Recently, I was visiting
Hershey, Pennsylvania with my family. On the last day of our trip, we wanted to
have dinner in town, so we did what millions of people do nowadays, we brought
up Google search on our phones.
We were in the mood for Italian
food – it’s always good to balance out the sweet with the savory, right?
After typing “Italian
restaurants” in search, we were presented with a few different options.
Immediately, I looked at the pictures, and then the reviews. Finally, I went to
the website to look over the menu.
One place didn’t appear to be
too nice, although it had some good reviews. The second place looked beautiful,
had good reviews, but I’ll be honest – the website was atrocious. There was no
menu and I couldn’t even get the website to load all the way. NEXT!
Finally, I found one Italian
restaurant that looked gorgeous inside and out, had great reviews, and the menu
was easily accessible. It was the winner.
That was THE best Italian
restaurant I’ve been to in a long time. I left a review to help them out
because I know it will.
I tell you this not to brag
about how great I am at picking restaurants, it’s an important lesson to every
local business owner, no matter the industry. Your consumers are looking online
for your services and products. Therefore, it’s extremely important to ask
yourself: do I have what they want and can they find me?
Local SEO should be the first
priority for local business owners looking to boost their marketing efforts.
The success of your business depends on it.
When you’re not an expert
at local search engine optimization, you’ll find many inconsistencies in the
industry. Some people downplay certain aspects of local SEO that are important,
and talk up other parts that aren’t as crucial as they make it sound. Knowing
what you should concentrate on can help you get ahead of your competitors.
Debunking Local SEO
Myths and Misconceptions
The following are the biggest
myths and misconceptions we’ve heard the confuse anyone trying to improve their
local SEO strategy.
Myth #1: You Don’t Need
Google My Business
Google My Business (GMB) is THE
MOST important part of local SEO. It’s where Google gets the information they
show on local “maps” search results within a local area.
Note: Some businesses try to
compete in local areas by optimizing their website pages for local keyword phrases,
but without actually having a GMB profile verified. If you’re trying to compete
in the search results in an area where you don’t have a GMB profile verified
and filled out, you’ll be at a big disadvantage to other local SEO competitors
who do.
It’s imperative to have your
address, phone number, website URL, and hours of operation correct on GMB.
Adding photos will entice your customers to want to come and see you or at
least contact you.
Keywords are important when
setting up and maintaining your profile. Google will know who to show your
business to if it knows what you offer.
A few years ago, Google also
added the Posts feature to GMB. With Posts, you can announce events, specials,
and other information you want people to know about regarding your services and
products. Use it.
Remember, the only reason I
found the Italian restaurant I went to was because they had everything I needed
on their GMB profile.
Once you have your GMB
completed and verified (by requesting and then inputting the verification code),
you can move on to citations.
Myth #2: Citations Don’t
Lead to More Visibility
The Yellow Pages aren’t cutting
it anymore. It’s online now, and you need to be listed. The problem is that you
don’t need to be listed on just one website, but many of them.
Citations are a huge ranking
factor for local visibility. Research has shown that the more citations a
business has, the higher they will appear in search engine results pages for
local areas.
Note: While
you may not get much traffic from some of these listings directly, the
citations gained from these listings can help you rank higher in Google’s local
search results.
Hundreds of listing sites are
available for you to add your business name, address, and phone number (NAP).
Concentrate on local citations first, and then broaden your reach with general
ones, as well as industry-specific directory listings.
Myth #3: You Don’t Need
Backlinks When You Have Citations
Many people (as many as 72% of people doing local SEO)
believe citations are everything, and link building doesn’t matter as much or
at all. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
A Local Search Ranking Factors
study shows that backlinks are also a major factor in rankings. Garnering links
from websites with a high Domain Authority (DA) is as important as well. Some
citations will provide backlinks — for example, most directory listings will
provide a backlink — but it’s also a good idea to seek out other sources of
backlinks.
One of the best ways to build
backlinks is to reach out to websites in your industry and ask if you can
contribute an article. You can then write about something you’re knowledgeable
in to help their site visitors, and in turn, you get a link to your website in
the byline section of your article.
Myth #4: Listings Don’t
Need to Be Consistent
Consistency is everything when
trying to gain exposure online. Google wants to be sure it provides its users
with accurate information. Any inconsistencies can lead Google to not trust the
business, and not rank it highly on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
This means all of your location
information needs to be the same on all citations. Name, address, phone number,
and website URL need to be the same. Don’t worry too much about “Street” vs.
“St.” Just be sure you have “Street” across all listings and not “Road” on some
of them.
Myth #5: Consumers Don’t
Pay Attention to Reviews
Research finds that 88% of consumers trust online
reviews over personal recommendations. Remember, I read reviews
before going to the Italian restaurant’s website. If reviewers said it wasn’t a
good place to eat, I wouldn’t have looked at the menu.
Google has recently announced
that reviews are a ranking factor in local SERPs. The more positive reviews a
business has, the more visibility they will receive.
This means that getting reviews
is crucial to the success of your local SEO strategy. Ask customers to leave a
Google review as they make a purchase, contact them after they make a purchase
to remind them, and run specials for people who leave a review. Consistently do
whatever you can to let your customers know that you would appreciate their
feedback.
Tip: Publish
a page on your website with instructions on how to leave a review on Google.
Include a link to where they can leave their feedback. You can even publish
screenshots for those who are visual learners.
While you’re on your website,
start looking into how user-friendly it is because that matters too, despite
the myth.
Myth #6: Website User
Experience Doesn’t Matter
Online users want information
as quickly and easily as possible. They trust Google to provide them with sites
that deliver that, which is why it’s important that you consider and improve
user experience.
Google rewards businesses for
their efforts in providing a good user experience by showing their websites to
more users.
Moz backs up Google by stating:
“[UX] provides an indirect but
measurable benefit to a site’s external popularity, which the engines can then
interpret as a signal of higher quality. Crafting a thoughtful, empathetic UX
helps ensure that visitors to your site perceive it positively, encouraging
sharing, bookmarking, return visits and inbound links – all signals that
trickle down to the search engines and contributes to high rankings.”
While we’re on the topic of
user experience, let’s cover the importance of having a mobile-friendly
website.
Myth #7: A Site Doesn’t
Need to be Mobile Friendly
This may have been true a few
years ago, but not anymore. Nearly 60% of searches now are
performed on mobile.
Google has announced the
mobile-friendliness of sites IS a ranking factor. If your site isn’t responsive
to mobile devices, it simply won’t be shown to users.
Again, user experience is
important.
Myth #8: Content Helps
Organic Search Results, Not Local Search
This is untrue. Consumers
appreciate transparency and information no matter if it’s a national or local
business. Customers want to feel connected to the businesses they buy from, and
the best way to do that is with content.
Google knows this, and that’s
why they tend to rank websites with thin, low-quality content lower on SERPs.
The best way to prevent that is to make sure the content published on your site
provides users with all of the information they need and want.
Myth #9: You Don’t Need
to Do Keyword Research
You probably have a good idea
of what your consumers are typing in when searching for your services or
products. If you’re a dentist, you probably assume people are typing in
“dentist in San Diego” or “dental office in Baltimore.”
Are these the only keywords you
should shoot for in local SEO? No, because you’ll miss out on all of the people
that type in something else, such as “dental implants in San Diego.”
We recommend that every local
business use location-based keyword research to reach potential customers. It
will not only improve visibility, but it can lead to higher conversions. Google reports, “Fifty
percent of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a
store within a day, and 34% who searched on a computer/tablet did the same.”
The keywords you use in your
content can be used in other ways, such as in social media. This is something
you should also be utilizing to improve visibility.
Myth #10: Social Media
Doesn’t Do Anything
Many local businesses start
using social media, but quickly back out of it because they don’t see any
engagement or traffic to their website. Unfortunately, this retreat from social
media can negatively affect their success with local SEO.
Social media isn’t just about
getting people to like, comment and share posts. While these interactions are
good, there’s another reason to continue using social media — backlinks.
As mentioned previously,
backlinks are important and they can come from social networking sites.
Whenever you have a new website page or blog, it should be posted on social
networking sites.
Google crawls these sites and
does consider them as backlinks.
In addition, by adding content
to social media, you never know what might capture the attention of someone who
will share it with their followers. This could lead to great exposure that
wouldn’t otherwise happen if it wasn’t for posting on the social network.
The Truth About Local
SEO
To achieve local SEO success,
you need to set up, optimize and maintain a Google My Business listing. You
need to gather citations AND backlinks. Information on your site needs to be
clear, accurate, and easily accessible. It should be mobile-friendly. Finally,
social media does make a difference, so don’t abandon it when it seems as
though no one is paying attention.
Want
Help with Local SEO? Here at Main Street ROI, we provide SEO services designed
for local businesses.
Click here to request a free quote for SEO services
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