Sometimes the answer is hitting you right in the face, especially when it comes to doing local seo on your business’s website. Having gained experience doing local seo in the Pittsburgh area, it’s starting to really become clear that businesses tend to miss the things right in front of them. They’re hoping for a huge influx of visits from all over the US looking to buy their products.
Sure, giving them the benefit of the doubt and after some quick institutionalization, the main goal then shifts to nailing down the local aspect and focusing on leads and conversions that are more conducive to their business.
With the introduction of Google Hummingbird, locality searches and the use of semantic search have grown even more important to being found within your local business area. Read on to see how these changes can improve your online presence with little to no tech effort involved.
The unreal thing, is that people charge you for these local seo tips that you’re about to read. These selling points are often spoken about and considered too technical for a business owner like yourself to understand. It’s simply not true, and the management aspect is the most time-consuming part.
It’s understood that owning a business is hard and time-consuming, but it’s either hundreds of dollars a month to pay for someone to manage your site/social media, or 15 minutes a day/week to keep everything up to date.
Just remember, nobody knows your business or market better than you do. You have the inside track to what sells and what’s popular in the industry; leverage it online to build a local presence!
Local SEO Tips You Shouldn’t Pay For
1) Get your business on Google (https://www.google.com/business/placesforbusiness/).
This should be the first thing you do. Register and verify your business ASAP. Don’t pay for someone to manage something that takes 10 minutes to do, and you can instantly verify the business with a number directly with the business landline.
The benefit of doing this allows you to edit the business information and giving you the ability to add pictures/video as well as your website. This is key with the new Hummingbird Algorithm. People using searches like “nearest service station” will then be able to see your business location correctly with very important present.
UPDATE 10/16/2013
If you have an adroid device, Google just released the Places For Business app. It will be eventually coming to iOS but for now it’s Android only. Take charge of your business listing right from your android phone. It’s got a whole slew of features available. Get it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.bizbuilder
Update your business information, including hours, address, contact information, photos and description.
- Keep your customers in the know by posting updates and photos
- Respond to comments and +1’s on your posts
- Learn how customers find and interact with your business with insights
- Manage multiple business locations from one app
2) Get a Google+ Business Page (http://www.google.com/+/business/).
Don’t take this local seo tips post as an all-encompassing love fest for all things Google. Don’t get me wrong though, with a majority of the searches done there, anything they have to offer that could be valuable to your business should be used. It’s also another thing that takes a solid 15-20 minutes to do.
The key here though, is that once it’s active start using it to push new products. I know everyone uses Facebook and Twitter, but really incorporate it into your posting strategy. It’s beneficial for reviews/pictures/videos/customer outreach. These are the kinds of things that can really give an extra boost to your business as well as brand.
3) Control your information.
There are multiple places where your local citations can be placed. Register with as many directories as you can and fix the information so it displays correctly. Having these sites displaying the same information that your website does builds a very strong causation. Sites like localeze and infoUSA can help you set up a uniform look across the web.
Google then relates everything together in a citation format, boosting your local online presence. This then leads to my next suggestion.
4) Phone numbers and addresses on each page.
Make sure this one is followed strictly. Make sure that every page on your website has the most up to day contact information available. Avoid using 800 numbers if you’re local specific. While they’re nice, they don’t build any local relevance like your local number would.
5) Get reviews good or bad.
Any and all reviews should be asked to be put online. Make sure this becomes on of your closing points as you complete a service. If you’re willingly asking people to put their reviews online, it helps build a greater idea of what you’re business is about. It also helps if there’s a negative review. Who wouldn’t want the ability to make it right and see that solution grow for anyone who could be searching your business. Be rewarded for the services you offer and show people you’re willing to go the extra mile for someone who had a negative experience.
Local search can go much deeper. However these 5 tips are simple, and quick to adopt for your business. Having the ability to control everything right at your fingertips is beneficial in the long run, and for the cheaper “local SEO” options in the Pittsburgh area, these are the most common things that will likely be sold to you.
Of course you’re going to take the local seo options if you feel that you’re truly out in the cold when it comes to technology, but I’ve seen some pretty savvy business owners take these local seo tips and make them their own and have success in their own way.