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Local SEO 2017-07-25T14:23:52+00:00

7 Keys to Local SEO for Businesses

Local SEO (search engine optimization) is something that has come to the forefront over the last 4 or 5 years. With the social media playground well and truly established, the big search engines started to adjust their search criteria for local markets. For example, a locally owned plumbing company probably only cares about being visible online to people that live within a 25 mile radius of his/her business. Regional or national domination is most likely not on their radar. Social media business pages gave them a nice platform to promote their website and also their services at a local level. As the search engines adjusted their algorithms, they put more weight into 7 key factors for businesses to find success with local SEO (local search engine optimization).

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Ensuring your business and website are listed in high-quality, relevant local directories is an important part of local SEO. A local business listing is an online profile that contains your business name, address, phone number and other details. The purpose of creating local listings is to make your business highly visible on-line.
Getting positive reviews and testimonials on review sites such as Yelp and Google My Places is very important for better local rankings. Today’s consumers do research before they buy and reviews sway their decisions. Great online testimonials are today’s word of mouth.
On-Page signals are the presence of NAP (name, address and telephone number), keywords in page titles and domain authority. Domain authority is complex but can be loosely described as a site that produces, promotes and leverages great content and is authoritative within a specific niche or industry.
Search engines treat backlinks from high-quality, authoritative sites as a vote for your website. It’s easier to rank for your keyword with more quality backlinks. Quality backlinks have to be earned and newer purchased. Blogging and commenting on blogs is a good way to earn quality backlinks.
Having a large fan base on Google+, Twitter and Facebook tells Google you are an established brand and an authority. Posting interesting content to your business social media pages helps to grow your followers and increases your exposure. Once again, natural followers are better that purchased followers.
Today’s consumers are mobile and having a mobile friendly website is extremely important. Mobile web visitors require fast load times, easy navigation and quality content to have the perfect user experience. As mobile search continues to increase, so too has the ranking factor of complicit sites in local search.
Categories and keywords in your business title and proximity to where the search is been performed is also a key ingredient in local SEO. Most businesses fall into multiple categories and should be listed for all categories where applicable. For example, an Italian restaurant should be in the following categories; Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, Fine Dine Restaurants and potentially also under Pizzeria.
Citation Infographic

Why Citations are so important

It’s estimated that up to 40% of local SEO (search) ranking factors may come from your citations. A citation is how your company name, address and phone number listings show up on the internet. Our citation management software ensures that all of your listings are always up-to-date and verified so that search engines recognize it as the relevant listing result for local search. We are able to claim, list and verify your company’s information and ensure that any incorrect or out-of-date information is deleted. Additionally, we are able to enhance your listings with unique descriptive keywords, links, logos and more! These are monitored and updated every 30 days to ensure that your listings stay correct and accurate!

We have a a trusted partnership network of over 125 direct relationship data providers such as:

citation data providers

With over 3 billion local searches performed every month it is imperative that your business be found in the top spots with accurate and up-to-date information. In the majority of searches, consumers mainly contact businesses that are found on the first page of search.

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