Local SEO For The Small Business Owner

PATRICK STOXhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickstox

@patrickstox

http://www.TheeDesign.com

LOCAL SEO

http://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/how-advertisers-can-extend-their-relevance-with-search_infographics.pdf

https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

KEYWORD RESEARCH & TARGETING

https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

http://keywordtool.io/

http://www.semrush.com/

https://ahrefs.com/positions-explorer

HYPERLOCAL & LOCATION

Boylan HeightsBrier CreekCameron ParkCameron VillageCapital DistrictFairmontFayetteville StreetFive PointsGlenwood South

Lassiter MillMoore SquareMordecaiNorth HillsNortheast RaleighOakwoodUmsteadWadeWarehouse District

ON-PAGE SEO

Don’t expect to outrank companies with a physical presence in a city and who are active unless you put in the work

KEY ELEMENTS FOR SEO

•TITLE TAG•HEADER TAGS•URL•CONTENT•IMAGE FILE NAME & ALT TEXT•SPEED•INTERNAL LINKING•ANCHOR TEXT•NAP

MOST ASKED QUESTIONS FOR STORES

KEY LANDING PAGE CONSIDERATIONS

•HEADLINE•PAGE CONTENT•IMAGES•VIDEOS•TRUST INDICATORS•COLORS•DESIGN•LAYOUT•OFFER•USP•CALL TO ACTION

LOCAL CONTENT SILOS

SCHEMA MICRODATA & JSON-LD

https://schema.org/

http://json-ld.org/

TYPES OF GOOGLE+ PAGES

Personal

Brand

My Business

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

https://www.google.com/business

Guidelines: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177

Contact: https://support.google.com/business/contactflow?hl=en

WHAT TO LOOK FOR•Business name•Address•Phone Number•Website•Categories•Hours•Good description (include links)•Profile Photo•Cover Photo (can be animated)•Other Photos•Email Address (on domain)•Claim custom URL when you can•Join Communities•Follow others•Links

MY BUSINESS INSIGHTS

LOCAL CITATIONS / NAP LISTINGS

Parts of your business data including Name, Address, Phone #, but can also include data such as website, email, hours, etc.

https://moz.com/learn/local/local-search-data-us

EXPERT CITATION SURVEY

•55% say accurate citations are 'critical' to local search ranking•71% say quality of citations is more important than quantity•45% say you should update existing citations before building new ones•57% say that it is 'very important' to merge or delete duplicate citations•Local Gov sites are rated the highest unstructured citation sites (20%)

https://www.brightlocal.com/2015/03/12/expert-citation-survey-2015/

https://www.whitespark.ca/top-local-citation-sources-by-country

PREPARE FOR THE CALLS

TOOLS / SERVICES

RoboFormLastPassMoz LocalYextWhiteSparkBright LocalDupe Finder - http://www.michaelcottam.com/google-business-page-finder/NAP Hunter: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/nap-hunter/ligeiippheclogiddffemogcgpjmieao

MORE ABOUT CITATIONS

Make sure your citations are on your site

Citation cleanup and optimization often takes a second or third round

Partial / Unstructured citations on sites such as social profiles, youtube videos, job ads, media, events, etc.

What gets normalized in business data is okay!

INDUSTRY & LOCAL LINKS

BBB, chamber, local directories, meetups, sponsorships, industry associations and organizations, events, charities, media mentions, university discounts or scholarships, jobs, awards, certifications, speaking engagements, coupons

Find links of competitors:AhrefsOpen Site ExplorerMajestic

REVIEWS

Trust

“Millennials value crowd-sourced reviews over recommendations from family and friends.”

-Duane Forrester of Bing

BEST PRACTICES AND TIPS

• Start with google but don’t stop there!• On Google: 5 reviews to see stars, but

still won’t get you a 5 star rating• Monitor and respond to reviews• Ask for reviews, review instruction

sheets, redirects on domain, follow-up emails, satisfaction questionnaires

BAD PRACTICES OF SEO COMPANIES•They Promise #1 rankings or guarantee results•They say they have a guy at Google•They sell packages before they determine your needs•They use Call Tracking Numbers on Google My Business or important NAP listings•They setup their own site•They own your domain•They own your website or content•They don’t get your onsite SEO right•They don’t do redirects after a new design•Duplicating social posts•Duplicating page content•They won’t give you access to your Analytics•They don’t filter your Analytics spam•They don’t give you access to your AdWords•They don’t setup goal tracking•Link networks or PBNs•They don’t report on activities•They don’t ask questions about your business•They still use PageRank as a metric•They send lots of unsolicited emails•They have bad reviews

OTHER RESOURCES

http://localseochecklist.org/

https://www.whitespark.ca/top-local-citation-sources-by-country

https://moz.com/learn/local/citations-by-category

https://www.brightlocal.com/2014/10/09/top-citation-sites/

http://synup.com/lists/ideas-to-generate-reviews.html

http://localseochecklist.org/citation-submission-services/

http://synup.com/lists/citation-building.html

THANKS

PATRICK STOXhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickstox@patrickstox

http://www.TheeDesign.com