search engine optimization for local search optimized! optimized! mary bowling twitter:...

Search Engine Optimization

For Local Search

Optimized!www.MaryBowling.com

Mary BowlingTwitter: @MaryBowling

Blog: www.MaryBowling.comGoogle+: MaryBBowling@gmail.com

www.LocalU.org

For Local Businesses, SEO is

Making it as easy as possible for prospective customers to find

information about YOUR BUSINESS

wherever they may be looking online for you or for the

goods and services you sell!

www.LocalU.org

To Achieve That, We Need To:

• Create and improve your website so that it will rank highly on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to help potential customers find the business’ website.

• Create and improve business listings in important local places across the web to help potential customers find the business’ information on other websites.

www.LocalU.org

SEO Helps You Rank in 2 Ways

PAID ADSLOCAL MAP

PAID ADS

LOCAL RESULTS

ORGANIC RESULTS

www.LocalU.org

Who Gets The Clicks?

US Search Engine Market Share January 2013

67%GOOGLE

Other5%Bing

12%Yahoo

BingHoo 28%

www.LocalU.org

Bing provides organic search results for Yahoo! Search

Source: ComScore

Aim for Ranking on Page 1 !

#1 - 42.13%#2 - 11.90%#3 - 8.50%#4 - 6.06%#5 - 4.92%#6 - 4.05%#7 - 3.41%#8 - 3.01%#9 - 2.85%#10 - 2.99%www.LocalU.org

The SEO Process

• Pick the right keyword phrases• Decide which pages on our website to optimize for

which terms• Implement the keyword phrases within the content

of your web pages appropriately • Link between your own pages• Gain links and citations from other websites• Eliminate technical problems

www.LocalU.org

The Algorithms(What’s the secret formula?)

Optimized!www.MaryBowling.comwww.LocalU.org

Google Algo Super Simplified!

Incoming Links

On pageKeyword

Everything Else

www.LocalU.org

Google Says:

“People often talk about “the Google results” but the truth is there is no single “Google” — at any given time there are 50-200 different versions of our core algorithm out in the wild. Millions more when you realize your search results are personalized to you and you alone.”

In other words, we are all seeing differing results all the time. Source:http://www.google.com/insidesearch/playground/underthehood.html

www.LocalU.org

What Search Engines Want

• To return the most relevant and useful results for every search query.

• So, we have to demonstrate and reinforce the relevance and usefulness of our pages to searchers.

www.LocalU.org

Relevance=Location

Google knows where we are:• via automatic detection • via our settings and info in our Google account

The business’ location and distance from the searcher help Google determine usefulness.

www.LocalU.org

Relevance = Keywords in

HTML titles and headline tags we place on our web pages:

www.LocalU.org

Headline tags appear on the page

Page titles appear in the SERPs

The text content we place on our pages

www.LocalU.org

The text in the links that point to our web pages

Link text: insurance agentLink text: Cannizzaro InsuranceLink text: austin renters insuranceLink text: car policyLink text: affordable auto coverage

www.LocalU.org

A link tells Search Engines and humans what the page it points to is about.

Recap on Relevance Signals

Our location in relationship to searcher’s location

Keywords in • page titles and html tags• website text• text in links pointing to pages

www.LocalU.org

On-Site Optimization(What we put on our own web pages)

Start with Keywords

On-page Keyword

www.LocalU.org

We have total control over what we put on our own pages

Which Keywords? Don’t Guess!

Keyword research = foundation of SEOIt enables you to learn:

• What terms?• How many searches?• How hard to rank?

www.LocalU.org

What Makes a Good Keyword?

Is someone searching for that term likely to turn into a customer for your business? Those are the terms to optimize for!

www.LocalU.org

Use Google Suggest

Research Local Keywords

Google Trends Tool

http://www.google.com/trends/explore

www.LocalU.org

Add search terms Choose locationChoose time period

Keyword List Tips

Put your terms into a free tool* to get an idea of how many people are searching for it and how hard it might be to rank for it

www.LocalU.org

*See your handouts for a list

Keyword Mapping

• Create a plan of how your keywords will be used to optimize your website.

• Critical step that will guide all of your ongoing search engine optimization efforts

• Begin by reviewing your site structure.

www.LocalU.org

Map Your Site Structure

The higher up a page is in the site structure the more natural potential ranking power it has.

www.LocalU.org

Match Pages to Keywords

What is that web page about? What keyword term(s) best describe it?How many people are searching for the term(s)?How hard will it be to rank for the term(s)?How much potential ranking power does that page

There is no exact formula for doing this!

www.LocalU.org

Sample Keyword Map

Where to Use Keywords

Use assigned keywords in the important TEXT areas of your pages:

• URLs• HTML Page Titles• H1, H2 (headlines and subheads)• Text-based content• Navigation links• Other internal link text• Image file names, alt tags and captions

www.LocalU.org

Page Title

Header (h1)

Subheader (h2)

Navigation

Content

WHERE TO USE KEYWORDS

Optimize Your Search Results

When a page appears in the SERPs, people usually see:

www.LocalU.org

HTML Page title

HTML metadescription

Page title + Meta description + URL = “Free Ad” in the SERPs

Check Your Own Ads!

Make Ads Enticing

Focus on the searcher, who’s thinking:• What’s in it for me?• What problem can this help me solve? • Why should I go to this page instead of another?

Include a call to action : call today, get a free quote, get help, learn how, download , etc.

Ads read better if they are not cut off in the search results

• Page Title: No more than 65 characters • Meta Description: No more than 150 characters.

www.LocalU.org

Local SEO Tips for Your Website

Make Location Unmistakable

Place your business name, full street address and local phone number on all pages of your website in text form

Consider using www.Schema.org microdata format for this

www.LocalU.org

Check Your Website Crawlability

If the Search Engines can’t find or crawl your pages, they cannot appear in the Search Results.

www.LocalU.org

Check What Google “Sees”

Check your home page and all other important pages on your website

To Rank for Multiple Locations

With a physical presence (you have an office, shop or store in a location) you qualify for a Google business listing for each location. It is eligible to rank in Google Maps and in the organic Google results.Without a physical presence (you service the location, but do not have an office or shop there) you do not qualify for a Google business listing and you are not eligible to rank in the Google Maps results. You are eligible to rank in the organic results.

www.LocalU.org

To Rank for Multiple Locations

In either case (with or without a physical presence), create a separate website page for each location.

• Unique, useful page for searchers about that location•Optimize the page for main service or product + location•Use good internal linking (between your own pages)•Build external links to each page (from other websites)•For each local page on Google+, point your link to your website URL about that location

www.LocalU.org

Manhattan Insurance

Office Located Here

Bronx Insurance

Service area – No Office

Brooklyn Insurance

Service Area – No Office

Website pages

Queens Insurance

Service Area – No Office

Manhattan Insurance

Local Business page on Google+

Maps SERPs

Organic SERPs

www.LocalU.org

Internal Link Text

When linking from one of your pages to another, use descriptive link text to tell SE’s what page is about

• Replace click here, view more, learn more, etc to location+keyword terms to point to the page optimized for those terms.

• For a page optimized for Austin Accounting, change Click Here to See all of our Austin accounting services or Tax advice in Austin

• Mix up link text – don’t use the exact same term over and over

www.LocalU.org

Recap: On-site Optimization

• Pick the right keyword phrases• Map keywords to pages• Implement keywords on chosen pages• Make your “ads” enticing• Put location information in text form• Give each location you wish to rank for its own

unique page useful to searchers

www.LocalU.org

Off-Page Optimization(aka link building)

Off-Page Optimization = Links

Incoming Links

www.LocalU.org

Links = Votes

The more votes you have the better,

BUT not all links are equal.

Quality counts and crummy links can hurt

www.LocalU.org

Improve Existing Links

You can see links with this tool: http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

Look at the pages that link to you• Is all the information correct?• Can you add more detail? Description, photos,

videos, services, hours, payment types, etc.• Are you in the right categories?• Can you add a link?• Can you improve the link text?

www.LocalU.org

Links from Relationships

• Business groups • Social groups • Charities and sponsorships• Local school and college websites• Clients and partners• Businesses you already have referral

relationships with

www.LocalU.org

Links from Local Directories

• Yelp• Kudzu• CitySearch• InsiderPages• DiscoverOurTown• Topix• WCities

• AngiesList• CitySquares• MerchantCircle• CityVoter• JudysBook• Foursquare• Internet Yellow Pages

www.LocalU.org

Links from Local Sites

• Better Business Bureau• Convention & Visitor’s Bureau• Local Media - Newspapers, Magazines, TV• Chamber of Commerce• Local Business Directories• Local city guides• Local blogs• Local and regional tourism sites

www.LocalU.org

Links from Niche Sites

• Free Wifi• ATM• Minority-owned• Woman-owned• Non-profit• Other Languages• Maps • Adult only• Handicapped accessible

• Blog• Product Types• Videos• Images• Coupons• In something• Near something• Kid-friendly• Pet friendly

www.LocalU.org

Links from Social Media Sites

Set Up Social Media Profiles here:• LinkedIn • Flickr • Facebook Fan Page • Twitter • YouTube Channel• Google+ profile

www.LocalU.org

Recap: The SEO Process

• Pick the right keyword phrases• Decide which pages to optimize for which terms• Implement the keyword phrases appropriately on

your pages• Link between your own pages using good words• Make sure the Search Engines can see your pages

and what’s on them• Gain links from other websites – you cannot ignore

this step!

www.LocalU.org

THANKS!

Mary BowlingTwitter: @MaryBowling

Blog: www.MaryBowling.comGoogle+: MaryBBowling@gmail.com

Class information: http://www.marybowling.com/local-search-optimization/local-search-classes-at-planet-ocean

www.LocalU.org

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