Each day, while we sip our morning coffee and eat our avocado toast at our desks, we look at dozens of Interior Design websites and review their “SEO fails.” We do this to continually educate ourselves on how to improve Search Engine rankings, or when new clients come to us, seeking SEO for their Interior Design business website.
We’ve compiled nine of the top Interior Design Website SEO fails for you below.
Google and other search engines hate non-organic SEO… so as soon as they find these issues, they will sink your ranking. So read our guide as a “how not to”… and question if you or your SEO Agency have used these practices!
Before we begin, some quick definitions for beginners:
SEO = Search Engine Optimisation or methods used to push your website to the top of search engine ranks (e.g. Google Page 1)
Keywords = search terms used by clients looking for your services (e.g. “Interior Designer in Chicago” or “Art Deco Interior Decorator in Boston”)
Links = other websites allowing users to click on a ‘link’ which takes them to your website.
Picking a Single Keyword
Yes, you may wish to be the top choice for “Best Interior Designer in London” but having dozens of links pointing to you for just this keyword, will have Google penalising you and dropping your rank faster than a lead balloon… Links to your site must always come from a diverse (yet focused) range of keywords. A real SEO specialist who understands your industry will be able to provide an organic, wholesome number of keywords.
Overloading your Site with Keywords
Search Engines want to know what your site is about. So having content on your site mentioning your Interior Design projects is vital. However search engines don’t want to see you stuffing your site with hundreds of mentions of “Interior Design” , “Best Interior Design” , “Interior Design in XYZ City”… these terms should appear sporadically, but certainly not dozens of times. When they do appear too often, Google will push you to the bottom of the pile, thinking your website is “spam!”
Confusing Content
Although we’ve advised you not to have a concentration of keywords in your website articles, you should keep them focused on the topic. The topic should always be related to your services. If you write an article about a project you’ve completed, but two-thirds of the content discusses the “period architecture” or “building regulations” then search engines may well start ranking your site for those terms, instead of showing your site to customers looking for interior design services. Keep the content two-thirds focused on your services, or topics directly related.
Hundreds of Links
If you ever went onto Fiverr.com and purchased links to your website, or employed an SEO firm that simply took the lazy route, what Google will see is hundreds of Chinese, Indian and Russian websites, that have nothing to do with Interior Design, mentioning your website. Even worse, Google likely know that those websites are spam, created for no other purpose than linking to sites for SEO. The result = your website gets blacklisted or severely penalised and you can kiss goodbye to ever seeing page 1 on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo or even Yahoo…
Just think about it… what if when a prospective client asks to speak to some of your previous clients, you give them the phone numbers for a pharmacy, a lawyer, a supermarket and an insurance company… who have never met you! There is no credibility at all. Search Engines focus on credibility. Conclusion = Avoid hundreds of fake links!
Links from Other Countries
Focusing again on the shady practice of “buying” hundreds of links, would it seem natural that your Business based in America or the UK has lots of websites in Eastern Europe or Asia mentioning it? No! Why would anyone in those countries know of or recommend your services? Would your new clients trust you if the majority of referrals, reviews or testimonials came from hundreds of miles away from where your business is based? Of course not… and the same applies for links.
There is a genuine reason for foreign sites to link to you – for example if Elle Deco Brazil or Architectural Digest Spain link to you, this is seen as quality. If you created a great “how to pick an interior designer” article, then this could get lots of foreign links. Conclusion = don’t let your SEO agency or your DIY attempt at SEO make your site stand out as “unnatural.”
Lack of High Grade Links
Jumping up to Page 1 of Google will require some highly regarded websites (i.e. they have lots of visitors) linking back to you. There’s 2 methods here: getting a broad but high visitor site to link to you (e.g. a local newspaper mentioning you) or getting an Interior Decoration site with far few followers, but ranked highly themselves in Google for design related searches, linking to you.
Either of these will work and both are better. How to get this? Get in touch with an SEO agency that focuses on your industry!
Internal Links
Did you know that it’s important to have your websites pages linking to each other? And that if you link them to each other in too many ways, Search Engines will see a plate of ‘spaghetti Bolognese” and turn it’s nose up at your site? Indeed! A carefully managed internal link structure is essential. How? Simple, make it ‘natural’, such as one project linking to the next or a blog article you wrote on Art Deco design linking to two of your featured Art Deco projects and your Contact Page. Websites that rank high, appeal to humans, not search engines (really!).
Copied Content
Do Not take somebody elses article, change a few words and post it on your own site! Google knows where it was posted first… even if you make attempts to change it slightly. Google will penalise you and push your site to Page 202 in it’s search results. Just like at school, copying is frowned upon! If a competitor wrote a great article on “interior design themes for 2018” and listed 5 themes, then simply create your own article “8 Contemporary Interior Design Trends for 2018” and write something Fresh and Original!
Smartphone and iPad friendly Websites
Have you viewed your website on your smartphone? Or from your tablet? Even better… from every smartphone and tablet you can get your hands on (we use special software, but you could just go to an electrical store and log on to your site from every demo product!). Your website should already be optimised so it adjusts how it is displayed for different devices. If not, get this done now!!! We can help. Or goto your original website developer (and if they seem expensive, we can give you some quotes).
Just having a mobile friendly site isn’t enough though.. go through and make sure the text is visible, the email optin is prominent and the pictures display well (and quickly, as smartphones have longer load times).
How important is this? 63% of our visitors view from smart phones (we can tell you how many of yours do). If your site doesn’t load and view quickly and comfortably, you are losing two-thirds of your potential customers! OUCH!
Congratulations
Congratulations for educating yourself on the key SEO fails… if your wish is to Grow Your Interior Design Business, make sure you put these tips into practice. Or send your SEO agency to this article, so they can. If you’d like to discuss any point further, on email or over the phone, contact us and we’d be happy to help. We’re smiley friendly people who love design J and there’s no fee to talk to us (we do accept gifts of cookies, wine and thank you cards… but that’s optional!)