the same thing. Because as you said, get annoyed too. So just like the soapbox people, but most definitely, I was going to say it. I know I have one more, I have a do here and this is a good do it.
We talked about a couple of balances, but this is something I want to emphasize. We’re wrapping up the, we’re in the middle of the fall season when we’re recording this podcast. And so a lot of businesses, a lot of home service businesses are wanting to reach out to homeowners [00:16:00] and businesses about like how to prep their homes and houses or businesses for the fall weather.
And so this is where I want to emphasize content. And we’ve had a few episodes about content, but I want to talk about seasonal content. I want to, one of the biggest things you can be doing is creating content or content that is relevant to the season that you’re in. So literally any, season, no matter where you’re at there are certain things that are relevant to that, time.
As I said, we’re in the fall season right now. It’s a lot of homes are wanting to get, to, to get winterized. So if you’re, a plumber, you could start running deals in content geared towards prepping your pipes for winter freeze or posting blogs that are, offering tips for homeowners to prevent what they need to do to prevent winter, pipe freezing.
If you’re a roofer, you can start running content or running strategies or discounts. For having like for your roof inspections [00:17:00] right now before winter to make sure that their the roof is ready to impact ice and whatnot. This is the same thing for spring as some as the winter or the seasons change, you can start running content to help prep your home for summer and so on.
So as I said, you can do a lot of videos with this, a lot of blogs and articles that are helpful in a lot of different, videos, articles, and a lot of different specials. Yes. That’s what I was gonna say. Specials and discounts, as I said, like offering a free inspection. Cause I don’t, Jeremy, I don’t know if you want to talk about it.
You brought it up in a past podcast about using inspections to as a gateway to find other businesses. So you can use these seasons to offer free inspections or discounted services like if you’re an HVAC home service, you can offer. 15, 15 percent off discount to come to check out your, heater, your [00:18:00] furnace, or come springtime, their air conditioner for the summer.
There’s just so much you can do and you want to be on top of it come a season because that’s what people are going to be looking for. There’s going to be a home. Or business owners, there’s going to be homeowners searching on Google right now. How do I prep my furnace for how do I, get my air conditioner to turn it, off properly come winter?
Cause we’re not going to use it. Those are the terms, those are the phrases that people are going to be typing into Google. So you want to have your content out there for people to search it. Let’s see, do you have any tips to go along with that, Jeremy, about maybe some seasonal content? Yeah, use.
I’m going to go back to testimonials. I, every service that you do, you can collect testimonials. Every time we do a marketing piece and throw a testimony out there, you’re telling people, you’re giving people validation that you do an amazing job. So on top of the seasonal [00:19:00] thing, ad testimony is about let me use an example, right?
We have, we when our firm just went out. The first way that came out, was like they did an amazing job explaining what went, what happened to our furnace, and why it was important to get a new one. And they continue to try to upsell me on getting a new water heater when I don’t need a new water heater.
Cause I put it in by myself, but that’s a really good example of like really good service and trying to do an upsell of what you can do for another client, even if they don’t need it to, try to get them to see if they can use you in the future. Cause. I can guarantee you that when one of my water heaters goes out and it probably will eventually I’m stubborn.
They’re probably the first person I call because, they told me it’s going to expire here in the next two, or three years. I know it has an expiration date. I just don’t want to pay for it until I have to pay for it. Yeah, you’re right Mike. Just so testimonials on the service.
The biggest thing is if you’re not, [00:20:00] your competitors are going to be doing it and you want to make sure you’re on top of in front of that, right at that fecal point where it’s, you’re getting that content out there when people are starting to search for it. So you don’t want you to be, get beat out by your competition.
But Jeremy, I realized we, you and I are about to be late for a meeting. So I’m going to use this as a time to wrap up this episode of the podcast. It’s always a pleasure to be able to discuss with you, Jeremy, some tips and tricks that home. Homeowners and business owners or home service, business owners can use using to help grow their businesses.
And I’ll use this as a plug. If you’re a home service business owner and you were watching this, we’d love to have you on and have a good conversation with you. So at that, thank you for tuning in and we’ll see you guys next time.
