Essential local SEO tips

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Local search engine optimization can be just as time consuming and competitive as “regular” SEO. The same rules apply — you need to have good content and quality links. However, the tactics are slightly different in specific areas. As always there are some tactics that you can use easily and some that require a dedicated local seo expert who can provide a daily punch to your local ranking efforts.

Local search is essential to small businesses. In 2010, Google revealed that the proportion of Google result pages that show a map is one in 13. A few months later, Google changed from its Local Business Center (LBC) to Google Places, which enables businesses to communicate with customers as well as supplement their Google profile information to include hours of operation, photos, videos, coupons and product offerings. We assume Google is serving maps more than 1 billion times a month.

With all of this in mind, here’s the beginnings of what you need to know to successfully tap into local markets.

Where to Begin

List your business in Google Places — it’s free. Watch a number of training videos and explore the features, including tools like tracking of actions (meaning how many times users showed interest in your business listing), clicks for more information on maps, driving directions or direct clicks, as well as impressions (how many times users saw your business listing as a local search result). As you’ll see, it will be important to get ratings and references, too.

While much focus is placed on Google Places, don’t forget to also register at:

• Yahoo! Local
• Bing Local

Verify Your Business

One easy way to find out if your business is listed anyplace online is to search for your brand name. Include the city or locale you are supposed to be listed in.

If you are not listed, take action. For instance, if I’m a tax attorney in Beverly Hills, California, I would search for “tax attorney Beverly Hills.” I’d see the top local results (just below Google’s paid search results) as well as a local map on the right, hovering over more paid listings.

When I click on one particular local result, I notice that it has not been verified, meaning it does not include a “verified business owner” link. An arrow points to “Business owner,” indicating it needs verification.

Google pulls the data on this result (address, phone number) from some of the larger business aggregators like infoUSA, and attempts to match it up correctly. However, that data could be wrong. If that’s the case, it would be important for this particular owner to take corrective measures. This is why it’s important to verify your business information in local search results.

Select Your Categories

When registering, make sure to assign your business to the listed categories that best describe it. You can add up to five categories. Once you start typing, Google Places will display related categories.

Continue to add as much information as possible, including hours, payment types, e-mail address, phone number, URL/web address, photos, videos and coupons. Fill out each field, if appropriate.

When you’re done, make videos, upload them to YouTube and link them back into your local profile on Google Places. If you install and use tools like JingProject.com, it’ll be free and easy to make an informational, useful video. Screen cam your PowerPoint presentations. You can include up to 10 pictures and five videos.

Get Listed in Local Directories

Obtaining citations from local business directories like Yelp and Merchant Circle can be a powerful tool to get exposure and drive traffic. (See the list of directories in the Local SEO resources sections below.) Make sure that all your information is correct, and keep the same formatting across all locations.

Ask for Reviews

Don’t be afraid to ask customers for reviews. Offer special incentives and discounts for return visits to your office. You can also add a postcard or business card into your office invoice mailings asking your customers to review the visit and talk about the experience.

However, don’t unwittingly spam this system by asking all your friends to review you in a week. You should also get references from the Better Business Bureau, your local chamber of commerce and the top local directories.

These tips should start you out. A local seo expert can help you enlarge your campaign and show you many more local seo techniques to bring you Page Rank and customers.

Tags: bing, local SEO, search engine marketing, SEO tips, Yahoo local

Posted in Google Places, Local SEO | No Comments »

My Favorite SEO Tools

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Here’s a short, sweet list of some of my favorite SEO tools:

Yahoo Clues Yahoo clues is sort of insights for search’ish and Alexa clicksteam’ish but a bit sexier because of the size of their index and depth of intel offered. Open up the tool, run a search, scroll down. The Money is in the little section waaay down titled as ‘search flow’ This section gives you the most likely, according to yahoo’s internal search data, previous and next search terms.

Why it’s hot:
It is based on yahoo’s index which makes it cooler then Alexa and you can search phrase combination and rerun the thing to give you previous/next data for those phrases.

How I use it:
I’d never recommend using just one tool for anything, so I call Google Insights for Search, Alexa Clickstream, and Yahoo Clues search flow my ‘unholy tripariate of new keyword opportunities. Whenever I’m doing any kind of reporting or just analysis generally, I always look for new words that are gaining speed that the competition hasn’t caught on to yet. This is easy because many sites do real keyword research once and call it a day. I exploit that fact in client competitors and get at all the words they’re missing using these three little tools ::maniacal laugh::

Search Engine Reports Rank Checker this is my ‘sweeter then the rest‘ bulk rank checker

Why it’s hot:
Not only does it give you ranking data for phrases in bulk for Google and Bing but it gives you the title tag meta description, url, and cache data.

How to use it:
Take your keyword research, find a competitor, pop the list in, run it!…now how is your competitor comparing to you for that huge list for phrases??

ez-seo on page tool : Crazy amounts of on page data in one place

Why it’s hot:
This tool really breaks the onpage down. You have no idea how many times I’ve seen people paying all this money to get their pages ranked for this or that phrase and their title tag is aweful. Scan for those kinds of simple issues easily with this tool and give your client lots of nifty number to look at. Just like SEO’s love graphs, managers <3 numbers.

How I use it:
I stick it into reports for the ooohh ahhh effect.

Web Design Tools

instant eyedropper Basically you download this free tool and it will identify and pate into clipboard the html color code of and pixil on the screen with one click.

Why it’s hot:
Awesome when you’re trying to replicate a certain webpage or style this is the super lazy mans way.

How I Use it:
This is really handy when I”m trying to replicate stuff or do design wireframes or any kind of templating really.

Lorem Ipsum is dummy text used by the printing and typesetting industry since about the 1500′s brought to the web age. Basically when you’re designing wireframes or planning a site design, this dummy text ‘fills’ in the layout. (By the way, thank you to colleague who showed me this, it’s awesome!)

Why it’s hot:
This tool is hot because you can choose the amount of words, paragraphs, bytes, or list based on the number you want and Ipsum spits it out exactly as such.

How I use it:
This is handy in several ways. You can use it to fill in layouts like you’re supposed to. You can also use it to plan the ‘look’ of content you want to out source or have your writer look on. After all, when it comes to content writing stuff seeing really puts content needs into context.

Affiliate Tools

With these, I’m not gonna go into why they’re hot or how I use them but they’re definitely neat. If you’re a for real affiliate, once you see them, you’ll know

domain crawler basically replace the numbers in the url with someones adsense publish code and find out what other domain names are associated with that publisher code.

sitonomy run a URL through here and this tool will give you the title tag, meta description, stat tools (google analytics, omniture etc), server software, server IP, and it will give you info on THEIR affiliate tracking code (adsense, commission junction, click bank etc.)

Tags: SEO tips, seo tools

Posted in Local SEO | 1 Comment »

SEO and More: the many uses of Google

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Local SEO gurus spend a lot of time on Google, but even we are surprised sometimes by all the different services this seemingly simple search engine provides. Some of these handy uses can help with local search engine optimization and some can’t, but it’s neat to know all of them and convenient to use some of the shortcuts Google provides.

The architects of the most powerful search engine in the world have included some really handy algorithms in their service, which allow searchers to quickly locate particular and specific types of information.

Area Codes

Enter a US telephone area code in the URL box to see a map of the area covered by that telephone area code.

Definitions

In order to quickly find the definition of a word, simply type “define: word” in the search box. Google will then provide the definition of the word.

Calculator

Type a math problem into the Google search box, and Google will calculate the answer. Google acts as a calculator when mathematical calculation is presented. Google recognizes the following mathematical symbols: addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), to the power of (^), and square root of a number (sqrt).

Weather

To see the weather for many US and worldwide cities, type “weather” followed by the city and state, US zipcode, or city and country. Google will provide a current weather forecast.

Current Time

To see the current time in any city around the world, type “time” and the name of the city. Google will display the current time for that city.

Patent Search

To search for US patents, enter the word “patent” into the Google search box, followed by the patent number. Google will display the details of that particular patent.

Track Shipments

Shipments can easily be tracked using Google simply by entering the tracking number for your UPS, FedEx, or USPS package directly into the Google search box. Google will return the tracking results and status of the shipment.

Stock Quotes

Google can help investors keep an eye on the changing stock market. To see current market data for a given company or fund, simply type the ticker symbol into the Google search box. The resulting webpage displays financial data from the Google Finance service.

Maps

Looking for a map? Type in the name or US zipcode for a location, along with the word “map” and Google will display a map of that location.

Convert Currency

Google also has a built-in currency converter. Simply enter the conversion you would like to see performed in the Google search box, and Google will provide the currency conversion.

Flight Status

To view the flight status for arriving and departing US airline flights, enter the name of the airline and the flight number into the Google search box. Airport delays and details can be found by typing in the name of the city or three-letter airport code, followed by the word “airport”.

Population

To see trends for population and unemployment rates of US states and counties, type “population” or “unemployment rate” followed by a state or county. You can click through to a page that lets you compare different locations.

Related Websites

Google will display webpages that contain similar content. Include “related:” followed by a website address in the Google search box for a listing of related websites.

Linked Websites

When “link:” is used in the Google search box, and followed by a URL, the search results will include a listing of all webpages indexed by the search engine which contain links to the specified URL (i.e. to see how many websites are linking back to your site, or to a competitor’s site).

20. Indexed Pages

When “site:” is entered in the Google search box, followed by a domain name, the search engine locates all documents within a specific domain, including all of its sub-domains. This is an easy way to get a rough idea of the number of pages indexed for a given domain.

There are plenty of other Google tricks and uses, some of them even I haven’t discovered yet and some I have. Google continues to be more than just a search engine for millions of people.

Tags: google, google uses, SEO tips

Posted in Google | 3 Comments »

Goggle Places key to strong local SEO strategies

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

The industry of local SEO changed massively in 2010. We have seen the introduction and growth of Google Places, Google Instant, and Google Preview, etc. Many of these changes have been keeping local SEO orientated webmasters busy updating their websites so they don’t lose customers or business as a result of all these changes.

One thing I wouldn’t like to bet against is Google Places becoming a lot more competitive and dominant. Google seem to have focused on this strongly through the second half of 2010. The SERP has in my opinion become a lot more relevant, it gives you chance to find good information, whether it be a news feed, a blog post, local business listing or a natural organic result.

The last big PageRank update was in April 2010. This is one of the longest periods (as far as I can remember) that it has not been updated in. This gives me the impression that Google could be changing or may have changed its ranking algorithm to place a lower importance on the number of inbound links your site requires for ranking in Google Places.

I would say that your location and content/service you provide are becoming more important than link building. Google has now even introduced reviews for local businesses. Not only does Goggle Places allow you to review businesses using Google, it also picks up reviews from big review websites. Having positive reviews could become as important as having good backlinks.

Whatever the case it is clearly becoming more important that you have a well-designed ranking strategy for Google Places. Businesses wise enough to figure out how to stay ranked on the ever-changing Google landscape will be the ones with the most powerful local SEO.

Tags: google places, local search engine optimization, local SEO, SEO tips

Posted in Google Places | No Comments »

Google Instant Preview adds visuals to SEO

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Tags: google instant, google previews, search engine marketing, SEO tips

Posted in Google Instant, Google Previews | 1 Comment »

3 Top Local SEO Tips

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

Top Ten Competitors Research

The foundation of a successful local search engine optimization campaign begins with researching your top local competitors. Taking note of data such as page titles, content headers, site descriptions and keywords used to name a few, can give you great insight and a jump start on which direction to point your campaign. Browse their blogs and forums to see who is linking to them and which conversation starters got the most feedback from visitors.

Take a second look at the site layout, does it flow from a marketing perspective? Are the contact details readily available? How about a visible phone number? Take all into consideration when researching your competitors and compare your lists to map your foundation.

Keyword Research

Working in conjuction with your top ten local competitors research will be your keyword research. Now its time to find where these clients are coming from. Using online tools such as Wordtracker, Wordpot and the Google keyword tool can give you great insight to who is typing what search term the most to find your category.

Using these terms to determine how you will organize your site layout, page titles and content headers can give you an enormous advantage over others less savy. There are several SEO tools available on the net to help you perform these simple tasks and while some vary greatly aesthetically; in the end, they all spit the same information. Just be sure to stick to the most popular!

Content Management

Optimized content management holds great value in organic search engine optimization search results. Adding fresh relevant content on a regular basis (often referred to as “Spider Food”) keeps the search bots happy and more & more search moguls like Google give rich rewards to web sites that create fresh original content.

Research is key in content development & content development is a large piece of the organic pie and local search engine management plan

Tags: local search engine optimization, local sem, local SEO, SEO tips

Posted in Local SEM, Local SEO | No Comments »

Search engine optimization: not inventing the wheel but rolling it

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Local search engine optimization is not a huge mystery but it does take some time and energy. If you are already familiar with SEO you don’t need to unlearn everything you have learned, but just to add new knowledge to your online strategies.

If you are aiming to get a high ranking in local Google searches you have to be aware of the criteria Goggle use to rank your website. One thing you can obviously take into consideration is distance. However, the power of the internet makes sure the competition is healthy. This means that a store that’s only a few miles from your store and is nearer to a major city doesn’t mean that it will be ranking higher than you. The only way this has any of affect at all is when your store is at a large distance, over 20 miles. In that case, the distance becomes a factor but otherwise it will be local search engine optimization that determines your rank.

The crucial aspects such as on page and off page SEO will still play a major role in the ranking of your website. If your locally targeted website contains content that’s SEO optimized with the right keyword density, then it will definitely be ranking higher than the others.

As with any regular search engine optimization, when you use the right keywords on your site, your rankings will dramatically improve in Google’s local searches. Just make sure your address appears at various places on your website, so that it can be crawled. Also have your city name inserted in important places such as the headings and of course, the title tags. When you do this, the chances of your site coming up when someone searches using your local keywords get strong.

If you’ve tried Google SEO for a while now, you know how much value Google gives to anchor text, so it’s important to have your related local keywords in your anchor text when linking to any external site that’s relevant (Example: SEO Pro Asheville). Keep in mind that Google gives high emphasis to the position of the text appearing on the page. If all your targeted keywords are brought together and aren’t spaced out, it may affect your local ranking.

You also have to keep in mind what kind of rating your business has in the real world. For instance, if you own a 5 star hotel, it will automatically be ranked higher than a 3 star hotel. That’s how Google works. All those sites that have a good reputation and a well-known business are going to get a higher rank in Google local searches.

Apart from this, manually adding your site to Google by going to their site is a good idea. This can give you a faster ranking. Remember, the longer your business stays on their listing, the higher it will be ranked. Businesses that aren’t long term and don’t stay around for long don’t get to rank well.

Tags: local search engine optimization, local SEO, local SEO expert, search engine marketing, SEO tips

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Getting a start on local SEO

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Local SEO, which is the art and science of ranking well in search engines for local results, is one of those things that is easy to learn but hard to master, so let’s focus on the easy part. Say you’ve got a website and it’s not ranking in Google very well for whatever search term you desire results from. What is there to do about it?

These are some simple things you can do, or even better get someone else to do for you, to start off your local SEO campaign.

Figure Out Your Target Audience

Until you know who you are targeting there is not much point in doing local SEO. What words are your potential customers searching with when you want to be found? What are different modes are they in when they are searching? Are they ready to buy? Are they just doing research? Are they big spenders or are they cheapskates?

In general you should pick terms that match up with your service, that you think will convert well and that have good search volume. To get an idea of search volume use Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool.

Then once you come up with your target keyword list…

Update Your Page Titles

The “title tag” is perhaps the most important element of SEO and local SEO. These are the words that appear at the top of your web browser when you are on a page. They are also the words that show up in the blue links in Google.

Put the search terms you are targeting in your page titles. In general keep the titles as brief as possible while at the same time making them appealing to searchers. Put the most important keywords at the beginning of the title. Don’t worry about getting this perfect the first time as these are very easy to change and Google usually reacts to these changes quickly.

Make Each Page Title Unique and Add Your City Name

It is also important in local SEO that all of the pages on your site have unique page titles. Make sure you add your city name to the titles as a lot of people search for your service in your city.

You also should check the meta descriptions tags of each page to make sure those are unique as well.

Add a Few Internal Links

The number of links a page gets from its own site and which pages link to it matters. The home page is the most important on the site and so the pages that are linked to from the home page are also important. Figure out which pages you want to rank the most and add links from other pages to these pages. Make sure you use relevant keywords in the text of those links. For example if you want to rank the page for “pasta” use the word “pasta” in the text of the links that go to that page. Try not to use the exact same phrases in each link to make it look more natural. For example in some of the links use “best pasta” or “terrific pasta”.

Add Your Address to Every Page

Ideally every page should have your address and phone number. This is helpful for users but it also reinforces your location to the search engines. If your business has multiple locations then you may want to create a separate page for each location or at least a single page that lists all locations. Make sure you link to these pages from as many pages as possible on the site. It would probably be a good idea to list as many location names as possible on the home page too.

Also use these tried and true tips for local SEO improvement.

Get Links

None of this stuff will work very well if you don’t have any links to your site. The big search engines look at links from other sites as a sign of quality and trust. So you should spend some time thinking about what other sites you think you can get links from. Here are some of the obvious ones:

– Chambers of commerce/local business groups
– Local business directories/Local newspaper site
– Friends who have sites (including your kid’s blog)
– Partners/Vendors

There are hundreds of other ways to get links like writing articles for other sites, sending out press releases, adding your business info to social media sites, etc.

It’s important to understand that local SEO is not a one-time thing just like running a TV ad campaign is not a one-time thing. It’s a marketing tactic like any other. And as more people use the Web to find local services, local SEO could become one of the more important components of your marketing plan. So get familiar with it today so you can master it tomorrow.

If you have any more questions about local SEO please use our contact form for Local SEO Asheville.

Tags: local search engine optimization, local SEO, SEO tips

Posted in Local SEO | No Comments »