Most local
businesses attract new customers via Google search and your salon is no
exception. In fact, local searches are more important in the case of a salon,
since they bring the potential clients. Therefore, making sure that people can
find your salon on Google is of primary importance.
Of course, you
may get results from other marketing campaigns, but nothing beats what Google
results can bring. So, if you own a salon and like to gather new customers all
along, you may want to continue reading.
In this
article, we will talk about how can people find your salon on Google. In other
words, we are covering a few steps that you should take to ensure visibility in
Google search. We have included a few steps as well as SEO strategies that you
may want to follow. Shall we start?
The whole thing
has been broken down to two parts.
Part One — Google My Business Listing
Getting your
salon listed on Google My Business is the first step of ensuring enhanced
visibility. If you manage to do this, potential customers will see necessary
information about your salon service in a single glance — which is great.
Google Business Listings refer to the rich-content snippets you see while
searching for certain terms. For instance, if you search for salons on Google, it would list the nearby salons in the area.
This snippet
would contain details such as the name of the salon, address, opening times and
a few links. It would offer Directions via Google Maps, a Direct Call button
for contact etc. Most importantly, however, the snippet would show customer
reviews for the place. Now, this is very important: Google lists establishments
based on the review quality as well. So, unless you have some strong reviews,
you can’t play this game.
Getting Listed on Google Business
The process
isn’t rocket science and does not require coding skills either. You will have
to create an account in Google Business and provide details of the business,
such as the name, location, address, working time etc. You also have to provide
the accurate location of your place so that Navigation is enabled. Some of the
factors you should pay attention to are:
-
Business Category: Make sure that you choose a
convenient category for your business. Google will be listing your salon based
on whether the categories match. More importantly, if you are offering a
specific type of service, choose the particular category as well.
-
Accurate Contact Information: The last thing you
want is providing wrong information to customers. Make sure that the provided contact
information is 100% accurate and on-point. Google Business is also allowing
businesses to integrate the website. So, make sure you link that.
-
Your Description: Google allows you to provide a
description for the business, although it’s optional. If you know the art of
copy-writing — or, hire someone who knows that —, craft a persuasive, simple and
on-point description for the business.
Once you have
confirmed the details, you can have the listing ready on Google Businesses.
Just so you know, these things are easier said than done.
Reviews Matter the Most
As we said
earlier, customer reviews play an integral role in how your salon performs on
Google. There are two sides for this issue. One, a better review will increase
the chances of a customer choosing your salon. Two, Google tend to prioritize
business establishments with a higher average review. Ideally, you must have
five-star rating overall, but that’s kinda overkill.
The idea is to
make sure that you have enough positive reviews on the table. There are a few
salon software like Miosalon, which would help you manage centralized feedback
and keep everything together. This way, you can address negative reviews
instantly and possibly turn them into positive reviews. For one, if you’re
offering quality service, you can ask people to leave a review on Google.
You know what’s
even more interesting? You can ask customers to review your business on Google
and offer a discount coupon or promotional deal. This is an awesome way to
increase the number of reviews — well, positive reviews, for most part.
Photographs Speak Better
While creating
the Google Business Listing, you would have an option to add your business
photographs. Do make sure that you add the best photos from the establishment.
It’s great if you can get creative and post a few transformation posts. The
idea is to make the photographs speak about your services and their quality in
the long run.
Google lists
photographs from the business owners and the customers. Often times, a
potential customer would prefer seeing what others have posted. So, it’s
imperative that you ask your regulars to post photos of the space and
experience.
And, this is a
great way to enhance conversion rate in the long run.
If you follow these steps, you
should be able to rank well in Google Business listings.
Part Two — Optimizing Your Business Website
It’s always
great to have an official website for your salon or beauty parlor. In addition
to providing accurate information about the establishment, you can enhance
sales as well. For instance, it has become very easy to set up an online salon
booking system, using one of the best salon software out there.
However, the data you provide in the website can improve the overall ranking as
well.
Just as we
mentioned earlier, Google My Business has an option where you can connect your
website to the business snippet. This way, you can add a link to the official
website on the snippet. In addition to this, it is very likely that Google
would recognize the other elements in the website and add relevant results. If
you’ve an integrated booking system, for instance, there will be changes in the
snippets.
That is, Google often shows another
tab for quick service booking. Customers can view the services you are offering
and start booking immediately. Awesome, right?
Basic SEO Is Important
In order for
all these to happen, you need to connect the website to Google Analytics and
Search Console. It is also mandatory that you do the basic on-page SEO
optimization. As we said earlier, there are a few SEO strategies you can
follow. Some of them are:
-
Maintain an official blog, where you post
updates about new trends in hair styling and other sections. This will increase
the overall authenticity of your website, thus being found more often on Google.
-
Optimizing your Website for Mobile is also
important. Just so you know, most of the Business listing enquiries are made
from mobile devices, and that’s important.
-
Website Speed also matters when it comes to
ranking better. It’s not about adding a lot of graphics, but rather about
minimally presenting the required information.
-
Getting Links is also important. You have to get
both authority links and directory website links. Both will help you to improve
the overall visibility.
-
Last but not the least, keep everything simple
and accurate.
Provided that
everything is well connected, people should not have trouble in finding your
salon on Google.
The Bottom Line
As you have
seen, getting found on Google is not a Herculean task. Nevertheless, you should
take the steps carefully, especially while providing information and handling
reviews. And, as always, having a dedicated salon software would surely help
you keep everything together.