Local SEO & Local CITATIONS A Beginner s Guide. Local SEO and Local Citations. A Guide for irish tourism relevant business!!!!!!!!!!!

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1 Local SEO and Local Citations A Guide for irish tourism relevant business Reto Bachofner, irlanderleben.net 2014

2 Contents 1. Who I am Introduction to Local SEO and Local Citations... 3 A. What means Local SEO?... 3 B. What means Local Citations?... 4 C. Criteria of local search... 4 D. 10 Hints for your local SEO and local Citations on your site The importance of Local Citations for Local Search The 3 types of Google search engine results Google+ Local - your basic listing for your localseo A. But how can you set up Google+ local for your business? The optimal business directory entry in the 12 A. On which website you should add yourself? Conclusion... 15

3 1. Who I am At the beginning of this guide, I would first like to introduce myself so you know who gave you this introduction to the topic Local SEO and Local Citations. My Name is Reto Bachofner. I m swiss with a great passion for Ireland. I m a blogger and i m writing in German about Ireland In the near future, my readers can inform better about Ireland and use the Site ( for their travel planning. On the new website, irish tourism related enterprises and companies will be able to make an entry in the Business Directory. Regarding this change, I have fully dedicated myself to the topic of Local SEO and Local Citations. With this guide you will get access to this very important topic which is relevant to your business in the future. I try it very hard to get you the best content. I have also given my very best to write this guide in English, which is not my native language. For the linguistic errors, I apologize already. Initially, in 2015, me and my wife will going for an indefinite period to Ireland also to learn the language there to. Thank you for your attention and trust in me 2. Introduction to Local SEO and Local Citations A. What means Local SEO? Today, one of three searches with google has something to do with a place. For this reason, and with the background that many users today use a smart phone to search for local businesses, it is very important that Local SEO should be made an important part of your SEO strategy. Google has recognized the trend to using a smart phone to search local and optimizes the results on it. So, if you re running a local business a focus on local searches is becoming increasingly relevant for your success. In Fact. Local SEO is a great opportunity to stand out from the competitors. It s a chance for you to become more visitors for your website and to get more customers. Leader in Local SEO is the USA and Ireland lies back about three years. So there is a lot to do and improving your skills in Local SEO, because this is very useful for your success In this guide, you will find the most important basic insights and strategies how your Local SEO efforts pan out. But first we ll have a look together, what Local Citations is meaning.

4 B. What means Local Citations? Local citations refers to the mention of a company, including all local data on the internet. With local data are meant the details of company name, address and phone. These three important details are abbreviated with NAP (Name Address Phone). This local Citations can appear on every website. But in the first place for Google are entries in business directories, yellow pages and websites with testimonials, reviews and rates like irlanderleben.net, LocalDirectory.ie, bandbireland.com and whatswhat.ie. Google uses this business directories as a very important resource for local data. For Google they use this data for their own business directory «Google+ Local». We ll have a look on it later. C. Criteria of local search Google evaluates different factors on the website and the internet. These three points have an impact on the local ranking : Number of Reviews and Mentions (Citations) Relevance to the topic Proximity to the location The two factors are : Your Website (OnSite) The Internet (OffSite) D. 10 Hints for your local SEO and local Citations on your site What does this above meaning in summary for your OnSite SEO? Make sure that your website contains your Phone Number on every single site Make sure that your website contains your Local Adress and your Postcode on every single site In Spring 2015 every individual adress becomes its unique Eircode. Make sure that you re using this code from the beginning. Mark your adress on google maps and import the map of your location on your site Integrating social badges as facebook, twitter, google + and pinterest on your site

5 Integrate also your LinkedIn Profile Create content «above the fold». By this is meaning, that your most important information should be in the upper third of your website. For e.g. If you are an accommodation provider from Galway use a text like this: «Seaview House is a typical Irish Bed and Breakfast in Galway. Enjoy the surroundings Make it simple for your clients/costumers to review your service/product Title and Meta Description must also include a meaningful and relevant information This on is a good example : Use extraordinary images to present your service or product. Give them a good description. 3. The importance of Local Citations for Local Search Google is the most used and most powerful search engine. Looking for local shops and companies, the user should find only the best and most relevant search results. The source for Google to receive the best local search results are business directories. Google checks with them the location of the company and the accuracy of the data. So use in the business directories an identical name, same address and phone number and this always in the same format. This gives Google the confirmation that your company is real and active. A clean entry look like this :

6 This is an entry as it will appear on the blog about ireland and business directory of irlanderleben.net. The launch is on 02/11/14. As a Subscriber to this guide you will be kept informed about the launch. So you do not miss anything and can equal your entry as one of the first.

7 4. The 3 types of Google search engine results Are you owner of a Bed & Breakfast? Or are you owner of a restaurant? Someone is now looking for a restaurant near your area. Imagine what this user type in the search engine of Google. If you practice good SEO, you're first put on Google. Congratulations If not, we need to work together. Appears your site that is top in Google, chances are great that the user will become your customer But you have to make sure that your entry will appear in the upper third to Google and visually makes an appealing impression. If this is given, you must only do a good job locally. With Google more and more requests are made to local search results. Be used, of course, more and more smartphones. This user ask yourself the following questions : Where is the nearest Bed & Breakfast? Where do I go eat nearby? Where can I go for a drink here? Where can I use a SPA in the near? Where is the nearest golf course? Where is the nearest pharmacy?

8 Where can I go dancing near? What attractions are available in the surroundings? What can I see here? If a user search locally, he is already very close to a purchase Does a potential new costumer your Website didn t can t find he goes to a competitor. But how does the Google search result differ? How can you influence the results positive? First we need to know how Google differentiates the results: 1. Paid search results As a business owner you can use the Google AdWords Tool. You've got to define your keywords and you can create your own display advertising. For your advertising campaign you may choose a daily budget. If the budget is exhausted, the display no longer appears.

9 From my point of view, advertising is useful for AdWords, if you want to start a campaign targeted to a specific product. For Local Seo AdWords is in my opinion not suitable. The techniques as seen in section 2.4 in the long run better and are also free. Except the paid business directories like irlanderleben.net or whatiswhat.ie. These ones make much more sense than AdWords for Local SEO. 2. Organic search results: This kind of search results are not paid. And they didn t work like local search results, which are entered into the internet. Better organic search results will be achieved through SEO optimization. This is a science in itself and requires a high level of knowhow to achieve the right results. We leave this to the experts. I will discuss the Basics of SEO optimization with a separate guide soon. 3. Local search results: Google runs its own local business directory. It's called Google+ Local. If you re listed their and in a few business directories you get a good chance to listed very prominent in the local search results. Because you re typing your NAP Data always in the same style on all platforms, the chance is big to appear under the local search results in Google. No matter whether Google+ Local or where you are already registered at some business directories. A potential costumer can also get a good feeling, if he see some good reviews. With local search requests the user wants to have answered the following questions: Who are you? Where are you? What products and services do you offer?

10 What are your opening times? How did you reach? You must answer this questions. They belong to the standard questions of Local Citations. Uniform messages in all major business directories and portals. This is the main message of this chapter We have now talked about Google+ Places. Now let's look at this in depth

11 5. Google+ Local - your basic listing for your localseo Google+ Local is viewed in isolation a review portal. The true strength from this tool is visible only at second glance. Your entry data in Local+ are not only used for google search, but they are also linked with google maps A. But how can you set up Google+ local for your business? If you want to setup your business for Google+ local you need first a Google+ Business Account. All the steps for doing this you can find here : business/ If you have done this you can use and setup your Google+ local profile. Go to this website, and completes the required steps : hl=en Congratulations. You are now a proud member of the Google+ Local Network Well done.

12 6. The optimal business directory entry in the WWW If a consumer want to find necessary information about a regional company or a service provider then he just looking online. Regional Industry Books are from the old world. In the new world, a consumer search with for example google according to company data such as phone number or opening times. Entries in a few major business directories are very important in all major brands of industry. The question is, what is the optimal business listing? How can you as an entrepreneur stand out with your company entry from the competition? Here is an example of a successful business listing as it could look soon on :

13 The basic information such as company name, adress, phone number, opening times and a link to your website should be added with a concise and informative description text and clear photos. Some business listings aloud already to plugin a video from your company. This are the next generation of business listings. This kind of entries are very welcomed by google in the near future. So beginn to think about to produce a video of your company soon All this features are for getting more attention, greater range and better representation for potential new customers. A. On which website you should add yourself? They are a lot of business directories in the world wide web. Some of them are very good and helpful and worth their money. For good quality you should spend some Euros per Year because you get a real value of it.

14 Here is a selection of some business directories, tested and approved by me: - (the market leader and your online social business platform) - (every Irish business listed is hand picked, verified and reviewed on a individual basis) - (one of the fastest growing human-edited business directories in Ireland) - (my own website. German Blog and travel planner about ireland. Business Directory is coming soon. You ll get all the informations about) If you re running a B&B, then you should listing your business here: - bandbireland.com If you re running a local pet business you should listing your business here: -

15 7. Conclusion For a local business LocalSEO is one of the most important things to be listed on top of the search results by google. To achieve this you should being familiar with LocalSEO and Local Citation. With this guide I gave you a brief overview of these topics. With these guide for beginners you now have a basic understanding and you can work with it to build your reputation for your business online. With my newsletter I will continue to introduce you to deepen these issues. I look forward with you to achieve better results together in order to attract more customers and generate more sales for your business. If you have any questions, don t hesitate to contact me: [email protected] Thank you for your attention Kind regards Reto