I am not saying that these people can’t do it, but I thought it would be good to see a little bit of transparency in this area for a change.

I have already explained what you need to do in order to boost your site up the Google rankings for your preferred search, so I followed my own advice and here’s what happened.

1. Up until I integrated a CMS with the site I had little idea of what damp proofing was so the first thing I had to do was to do some research. I asked the client what the key areas of his business were and found that ‘Damp Proofing’, ‘Timber Rot & Woodworm’ and ‘Basement Conversion’ were the main items to focus on. I then used the to confirm the keywords I should be using in relation to the target market.

2. Following this research I changed the <titles> tags and the page headings <h1>to match what I was targeting. The site’s name also lends itself to this too, so it’s in the URL. Although not important Google I also ensured that the meta descriptions were filled out correctly and described the business.

3. Unfortunately the next hurdle I had to jump over was that the content on the site. The content was copied down from the parent company therefore it was not unique and it was not entirely relevant. I requested the content was rewritten by the client to be more relevant and I also edited to ensure keywords were in the text.

4. I noticed that in particular in this trade that the directories ruled the roost. Top of the listings were sites such as Yell that listed all the damp proof companies. Yell is a great way to list your business but the by product of it is that you also have backlinks from a top site, of great inmportance to Search Engine Optimisation.

5. Revisit. Just like with anything, don’t assume that the first time you do something it’s going to be perfect. I looked at rival sites and how well the site was doing and reviewed title tags and content to ensure it was going in the right direction.

6. Patience. This was never going to be a five minute task that produced instant results. It took a few months to get from page 15 to page 1. I explained this to the client beforehand which meant that they were under no illusions I could work miracles.

The end result – Damp Proof North East is number one for all the key search terms and is receiving more visits and conversions than ever – another happy client!