3 Reasons All
Local Businesses Should Invest in Local SEO
1. Google is the New
Yellow Pages: Until recently, the tried and true strategy for local
businesses was to place an ad in the Yellow Pages and wait for the
phone to ring. Today, though, a stunning 97% of people search for local
businesses online, and Google is by far the most popular option.
2. Free Traffic:
Although search advertising can be a very effective channel, it’s hard
to beat free. If you boost your organic Google rankings, you can take
advantage of an ongoing stream of free traffic that you can convert
into customers.
3. Level Playing Field:
Local SEO is one area where small local businesses are on an equal
playing field with larger, national businesses. And if you implement
Local SEO best practices, it’s not uncommon to gain first-page rankings
in as little as 30 days.
Here are the 5 steps to
get you started…
Step 1: Select
Your Keywords
First, just make a
quick list of simple keywords that explain your services. For example,
an accountant might choose “accountant”, “cpa”, and “tax advisor.” Keep
going until you have a reasonably comprehensive list, and then sign up
for a free Google Ads account.
You don’t need to
create or fund an ad campaign, but a Google Ads account gives you
access to the free Google Keyword Planner. This helpful tool lets you
input your selected keywords to see how much traffic they generate, as
well as suggestions for related keywords that you may not have
considered.
After running all of
your prospective keywords through the Google Keyword Planner, you are
ready to finalize your list. All keywords can be loosely classified
into 2 basic categories:
Buying Intent Keywords
People searching for
buying intent keywords are looking for your product or service now. For
example, someone who searches for “tax help Orlando” likely needs to
have specific tax questions answered as soon as possible.
Your initial focus
should be on buying intent keywords since those are the searches that
are more likely to generate leads and customers for your business.
Incorporate those keywords into the content on your homepage, and
create service pages for them. Your homepage should be focused on your
#1 most important “buying intent” keyword. And then each of your
service pages should be optimized for keywords related to those
specific services.
Research Intent
Keywords
Research intent
keywords show that a prospect is “just looking” or potentially looking
to handle the work himself. The person might want your services
eventually, but not today. For example, “what does a cpa do” likely
indicates that the prospect is just beginning to wonder how an
accountant can offer help. Or, a person researching “how to plant a
dogwood tree” may not want to hire a landscaper right now.
Research intent
keywords should not be of top priority since they do not drive quick
conversions. Hang onto them, though, as they are excellent for FAQs and
blogs. These informational posts introduce you to prospects who might
remember you when they are ready to make a purchase.
Step 2: Optimize
For Your Keywords
Now that your keywords
are finalized, you can move on to optimization. You need to separately
optimize for them in 2 places—your Google My Business profile and your
website. Here’s what to do:
A) Google My Business
Think of your Google My
Business page as a mini website that will show up in the “Map” section
of Google local listings. It offers a brief snapshot of your business.
The important thing to
recognize is that Google prefers to show Google My Business pages for
lots of local searches. Google realizes that when people are searching
for a dentist or a yoga studio, they want to see local results — and
Google shows the “Map” results (Google My Business listings) above the
regular website results.
In order to rank on the
first page, your Google My Business page must be fully completed and
entirely accurate.
Here’s a checklist to
get you started:
- Verification:
First, claim your page and submit it through the Google
verification process. Google will send you a postcard in the mail
with a verification code.
- Contact
Info: Make sure that your business contact info is up to date, and
are identical across your Google My Business profile, your
website, and other online listings. You can check the accuracy and
consistency of your contact info with MozLocal. Let Google know
that you have a local business by choosing a local number rather
than an 800 number.
- Categories:
Google categories must be focused on services rather than results.
For example, a fence company might choose Fence Contractor and
Fence Supply Store, along with any supplementary services such as
Handyman. Aim for 3 to 5 categories in total.
- Description:
Your description is a brief overview of your business that closes
with a call to action, and should be between 100 and 200 words
long. A fence company might use something like this: {Name of Company}
offers professional {fence building and repair or similar} in
{Your City}. {Provide some information about your company and/or
why customers choose you.} Call today for a free estimate!
- Hours:
Make sure that your hours of operation are correct and are
identical across the Internet.
- Images:
Images help to humanize you to potential customers, and can
increase customer engagement. Depending on the nature of your
business, you might add a few photos of your office and your
staff, your team at work, or even your satisfied customers (with
permission).
B) Website Optimization
Start with your
homepage and service pages, which are considered your core pages, and
optimize them for your selected buying intent keywords. Later, you will
optimize your blogs and FAQs, or content pages, for your research
intent keywords. Here’s how:
i)
Homepage
The most important
element on your homepage is a 50 to 65-character title tag, which is
roughly equivalent to a book’s chapter title. An orthodontist’s
homepage might use a title tag like this:
Orthodontist in {Your
City} | {Name of Your Practice}
Next is the meta
description, which should be 100 to 150 characters long, describe your
core services, and end with a call to action. For an orthodontist, it
might look like this:
{Name of Practice}
offers quality {orthodontic services keywords} in {Your City}. Call {Phone
Number} today to schedule your free evaluation!
Next, make sure you’ve
got a well-written H1, the visible headline on your page. It should be
concise and easy to read and should include your main Google category.
Here’s an example homepage H1 template for an orthodontist:
{Name of Practice}:
{Orthodontist} in {City, State}
Finally, consider your
page copy. It should be 500 to 1000 words in length, tightly written
and edited, and peppered with your primary keyword in a natural
fashion. Give some background information on your company, briefly
describe your main services, and end with a strong call to action.
Also, make sure you
have a prominent call to action “above the fold” on your homepage, so
it’s obvious how to contact your company, without scrolling down the
page.
ii)
Service Pages
Each of your core
services should have its own separate service page. Optimize each for a
buying intent keyword, following the same steps that you used for your
homepage.
For example, if you’re
an attorney with multiple practice areas, you’d want to have a separate
page for each practice area (such as estate planning, criminal defense,
and personal injury). And each of those pages should be optimized for
the service keyword as well as the geographic keyword.
For example, the title
tags for the pages could be structured like this:
Estate Planning
Attorney in {City, State} | {Name of Practice}
Criminal Defense
Attorney in {City, State} | {Name of Practice}
Personal Injury
Attorney in {City, State} | {Name of Practice}
iii) Locations &
“Service Area” Pages
If you have multiple
locations, we recommend building out a page for each location.
And if you travel to
your customers/clients, we recommend building out a Service Area
section of your website, with 5-10 pages optimized for your 5-10 top
priority towns within your service area.
Each page’s title tag
could then have the service keyword and the geographic keyword
pertaining to your primary service and the town.
iv) Contact Info on
Every Page
Earlier, we mentioned
the importance of having accurate and consistent contact information
for your business online. One important step to take is to get your
company's contact details listed on every page of your website, and an
easy way to do that is to add the contact info in the footer of every
page on your site.
Step 3: Develop
Citations and Links
Now that the skeleton
of your local SEO campaign is in place, you are ready for citations and
links. Both enhance your online reach and improve your Google rankings.
A) Citations
A citation is just a
listing of your business contact information in an online directory.
Popular options include general national directories such as Yelp,
general local directories such as your town’s Chamber of Commerce site,
and directories that are targeted to your industry.
Be careful to ensure
that your contact details are identical across all of your listings.
You can check the accuracy of your contact info using MozLocal.
B) Links
It’s important to build
a foundation of links in order to put your business in the running with
your local competitors.
Directories are a good
starting point for building links as well as citations.
Also, consider the
“real world” offline relationships you have with colleagues, partners,
and suppliers, and see if you have opportunities to get links from
their websites or swap links.
In addition, research
your competitors to see where they’re getting links. Tools like Moz
Link Explorer and Ahrefs.com can show you where your nearby competitors
find their links.
Step 4: Request
Reviews
Online reviews are
crucial for 2 reasons. First, they let Google know that you have a
legitimate business. Second, they can help convince prospects to give
your company a try. All reviews are valuable, but Google My Business
reviews are obviously the most important for improving your Google
rankings.
The best way to get
reviews on your Google profile is to send your customers a direct link
to where they can post a review. We recommend sending your customers an
email with that direct link. The only problem is that Google doesn’t
make it super easy for you — you have to create this direct link
yourself.
Here’s how to do it.
Search for your company name, and you should see a Google My Business
profile preview in the top-right of the search results. you’ll see the
“Write a Review” button next to your company name, below your profile
preview. Click on that link, and then copy the full URL in your
browser. That’s the link you’ll want to share with your customers.
It’ll be a long link, so just hyperlink it in your email, and say
“Click here to leave us a review.”
People are generally
eager to help, and doing this regularly can ensure a steady flow of
recent reviews.
Step 5: Track
Your Results
It’s important to track
your results with Local SEO, so you know what’s working and what’s not,
and how to improve over time.
Here are the 3 most
important metrics to track:
A) Rankings
The search results that
Google displays are customized based on location and your previous
browsing activity. The best way to get consistent ranking metrics is to
use a tool (rather than checking manually). Some of our favorite tools
for tracking Local SEO rankings are Rank Ranger, AgencyAnalytics, and
BrightLocal.
B) Traffic
To track your traffic,
or visitors to your website, use Google Analytics.
We recommend keeping an
eye on organic search traffic trends on a long-term and short-term
basis. For example, you should review the long-term SEO traffic trends
over the past year, and also compare the most recent month (January
2020) to the previous month (December 2019), as well as to the same
month from the previous year (e.g. January 2019).
That way, you’ll have a
sense of whether your traffic is growing over time, and you’ll also
know how each month stacks up to previous months. And if you have a
seasonal business, then it’s important to measure against the same
month in the previous year versus the previous month.
C) Leads
Finally, it’s critical
to track the leads you’re generating from your website. For example,
you’ll want to set up Google Analytics Goals to track webform
completions when people submit a contact form on your website or sign
up for a coupon or for your email newsletter.
Using Goal tracking in
Google Analytics, you can track how many leads you’re generating from
SEO, as well as which pages on your website and generating the most
conversions.
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