6 SECRETS OF HIGHER GOOGLE LOCAL SEO RANKINGS BY CALIN YABLONSKI WWW.INBOUNDINTERACTIVE.CA
TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Author 3 Introduction 4 Who is this ebook for? 5 1. Local SEO: Gaining Visibility in Google s Search Results 6 2. Google Adwords: Matching Visibility to the Buying Cycle 8 3. Google Remarketing: Reactivating Previous Website Visitors 10 4. Landing Pages: Increasing Conversions 11 5. Review Acquisition: Managing Online Reputation 12 Wrap Up 13 2
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Before we go any further though I think it s only fair that I introduce myself and tell you more about my background in local SEO. My name is Calin Yablonski. I m a digital marketer from Alberta, Canada. Since 2009, I have been running Inbound Interactive, an online marketing agency specializing in helping companies like yours improve their online presence and generate more leads. I created Inbound with one objective in mind: To help businesses generate more revenue and exposure using the web. Today, 6 years and hundreds of projects later the company has grown into one of the Alberta s most trusted online marketing agencies. If you want to find out more, check out our site at: www.inboundinteractive.ca. Or send me an email at: calin@inboundinteractive.ca 3
INTRODUCTION There s never been a time so ripe in opportunities for a local business. Thanks to the Internet, companies can now reach and communicate with almost anyone looking for their products or services in their area and beyond. Today s customers swapped local business listings and classifieds for the comfort of their smartphones. Tablets. Laptops. And Google. When faced with a problem, 97% of customers turn to the search engine for help. They seek information. Best service provider recommendations. Business contact details. And even directions to their premises. It comes as no surprise then how much effort local businesses put into improving their local search rankings. They create websites targeting relevant keywords. Seek positive online reviews. Build citations. And do many other things required to rank a site in Local Search. To achieve the same, you first need to understand what is local SEO and its most critical elements. Luckily, that s exactly what I m going to show you in this ebook. 4
WHO IS THIS EBOOK FOR? Local Business Owners. If you own a local business and need to understand how to position your website in local search, this ebook is for you. Marketing Managers. If you re a marketing manager wondering how to improve your local rankings, this publication will help you too. Through this ebook you ll learn: What is Local SEO, What are the most critical elements of a successful Local SEO campaign, and How you could use them to generate more online leads. Agencies & Marketing Firms. If you re employed by (or run) a marketing agency, and you offer services to the client types listed above, you ve come to the right place. Let s begin! 5
WHAT IS LOCAL SEO? Notice how you solve problems today. Whenever you face a flat tire for instance, burst pipe or any other house emergency, your first reaction is to turn to the search engine for help. You seek more information. Guidance. Best service provider recommendations. And then, when you pick the company you want to hire, to guide you to their premises. So do 97% of customers today who rely on search engine to provide them with solutions to their problems. And Local SEO is a set of practices helping local businesses appear in search results whenever someone in their area is looking for their products or services. What businesses need local SEO? Not every business serves local customers. Some focus their attention country or even worldwide. Others work online. Recognizing this, Google allows two categories of companies into local search results: Businesses with a physical location (i.e. shops, garages, restaurants), and Businesses that deliver the service at the customers location (i.e. plumbers, electricians). If your company falls into any of these categories, then you should consider positioning it in local search rankings. 6
1: KEYWORDS Think about how you describe your business. I bet you use words or phrases you feel define it best. You say you re a plumber. Your company hires building equipment. Or bakes fancy cakes. However, your potential customers might use different phrases when searching for what you offer. They could type emergency plumber into the Google s search box. Crane hire. Or Birthday cakes. And unless your website is optimized for these keywords, they would never find you. That s why to succeed in ranking your business in local search you first need to uncover phrases and keywords your customers would be using to find you. We call this process Keywords Research. It involves various practices that help identify the most popular phrases relevant to your company, product or service. A list of relevant keywords is the starting point for any SEO campaign. It helps you structure the website. Write content optimized for terms your audience uses to find you. Select the most appropriate Google My Business categories. And implement many other aspects of the campaign. 7
2: LOCALIZED WEBSITE CONTENT It goes without saying, a website is your most important online asset. Local customers will use it to learn more about your business. Find your company s contact details. Review and download price sheets. Check opening times. And inquire about your products or services. And, according to BrightLocal, to 36% of them a clear and engaging website gives a local business more credibility. But for all this to happen, you must optimize its content with relevant keywords. However, it doesn t mean that you should include tens of keywords identified during keywords research process on each page. Content optimization means structuring your site to benefit from the variety of keywords. Let me explain. Most business owners believe that they could squeeze many keywords on one page and have it rank for all of them. Unfortunately, that s not how the local search works. You can optimize a single web page for one, maybe two phrases. This way you can keep the content relevant to a specific customers problem. And thus, companies build dedicated landing page per service or keyword they re trying to rank for. The more landing pages they launch then, the greater the chance to appear in search for a variety of searches relevant to their business. 8
3: LOCAL CITATIONS I believe Google is skeptical. For one, the search engine doesn t always believe everything you tell it. Take your location for instance. Even though you include business address on the website and Google My Business page, the search engine is still looking for a proof to confirm those details are true. And rightly so. Businesses move. Change phone numbers. Or rebrand. And so, aiming to deliver the most relevant information to users, Google requires a confirmation that your information is accurate. Citations, or local hooks as I call them, give it that reassurance. Citations are references of your business online. They include your company s Name, Address and Phone number (that s why we refer to them as NAP). There are two types of citations: Structured which include listing your company on business listing sites like Yelp.com or YP.com, and Unstructured, including mentions in online newspapers, blogs or any other online sources. Citations are one of the strongest local ranking factors. In fact, all other factors being equal, I believe that a website with more citations will always rank higher. 9
Citations also help expand your local reach. Not everyone is looking for business recommendations on Google. Many customers would use GPS systems in their cars. Digital maps. And log to local business directories in search for a perfect vendor. Building citations is a major aspect of a local SEO campaign. In fact, without them, all your other efforts might end up in vain. 10
4: LOCAL BACKLINKS Here s an interesting fact for you: Google uses over 200 factors to determine how to rank a site. Not a single of them however is more important than the website s authority. Although no one s certain how the search engine assesses authority, we believe that it takes two factors into consideration: A website s age, and It s popularity, measured by the amount and quality of backlinks pointing to it. And thus, you can influence your site s authority by earning more quality backlinks. But what s a backlink? A backlink is a link pointing from one web page to another. Every time another website, be it a blog, media outlet or any other online property displays a link to your site, you earn a backlink. Historically backlinks have been the strongest search engine ranking factor. With the release of the Penguin update, the search engine however began paying more attention to what links companies build to rank higher in search. And penalized sites that built backlinks too blatantly. This however doesn t mean that backlinks no longer influence rankings. Quite the contrary in fact. 11
It s just that today you have to be more selective about what links you build. Especially when positioning a site in local search. When improving the site s local rankings, you should first focus on local backlink sources: Newspapers, both local and national, Local bloggers, Local and national business associations (i.e. local chamber of commerce, national industry association etc.), NGOs, Local colleges, universities and other educational institutions, Industry profiles, Local business listings. All of these will send a quality signal to Google, helping your site to achieve a higher authority. 12
5: OPTIMIZED GOOGLE MY BUSINESS ACCOUNT Your website isn t the only online property you need to manage in local search. There are also Google Maps, local search results and Google Local page. Luckily the search engine offers a platform through which you can manage the information Google will display in local search results - Google My Business. Google My Business allows you to: Create and manage your company s information in Local Search Results, Google Maps and Google+. From its name, address and contact details to proper description to hours of operation and other relevant info. Assign your company to appropriate business categories. The search engine will then use them to display your business in search. Add photos and upload a virtual tour of your business. Post updates on your Google Local page. Manage online reviews, and View reports to better understand how your information performs online. For your campaign to succeed, at minimum you need to include correct and up to date business information in Google My Business. Enhance your profile with relevant photos. And use it to manage online reputation. 13
6: LOCAL REVIEWS AND REPUTATION MANAGEMENT Think about it, with so many options to choose from, how do you think customers decide which business to choose over another? They look at what others are saying about it. Simply. According to BrightLocal, 88% of consumers read reviews to determine the quality of a local business. And 90% of them admit that their buying decision is influenced by what they ll find. And a study by TripAdvisor, a travel niche directory discovered that 77% of travelers don t book a hotel without reading its reviews. It therefore goes without saying, what your customers say about your business online shapes its success. Online reviews help establish your company s credibility. Number of positive reviews provides a proof of your company s quality. They help attract clicks to your listing. Star ratings and number of reviews beside your local listing make your business stand out from competition. But Google isn t the only source of reviews. Sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages or any industry specific business directories entice their users to review companies they ve used. Customers in turn frequent those sites to evaluate businesses they re interested in hiring. 14
Therefore, as part of your campaign you should develop strategies to gather positive customer feedback: Ask customers to leave reviews on sites like Yelp, YellowPages or directly on Google. Include link to your Google+ Page in emails. Asking customers for a review after the delivery of service and many others. 15
CLOSING THOUGHTS Hopefully by now you have a good idea of what elements affect your local search marketing success. The next logical step then is to implement this advice and start generating leads from your website. THANK YOU If you ve found this information useful, don t forget to drop by our blog at www.inboundinteractive.ca/blog/ for even more online marketing advice. Also check out other online marketing resources: Organic SEO Onsite Optimization Checklist Local SEO Onsite Optimization Checklist Minimalist Content Marketing Strategy And finally, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding this publication, make sure you connect with me and the Inbound Interactive team at: Twitter: @calindaniel Email: info@inboundinteractive.ca Phone: (403) 255 7720 Looking forward to hearing from you. 16