There are lots of search engines out there, but only one rules them all, Google.  It’s our biggest source to get answers, solve problems, and find new businesses. 

So, it’s no surprise that businesses in all industries constantly invest in their “Google game” to rank on the first page. So, if you want to know how to rank a Salon at the top of Google, then let’s get into it!

Create a Google Business Profile

For local companies like salons, a Google Business Profile is responsible for 19% of their Google rating. That’s a huge deal. You can add a lot of information about your salon to Google My Business, such as its location and working hours. If someone searches for “salon near me” (which is a common search term), Google will recommend your business if they are searching from an area close to you. If you don’t take advantage of this, Google will highlight local salons that have.

Get the Most Out of Business Directories

When it comes to promoting your business online, Google is the most reliable source. However, apart from that, there are plenty of other platforms online where you can put up business listings without spending a dime. Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Apple Maps are all solid options. These directories have business listings for all over the world, but if you do a search for “top local listings + (your location),” you’ll discover even more specific options for listing your salon.

For instance, Yellow Pages is a very important part of making your business more visible online. There, locals can find out more about your salon and how to get in touch with you.

Get Shining Reviews

Did you know that Google considers customer reviews when ranking your Salon? Here again, Google will consider the number and the quality of reviews on different platforms. Google, Facebook, and Yelp are the three most popular places for people to share their experiences with local hair salons. Be sure to get your happy customers to review all three of these sites. It would be even better if customers used salon keywords while writing reviews.

Create Your Own Salon Website

It’s essential that you get a salon website if you don’t currently have one. Regardless of your social media game, you cannot deny the importance of having a website in today’s world.

Thanks to today’s technology, making a website is now simple and cheap. You may, of course, pay a company to develop a Website with a custom layout that is also search engine friendly. In most cases, you also need to have an expert SEO marketing team to optimize your website. 

Now, Start Optimizing Your Salon Website

Simply typing “best salons in (insert city name here)” into Google will get millions of results. Now, buyers won’t even go beyond the first page, even if the results are essentially the same. In many cases, it’s the first page or nothing!

This is why you need Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in order to rank a Salon on Google. Here’s how you can do it. 

Focus on Your Website Aesthetics 

The first step in building a solid online presence is to launch a website that is both visually appealing and easy to use. You may go the do-it-yourself route using tools like Wix, or you can hire professionals who are fluent in programming languages like Python or HTML.

Make it Mobile-Friendly

Having a website or mobile app is crucial. However, that isn’t enough because 52.5% of your traffic comes from mobile users and you need to make sure they have a good experience with your website. You’ll need to carefully maintain it, either by learning the ins and outs of mobile web optimization or by hiring professionals. Google also measures the speed of your website, and considers faster websites over slower ones. Mobile friendly and website speed is one of the most important factors to rank a Salon on Google.

Find the Right Keywords

First, you should think about the unique services your salon provides. Is your business a hair salon where people can get their hair trimmed, colored, and styled? What about manicures, pedicures, and artificial nails?

Tailor them to Your Salon Business

Once you know what services your business offers, use a keyword analysis tool to find out what words and sentences people in the region are typing into search engines to find those services. For instance, if you do hairstyling in Boston, you could use “hairstyling Boston” or “hair salon Boston”.

You should also look for long-tail keywords. These are more detailed than short, general keywords and have less competition and you will be able to rank a Salon on Google a lot faster. Typical examples of long-tail keywords are “sensitive skin care in Boston” or “coloring salon in Boston.”

Create Relevant, Easy-to-Read Content

Your Salon website requires top-notch, relevant content in the blog section. The material on your website has to be useful and interesting to attract visitors. You can draw in and motivate new customers by publishing how-to manuals and other useful stuff.

Make sure your content includes the keywords you want people to find. Plus, add URL links to related internal pages and other sites with additional content. Also, never put the content in one giant messy paragraph. Use paragraphs, bullet points, headings, and other formatting tools to separate topics in a post. This makes it much easier for customers to read the posts and even skip straight to a specific section.

Meta Title and Meta Description are Key

Meta-description is like a teaser for your website that visitors will view before they ever get there. Make it as interesting and exciting as you can. Meta descriptions should be between 60 and 170 characters long at most. You need to include the main keyword in the meta description as well. The same applies to meta titles, which are usually between 60 to 80 characters in length.

Use Backlinks Wisely

When other websites link to yours, this is called a backlink. These are major factors in Google’s assessment of your site’s credibility and authority. If you want to rank a Salon on Google, you need plenty of high-quality backlinks.

Backlinks might be difficult to get. The best way to get other sites to backlink your salon website is to share content they find useful themselves. You can also get in touch with similar websites and request a link exchange.

Make Your Salon Website Fast & Light

People want instant gratification, and with the crazy speed of the internet these days, you can’t keep visitors waiting that long. In fact, a study showed that 47% of visitors will leave your salon website if they wait more than two seconds for it to load! Nowadays, a slow website is a true sign of an amateur business, so don’t hurt your brand this way. 

You can now see how fast your site is. You can check how fast your site loads using a free tool called Pingdom. With Pingdom’s help, you can figure out what’s slowing down your salon website and take steps to fix the problem.

Navigation is Vital

If users have a pleasant time browsing your salon website and find it simple to navigate, they are more likely to return. This is quite similar to website speed because when the website loads up, you want people to find what they want as soon as possible. 

A good user experience (UX) and effortless navigation can do wonders for your salon website because it significantly reduces abandon rates and makes the site a go-to source for future searches. You can make navigation by using clear call-to-action (CTA) buttons and simple menus or sections.

Bottom Line

So, you can see that there are many moving parts that effect how to rank a Salon on Google, but these tips are just a few of the +200 factors that Google considers when ranking your website.

Nevertheless, you need impeccable SEO if you want to see your salon website on the first page. Of course, the whole thing can seem too hard and time-consuming. But, the good news is that you don’t have to face it alone. You can team up with a reliable SEO & marketing team like Momentum Digital that can take care of everything and let you focus on your business. 

We’ve ranked countless salons in the past, and we can do it even better for you. Just get in touch and let’s put you on the map.