Holly Holder is the Director of SEO for home services at Scorpion. She highlights the priorities your business should be focusing on for strong SEO performance that will help your customers find the information they need during COVID-19.

Holly has been working in the SEO realm at Scorpion for eight years. Her expertise lies in helping home services clients maximize their online presence to create the ultimate experience for their customers.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization

Holly argues that in many ways, SEO is the last free form of marketing. If you take the right steps and optimize your website, your content will work together with Google to give your customer exactly what they are looking for.

However, it’s key to stay on top of the trends because the landscape is always changing. Amidst the current COVID-19 crisis, she names three key areas of information to prioritize:

1. People are looking for D.I.Y. tutorials, and guides on how to fix things. They are trying to save money and limit the amount of people coming in and out of their home. How can your business meet these needs with valuable content?
2. People are looking for updated information on any changes to your business hours and services. They want to know how you are adapting to the pandemic, if you can still help them, and when your company is available to provide services.
3. People are looking for peace of mind. They want to know what sanitation measures you are taking to keep your employees and customers healthy and safe.

Google My Business

While the crisis has certainly changed the face of everyday life, Holly shares that offering valuable information for your customers can help build trust. It shows you care and that you want to help them during this uncertain time.

Using your Google My Business account to manage changes to hours, services, and COVID-19 safety measures is a smart way to keep your information clear and easy to access for customers.

“I think just knowing that… people are maybe more at the top of the funnel… people are in that informational stage. They are doing a lot more research now. So it’s important for us to get in front of people with blogs, again, with helpful videos. If you have a YouTube account or even if you just have videos that you’re filming on your iPhone, you can send those to the marketing people that you’re working with to get those posted somewhere… A lot of people are searching for air quality improvements, maybe water filtration systems, because you know it’s harder to go out and buy a water bottle or they are sold out.”

What Matters to Your Customers

Holly emphasizes the importance of remembering that for many people, this crisis has put them out of work. The future is uncertain, money is tight, your customers are interested in discounts. Consider offering content that guides them through solving a problem, offering virtual consults, and coupons. In the long run, people will remember how you offered them a helping hand and lessened their burden during this time.

Another great way to give back is to see what measures you can take to support your local community or other small businesses.

“I think overall, SEO has always been about the customer. And Google very much has always wanted to create content and create websites that are easy for customers to use, provide valuable information, are authoritative, and again it’s the whole picture, you know who you are as a business and a brand, rather than just trying to get rankings. So, that hasn’t changed, it’s still all about the customer, I think it’s just a season of how do we provide even more information to customers, how do we let them know that we’re open and operating, how do we let them the measurements we’re taking to protect them, it’s because again, it’s up to the customer if they want to click and call you. There’s plenty of options out there, so what are you doing you know to kind of stand out.”