How Can I Improve the Visibility of My Website?

Getting found on the internet is important. While a lot of your traffic comes from search engines, some comes from other searches like maps, AI, and directories, and some comes from other sources: direct navigation, bookmarks, links, etc. It's important to deploy a multi-pronged strategy to ensure that as many qualified people as possible see your website.

Search Engine Optimization / Answer Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is the science and art of maximizing your presence when someone searches for your services on a search website like Google. Answer engine optimization, a special type of SEO, gets your company into the mix when someone is searching using AI.

The world of SEO is full of snake-oil salesman. In fact, they have even tried to tell Google themselves that they could improve Google's search engine ranking! Watch out for those that are selling you a bill of goods.

Professional SEO Service

Our SEO service will manage all of your SEO/AEO for you, going far beyond what you could do through your website alone. Our dedicated SEO team stays on top of all aspects of optimizing your business to be discovered online. Learn more at ProperyManagerSEO.com.

Self-Managed SEO

A few basic strategies will ensure you are seen when someone comes searching:

  1. Ensure your pages have content relevant to the product and service you offer. This content should be in plain English, but include key phrases that you think someone may search on. For example, if someone searches on "rentals in San Diego", and your site does not contain that phrase, don't expect to be found. If that's something you want to be found on, add a line to the main page of your website that says something like, "we offer rentals in San Diego." Sounds simple, but many miss the mark on this most basic of strategies. In your HERO Website, you can check the presence of a key word or phrase from the Keyword Analysis button.
  2. Ensure the main page of your website contains at least 200-400 words of text. Place the most important text "above the fold", where it can be seen without scrolling. All of the main page text should describe your company, your services, and your website. In your HERO Website, you can see the number of words on each page from the Site Analysis button.
  3. Ensure all your pages have appropriate titles and descriptions that are both descriptive of the page's content and contain key phrases that may be searched on. In your HERO Website, you can customize individual page titles and descriptions from page's Page Settings button.
  4. Add page keywords that include keywords related to the page's content, and be sure those are used as the links to your pages. In your HERO Website, you can customize individual page keywords from the page's Page Settings button. After doing this, update the menu, image, and text links to link to the newly created page name based on keywords.
  5. Ensure all your pages are indexed by a search engine. Your HERO Website does this automatically through the Sitemap tool and the Pagelinks tool.
  6. Add all of your rental listing content to the index, and ensure that your listings contain descriptive comments, including keywords and key phrases. Your HERO Website automatically adds rental listing content to your website and search engine index.
  7. Keep your content fresh by adding and updating relevant content within your pages. Your HERO Website updates listing content in your website and search engine index, but it's up to you to add other custom content.
  8. Avoid design tactics that search engines cannot understand. Search engines are designed to understand standard programming and formatting. The further your site deviates from this, the harder it will be for a search engine give you a high ranking. Your HERO Website is designed with both search engines and human visitors in mind.
  9. Get other significant, industry related, websites to link to yours. Getting Joe Blow down the street to link to you may not help your cause, but having a reputable high traffic related website will. Your HERO Website does much of this automatically through a reciprocal linking arrangement.
  10. Use the available tools, including Google Search Central tools / Google Analytics to monitor and improve placement. Your HERO Website links to and/or integrates with these services.
  11. Understand that rankings grow slowly, and change constantly. A well-designed, well-implemented website is much better than one that is always in the process of trying to "trick" search engines into improving their ranking.

Direct Navigation Traffic

Beyond search engine traffic is the traffic that comes to you through direct navigation. In this scenario, instead of someone stumbling upon your company, they are looking for you and they find you.

A few basic strategies will maximize your direct navigation traffic:

  1. Place your website address everywhere. Letterhead, yard signs, social media posts, email footers, business cards, billboards, envelopes, or anywhere else that you advertise your company name or contact information.
  2. Mention your website every place someone would hear or read about your company. This includes your voice mail greeting, press releases, conversations with prospect owners and tenants, etc.
  3. Include a link to a specific property on your website wherever you advertise the listing. This includes yard signs, flyers, vacancy lists, etc. A property link looks like this: www.JimsManagement.com/AZ011614.htm
  4. Provide a compelling reason for people to visit your website, and deliver what you promise. You might say, "Find more properties like this with interactive mapping at JimsManagement.com," or, "Discover why property investors choose us for management at JimsManagement.com/investors."

To Your Success!

It doesn't take a lot of time or expertise, but a small investment in making sure your website is found will leverage the power of the internet in your favor.