3 Min SEO Tip – Local Search
Local Search Made Simple:
1. Register your business with Google
2. Get reviews
Register with Google
First step of any local search campaign is deciding on your keywords. Odds are its <your city name><your business type>. For example, a local dentist would be “Vancouver Dentist”. Some businesses might not fit this mold. If you have a physical address, perfect! Continue to the next paragraph. Those without a physical address, keep reading. If you are just starting your business, where you choose to locate can have a significant affect on your search results. As Google, Yahoo and Bing move towards placing more emphasis on location, this is only going to increase. So what makes for a good location? Go to Google Maps and search for “Vancouver, Canada”. You see that pin right in the middle of the map. That is what Google considers to be the center of the city. The closer your business is located to that pin, the better your chances are of appearing at the top of local search results when someone searches <vancouver><your keyword>.
If you have a lease (or like your current four walls), no worries. Focus on the reviews, delivering a killer product that causes people to exhume exuberance at the very thought of your business and splash kind words all over the internet. Reviews are the single best way that you can distinguish yourself from your competition. You will also treat every customer like they are the potential Google Gold that puts your result on top of the SERP mountain.
First things first, go ahead right now and register your business with Google. I will wait (make sure you ask them to send you the postcard). Ok, now that the postcard from Mountain View, CA is in the mail, lets move onto the reviews.
Reviews
So how do you get people to write kind words about your business? Well, certainly the best place to start is to provide an incredible customer experience. That is one advantage every small player holds over the bigger companies. We can try harder and make a difference in our customer’s and client’s lives.
But sometimes, even a good business needs a little help getting people to spend two minutes banging out a review. So what is the best strategy? Start with asking your customers for feedback! Make it easy for your customers to find a place to write about your business. You should even feature links to the following key review sites right on your homepage, or on a page titled “reviews”
Reviews are creeping up on links as the currency of top search results. Especially in local search.
These two tips will give your local search strategy a big boost. And as Local results start to take more real estate on the first page of search results, a local strategy could be the difference of getting found by your customers. Or not. Have you had any success (or failures) with local search? Lets hear your war stories in the comments below.