DOES SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION HAVE YOU BAFFLED?
I’ve been asking new potential clients how they found us. Interestingly, many have found us on Google. Also, they have each complained about the process.
As hard as it is for the professionals to decide on which key words to put into our websites, it is equally hard for our potential clients to decide what to type into the search bar. Here are some of the things that they reportedly typed into the search bar:
An owner of a vintage auction house located in Brimfield, MA, typed: “Retail Designer near me” and got no results, so he typed “retail designer in Mass” and he got us. The other results were not for designers with any retail design experience. Now, much as I would like being the only retail designer in Massachusetts, we know that is not true.
A homeowner in Cambridge typed “architect near me” and although we were not the only architect listed, we are located the closest and we were the first to respond to his inquiry.
A manager of a mobile home development that is part of a national chain, typed in “full service commercial designer” and “office interior designer” and she found us even though we are located pretty far from her site. Who knew that full-service was hard to find?
Another homeowner typed in “Architect in Cambridge, MA” and was shocked and overwhelmed by how many names came up. I forgot to ask how/why he selected us.
One of our clients referred us to another potential client, who promptly lost the piece of paper with our name on it. When they typed in “Office designer in Greater Boston,” they hoped that our name would pop off the search results. They said that they went through 10 pages of results before giving up. Luckily, our client had told me of his referral, so we were able to connect the old fashioned way, by phone.
Yesterday, a new member of an institutional client’s facilities group called me. I had designed a major renovation and addition there 20 years ago. Someone had given him our name, but he wasn’t confident that he had the name right, so he went directly to our website: https://lesliesaul.com/. He searched our portfolio looking for their twenty year old project, which he did indeed find, so he called to confirm that I did the project. He asked if we were interested in another small facelift in the only room untouched twenty years ago.
An interesting part of the story is that last week a consultant told me to remove all of the old projects and only show the new and more modern ones, so that the portfolio would be easier to navigate. Had I listened to this advice, our client would not have been able to find their project on our site. Our client reported that although he was not part of the original facilities group, he was proud of what we did then, because people still love the space!
Have you ever been frustrated by your searches online? Have you found it hard to get the right search results? What would you type in if you were looking for one of the finest full-service architecture and interior design firms around your area?
Please let us know if you need to optimize your online searches, and learn more about how we can optimize your project results. Just click on the “contact us” button on our website. We would be delighted to talk by phone or facetime almost any time!