Local Search Engine Optimization for Small Businesses

Local SEO:Topics

• Local On-Page Optimization (2 Slides)• Local Off-Page Optimization • Social Media Influence – Local SEO (2 Slides)• Local Citations & Reviews• Directory Submissions & Local Listings• Track & Improve – Google Analytics

Local On-Page Optimization

• Local Address & Phone # on every site page • Meta Description Tag – Strong call to action • Page Titles – unique for each page + keywords*Include city in Page Title & Meta Des Tag*• H1 Tag – Keyword in text

Local On-Page Optimization

• Optimize URL Architecture (www.website.com/birds/eagle instead of www.website.com/allanimals/?type=bird&species=eagle)

• On relevant images include keywords in alt tags & filenames (<img src="smiley.gif" alt="Smiley face">)

Local Off-Page Optimization• Submit site to major search engine’s local

listing• Yahoo Local• Google Local• Bing Local • Ask City

• CitySearch (Data feeds Ask.com & Bing)• Yelp (Data feeds Bing & Yahoo)

Social media influence - Local

Local SEO & Social Media Influence

• Google Places, LinkedIn, Twitter• FB, Yelp, G+, You Tube, Pintrest, • Small Businesses all need some sort of Social

Branding – “Social Credit” for Local Search

*Select the right social channel for your business*

Local citations & Reviews

• Citations are “mentions” for your business name and address on other web pages

• Also known as “web reference”• Key component in ranking algorithms in

major search engines – Local Search • Superpages.com, Local Chamber of Commerce• Reviews – separate site page

Directory Submissions & Local Listings

• Industry Specific Directory Submissions• Dmoz • Yahoo – Yelp • Bing – Ask City• Merchant Circle (Hard Costs)• Whitepages• ThinkLocal – City Search

Track & Improve

• Let Google Analytics run for 2 weeks before doing any SEO – baseline

• Top 5 Search Terms that define business• Monthly screenshot of SERPS

Google Local Search

Google (+) Example

Many Thanks and Good Luck!

• Brian Tucker, MBA• Digital Marketing Specialist