Growth Hacking
Jun 12, 2020

Can an SEO Expert Help Grow Your Pittsburgh Business?

by
Bridget Houlihan

Now that we’re fully engrossed in the age of digital marketing, it’s essential that any business that intends to grow in clients-- as well as in revenue-- has a website that has been enhanced by a search engine optimization (SEO) agency. This means that if you haven’t already, you’ll need to find yourself a Pittsburgh SEO agency. How well your website ranks and performs can mean the difference between new customers or clients and growing your revenue, or getting lost in the competition. Keep reading and we’ll discuss:

  • Why you need SEO
  • How it can help your business
  • Some of the best SEO agencies in Pittsburgh
SEO ensures that your site is in a position to be seen--meaning you get more traffic and customers. Image courtesy of Velocity Consultancy.

Why is SEO So Important?

Getting your website ranked is the key to helping your business grow

Everyone thinks that they sell the best product, or can offer the best expert advice in their field--but without reviews and recommendations, how would you know any of that is true? Before everyone went digital, businesses would often rely on recommendations from other business owners and their own research when seeking out a new service or vendor. They might even visit or call the store as well to understand if the product or service would be a good match and worth purchasing.

Today, SEO does something very similar--search engines take in multiple sources of information such as reviews, traffic to a site, and the quality of the user experience in order to decide how to rank a website for industry-dependent keywords. This means that depending on what business you're in, the keywords you want on your site in order to rank will vary. Keep in mind, some are harder to rank for than others, depending on how popular the search term is. When your website has been optimized for keywords/keyphrases, it will let search engines know to rank your site higher on the list, which will in turn drive more traffic and sales your way as well.

Your Pittsburgh SEO agency will create a customized SEO plan for your business. Image courtesy of Clickx.

How Can an SEO Agency Help Your Business?

SEO experts can create a game plan to help your business rank higher

Just like anything in life, it always pays to have a game plan. The same goes for how to drive more traffic and sales to your site, and an SEO agency (or consultant) is the perfect way to do just that. But how exactly will they help your business rank higher? Although it may vary from agency to agency, SEO experts tend to focus on a couple of main areas.

Keyword research

When you find an SEO agency in Pittsburgh to help you upgrade your website, one of the first things they’re going to do is analyze what keywords in your industry you’ll want to focus on. As we mentioned earlier, this is entirely dependent on what it is you’re trying to sell or what kind of clients you’re trying to attract. By doing this, you’ll get a better grasp of what kind of competition you’re up against, and what keywords would be beneficial to focus on. Some keywords will have very little competition and it will be easier to get your site ranking for them with some tweaks, but others might require more involvement from your agency.

Now that you know what keywords to target, your SEO agency will go about reviewing your website to find where to best insert those words/phrases. This includes adjusting titles and headlines on your homepage as well as other key pages, and even adding them into the meta descriptions. Doing this step will ensure that search engines are picking up the keywords exactly where they’re supposed to.

Go with an Independent Consultant

Aiken House works with a lot of “indy” growth hackers and marketers, and we are more than happy to link you up with one - just contact us here.

Link building

Although most of the traffic that comes to your site will be organic, it is important for you to develop a good source of referral traffic too, which your Pittsburgh SEO agency can assist with. Because of this, you’ll want to develop a plan to start building a good link base. This can be done by inserting links into your social media posts, but another popular way is through guest posts--although not just on any site! Submitting articles for publication on another industry-related site is a great idea to help promote your site and gain more traffic. With a link back to your site, you can hopefully take advantage of the customers or readers already coming to the host site and engaging with your guest post. SEO experts will help you find the right kind of sites to develop this kind of exchange with--as no one wants links to spammy sites as those can hurt you in the rankings.

Content creation

One of the best ways your SEO agency will help you get your site optimized is with the right kind of content. This means giving visitors pages to read about products or services and even information about how your business got started--all focused on your keywords. Having fresh material is important for search engines as they are constantly crawling and ranking your site according to how relevant it is to your keywords. This is why creating original content for a blog is crucial, as it not only keeps your content fresh and up to date, but it also gives your visitors the chance to learn something new and possibly to share your content.

Since search algorithms and best practices can change, it’s helpful to have an ongoing SEO management plan in place. This is how your agency will ensure the long-term monitoring and optimization of your site so it continues to rank.

User experience

Some businesses still have hard to use websites which drive customers away immediately--don’t let that happen to you! Your SEO expert knows that customers that leave due to unattractive sites can hurt your search engine ranking, and will help you address your bounce rates. Improving the look and flow of a website will keep customers on your site, and make them want to keep coming back.

When it’s time to get a serious SEO strategy, there are many Pittsburgh agencies that are willing to assist you.

Pittsburgh SEO Agencies - In No Particular Order!

When you’re ready to get your site up in the rankings, you’ll want to find an SEO expert in  Pittsburgh that can help you each step of the way. Consider contacting one of these agencies for all your SEO needs.

Direct Online Marketing

About: Growing businesses through custom tailored approaches to search engine optimization

# of Employees: 10-49

Services Offered: Search engine optimization, social media marketing, paid search management, conversion rate optimization, marketing analytics

Key Clients: Appen, Segra, Highlights Magazine

directom.com | @directom | linkedin.com/company/direct-online-marketing

Paper Box SEO

About: Help businesses increase revenue through effective and data-driven SEO

# of Employees: 2-9

Services Offered: On page and technical SEO, content writing, keyword research, link building

Key Clients: Free Pittsburgh Walking Tours, Scuba Tony, West & Willow

paperboxseo.com | @paperboxseo | linkedin.com/company/paper-box-seo

Pittsburgh SEO Magician

About: Strategies to help your business gain more visibility, leads, and sales

# of Employees: 2-9

Services Offered: SEO, pay per click, reputation management, social media marketing, website design

Key Clients: Auto-Mobile Detailing, Stone Villa Court Townhouses, Pittsburgh Remodeling Solutions

pittsburghseomagician.com | @pittsburghseomagician | linkedin.com/company/pittsburgh-seo-magician

Rock the Rankings

About: Process-driven SEO to grow organic search traffic

# of Employees: 2-9

Services Offered: Organic and local SEO, content marketing, link building, outreach

Key Clients: Sourced Adventures, Prepory, Bigge, Context Travel

rocktherankings.com | @rocktherankings | linkedin.com/company/rock-the-rankings

Surge SEO

About: SEO company in Pittsburgh that provides high-quality and effective SEO campaigns

# of Employees: 2-9

Services Offered: SEO, paid ads, WordPress web design

Key Clients: To-Do Listers, Assertive Solutions, Melos Construction

surge-seo.com | @surgelocalseo | linkedin.com/company/surge-seo

Pittsburgh SEO Services

About: Pittsburgh internet advertising consultants that provide guaranteed results

# of Employees: 2-9

Services Offered: Keyword SEO, website design, local citation, social media, pay per click, website management, Google AdWords management

Key Clients: Taggart Plumbing, Chips Dental Associates, Mr. Sign, Pittsburgh Flag Football League

pittsburghseoservices.com | @pittsburghseoservices | linkedin.com/company/pittsburgh-seo-services

Higher Images

About: Digital marketing company that builds and promotes clients through website development and SEO strategy

# of Employees: 10-49

Services Offered: Keyword SEO, website design and development, advertising, email marketing, pay per click

Key Clients: Quaker State Construction, Golden Oak Lending, Kehm Oil Company, Dream Greener Lawn and Landscape

higherimages.com | @higherimages | linkedin.com/company/higher-images

Go with an Independent Consultant

Aiken House works with a lot of “indy” growth hackers and marketers, and we are more than happy to link you up with one - just contact us here.

SEO is an integral part of any business’ growth, and it is well worth the investment of having an expert in the field provide you with a strategy that works. When you’re ready to drive more traffic to your site and increase your digital presence in Pittsburgh, consider contacting any one of these agencies!