The essential elements of a website’s Contact page normally include company name, address, email address/ phone number and contact form. But within a highly competitive online market and the need for better SEO ranking, businesses can be innovative, especially through optimising their Contact page. Providing a little extra detail in this area can lead to better search engine rankings as well as increased traffic. So how do you effectively optimise your Contact page for SEO?
How to Optimise your Contact Page for better Impact – 7 steps
Most businesses usually concentrate on other pages of their website when it comes to SEO. However, optimising your Contact page can play an important role in increasing the website’s visibility on search engine results.
The 7 most effective website SEO tips that show you how to optimise your Contact page include:
1. Optimise the Information in the “About Us” Section
The “About Us” page is one of the most important sections on your business website and is the first step in how to optimise your Contact page which will provide users with additional value. It’s used to give visitors the best overview of your company. However, the Contact page offers a great opportunity to summarise all the information found in the About Us page. Ensure that you effectively reiterate the information about what you do and what sets you apart from the competition.
2. Use Google Maps with a Marker or Google My Business (GMB) Map
Google maps are important for online brand visibility and that’s why every local business should make use of them (and remember Google loves to see you using its products).
Google is the most used search engine with over 3.5 billions Google searches being made every day. This means that most people looking for a business such as yours are going to be starting with a Google Search. In addition to that, 52% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices with roughy a third of all mobile Google searches related to location so if you place your listing on your Contact page you make it easy for people to find your phone number and call as well as your business location and directions.
You can easily add Google maps with a marker to your Contact page, or a link to the map associated with your Google My Business listing (it will include your business name), making it ideal for SEO, especially when it comes to online queries that are location-sensitive. The added benefit of linking your Google My Business listing is that it will further reinforce to Google that you are the business you say you are. For effectiveness, ensure that maps are highly visible and they should correctly display on mobile devices, and not scrollable until clicked, because most people use smartphones.
3. Add and Index Images Related to Your Business
A lot of people think that a Contact page should simply contain text with relevant contact details but we can provide additional value to the User in step 3 of how to optimise your Contact page. Adding images that relate to your business – great photos of your team, products or services make for a more memorable User Experience (UX) and achieve an emotional connection.
Additionally, it’s important to index the images for proper search engine crawling. Image sitemaps help Google discover images that it might not otherwise find. Google is increasing its delivery of images in search results and you want to capture that opportunity to be seen.
Customise the image name e.g. yourbrandname-productname.jpg. You should ensure appropriate Title Tags (the name that can be displayed when a user hovers over an image) also optimise the ALT tags (describing what is on the image and the function of the image on the page) to ensure you meet Accessibility Guidelines for those users who for any reason, may not be able to view images on their screens and chose to use screen readers.
Note: when adding images, understand that the file type is important. JPG is the most commonly used file format because it’s widely supported by many devices and it can store files in small sizes. Alternatively, you can use PNG, particularly if you want to use large files.
4. Videos Are Great for Visual Appeal
Content consumption is now leaning a lot towards visual appeal. Apart from texts and images, you can optimise Contact page by incorporating video content. Add a short but well-detailed video highlight of the services or products that your business provides. Additionally, you can add snippets from customers highlighting reviews, your employees, or even your location.
5. Optimise the Contact Page’s HTML tags
This is a backend solution for optimisation and is the 5th step in how to optimise your Contact page. It involves optimising the URL as well as HTML tags and page titles of the Contact section.
The URL for the Contact page should be kept short and simple and as compelling as possible.
The Title tag is the Top line of the individual search result that is clickable and tells the user, yes you guessed it, the title of the page and what the page is about. Ideally the title tag should be around 50-60 characters which will then allow the full title to be displayed in results. Google display title max out, currently, at 600 pixels.
The meta description is the information that Google displays in search results underneath the URL. In effect this is your sales pitch and is a valuable piece of real estate. Whilst not used for ranking it is what your User’s will read and base their decision to visit your site or not. Keep the description around 160 characters and use relevant keywords.
6. Add Additional Important Content
You can further optimise the Contact page by adding content such as a testimonials, calls-to-action, links to social media profile, an FAQs section, and relevant information about the business facilities such as parking spaces, etc. The goal is to add compelling content for better engagement.
7. Sign Off with a Thank You Note
A thank you note can easily change the perspective of your customers and is an innovate idea of how to optimise your Contact page. The most appropriate place to put it is at the bottom of the contact page. While it seems to be a simple heart-warming gesture we all like to feel that we are appreciated and is the last step in our how to optimise your Contact page article.
Conclusion
A Contact page is the often overlooked opportunity to let your customers not only learn where you are located and how to contact you but also that little bit more about you and your business they may not otherwise seek out. You’ve seen above our strategy for how to optimise your Contact Page and we’d love to hear your success stories and tips you have for creating amazing Contact Pages.