best local seo tips and tricks 2015

Jason Pedersen | the boss November 17, 2015

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Hi, I am Jason Pedersen, and today I am going to teach the steps and techniques that it takes to rank your business locally in Google. p.s. A lot of the information found on this presentation comes from the blogs found on Moz.com. Thank you for all that you do for our community Moz!

SECRETS of LOCAL

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Did you know that local searches lead 50% of mobile visitors to visit stores within one day? And 34% who searched on a computer or tablet did the same. This tells you that people here in Heber Valley doing local searches are ready to take action. This is why ranking in local search has a direct impact on in-store traffic.

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So for some of you may be wondering what I’m talking about when I say “local search”. To be clear, there are three ways to get your business listed on the first page of search engines.

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First way and the only guaranteed way to get your business on that coveted first page of Google is to pay to play their game. Each one of these listings is paying Google for every time someone clicks their link or simply view it on the page. If you don’t know what you are doing and go about it with a blind fold over your eyes, it will cost you a pretty penny and fail in the end.

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The second area is called organic search results. This area is the most sought after placement in any search results. The sites listed are considered to be trusted authorities in their industry according to the rule that Google has established.

maps

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The third and last way to rank on the first page of Google is through the local search results. So when I say that 50% of local searches result in some sort of action within 24 hours, do you see a value in ranking for your local industry and standing out? I’m going to show you right now the 5 steps that it takes to rank a business website locally.

5 Steps to local SEO

•Improve your Website •Google My Business •Consistent N.A.P. •Mobile Friendly •Local Reviews

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Read slide and explain

Improve your website

•Improve your Website o Keyword Optimization o Localized Content o Embed Google Maps o Schema Markup

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Insert local and optimized keywords on your pages. Use it in your Title Tag, Header Tags, Image Descriptions, and content when applicable. Show Example http://hebervalleymechanical.com/service-areas/midway-ut-heating-air-conditioning



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Another great way to get some local search love it to create content that is relevant and specific to your city. This will require a big time commitment but it will be well worth it.



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Embed a Google Map with your business marker onto your landing page.



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Get familiar with Schema Markup Assuming that you are completely unfamiliar with Schema, I’ll do my best to make it as easy to understand as possible. Schema markup simply tells the search engines what your data means, not just what is says. So schema markup is the code that you will be using on your site to help the search engines provide more informative results for potential visitors.

<h1>The Cool SEO Guys</h1> 1234 East Cool Drive. Salt Lake City, UT 84049 Phone: 801-555-0685

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness"> <span itemprop="name">The Cool SEO Guys</span> <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress"> <span itemprop="streetAddress">1234 East Cool Drive.</span> <span itemprop="addressLocality">Salt Lake City</span> <span itemprop="addressRegion">UT</span> <span itemprop="postalCode">84049</span> </div> Phone: <span itemprop="telephone">801-555-0685</span> </div>

http://goo.gl/B3AtwD

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Show the boss seo heber city



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If you haven’t done it already, you’ll need to claim your Google My Business page. I am not going to go into all the details of setting it up because there are tons of articles online that explain this process. But what I am going to do it show you what elements of that profile are important that you pay extra attention to.

Google My Business Profile

• Description • Categories • Pictures • Local Phone Number • Address • Profile Image & Cover Photo • Business Hours • Real Reviews

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Read and explain Questions?

N.A.P.

Name • Address • Phone

Street NOT St. or St

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When adding your NAP to your websites, social media and other sites and directories, one thing you must make sure is that it’s 100% consistent with the NAP you created on your Google My Business page. Not only does this ensure credibility on your end, but will help search engines verify the information you submitted to them and allow them to cross-reference the details for quality assurance. So how strict should you be? I’m talking no abbreviations, short-form, or anything along those lines, << CLICK >> that means if it’s “street” on your Google My Business page, then it can’t be “st.” somewhere else.

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Inconsistent Citations are the #1 reason for not ranking locally.

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Explain << ? >> Do you have any questions about N.A.P or Google My Business and how use them correctly? Tool on the BOSS SEO.com



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How many of you know if your website is mobile friendly?

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This slide was from a webinar I did back in April of this year helping businesses prepare for the “mobilegeddon” update. What this update meant, all else being equal, mobile friendly sites would enjoy better visibility in mobile search results than their non-mobile-friendly counter parts.

https://goo.gl/vFejHT

Mobile-Friendly Test

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Google release a mobile-friendly testing tool that you can find here. QUESTIONS?



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As a business, you have few online allies more powerful than customer-written reviews. Read red area of notes

BrightLocal 2014 Local Customer Review

• 88% - used reviews to check the quality of the local business

• 93% check reviews before dining or shopping

• 85% read up to 10 reviews before purchasing

• 88% say they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation

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BrightLocal’s 2014 Local Customer Review Survey of over 2,000 consumers revealed some critical and compelling data: 88% of respondents read/used reviews to determine the quality of a local business;






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93%, said they checked reviews before dining or shopping. This means no matter how good your website is, or how compelling your offering, your customers will seek out other opinions. Having a strategy to earn, manage, and respond to reviews is a must.






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85% of respondents to the BrightLocal survey read up to 10 different reviews while researching their purchase, pointing to the fact that customers aren’t blindly accepting the first review they read, but triangulating the feedback they find to get the real story behind a business. (That ought to be encouraging






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88% of respondents said they trusted online reviews as much as they’d trust a personal recommendation, though the caveat is reviews had to be authentic, and there had to be enough of them to make a judgement call.

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Reviews build trust with consumers but they also help you stand out more on local searches. For examples, when I was searching for ATV in Heber City, here is what I saw. Pay attention to where your eyes go on this page.

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Explain the slide Local reviews are not just helpful for restaurants and hotels, but for most local businesses. Who here could benefit from customer reviews on your Google My Business page? Isn’t true that the more good and great reviews you see that a business has, the more comfortable you are about doing business with them? Amazon Question<<?>> In the 2014 Moz Local Search Ranking Factor study, a survey of industry marketers which focus on local seo, they were asked to identify and assign a percentage of influence to ranking factors. Check it out.



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<<QUESTIONS?>> Is it okay to ask for reviews? It depends on who you ask. For example, Yelp.com discourages businesses from soliciting customer reviews. They believe that they jeopardize the site’s integrity, as users would eventually see the reviews as biased toward favorable ones, and therefore, untrustworthy. Google, on the other hand suggest that you encourage reviews for your business. They say:�Remind your customers to leave feedback on Google. Simply reminding customers that it’s quick and easy to leave feedback on Google on mobile or desktop can help your business stand out from sites with fewer reviews. Now, I am going to show you how I recommend my clients to develop a continuous stream of online reviews.

Local Reviews

•Happy Customers •Industry Specific Sites

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First and foremost, you need to make sure that you customers are happy. Remember, you need happy customers in order to get good reviews. Unfortunately, unhappy customers are the ones most likely to post reviews. What I do, is I tell my clients to ask their customers, “Would you take a call from a prospective client of our?” If they say yes, you know they are happy. If you get a no or no answer at all, then you need to dig a little deeper and find out what the problem was. If they are unhappy, then you should take the necessary steps to learn what you need to do to correct the problem. This is true in person as it is online. If someone leave’s you a negative review, realize that your best option is to work with them and acknowledge the problem online, respond to their review.

Continuous Reviews

•Happy Customers •Industry Specific Sites

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They are so many review sites. You need to focus on the most important review sites for your business and industry. Here’s what I do to help my clients, but you can understand these steps and do them when you get back to the office.

Industry specific review sites

• “company name” +/- reviews

• [industry] + “city” + reviews

• Competitor Analysis

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Find the review you already have Read then, check them and respond to them Thank you, or apologize for their bad experience Site with more bad review, then focus on it


• “company name” + reviews

• “[industry]” + “city” + reviews


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Non-branded keywords Example, owner of a gym here in town Make note of the searches you’ve done and the sites you find on the two pages of the results. << Questions >>


• “company name” + reviews

• [industry] + “city” + reviews


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Search out your competitors, like you did before, look for their top review sites that they are focus on Completed your due diligence, DON’T start sending your customers to those sites to leave reviews.

Entice Customers for Reviews

• Create a Webpage • Business Cards • Flyers • Showcase • Email Request

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I am going to show you how to entice your customers to submit a review online. You can create a webpage that includes links to your profiles on some review sites, then encourage people to visit this page - for example, by putting a “Check us out on these review sites” link on most of your web pages. FREE TOOL http://www.mostlytruestuff.com/

Free Review Badge Tool

[email protected] • Business name

• Social Media Links • Review Site Links • Your Website


• Create a Webpage • Business Cards • Flyers • Showcase • Email Request

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You may want to consider putting a link to one of your review profiles that you are particularly proud of.


• Create a Webpage • Business Cards • Flyers • Incentivize check-ins • Showcase • Email Request

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Some businesses hand out a sheet with simple direction to get people started at a review site.

https://goo.gl/ok6Ukf

Review Flyer

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Explain the flyer and how it works If you have learned one new bit of information that going to use for your business, then please leave me a review on my Google My Business page. Its important that you understand the steps that you are asking your customers to do.



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While you can’t incentivize reviews for most platforms, there are no rules against incentivizing people to check into your location on apps like Yelp. The bonus here is once they’ve checked in, you can capture that information and remind them you’d love their feedback.



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Printing and displaying reviews is a powerful way to show people that you take them seriously. That could mean displaying reviews in-store. (Cheesy as it sounds, bathroom stalls are a great place for this, as the person will be naturally looking for something to read.) On your website, call out review sections. Show reviewers' faces as a way of proving that the reviews were left by real people—and that their feedback is making a difference. <<Show My Testimonials >>



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If you go this route it’s best not to email with the purpose of asking for a review. Email them on another topic, and add a link and a simple request for them to leave you a review. Provide them something a value, for example, if you were a travel agency, you should be emailing your clients and leads frequently about your travel tips and bargains, right? Well, include it in that email... Get Reviews Over Time, on a Continuous Basis. <<QUESTIONS?>> Bad Reviews - It’s going to happen, expect it and be prepared. Too many good reviews and no bad ones is unnatural and looks suspicious.

Bad Review

• Learn from the feedback

• Work to generate positive contributions to the review ecosystem

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The truth is, your business has little control over whether or not people talk about your company.

Bad Review

• Learn from the feedback

• Work to generate positive contributions to the review ecosystem

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Your only choices are to engage with it or ignore people when they talk about your company. If you remain silent, only ONE perspective will be being shared: the customers. Worse, a failure to respond now makes you look you don’t care about your own reputation and your customers’ concerns.

Should you always respond to bad reviews?

• Increase of 116% in purchase intent

• 71% change their mind

• Respond with refund, upgrade or exchange – 92% more likely to purchase

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First, acknowledge that silence is almost never a smart response to a bad review. Perhaps the most powerful incentive to engage with reviewers comes from Bazaarvoice’s research, which shows that: Leads who see a company respond to a negative review reported an increase of 116% in purchase intent





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71% of customers changed their perception of the company after seeing a public response to a reviewer





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Shoppers who saw a company responses offering a refund, upgrade, or exchange to a upset customer were 92% more likely to purchase than those who saw no response

How to respond to a Negative review

•Own up to it •Set the record straight •Fix the problem •Put out the fire

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If a complaint is legitimate, you owe it to the customer to acknowledge and respond to their frustration.



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If the event in question never actually happened, or if the facts have been invented by the reviewer, it’s time to step in and (politely) set the record straight, sharing whatever proof you have. You need to share your side of the story and give context to new readers.



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If there’s a simply way to fix the problem or resolve the customer compliant, get in there and do it. It doesn’t matter who is in error, communicate openly and make a good attempt to right the perceived wrong. This is a chance to win back your customer.�



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If the story is spreading and the troops are gathering, it’s time to step in and put out the fire. If someone well-connected has a gripe about your business, remedy the situation as quickly as possible.

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best local seo tips and tricks 2015

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