HOW TO GET YOUR SALON OR BARBER SHOP ON THE FIRST PAGE OF GOOGLE

Google’s mission is to display the best results from the vast amount of data available for its billion customers. They make sure to display the most relevant answers to the questions posed by the user. Getting on top of a Google search result has become a very challenging task due to the growing number of millions of websites and services, but it’s doable.

If you want the website of your barbershop or salon to be featured on the first page and be trusted, here are a few tips for you to get started.

Why is the First Page Important?

MORE VISIBILITY = MORE CUSTOMERS MORE CUSTOMERS = INCREASED REVENUE

Results on the first page have a built-in sense of trust and reliability. It doesn’t matter even if your website is the first on the second page; you are invisible. Every time you Google something, you tend to click on the websites displayed on the first page, or to be more specific, you click on the top three results. Statistics show that 97% of the users click on websites on the first page, and almost 33% click on the first result.

Search Engine Optimization 

I am sure you have heard the term Search Engine Optimization or SEO, as it is more commonly known. It is basically increasing the traffic on your website by enhancing its visibility. Through optimization, you can generate traffic free of cost, in a natural and organic way.

Your homepage must have extremely relevant, as well as unique content for Google to pick you. The name of your salon or barbershop is the most important thing on the homepage, followed by a 100-200 word description of your services. Make use of this space as best as possible. Keep in mind that keyword stuffing is not going to work anymore after the recent Google BERT update. Also, it cannot be stressed enough that your website needs to be optimized for mobile as most users nowadays are through smartphones.

If your website is constantly referred to on other websites, it increases the chances of visibility. Your NAP – Name, Address, and Phone Number must be present on multiple websites for Google to identify you as a genuine and trustworthy service. Also, make sure your website is fast, user-friendly, and secure. People will bounce in a second if your website takes too much time to load. An important thing here is to ensure you have a website that converts visitors into customers and proper hosting service. A large number of images may cause an issue with the loading time, so make sure your developer takes measures to compress as well as maintain the resolution of images. You may opt for lazy-loading the images also.

Keywords

One of the easiest ways to get your website on the first page is to use relevant keywords. Keywords are the words the user enters in the search box, following which the most relevant websites are displayed.

Since your customer is looking for hair care, make sure your website has keywords like ‘hairstyling,’ ‘haircut,’ ‘men’s haircuts, etc. Along with these keywords, use modifiers like ‘wedding,’ ‘fashion,’ ‘latest,’ etc, to improve optimization. If you use single words like ‘salon’ or ‘barbershop,’ you will face competition with hundreds of other websites. So make sure to include words and phrases that will make yours stand out. But as mentioned earlier, also don’t try to stuff too many keywords.

Claim Your Google My Business

One of the best ways to pop up first on Google is to register your business to Google’s, Google My Business. You will have to provide your address, services, contact details, operating hours, website links, and images. This will automatically put you on Google Maps as well.

Google is just the first step, register your business with all other search engines as well, like Yahoo and Bing. If you can link your website with other popular sites, it will be extremely helpful. For example, you could get featured on the website of a popular haircare brand.

Google Analytics 

Install Google Analytics to keep track of your website’s performance. You can check the number of visitors, time spent, and clicks made through Analytics. This will help you a lot in planning effective strategies for the future.

You can also check on Google Rankings to compare your performance with that of other websites. It will help you understand your place, your competitors and what you have to do next.

Reviews 

It doesn’t matter if your website has all the bells and whistles, you will need a lot of customer reviews to build trust in your prospective customers. People want to see what’s it like ‘if’ they do business with you. Make sure you ask your customers to leave reviews after their service. Including images in the reviews will be highly beneficial.

Social Media 

If your business is active on social media and properly managed, it has a better chance of increased visibility. For a start, you should have a Facebook account and a regularly updated Instagram account. Nowadays, Instagram has a larger audience and wider reach, so make sure your feed is attractive and catchy to bring you more customers.

Managing Content

While the homepage is crucial to draw the attention of the visitor, your other pages will need to hold a sufficient amount of information that will draw your visitor to you. Make sure your website will answer all the questions a customer has in mind while looking for a salon service. It is essential to update high-quality content regularly to stay on the first page.

Most of the websites list their services but do not add the price or images. Remember that cost is a very important element that a customer seeks to decide on the service. So make sure you include the price list.

As it is a salon or barbershop, customers will expect to see images of the hairstyles, cuts, and services they can expect. Don’t hesitate to include as many images as possible.

Blogging 

You could also use your website as a blog for hair care, updating articles related to the same on a regular basis. You will have the added advantage of popping up in many different searches – a regular salon or barbershop search as well as for hair cuts. If your blog posts are informative and useful enough, your readers will automatically trust your brand as a whole.

Conclusion

With the high competition in the hair care industry, it has become very tough to rank first on Google. However, if you follow the best practices and provide useful content to both the search engine and the visitors, sooner or later you will achieve your target goal.