Our Expert Guide to SEO for Architects

How Does “SEO for Architects” Work?

As a sector-specific approach to search engine optimization, SEO for architects incorporates the basics of generic SEO and optimizes them with strategies and keywords that are relevant to the architectural industry and your target audience(s). 

This means that your website will be properly optimized to rank for target keywords that your audience are using to search for related services. As a result, you’ll find that the volume of organic traffic to your site increases but, crucially, the quality of this traffic will be enhanced too. 

Remember – more than 90% of web pages get no traffic from Google, despite Google Search, Google Images and Google Maps accounting for more than 92% of all online traffic. If you want to make sure that your site isn’t missing out on organic traffic, you’ll need a uniquely tailored SEO strategy. 

Here are our top tips…

SEO for Architectural Firms: Top Tips

1. Targeting the Best SEO Keywords for Architects

Before you can begin optimizing your website, you need to know what keywords you’re optimizing it for. So, what search terms do you want your web pages to rank for when users input a query on Google, Bing or another search engine? 

It’s easy to make assumptions when it comes to what users search for but don’t let this take the place of actual research. If you want to find the best SEO keywords for architects, you’ll need to assess who your target audiences are and conduct research to determine the search volume of popular keywords. 

So, if you’re a residential architect, you’ll want to rank for keywords that relate to your services, such as, ‘home renovation architect’ or ‘single-story property extension’, as well as generic architectural keywords that have a high search volume, like:

• Architecture firm
• Architecture company
• Architecture offices
• Commercial architect
• Top architecture firms

2. Use Local SEO

Depending on the services you offer, your work may involve extensive travel, or you may spend the majority of your time working in a specific area. By integrating geographical parameters into your architect SEO strategy, you can ensure that your web pages are being shown to users who are most likely to become clients in the future. 

If you operate within Dubai, for example, targeting a keyword like, ‘architecture firms in Dubai’, rather than simply ‘architecture firms’, will ensure your SEO strategy is laser-focused to your target area. 

Similarly, targeting high ranking location-based keywords, like ‘architecture firms near me’ or ‘residential architects near me’, will help you to reach users who are actively looking for related services in the local vicinity.

Although local SEO keywords typically have a lower search volume than general keywords, they can generate highly targeted traffic that is more likely to convert. After all, when surveyed, 90% of consumers reported using the internet to find a local business within the last 12 months, which highlights how effective local SEO can be.

Set Up a Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is a free listing that makes your company information accessible via Google Search and Google Maps. As well as adding basic company details, like contact information and opening hours, you can enhance your listing with additional content, including the services you offer and photographs.

Being visible on Google Maps and Google Search is valuable in its own right but completing and optimizing your Google Business Profile can have a positive impact on your rankings too.

3. Update Internal Links

To rank highly for any keywords, your website should be easy to navigate and provide users with an intuitive online journey. As well as having prominent menus and submenus in your navigation bar, use anchors with internal links throughout your site to help users transition from one page to another. 

Pro Tip: Use target keywords as anchor text for internal links to boost your SEO rankings. 

4. Share High Quality Content

Keeping your website updated with fresh content is an important element of SEO, but the quality of your content should always be a top priority. Adding a blog to your website makes it easy to add new content on a regular basis but it’s also an effective way off sharing informative content with users, establishing ‘thought leadership’ and engaging your target audience.

Creating a content calendar will help you to publish new posts on a regular basis and it’s a good way to ensure you’re covering a wide range of topics, such as:

• Company news
• Industry news
• How to guides
• Case studies

In addition to this, vary the type of content you publish, so that users can access information in a way that is most engaging for them. You may want to use a mix of content on your site, including:

• Blog posts
• Downloadable eBooks
• Videos
• Images
• Infographics
• Presentations

Whatever type of content you’re publishing or whatever topic you’re focusing on, be sure to optimize the content for your target keyword(s). This means incorporating them into strategic areas of the page, such as:

• URL
• Page title
• Header
• Meta title
• Meta description
• Alt tags

5. Targeted Off-Page SEO Techniques

When you’re implementing your strategy, many of the tasks you’ll undertake will be focused on your own website. However, off-page SEO allows you to take external actions to optimize your rankings. 

Backlinks (incoming hyperlinks from one webpage to another) rare a major element of off-page SEO, so securing links to your site from other websites should be a key focus within your SEO strategy. You can do this by adding your company to relevant industry directories, publishing guest posts on other websites or even taking part in industry events or live podcasts. 

Additionally, be sure to share your content as widely as possible, so that it gets picked up and re-published on other websites. When you share your blog posts via social media, for example, you can increase your reach and help to secure extra, high-quality backlinks.

6. Reduce Page Loading Times

A web page that takes 5 seconds to load has a 90% higher bounce rate than a page that takes just 1 second to load, so increasing your page speed can help retain users, as well as boosting your SEO rankings. 

Reducing page loading times is an important element of technical SEO, but there are other enhancements you can make to your site’s functionality to improve your rankings, including:

• Using an SSL certificate
• Making your site responsive
• Submitting a sitemap to Google
• Removing duplicate content
• Simplifying your website structure

7. Secure Client Reviews

Google makes it easy for clients and customers to leave reviews and your target audience will pay close attention to these ratings when they’re deciding whether to engage with your architectural firm. In addition to influencing the behavior of potential customers, reviews and ratings can impact your rankings too. 

By asking clients to publish reviews following a project, you can help increase your rankings for high priority keywords and, therefore, increase your reach.

8. Take a Data-Driven Approach

Securing high rankings is the first step to generating a high volume of targeted organic traffic, but retaining high rankings is equally important. As you begin implementing your SEO strategy, monitor the impact of your changes via Google Search Console and Google Analytics, and other tools like SEMrush. 

These will provide valuable information regarding search rankings, website visits and on-site behavior. With a wealth of data at your fingertips, you can continually optimize your SEO strategy, maximize your success and accelerate your rise to the top of results pages.