Years ago, when you wanted to search for a contractor you would just flip open a phone book look for the industry best representing that service and find the one that matches your inquiry. Generations of people did it this way. Now those days are gone. Phonebooks have become obsolete.

Now it’s all Bing this, Google that! Searches have been reduced to mere seconds. The results can be confusing and not exactly fruitful.

Try searching for “Dallas kitchen contractor” and Google will return 4,110,000 results. Who has time to search through 4 million listings? Bring back the phone book please. It wasn’t as fast but only had a few hundred choices, not the millions that were displayed through Google.

It’s not just a problem for the consumer trying to find the right “Dallas kitchen contractor” it’s also a problem for the “Dallas Kitchen Contractor” to get noticed. Or in the search engines case to get that “Dallas Kitchen Contractor” listed on page 1 of the results.

Because just like phone books people gravitate to the ads on the first few pages, it’s the same for Google, Bing, Yahoo and the rest of the many search engines out there. Four million results? No way! Most people don’t go past the first page of Google, that’s why it’s very important to get your listing keyworded just right.

If you’re the “Dallas Kitchen Contractor” who is listed in those 4 millions results unless you are on page 1, sadly your odds of getting your website noticed equates to being the proverbial needle in a haystack. But there is hope.

Both consumers and contractors alike can reduce the search time and narrow down the choices by keywording their inquiries into longer phrases that give a better understanding of exactly what they need. So instead of “Dallas Kitchen Contractor” which displays way too many listings try “Dallas Kitchen and Bath Contractor”. Well okay maybe not, but it did reduce the results in half. But, honestly 2 million is still way too many.

“Dallas Custom Kitchen and Bath Contractor” returned 1.7 million results. Yet if I use the term “Fort Worth Custom Kitchen and Bath Contractor” the results are reduced dramatically down to 256,000. Now thats a big difference. When you add “Licensed” in front of your “Fort Worth Custom Kitchen and Bath Contractor” inquiry you cut the results further in half.

Here’s the trick to getting better search results and reducing the amount of time required to wade through the sea of endless listings. Use the names of smaller towns around you first. If you live in Dallas or Fort Worth the results of your search will be cumbersome. Yet, if you use the towns in between like “Arlington”, “Grapevine”, “Grand Prairie” or even “Hurst” instead of “Dallas” or “Fort Worth” your results will be far superior and you’ll reduce your time searching.

The right keywords can make or break a search.

It’s those keywords that Google and the other search engines look at that determine your results.

All these keywords are actually part of a system that the search engines use to classify and specify the results of searches. This is how SEO works! SEO stands for search engine optimization. It actually means that the websites being listed have been optimized for web searches. So those sites pulling up on page 1 of Google most likely have been keyworded in such a way as to attract the right searches.

Being specific, using long phrases, in your searches actually gains the best results. Using general terms like “Dallas Contractor” and you’ll be spending weeks wading through the 12 million results you receive.

The more specific you are, the better results you’ll receive.

SEO is not rocket science, it just takes a little understanding of what words people are using. If you can master the words, then your results will stand out.

Consumers benefit by getting the right results. Contractors benefit by getting new and wonderful clients. The right keywords make all the difference.

And yes, it works for any town, any industry, any where!

Words can change lives…or in this case…match consumers with contractors.

And to some having a remodeled kitchen or bath is a life changing event.

So why do I share this great information?

Well, if you have a website and just aren’t getting the results you think you should be getting most likely it’s the keywords and content you are using (or not using). This is something I do all day long. I get websites ranked properly and seen by the masses, and on Page 1 of Google! Like I said, it’s what I do. And I’ve become very good at it. Now here’s the deal…if you’d like me to take a look at your site and tell you exactly why it’s not ranking just click the link and I’d be happy to critique it! I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it, what’s missing and how to improve it. You can then use the information and try to do it yourself or hire me and get it fixed the right way.

– Rob

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