Local SEO How to Dominate Local Searches In Your Market
Google has spread its wings all over the Internet – it almost owns it. This is why you need to understand the power of local searches and how it can benefit your business. If you are aiming to get a high ranking in local searches, especially in Google, you will have to keep certain important points in mind. First and foremost, you need to be aware of what criteria Google follows to rank your website in their local search. One very obvious thing that you can take into consideration is distance.
However, the power of the Internet makes sure the competition is healthy. This means that a store that’s only a few miles from your store and is nearer to a major city doesn’t mean that it will be ranking higher than you. The only way this has any of affect at all is when your store is at a large distance, over 20 miles. Then in that case, the distance becomes a factor.
You might be surprised and at the same time happy to know that it doesn’t take anything different to boost your ranking in Local Google search, it’s pretty much the same. For example, the crucial aspects such as on page and off page SEO will still play a major role in the ranking of your website. If your locally targeted website contains content that’s SEO optimized with the right keyword density, then it will definitely be ranking higher than the others.
As with any regular search engine optimization, when you use the right keywords on your site, your rankings will dramatically improve in Google’s local searches. Just make sure your address appears at various places on your website, so that it can be crawled. Also have your city name inserted in important places such as the headings and of course, the title tags. When you do this, the chances of your site coming up when someone searches using your local keywords get strong.
If you’ve tried Google SEO for a while now, you know how much value Google gives to anchor text, so it’s important to have your related local keywords in your anchor text when linking to any external site that’s relevant (Example: SEO Services Tampa). Keep in mind that Google gives high emphasis to the position of the text appearing on the page. If all your targeted keywords are brought together and aren’t spaced out, it may affect your local ranking.
Finally, you also have to keep in mind what kind of rating your business has in the offline/real world. For instance, if you own a 5 star hotel, it will automatically be ranked higher than a 3 star hotel. That’s how Google works. All those sites that have a good reputation and a well known business are going to get a higher rank in Google local searches. Apart from this, manually adding your business to Google’s local search by going to their site is a good idea. This can give you a faster ranking. Remember, the longer your business stays on their listing, the higher it will be ranked. Businesses that aren’t long term and don’t stay around for long don’t get to rank well.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. Getting into the Google 8-pack for having a displayed local listing can be a great boost to your traffic, and best of all, if you can rank, its free! Points to keep in mind: Google is as “wise” to keyword stuffing in your local listing page, as it is on your on-site keyword density. So don’t go overboard there. Also, be sure that your address is clearly listed on your “about us” page, or in the footer of your website so that Google knows exactly where your business is located.
Hi great site by the way… I have an issue that you might be able to help me with…
I have set up my site in google local search in London UK.
I have set up my page niche will writer when it comes to chooseing a catogary it gives me some defaults which in my case is legal service provider …and then i write will writers and so on. I then save. But when the page is live it seems to automaticly putting a default catogary “estate agnets” in which screws up my chances of beeing listing very high and has nothing to do with will writing.
Do you know how i can get this problem solved or even how i can let google know?
Hi Skud,
Thank you for your comment.
Your web site does come up if you search for ‘will writer London’ on Google.co.uk.
But you would need to optimize that listing so it shows up on the first page. This has nothing to do with the category.
HP
Thank you for your reply and the research. Looking at who is coming up top i for one cant figure it out as i have a 100%completed profile with client comments and targeted keywords then the people above me. Any tips you can give me on this is much appricated…
Just this morning I was going over my local listings on Google, Bing & Yahoo and thought I had done a pretty decent job, I’m going to reevaluate them all now. Do these same rules apply for Bing & Yahoo local?
Yes, Stefan,
Bing and Yahoo local are very similar too Google local.
HP
Ranking for local searches is relatively easier but it will still depend on the level of competition in the market and the keywords you are targeting.
Does it make sense for you to rank for the whole state? or are you targeting only a specific city? The more local you go, the higher your chances of ranking at the top. But I don’t suggest you go as far as to rank for streetnames.
Keyword research is pretty tricky since keyword tools don’t have that much data on the local level. Its not as simple as getting a keyword and putting on local modifiers e.g. “web design maryland” or “SEO Washington”…
Local campaigns really take off after you have your own analytics data… See the actual keywords that get you the most traffic and conversions then optimize your campaign based on your data; then repeat the process.
Yes, Jose,
That is very true: Your own analytics data really helps to boost conversions, especially on local searches.
HP