Let’s face it, SEO can be confusing for small business owners. There is a lot of conflicting information on how much small business SEO packages should cost, the effectiveness of different approaches and how long it should take to get a local business to appear on top of Google.
While finding an SEO agency in Denver that actually produces great local seo results can be tough, it is more important than ever for a local business to invest their marketing dollars in improving their digital presence.
With the rise of COVID-19 and new business landscape, more and more people are doing their shopping and research online. Local businesses which a person finds nearby on a Google Map are those who are more likely to get business over a competitor
This means that small business owners can’t afford not to be found by potential customers on Google. At X3, we help local business owners find the perfect small business SEO package for them and guarantee results. Today, we will look at 5 ways that companies can increase their local SEO on Google and other powerful search engines.
1) Avoid Black Hat SEO
If it sounds too good to be true, then it almost always is. This is definitely the case with local SEO and how much it can influence a ranking factor.
In the early days of local SEO, companies could use “keyword” stuffing to jam a bunch of keywords that they wanted to rank for into any page or posts on their website to improve the desired keyword’s ranking.
Today, such shortcuts will get penalized by search engines and do much more harm than good.
If a Denver SEO agency is promising hundreds of backlinks in a short amount of time, it’s another giveaway that they are using black hat SEO efforts. Other black hat tactics include:
-blog comment spam
-cloaking
-keyword stuffing
Growing your company’s digital presence requires hard work over time. Don’t work with a company that takes shortcuts and will hurt your brand and your business and its online presence.
2) Claim your online business listings
There are many places online where your business can appear including social media sites, local indexes, search engines etc. A few of these, to be specific are:
– Google Maps
– Apple Maps
– Bing Places
– Google My Business (including Google Reviews)
Each listing that is claimed and correctly connected to your website provides a valuable backlink to your business and your local SEO near your zip code. Having correct information and being accessible on directories makes your business easier to find for potential customers.
Conversely, each unclaimed listing is a missed opportunity and you could have potential customers looking at incorrect/outdated information. You also could be missing out on responding to negative reviews or customer complaints.
In the early days of the internet, there were relatively few websites, so navigating the web was easy. Once the internet started to expand, however, search engines were created to allow… Source: mailchimp.com
Making sure that all of your online listings have been claimed can take a lot of time. If you have a solid small business SEO package, your agency should be helping you claim and audit all of your business listings.
Working with your agency (who should have much of this knowledge), look for local business directories where local customers may look to find something like plumbers or restaurants nearby. These directories indicate local intent to keep money in their own zip code.
Our website is listed in seolist.org – Colorado Search Engine Optimization Directory
3) Reviews
Ready for a crazy statistic?
According to BrightLocal, 76% of people trust small businesses online reviews as much as a personal recommendation from a friend.
Getting positive reviews means increasing your credibility and trust with your local market and prospective customers. Google My Business and other directories with your business profile are increasingly important to a person looking for your business or product.
A large amount of reviews is also a great indicator to search engines that you are an established company in your market.
Most companies do not prioritize quality reviews from clients enough. Separate yourself from the crowd and prioritize your company’s reviews.In order to have these reviews show up in a Google search, you need to be listed with a local citation. These include many local directories or aggregators which allow for NAP citations (Name, Address and Phone number) which will guide customers to search results for a local keyword.
WHY ARE NAP CITATIONS IMPORTANT?
Global spending on digital marketing nears $100 billion: study
4) Focus on local link building
Getting local links to your website tells Google that you are an authority in local search for your core services or product. Let’s say that you are a Denver SEO company trying to build credibility in Denver and the surrounding areas – it wouldn’t do much good to build links in Los Angeles, California, since that location isn’t a good ranking factor for a business in Colorado, is it?
This is a mistake that a lot of companies make as they focus on industry specific links in other markets rather than building local links right in their backyard. Having a business profile and NAP citations in something like a local Chamber of Commerce is a great opportunity to find a new potential customer.
THE ULTIMATE LIST: 57 ONLINE BUSINESS DIRECTORIES
Building valuable local SEO links can be tricky as the best links have to be industry relevant and relevant locally. At X3, we help small businesses with the best local link building strategy and do the link building for our clients. Someone looking for Google local listings on mobile search are even more likely to shop with your business as mobile search knowledge becomes even more important accounting for over 80% of Google search by the end of 2020.
Most companies do not prioritize quality reviews from clients enough. Separate yourself from the crowd and prioritize your company’s reviews.
5) Creating local SEO content
Almost half of all Google search queries are searching for local information relative to where a person lives. You can make sure that your small business website shows up in the local rankings with a good local SEO content strategy.
The first step to creating great content is to come up with your local keyword strategy for Google, Bing and the other search engines. Once you have your optimal keyword strategy writing good, long-form content using the keywords in your strategy is a great way to go.
LINK: 9 WAYS TO USE BLOGGING TO RANK IN LOCAL SEARCH
The best way to implement this is to write great blog posts around your business or service using your keywords and specifically around your local area. You can also make sure that your local ranking is further improved by keeping things like Google My Business up to date with pictures of a current project, your staff or a featured product.
Consistent, high quality blog posts are pivotal to any local SEO strategy and will ensure that you continue to stay relevant for the most valuable keywords in your market.
The Bottom Line
At X3 we are SEO professionals. It is our job to maximize your marketing budget so your digital marketing efforts can turn search engines into that put-one-in-get-two-back money machine I mentioned earlier. It’s also our job to show you how your money is being spent and provide the trust, results and clarity so you can account for each dollar and track conversion goals to see that money grow. Let’s talk.
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