As SEO has changed a lot since its link-building years, most marketers today find themselves in a constant uphill battle when it comes to niche industries. These are the sectors that, despite the large revenue, are not that popular with the common crowd. Healthcare, legal, and construction, are three good examples.

Still, it’s important that they get good organic traffic, because it’s what generates revenue in the long term. But when it comes to niche industries, traditional optimization strategies won’t cut it. Instead, try these tailored Seo Tips for these special sectors.

1) SEO Tips for Healthcare

According to a 2015 survey, 54 percent of millennials (aged 18 to 24) look online for health information and doctor reviews before seeing a physician.

The increasing reliance on online reviews (especially on mobile) means you need to encourage patient testimonials. Make sure you’re on relevant review sites like ZocDoc that has both desktop and mobile capabilities. This ensures that you’ll be seen across any device. Other apps to be seen in are Doctor on Demand, Hula, and Vitals.

Aside from doctor reviews, patients today also like to research symptoms online. So help out by giving correct, easy-to-understand information. But how can you make sure they find YOUR content? From your own blog, expand your reach. Offer guest posts to related websites, or answer inquiries on your social media accounts.

These SEO tips are applicable for any healthcare professional or institution: from doctors, hospitals, health websites, to physician staffing services.

2) SEO Tips for Legal Practices

As the younger generation ages, they’ll be taking their online habits with them. Hence, more and more people are looking for good lawyers on the Web.

But Google doesn’t seem to be prioritizing local Legal businesses on search results. Instead, SERPs are dominated by online legal services like Avvo and Findlaw. So how can lawyers compete?

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s right: legal practices that already have a website should join these online legal services to increase their presence on the Web. There’s no point in trying to beat these heavyweights – especially if you’re new in the industry.

But even if online searches for lawyers are on the rise, personal referrals are still popular. In one survey, 38.6 percent found lawyers through family, friend, or work referrals. This means legal businesses need to greatly encourage clients to give them reviews or testimonials. Referral programs are also a good idea.

Pushing great content is helpful as well. This will cater to potential clients looking for basic legal advice online, while at the same time, help search engines like Google find your site.

Shouse Law is a good example of this technique.  Not only are they available on Avvo, their content appears among the top results if someone searches for the cases they specialize in (like California Criminal DUI).

3) SEO Tips for Construction Business

From roofing companies to interior design, businesses in the construction sector face a LOT of competition from each other. What do you do if you’re a small firm competing with over a dozen local businesses like yourself? Use geo-targeting.

This is in fact, one of the oldest SEO tips that involve including specific locations in keywords (i.e. Miami interior design services, New York roofing company). Although there’s local SEO, using geo-targeting helps you be seen by people who are using these search terms. If you’re servicing that particular area, it will also come in handy for acquiring customers within that location.

Another tactic for promoting brand awareness is engaging users in social media. While this has NOT been proven to affect your rankings, it’s great to help you be discovered.

Martell Custom Homes, an Atlantic Canadian custom homebuilder company, is a great example of how construction businesses can use social media to their advantage.

Aside from helpful videos on YouTube, they also feature recent client homes on their Facebook page. They also reply to every review, whether good or bad.

4) SEO Tips for Restaurants

The gastronomic industry is highly cutthroat. If you’re a corner diner or a fledgling bar, it can be tough to gain a larger slice of that online market. But here’s where smart SEO tips comes into play.

For starters, don’t forget to claim your business on Google Local. This allows you to be seen on their other services, such as Google Maps. Once that’s out of the way, optimize details on your website, like images and your menu.

Search engines can’t read images (yet), so make sure you provide appropriate alt tags. Briefly describe what’s on the photo (i.e. spaghetti Bolognese with parmesan cheese, grilled tuna with raspberry reduction, pink champagne, etc.). For menus, publish it on your website as a separate page OR as a downloadable PDF file. If using images, use the optimization trick mentioned above.

With about 25 percent of food lovers having at least ONE restaurant app in their phones, there’s no reason not to join online services like Yelp, Open Table, and Urbanspoon. This helps you quickly gain presence on mobile.

5) SEO Tips for Novelty Goods Businesses

Special products call for specialized SEO. Whether you’re selling bacon vodka or socks with ears, don’t forget to optimize your site to gain more traffic from online searches.

For out-of-this-world goods (i.e. hand underpants, wilted flowers, bacon vodka), leveraging sustainable mediums is best for the long haul. These mediums include video and photos. Videos are considered sustainable because people have a tendency to watch them regardless of when they were uploaded.

Famous gag gift, Handerpants for example, uses YouTube videos to keep their brand alive. Although they’ve been online for more than six years now, plenty of people still stumble upon their product thanks to this medium.

Another creative but sustainable medium is quizzes. People LOVE to take all kinds of quizzes. If it’s relevant to your brand, it’s a good way to engage users, while getting them interested in your goods.

Novelty socks company, MooshWalks, uses this strategy on their website. Their quick quiz is fun and helps undecided potential buyers know which socks suit them best. Plus, results are shareable on Twitter and Facebook.

If you’re not sure about these cute, novelty socks, their quirky content might just be the push you need to purchase.

SEO will continue to be an indispensable process for businesses that want to expand their reach online. That’s because people still use search engines to look for the products and services they need.

Whether you’re in healthcare or the construction industry, including these SEO tips in your digital marketing campaign will pay BIG TIME in the long run.

The post Boost Your Ranking in a Cinch: SEO Tips for 5 Niche Industries appeared first on SEO Expert Page.