Before we talk about what your M&A firm should be doing online to build a stronger firm, let’s talk about why you should care…
Consistency in claims
You say you have the best M&A firm in the region (or industry vertical), but you don’t show up in search! These inconsistencies in your claims will create distrust with business owners.
SEO is a land grab
If you don’t rank for high-level keywords like “M&A ‘your city'”, someone else will. There is only one #1 search result for each keyword. If you do not own this ranking spot, someone else does. Like all markets, for you to win, someone else has to lose.
The internet is here to stay
More business owners use the internet as their primary source for finding professional service providers (yes, even M&A advisors!) each year. Your clients are online so you need to be online too.
Now, for some practical tips on what your firm can do to rank better, be found more often and ultimately talk to more prospective clients…
#1 Monitor and improve your site score before worrying about keyword ranking
While many firms are concerned with quickly rising in the keyword ranks, one reality persists – Google gives preference to sites that are compliant, mobile responsive and functional. If you do not know your site score, we can quickly audit your website. If your site score is below 75% you may not rank for much of anything regardless of what strategies you employ. Ensuring your site is compliant, secure and functional is the foundation of good SEO.
#2 Content is king (but don’t over do it)
You can only do so much good manipulating header tags and image names before you will find you need to bite the bullet and create content periodically. However, don’t get over sold by content mills. Every time Google views your website they want to see that something has changed and/or that the website is growing but that’s it. That said, you only need to create new content about once a month to prove to Google that your site is evolving appropriately. Frequency in publishing is more important than topic or length. As long as the content is appropriate and relevant it will benefit your overall keyword ranking.
#3 Get specific with keywords
Attempting to rank for very broad national keywords will either be ineffective or very expensive. Rather than attempting to rank for a keyword like ‘M&A firms’ or ‘Sell my business’, start smaller. Geographies and industries are great ways to structure your keyword campaigns. Start with a goal like ‘I want to sell more tech companies in Georgia’ and build a strategy around that. It will be easier to generate results on a modest budget.
#4 Do something every week
Google likes change. Rather than fixing/updating everything in one push, fix and update your site weekly. This will allow you to show Google that your site evolves on many fronts every time your site is indexed which will increase trust scores which are key to over all rank-ability.
#5 Create a link/community network
The more trusted websites that share links to your website the better your site will rank. Use trusted social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to share content and drive users to your site through new channels. While user engagement is a nice by-product of using social media, we like to stress that the real benefit is simply showing Google that other websites frequently feature links to yours.
