Taking Accent Estimating to the top spot

Coming from another SEO agency with page four and beyond Google results – see how we implemented a new SEO strategy and ranked this cost consultancy firm on page one for multiple keywords.

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Understanding the business

The best way to understand how someone’s business work’s is to sit down with them face to face and have a discussion. This is what we did with Accent Estimating. We discussed their key services and what brings in the most revenue – as that is the sort of thing you’d want to emphasise as much as possible. We also worked with them to identify who their target audience was. In the case of cost estimators – construction contractors/consultants and project managers/coordinators were the primary audiences the business was looking to target.

Analysing their website and
current SEO strategy

The previous SEO agency was optimising for short-tail keywords such as estimating Sydney or estimating Melbourne which was yielding organic traffic but from international visitors instead of local. This strategy wasn’t working as their website would not show up for any estimating related keywords either. As of June 1st, 2019, their Google ranking looked like this:

Keywords Ranks
Estimating service Sydney 49
Estimating Sydney 58
Estimating Melbourne 64
Estimator Sydney 65
Estimator Melbourne 71
Commercial construction estimating services 100+
Building cost consultants Brisbane 100+
Construction estimating services 100+
Construction cost estimating services 100+
Construction estimating consultants 100+
Construction estimating services Sydney 100+
Building cost consultants Melbourne 100+
Construction estimating services Melbourne 100+
Residential construction estimating services 100+
Construction estimating services Brisbane 100+
Residential construction estimating services 100+
Building cost consultants 100+
Contract estimating services 100+
Construction cost management Sydney 100+
Estimating Brisbane 100+
Construction cost management Melbourne 100+

To further understand why this was the case, we delved into some factors that affect SEO and this is what we found.

  • We realised the title and meta descriptions both looked unnatural as if keywords were just piled into a sentence with commas to separate. This is an obsolete SEO technique known as keyword stuffing.
    • Title: Estimating & Tendering Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin
    • Meta Description: Estimating Tendering for builders, architects, property, development, construction industry, commercial, residential and industrial building projects.
  • There was a distinct lack of an enquiry form as well as any sort of call-to-action (CTA) on their website.
  • Large H1 header tags were not used at all on the site whereas H2 tags were.
  • The blogs on the website were infrequently updated and the URL structure was unnecessarily complicated: aestimating.com.au/category/blog/article-name
  • One of the bigger issues surrounding the website was its slow loading speed. Using Google PageSpeed insights, we were able to see that the website’s mobile version was given a score of 17/100 – which is quite poor.

 

Page speed insight accent estimating

Keyword research

After looking into Accent Estimating’s services and reviewing their current keywords, we realised that short-tail keywords such as Estimating Sydney – whilst they receive more traffic – were too broad. For a smarter approach – we decided that long-tail phrases were something that should be targeted, such as:

Commercial construction estimating services;
Construction estimating services;
Construction cost estimating services; and
Construction estimating consultants.

In addition to these, we also added other relevant keywords to expand their SEO umbrella and promote their services.

SEO strategy and implementation

After taking into account the business’ goals, current status, targeted keywords and audience they were hoping to reach – we mapped out a new SEO plan to be implemented. We started with broad brush strokes – transforming the whole website’s theme from estimating to construction estimating. We did this by optimising the content, title and meta description.

Through this, we narrowed the number of search results the website would come up in, to more specific results ­– delivering the site to the people who require the services. On top of this – we established that 800-word blog posts would be written and published monthly to bolster the SEO. The specific steps taken to achieve this transformation are as follows:

  • The title was rewritten from Accent Estimating to Construction Estimating Services.
  • The meta description was rewritten
  • H1 tag was added – “Estimating Services”.
  • We updated the blog section’s URL structure for better optimisation from: aestimating.com.au/category/blog/article-name
    to www.aestimating.com.au/blog/article-name
  • An enquiry form was added to the website to encourage potential clients to get in touch – thus improving conversion rates.
  • There was no Google Search Console profile for the website so we created one and then submitted the XML sitemap we made for them.
  • We implemented a 301 redirect since both HTTP and HTTPS versions were accessible.
  • To combat the slow website – we migrated the server to one of our own Australian-based web servers where response time improved by 300%.
  • We realised one of the other reasons the site was so slow was due to unnecessary and inactive plugins that were installed – which were identified and removed by our developers. A cache plugin was also installed to make things more efficient for users.
  • We standardised the business name across directories as there were inconsistencies.

We also overhauled the website’s UI and made it more accessible and concise for viewers. Key information was presented first and foremost with clear menu tabs at the top of any page for easy traversal – minimising the amount of clicks required. Additionally, individual pages were created for each service which bolstered the site’s overall ranking. This simplified and succinctly tailored approach worked in tandem with our comprehensive SEO strategy to further improve conversions.

The outcome

As of the 31st of June 2020, the website is ranking considerably higher for several competitive keywords. We’ve also seen a whopping 900% increase in organic Australian traffic over the last 14 months.

Keyword Rank
Construction estimating services 1
Commercial construction estimating services 1
Construction cost estimating services 1
Construction estimating consultants 1
Construction estimating services Sydney 1
Building cost consultants Sydney 1
Building cost consultants Brisbane 1
Residential construction estimating services 2
Estimating service Sydney 2
Building estimating service 3
Building cost consultants 3
Construction estimating services Brisbane 3
Construction cost management Sydney 4
Construction estimating services Melbourne 5
Building cost consultants Melbourne 5
Estimating Sydney 5
Estimating service Brisbane 5
Contract estimating services 6
Estimating service Melbourne 10
Estimator Sydney 14
Construction cost consultants 19
Estimating Brisbane 19
Estimating Melbourne 27
Construction cost management Brisbane 30

“I was really happy with the quality of work that AWD Digital has provided. They really opened up my eyes to what can be achieved through digital marketing. I’ve had a bad experience in the past with another agency which saw me lose 50% in revenue due to the lack of security – which led to my website being hacked. Now, I’m sitting on the top of Google’s ranking for a few different keywords.”

 

Moises Lopez, Director, Accent Estimating