SEO For Local Search

1. SEO For Local Search Mary Bowling Twitter: @MaryBowling Blog: www.MaryBowling.com Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

2. SEO is… • Search • Engine • Optimization Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

3. For Local Businesses, SEO is • Making it as easy as possible for prospective customers to findinformation about • YOUR BUSINESS • wherever they may be looking online for you or for the goods and services you sell! Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

4. To Achieve That, We Need To: • Create and improve ourwebsite so that it will rank highly on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) tohelp potential customers find the business’ website. • Create and improve businesslistings inimportant local places across the web to help potential customers find the business’ information on other websites. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

5. SEO Helps You Rank in 2 Ways LOCAL MAP PAID ADS PAID ADS ORGANIC RESULTS LOCAL RESULTS Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

6. Who Gets The Clicks? US Search Engine Market Share August 2012 Other 5% Bing 15% BingHoo 29% 66% GOOGLE 14% Yahoo Bing provides organic search results for Yahoo! Search Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

7. Aim for Ranking on Page 1 ! #1 - 42.13% #2 - 11.90% #3 - 8.50% #4 - 6.06% #5 - 4.92% #6 - 4.05% #7 - 3.41% #8 - 3.01% #9 - 2.85% #10 - 2.99% Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

8. The SEO Process • Pick the right keyword phrases • Decide which pages on our website to optimize for which terms • Implement the keyword phrases within the content of your web pages appropriately • Link between your own pages • Gain links and citations from other websites • Eliminate technical problems Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

9. The Algorithms(What’s the secret formula?) Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

10. Google Algo Super Simplified! On page Keyword Use Incoming Links Everything Else Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

11. Google Says: • “People often talk about “the Google results” but the truth is there is no single “Google” — at any given time there are 50-200 different versions of our core algorithm out in the wild. Millions more when you realize your search results are personalized to you and you alone.” • In other words, we are all seeing differing results all the time. • Source:http://www.google.com/insidesearch/playground/underthehood.html Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

12. Local Organic Search Trends • Google increasingly favors businesses with powerful websites that are well-optimized for local terms. • There is much more personalization of results, including personalization for the searcher’s location • It’s getting harder and harder to spam, which helps legitimate businesses Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

13. To Dominate the SERPS • Organic SEO (optimizing website) • + • Local SEO (optimizing location) Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

14. What Search Engines Want • To return the most relevant, useful results for every search query. • So, we have to demonstrateand reinforce the relevance and usefulness of our pages to searchers. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

15. Relevance=Location • Google knows where we are: • via automatic detection • via our settings and info in our Google account • The business’ location and distance from the searcher help the Search Engine determine relevance. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

16. Relevance=Keywords in HTML titles and headline tags we place on our web pages: Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

17. Relevance=Keywords in The text content we place on our pages Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

18. Relevance=Keywords in The text in the links that point to our web pages Link text: insurance agent Link text: Cannizzaro Insurance Link text: austin renters insurance Link text: car policy Link text: affordable auto coverage A link tells Search Engines and humans what the page it points to is about. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

19. Recap on Relevance Signals • Our location in relationship to searcher’s location • Keywords in • page titles and html tags • website text • text in links pointing to pages Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

20. On-Site Optimization(What we put on our own web pages) Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

21. Start with Keywords We have total control over what we put on our own pages On-page Keyword Use Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

22. Which Keywords? Don’t Guess! Keyword research = foundation of SEO Learn: • Search terms • Search volumes • Competitiveness Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

23. Free Keyword Research Tools • Google AdWords Keyword Tool • generate keywords and get competition data • Keyword Discovery • generate keywords and get competition data • WordTracker Questions Tool • see questions people are asking in the search boxes • Market Samurai • use for research and competition data – lots of free training material Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

24. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

25. Google Keyword Tool • Sign into your Google account • Use “phrase” match numbers • Searches include all the words in the phrase in any order (bike austin, buy a bike in austin, austinbike rentals) • Local Monthly Search numbers are NOT for your particular location. They are for the entire country.https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

26. What Makes a Good Keyword? • How many searches? • Ideal = low competition and high volume • How competitive? And how strong is your website? • MOST IMPORTANT:How likely is the searcher to turn into a customer? Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

27. Focus on Most Targeted Terms “hotel” “BWI airport hotel” “BWI airport hotel with pool and free wi-fi” Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

28. Research Local Keywords Google Trends Tool Add search terms Choose location Choose time period http://www.google.com/trends/explore Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

29. Keyword List Tips • After you’ve done your keyword research: • Eliminate • “Iffy” terms • Very competitive terms (unless you have a strong website). • Terms without search traffic • Organize your list in a way that works for you and your website. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

30. Keyword Mapping • Create a plan of how your keywords will be used to optimize your website. • Critical step that will guide all of your ongoing search engine optimization efforts • Begin by mapping your site structure. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

31. Map Your Site Structure • The higher up a page is in the site structure the more natural potential ranking power it has. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

32. Match Pages to Keywords Keeping the terms you choose relevant to the content on the page, match a page’s potential ranking power with the competitiveness of the term. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

33. Focus Your Optimization • Target 1-3 closely related keywords per page: • Okay to optimize for only 1 term, especially on interior pages and new/weak sites. The more closely related the terms are, the easier it will be to rank for all of them. • Match a more competitive term with 1-2 longer tail terms. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

34. Sample Keyword Map Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

35. Where to Use Keywords • Use assigned keywords in the important TEXT areas of your pages: • URLs • HTML Page Titles • H1, H2 (headlines and subheads) • Text-based content • Navigation links • Other internal link text • Image file names, alt tags and captions Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

36. Page Title URL Navigation Header (h1) Subheader (h2) Content Image Location

37. Optimize Your Search Results When a page appears in the SERPs, people usually see: HTML Page title URL HTML metadescription Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

38. Create Good Ads Page title + Meta description + URL = “Free Ad” in the SERPs Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

39. Make Ads Enticing • Focus on the searcher, who’s thinking: • What’s in it for me? • What problem can this help me solve? • Why should I go to this page instead of another? • Include a call to action : call today, get a free quote, get help, learn how, download , etc. • Ads read better if they are not cut off in the search results • Page Title: No more than 65 characters • Meta Description: No more than 130 characters. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

40. Local SEO Tips for Your Website Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

41. Help with Location Trust • To make your location absolutely clear to the Search Engines: • Place your business name, full street address and local phone number on all pages of your website in text form. • Consider using www.Schema.orgmicrodata format for this Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

42. Contact or About Page • Use the natural ranking potential by: • Putting business name, city and phone number in page title • Embedding a Google Map showing your location on page • Writing out directions to your location on the page Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

43. To Rank for Multiple Locations • With a physical presence (you have an office, shop or store in the location) you do qualify for a business listing for each location. It is eligible to rank in Maps and in the organic results. • Without a physical presence (you service the location, but do not have an office, store or shop there) you do not qualify for a business listing and you are not eligible to rank in the Maps results. Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

44. To Rank for Multiple Locations • In either case (with or without a physical presence), create a separate website page for each location. • Unique, useful page about that location • Optimize the page for main service or product + location • Use good internal linking (between your own pages) • Build external links to each page (from other websites) • For each local page on Google+, point your link to your website URL about that particular location Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

45. Website pages Manhattan Insurance Office Located Here Maps SERPs • Manhattan Insurance • Bronx Insurance Service area – No Office Organic SERPs Local Business page on Google+ • Brooklyn Insurance • Service Area – No Office • Queens Insurance Service Area – No Office Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

46. Internal Link Text • When linking from one of your pages to another, use descriptive link text to tell Search Engines and humans what the page they will be taken to is about: • Replace click here, view more, learn more, etc to location+keywordterms to point to the page optimized for those terms. • For a page optimized for Towson Accounting, change Click Hereto See all of our Towson accounting servicesor Tax advice in Towson • Mix up your link text to make it look more natural Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

47. Recap: On-site Optimization • Pick the right keyword phrases • Map keywords to pages • Implement keywords on chosen pages • Make your “ads” enticing • Put location information in text form • Give each location its own unique, useful web page • Use location terms in your internal links Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

48. Off-Page Optimization(aka link building) Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

49. Off-Page Optimization = Links Incoming Links Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org

50. Links = Votes • The more votes you have the better,BUT not all links are equal. • Quality counts and crummy links can hurt you! Optimized! www.MaryBowling.com www.LocalU.org