$pa Marketing: Fly Sky High with Free, Organic SEO

What if I told you your website pages could rank higher on organic Google searches—without having to pay for it? They can, and you don’t need to be a search engine optimization (SEO) expert. All you do need is a free Google AdWords account, an existing website and some free time. Let’s get right down to free, organic SEO 101.

Narrow Your Focus

Although your spa/med spa business likely offers a number of treatments, services and products, what do you currently want to promote? Write down five items, then start with the first one. Let’s say you want to promote European-style facials. Focus for now on keywords and phrases surrounding just that one thing.

Search New Keywords/​Phrases

Once you’ve logged in to your new or existing Google AdWords account, click on “tools,” then “keyword planner,” then “search for new keywords.” In the drop-down window, type in your product/​service (in this example, European-style facials), landing page URL (more on that in a minute) and your product category (Beauty & Personal Care). You can customize your search by geographic area, language, search engines and more. Then click “get ideas.” It’s that easy! Within seconds, you’ll see the words and phrases people are using to find “European- style facials” near you. Maybe 300 people recently searched “best European facial,” while 150 searched “gentle European facial.” And then just one person, probably someone who keeps a very tidy home, searched “best European facials offering extractions at no additional cost near me.” So, now, you can choose the keywords/​phrases that best represent what you’re trying to promote.

Choose the keywords/​phrases that best represent what you’re trying to promote.

Preparing For Success

You’ll notice that the search results listed are ranked by relevance (i.e., significant to both your keyword(s) and website), and display average monthly searches and competition level (low, medium, high). Start with keywords with low competition. You want keywords and phrases that aren’t too generic or too specific. Search through all the keywords listed and rank them from most relevant to least.

Now, let’s say the top three relevant terms are “European facials Dallas,” “European facials sensitive skin,” and “anti-aging European facials.” Start integrating those three phrases, verbatim, into your website, surrounded by meaningful content. Places where you can do this include blogs, pricing pages, testimonials, FAQs, question­naires, etc. If you’re a decent writer, you can write the content yourself. Or, hire a PR or SEO firm to do it for you but they’ll probably charge you about $100/​hour. Or, you can do what I do: hire a college journalism student for about $13-$15/​hour. The choice is yours, depending on your time and budget.

Landing Pages

Landing pages in organic searches are simply website pages written specifically about the topic searched on. They may be existing website pages or new content pages. Landing pages create a lot of “juice” in SEO but they’re time consuming. If you’re paying someone else to create them for you, they could be costly. Consider creating landing pages for at least the top three to five services or treatments you’re promoting.

Add-in Video

Whether you record a treatment (before, during and after) on your smart device, hire a professional videographer or even include existing links to news media references to that treatment, Google and other search engines love relevant videos, giving them significant weight in organic searches. The video should last two minutes max, though. After that, viewers quickly lose interest.

Don’t Forget Social Media

Google also loves social media with relevant content. Link your web pages to your social media accounts. This type of cross marketing can not only increase sales, but also organic search results. An example of this is promoting your monthly facial special on your Facebook and Twitter pages with a link to more information on your website.

Other Relevant Links

Link to other websites and social media pages relevant to yours, including beauty industry publications, blogs by other industry service providers (but remember, they’re your competition) and celebrity beauty gossip, etc. Linking to heavily trafficked sites can improve your search rankings. Do choose links carefully; in a way, they represent you, too. Don’t link to risqué sites unless you’re comfortable with viewers associating those sites with yours.

Technical Tips

While you never want to “keyword stuff” (adding in your keywords so many times that it reads poorly, for which Google will “ding” you, big time) you do want to include your keywords thoughtfully throughout the page. Check out competitors’ pages, those that currently rank ahead of yours. How many times did they use each keyword, and where? You can also include the keyword as the page’s title, subtitle and/or any tags that you add. While Googledoesn’t give as much juice to meta descriptions/​keywords as in the old days, you can still add your keyword/​phrase to your meta description (“Providing the best European facials in Dallas”) and your meta title (“European Facials | Anti-aging Facials” etc.).

Top Three Google AdWords Tips

1. Consider long and short. Consider both short-tail (“European facials”) and long-tail (“best European-style facialist north Dallas”) keyword phrases when writing content. Short-tail keywords drive more generic traffic, but long-tail keywords drive more targeted customers.

2. Check keywords. new keywords regularly, at least once a week. They change frequently.

3. Post regular content. Commit to regularly adding new website content, revising existing pages and linking to other quality, relevant websites. Google’s always on the lookout for fresh content.