Rise through the ranks

Digital marketing specialist Kate Woods explains 10 ways to make your salon’s website a high-ranking one for your area, ensuring a steady stream of new clients

If you’re looking for ways to ensure a constant stream of new clients come to your salon or spa, then it’s worth investing a little bit of time working on your search engine optimisation (SEO). A sure-fire way to be ‘seen’ online is to get your business featured as one of the three listings on Google Maps for salons or spas in your town.

Although there is no exact science to this – it varies depending on the search term, competition and proximity to the search, ie the location) – there are some factors that all high-ranking websites have in common.

Top 10 techniques that will get your salon or spa on the digital map:

1 Claim your Google My Business listing
If you haven’t already done so, go to business.google.com to claim your business listing. If the Google My Business page already exists, but you don’t manage it, go into the listing and click on ‘Own this business? Claim it now’.

2 Complete your page with detail
You need to include as much information as possible. Write an introduction and include your opening hours, and make sure to mark all the categories that are relevant to you.

3 Upload photos in all the available sections
This is important. Use high-quality images, photo descriptions and include your town’s name in some of them.

4 Get reviews
You’ll need plenty of reviews to gain traction and you’ll need to respond to them professionally too – even any negative ones.

5 Add posts to your page
You don’t have to do this every time you post to social media, but find a balance that works well for you – somewhere between weekly and monthly. Be sure to add customer photos at the same time.

6 Be consistent with your NAP
Make sure that you always write your businesses name, address and phone number (known as NAP) the same everywhere online. You’d be amazed how often salons and spas use different versions of their name in different places.

7 Claim your listings on other review sites
Start with Yell, Yelp, Freeindex and Yahoo Local, but have a look around to see what other listings sites matter in your area.

8 Add bookings if they’re available to you
Google has some partners – see google. com/maps/reserve/partners – that enable you to have online booking directly from your local listing. These include companies such as Treatwell, Fresha and Shortcuts.

9 Build your local reputation
Generate local links across the web by teaming up with other businesses in the area, such as charities, schools and local media. This could be a reasonably priced piece of editorial, guest blog, podcast, competition and/or sponsorship.

10 Take a look at your competitor’s listings
Is there anything underhand or untoward on their listings? If so, and only if so, you can report it to Google by suggesting an edit.

Finally, be patient and keep an eye on the Google My Business Insights in the dashboard to monitor your progress. SEO improvements usually take up to 12 weeks to really take effect. 

Kate Woods is owner of Salondipity, which provides online resources and training to businesses in the beauty and hair industries.