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Local Search Engine Optimization Knowledge for Small Business

Published on: August 3, 2013

Over the past few years, I have dealt with many business owners who are confused about local seo and the process involved.  It takes time to rank organically in Google for many competitive location based searches.  I have seen first page rankings take anywhere from 2-14 months, depending on the industry, competitiveness, and strategies used.

 

I decided to create this helpful local seo guide to assist fellow marketers and small business owners in improving their local search strategy.  This is also a good guide to forward to your online marketing agency, to ensure that they are using the proper tactics in your organic campaigns.  I split it into two sections for now, On-Page, Local SEO Business Directories.  It is imperative to your campaign that you maintain a consistent Name, Address, and Phone Number.  For the website submissions, be sure to fill out your profiles with good unique descriptions and as much information about your business as you can provide, to give it a respectable and full presence.

 

Google Local Search results for "san diego doctor"

Google Local Search results for “san diego doctor”

 

 

On Page Local SEO Optimizations

 

My Geo Sitemap is
<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/LocalBusiness”>
<h2><span itemprop=”name”>KickinKnowledge Web Productions</span></h2>
<span itemprop=”description”>Contact {name} owner Justin Murray at any time directly 415-237-3932 Meetings and Office by Appointment Only.</span>
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>
<span itemprop=”streetAddress”>4629 Cass St. #165</span>
<span itemprop=”addressLocality”>San Diego</span>,
<span itemprop=”addressRegion”>CA</span>
</div>
Phone: <span itemprop=”telephone”>415-237-3932</span>
</div>

and this html code contains seo friendly markup data from the specifications at http://Schema.org, specifically the LocalBusiness markup.

 

  • Add your Name, Address and Phone number to every page on your website.  Make sure the address and phone number are click-able on mobile devices.  Nobody likes going to a website on a cell phone and not being able to call them by pressing the phone number (usually it is mistakenly hidden in an image of the phone number, while it should be html/text, preferably with tel: – read more at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1164004/how-to-mark-up-phone-numbers)

 

  • Mention your business city, state, and surrounding areas once or twice in your content.  DO NOT keyword stuff.  If you mention the same place within two paragraphs more than twice, you’re getting stuffy.  Don’t get stuffy.  Make your content natural and use ALT tags on your images.  Google has an older but still relative post on Alt tags – http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/12/using-alt-attributes-smartly.html

 

  • In a prominent area of your website (top right sidebar?), have a contact form or Live Chat module with call-to-action text.

 

  • Ensure that your website is mobile and tablet friendly.  Preferably responsive design.  I make all my clients websites in responsive wordpress themes/frameworks.  These websites respond to the device width of whatever size device is viewing it.

 

  • Your website should be fast.  At least under 3 seconds load time.  Compress your images, get your jquery from Google libraries, use caching and minification if possible.  Check your website speed at Pingdom Tools – http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/

 

  • Track your results.  Use the free data from Google Analytics and Google/Bing Webmaster tools.  Improve your conversion on pages by modifying your titles and meta descriptions for under-performing pages.

 

Local SEO Business Directories

Google Places This is an important one! Make sure to actually Verify your profile with Google. Search Engine Land has some great information on the new Google Places management at http://searchengineland.com/10-things-seos-smbs-should-know-about-new-google-places-dashboard-154686
LinkedIn
Yellow Pages
Yelp
White Pages
Super Pages
Local.com
City Search
Yahoo Local
Mapquest
Dex Knows
Yellow.com
BBB.org
Service Magic
Facebook
Angie’s List
Area Connect
Biz Journals
Topix
Foursquare
American Towns
Local Guides
411.com
Manta
Patch
City-Data
MerchantCircle
Yellowbook.com
Yellowpages.aol.com
Insider Pages
Magic Yellow
Hotfrog.com
Mojopages
Demandforce
Best of the Web Local
Bundle
Chamber of Commerce
Metromix
Yellowbot
Kudzu
ShowMeLocal
LocalPages
HopStop
YellowMoxie
Phonenumber.com
Yellowise
GetFave
Tupalo
Zip Local
EZLocal
City Squares
USCity.net
Local Database
Yellow Pages

About the Author:
Justin Murray

Justin Murray is the Owner and operator of Kickin Knowledge, a San Diego web design, development, and marketing company. With over 10 years of online marketing and website experience, Justin has a passion for building and promoting businesses on the internet. Justin studied Computer Science from Coleman University, with a concentration in Computer Networking, where he achieved certifications in A+ Computer Repair, as well as CompTIA Certifications in Computer Security and Networking.  Considered a "jack of all trades" when it comes to websites, Justin brings experience and dedication to Kickin Knowledge. Kickin Knowledge proudly specializes in Wordpress, Woocommerce, E-commerce, SEO, and PPC (pay per click like Google Adwords) marketing services.

Email Justin:

Questions? 

Call (415) 237-3932
Are you looking for the best in San Diego Website Design & Development? What about marketing services like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google Adwords?

We are your #1 solution with the successful clients to prove it! Kickin Knowledge excels at search engine optimization, social media marketing, and PPC advertising (Google AdWords).

Find Us In San Diego, CA

1468 Grand Ave. Suite A 
San Diego, CA 92109

Pacific Beach, CA 92109 Location

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