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Search Engine Optimization
For Local Search
Optimized!www.MaryBowling.com
Mary BowlingTwitter: @MaryBowling
Blog: www.MaryBowling.comGoogle+: [email protected]
www.LocalU.org
For Local Businesses, SEO is
Optimized!www.MaryBowling.com
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:
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• 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
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PAID ADSLOCAL MAP
PAID ADS
LOCAL RESULTS
ORGANIC RESULTS
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Who Gets The Clicks?
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US Search Engine Market Share January 2013
67%GOOGLE
Other5%Bing
16%
12%Yahoo
BingHoo 28%
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Bing provides organic search results for Yahoo! Search
Source: ComScore
Aim for Ranking on Page 1 !
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#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
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• 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
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The Algorithms(What’s the secret formula?)
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Google Algo Super Simplified!
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Incoming Links
On pageKeyword
Use
Everything Else
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Google Says:
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“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
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What Search Engines Want
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• 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.
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Relevance=Location
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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.
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Relevance = Keywords in
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HTML titles and headline tags we place on our web pages:
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Headline tags appear on the page
Page titles appear in the SERPs
Relevance = Keywords in
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The text content we place on our pages
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Relevance = Keywords in
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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
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A link tells Search Engines and humans what the page it points to is about.
Recap on Relevance Signals
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Our location in relationship to searcher’s location
Keywords in • page titles and html tags• website text• text in links pointing to pages
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On-Site Optimization(What we put on our own web pages)
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Start with Keywords
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On-page Keyword
Use
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We have total control over what we put on our own pages
Which Keywords? Don’t Guess!
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Keyword research = foundation of SEOIt enables you to learn:
• What terms?• How many searches?• How hard to rank?
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What Makes a Good Keyword?
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Is someone searching for that term likely to turn into a customer for your business? Those are the terms to optimize for!
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Use Google Suggest
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Research Local Keywords
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Google Trends Tool
http://www.google.com/trends/explore
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Add search terms Choose locationChoose time period
Keyword List Tips
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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
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*See your handouts for a list
Keyword Mapping
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• 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.
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Map Your Site Structure
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The higher up a page is in the site structure the more natural potential ranking power it has.
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Match Pages to Keywords
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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
have?
There is no exact formula for doing this!
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Sample Keyword Map
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Where to Use Keywords
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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
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Page Title
URL
Header (h1)
Subheader (h2)
Navigation
Content
Image
WHERE TO USE KEYWORDS
Optimize Your Search Results
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When a page appears in the SERPs, people usually see:
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HTML Page title
HTML metadescription
URL
Page title + Meta description + URL = “Free Ad” in the SERPs
Check Your Own Ads!
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Make Ads Enticing
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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.
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Local SEO Tips for Your Website
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Make Location Unmistakable
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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
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Check Your Website Crawlability
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If the Search Engines can’t find or crawl your pages, they cannot appear in the Search Results.
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Check What Google “Sees”
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Check your home page and all other important pages on your website
To Rank for Multiple Locations
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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.
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To Rank for Multiple Locations
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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
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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
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Internal Link Text
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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
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Recap: On-site Optimization
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• 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
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Off-Page Optimization(aka link building)
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Off-Page Optimization = Links
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Incoming Links
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Links = Votes
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The more votes you have the better,
BUT not all links are equal.
Quality counts and crummy links can hurt
you!
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Improve Existing Links
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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?
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Links from Relationships
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• Business groups • Social groups • Charities and sponsorships• Local school and college websites• Clients and partners• Businesses you already have referral
relationships with
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Links from Local Directories
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• Yelp• Kudzu• CitySearch• InsiderPages• DiscoverOurTown• Topix• WCities
• AngiesList• CitySquares• MerchantCircle• CityVoter• JudysBook• Foursquare• Internet Yellow Pages
Pages
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Links from Local Sites
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• 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
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Links from Niche Sites
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• 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
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Links from Social Media Sites
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Set Up Social Media Profiles here:• LinkedIn • Flickr • Facebook Fan Page • Twitter • YouTube Channel• Google+ profile
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Recap: The SEO Process
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• 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!
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THANKS!
Optimized!www.MaryBowling.com
Mary BowlingTwitter: @MaryBowling
Blog: www.MaryBowling.comGoogle+: [email protected]
Class information: http://www.marybowling.com/local-search-optimization/local-search-classes-at-planet-ocean
/
www.LocalU.org