Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about website authority. Which website will most answer your questions and address your search needs? That is the question Google algorithms pose when indexing websites.
(Read: 4 Paths to Fast Track Your Way to Online SEO Authority)
One of the best answers to that question is the website that provides the best and most comprehensive customer service. Customer service is the best way to provide your website visitors an adequate user-experience. So when looking at it that way, the best SEO strategy hinges on not the most technical approaches, but in many cases, the simplest. These four customer service-based strategies will go a long way toward supporting your website’s ranking:
An SSL Certificate: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a an encryption tool utilized by Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https://), an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http://), widely used on the internet for secure communication over a computer network. It’s the prefix for website urls you find in the browser pane when you access the internet.
A website that uses an SSL certificate provides a greater level of encryption for data transfer on the site than the standard Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http://) protocol. Users are given a secure platform to conduct business. Google recognizes that level of customer service by providing a secure icon near the site’s listing and in the browser pane when on the site. And, in terms of SEO, it gives the site a bit of a boost when ranking against sites with no such security.
Contact Applications: Website contact forms are a great form of customer service because they make engagement with your brand quick and easy. Facilitating contact clickable phone links (for mobile viewing) and forms for email contact support ways of providing more information than a visitor finds on your website. Google recognizes that when users access these kinds of contact elements, it means a score for your business, a conversion of sorts. This means you get points for authority because, of course, nothing says authority more than taking engagement with your business off-line.
Chat Bot: A chat bot is simply a more improved contact application that can improve engagement and conversion on your website. As with contact forms and clickable phone buttons, chat bots give users an opportunity to get questions answered in a way that is quick and efficient, and what better way can you provide customer service than that?
F.A.Q. Page: An Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.) page is probably the best way to provide quick and easy customer service with content. When you post answers to your customers’ most frequently asked questions, you provide a resource that shows you value your site visitors’ time. With and F.A.Q., there’s little hunting around for answers to the questions you have about the industry or the business or their products or services. Google sees that as a plus for their customers (those who use their search engine), your business and your website’s authority.
If you would like to work with Proctor Digital strategists to help develop a powerful SEO strategy to build targeted website traffic for your site and grow your brand, call us at 773.664.5819. We’d love to help!