by Support | Jul 31, 2019 | SEO
Having a website is essential for companies of all sizes, but can be a struggle for many small businesses.
Beyond simply having a .com to call your own, it needs to be able to help you stay ahead of your competition. One of the ways to do that is by looking at current web design trends.
Although 2020 is still months away, now is the perfect time to start tweaking your website to make sure it’s ready for the upcoming year. Keep reading to learn more about some of the web design trends you can expect to see next year.
Visual Web Design Trends
First, let’s take a look at the visual trends that have started popping up and will start to gain momentum as we go into the next year.
1. Simplistic Design
According to Albert Einstien, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” That is, you can make a mathematical equation easy to understand, but if you take things too far, you lose its original purpose.
This can be applied to web design today. You want your website to be so simple that anyone can easily use it, but not so much so that it loses any of its functionality.
2. Bold Colors
One of the ways to keep your design simple and to help it stand out is to use bold colors. There are many companies already using this concept.
Think of Spirit Airlines, and what color comes to mind? Bright yellow. It catches your attention and is something that any company can easily include in their web design.
3. GIFs and Animations
Anything that moves on a screen is great for keeping a reader on the page longer. However, videos can cause pages to load too slowly which is a huge turn-off for viewers.
To resolve that, many businesses are now turning to GIFs and other simple animations to provide moving visuals without the heavy file size.
Making your logo form before a person’s eyes when each new page loads is a great way to incorporate this design element in a way that’s fun and interesting without interfering with the rest of the site.
4. Eye-Catching Typography
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes you only need one word to say it all. That’s why many web designers are now using bold typography to get a message across.
5. Hand-Drawn Images
With the myriad of computer-generated drawings and stock photos to choose from, it’s easy for someone to tune out these visuals. That’s why web design professionals started looking for other ways to draw in readers.
One way they began doing this is with hand-drawn images. These are unique and can have various lines and other elements to excite viewers.
Hand-drawn images can also be used to suit nearly any purpose which is another reason they’ve continued to gain popularity and will be an even bigger design trend in 2020.
6. Asymmetrical Layouts
For many years, the extremely symmetrical grid layout was the only way to go when it came to web design. However, as businesses look for ways to stand out in the crowd, one of the ways they found was with asymmetrical layouts.
You do have to be careful with this because it’s easy to take it too far and end up with a chaotic web page. But, with the right web design team at your side, you can create a visually stunning asymmetrical design that people will love.
Other Design Trends
There are a few other web design trends to look at. These focus on the functionality of your website along with how it’s marketed. As you can imagine, these are just as important as the design trends that are strictly visual.
1. More Videos
The first thing that we’re already seeing a lot of are videos. They’re an incredible marketing tool that businesses are getting great results from. Numerous studies have been done that show how videos out-perform all other forms of content.
So, if you’re not currently investing time and resources into video marketing, now is the time to get started. The sooner you jump into this trend, the sooner you’ll get results.
2. Voice User Interfaces
Siri, Alexa, and other responsive voice interfaces have been given a lot of updates and developments recently by their respective companies.
As more people use these interfaces to ask questions, surf the web, and even order products online, it’s crucial for other businesses to step up their games so these interfaces can interact with them.
A huge part of this is keeping designs simple. With a simple design, it’s easy for these computerized assistants to find the information the user is looking for.
3. Virtual Chatboxes
If you spend any time on the internet, you’ve likely already seen countless chatboxes pop up on websites you’re visiting.
These can be a great way for individuals to quickly connect with a real person to get the assistance they need. However, it can also be expensive for a company to keep real people on call 24/7 for these chatboxes.
This is why more and more businesses are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) for this type of service. When properly programmed, AI in the chatbox can provide the same level of customer service as a human but at a fraction of the cost.
4. Mobile Optimization
Over half of people browsing the web today are doing so from a mobile device. If your website isn’t optimized for these users, it’s going to be difficult to use, load slowly, and provide a bad user experience.
For this reason, many web designers today actually start by designing a company’s mobile website. This ensures the majority of their users have an interface designed for them which keeps them on your site for longer.
If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, it should be!
Ready to Take Your Website into the Future?
Now you know some of the top web design trends that you’ll start seeing in 2020. However, if you want to get ahead of the competition, you’ll want to begin implementing them now.
If you need help with your company’s website, contact us today. We would be more than happy to provide you with an innovative and modern site that will help you grow your business next year and beyond.
by Support | Nov 21, 2018 | SEO
Nearly 33 percent of all mobile searches on Google are local searches. Since mobile is now America’s favorite way to access the internet, this is still a huge number of searches.
The rise of “near me” and other local searches is fueled by mobile technology. When people are out and about, they want to find local, relevant information. They want to know about the best places to eat or when they can catch the latest superhero flick.
As a contractor, you might wonder if local search affects you. The answer is yes, it does. Local rankings are more important than ever in SEO for contractors.
Experts predict the importance of local search to keep growing. It’s time for contractors like you to put your SEO to the test and improve your local rank. These seven reasons illustrate why.
1. Your Services Are Tied to Geography
Local search engine marketing is almost a no-brainer for contractors. Unless you have locations in every state, your business is tied to a particular location.
If you use regular SEO services, your website might appear for someone in any part of the country. How disappointing it would be to find the perfect contractor, only to discover they’re on the other coast?
Using local search reduces this likelihood. Instead, it puts your business in front of people in your area.
2. People Are Looking for Your Business
As we already noted, local searches like “near me” and “nearby” have been on the increase. It’s easy to see why. People want to find local businesses they can actually buy from.
This is particularly true for services delivered on-site, like contract construction work. Someone looking for great contractors in San Antonio doesn’t want to see contractors in New York. They probably don’t even care about the top contractors in Dallas.
Local search engine optimization services put you front and center for people searching your area. Improving your ranking helps them find you.
3. SEO for Contractors Drives Results
The most important thing to note is that local search drives results. When people find your business through a local search, they’re more likely to give you a call. In fact, around 70 percent of mobile users hit the click-to-call button provided by Google.
Out of everyone performing local searches, around 60 percent will give you a ring. If they don’t decide to call you, don’t worry. About 60 percent of people performing a local search will actually visit a business.
This means some people will both call and visit you in person. The big take away is that the majority of people searching will contact you. It’s clear investing in local search marketing services pays off.
4. It Increases Your Sales and Revenues
The statistics we presented above make a good case for improving your local SEO. It’s a great way of generating more leads for your contractor business. As you know, though, leads don’t always turn into sales.
This is still very true in the case of local searches. Of the people who contact your business, only some of them will actually buy anything from you.
Nonetheless, the number is still significant. More than a quarter of people who contact your business will actually go on to buy services. This means investing in your SEO and boosting your local rank is one of the easiest ways to grow sales and revenue.
5. It Can be Easier to Rank for Local Search
There’s more good news. It’s often easier for contractors to rank locally. This is because you’re not trying to rank for the same keywords as every other business.
If you’re located in Sonora, you might want to rank for “contractors near me Sonora” or “best contractors in Sonora TX.” There’s less competition for these phrases than “best contractors in Texas.” The location information makes it easier to rank for your chosen keywords.
If you’re in a major center like Austin, Houston, or San Antonio, you’ll have more competition. That’s true even when you’re including geographic information in your keywords.
Think smaller. What neighborhoods do you serve? Someone might be searching within even this small area.
6. Local Search Marketing Services Are Cost-Effective
The numbers make a convincing case for investing in local SEO for contractors. You need to know the investment will actually pay off.
Increasing your sales sounds quite appealing, but at what cost?
The ROI for local search marketing services can be even higher than regular SEO services. Local services use similar SEO tips and tricks, but the increased targeting gets your website in front of the right people.
Why is the ROI higher? The location information narrows your audience. People looking in your area are more likely to be interested in your services.
This is better than regular SEO services in some ways. Their focus on getting you in front of the widest audience possible. You might generate more leads, but not all of them will be high quality.
7. Local Search is Still Growing
Most experts agree local search isn’t going anywhere any time soon. In fact, the number of people using local search is set to continue growing.
In the next few years, you can expect to see local search to take over. The way people use search engines continues to evolve. Looking for local businesses and deals is one of these major trends.
If you want to take advantage of this growth, you should improve your local rank now. As search numbers grow, it’s likely the sales potential of these searches will increase too.
Improve Your SEO Today
The rise of local searches showcases how important good SEO for contractors is. Predictions about the continued growth of local search only highlight how important SEO is. Good SEO will be a priority for businesses.
Looking for a way to kickstart your SEO efforts? Get in touch with us today. We’ll help you discover new ways to improve your SEO. In turn, your business will be more visible to the people who are looking for you.
by Support | Sep 11, 2018 | SEO
With the average small business set to spend around $75,000 on digital marketing this year, you need to find a way to make every dollar stretch. One of the best ways to improve your digital marketing efforts is to focus on ways to improve your search engine results. Google local search results give users a view into what’s happening near them and which businesses they should connect with.
Here are five ways to ensure that your business can hit the top of Google’s local results.
1. Start a Blog
When anyone uses a search engine, they’re either looking for a specific product or the answer to a question. With the help of a blog, you can take on both kinds of searches and show up in the results for everyone even tangentially interested in your business.
At the end of every blog post, where you’ve addressed the most common concerns for customers like yours, you can offer your products as the solution.
A blog is also a way for your clients to learn more about your business. People love to form a real relationship with the businesses that they support, especially small or newly created startups.
A blog gives you the opportunity to sell to customers without having to give a hard pitch. People are sick of the old ways of selling products and want something new. A blog is your way to get in touch with your clients without having to make them feel pressured to buy.
Search engines will reward you when you give real value to your clients and customers. With the help of a blog, you can give customers an understanding of how their lives could be improved with the help of products and services like yours.
2. Get Listed On Business Directories
With the death of the old yellow pages, the newest way to get in touch with customers is through online directories. If you’re not using Google My Business, Yelp, Yahoo! Local, and every other possible directory, you’re losing out on customers. By listing your business on all of these directories, you can be wherever your customers are.
You might notice that your business is already listed on one of these directories. It’s probably because someone wanted to write a review or because you were listed on another directory. Directories small and large will buy data from other directories to fill out their listings.
If there’s one wrong piece of information about your hours, your address, or the spelling of your business, you could be losing business. Leave no hurdles in the way of customers getting in touch with you. Make sure that all of your listings are consistent.
If you’ve got a relatively common name. people could be leaving negative feedback for your company Smith and Sons intending to leave feedback for Smith Inc. If you don’t take care of your listings, you could be losing business with a low ranking.
3. Collaborate With Other Local Businesses
Search engines love to see a business that is connected to other businesses. The internet was built on connections between people and so that spirit persists even in the world of blogging.
When your blog or your URL is mentioned on another blog, you’ll rank higher on search engines. When you use links, link to other local businesses.
If you work together, you can compete with larger or nationwide companies by building a strong local foundation for your business.
Ask for other businesses whose services complement yours to write guest posts on your blog. Ask to have your posts put on their blogs. Whenever possible, cross promote.
When you build a strong local network in your industry and with related industries, you broaden your reach and make it possible to beat out a bigger company.
4. Optimize Your Keywords
Your keywords are the best tool in your box for making sure you get directly connected to the clients who are searching for products and services like yours.
Start by doing some research on your industry. Go into a search engine and start looking for products and services like yours without naming your company. Dig into the search engine and try to see how high you come up compared to your competitors.
Try a few different combinations to see which words you do better on and where your competitors are beating you. Keywords that you rank higher on should be optimized.
Include the name of your city, town, or local landmarks when you list your keywords. Let search engines know the area you’re located in so that they can direct searches over to you and link up search users who are located nearby.
5. Get Social
Social media is a great way to connect with your local market. When you post about local events, use terms that denote where you’re located, and mention landmarks, you’ll come up in more search engine results.
When you post images, always include hashtags, tags, and text that describes where users can find you. The easier it is to find out where you’re located, the higher you’ll rank.
If you enter “pizza” in a search engine, you’ll get social media posts and well as business directory listings for local pizzerias. That’s because search engines know that most people are looking for something that’s close to them and easy to find. Having a strong social media presence will contribute to your overall ranking.
Google Local Search Results Yield Sales Figures
When you find a way to dominate Google local search results, you can ensure that your brand is visible on the most popular directory on the planet. Since there are few alternatives to having your company listed on any relevant business directories, you’ve got to ensure your local SEO game is on point.
If you want to ensure you get to the top of your local search results, check out our guide for more info.
by Support | Oct 30, 2018 | SEO
The real estate industry is a competitive one, with over two million active real estate agents in the U.S.
With so many realtors, it can be challenging to get your name out there and bring in new leads.
That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in handy. With effective realtor SEO strategies, you can localize your online marketing efforts and deliver a steady stream of new leads.
How do you optimize your web presence and get more leads?
That’s the subject of this post as we’re revealing seven real estate SEO strategies you can implement to rank high on Google and bring steady visitors to your website.
1. Begin with an SEO Audit
An effective SEO strategy begins with an SEO audit. You must assess the current state of your website and identify issues that may be preventing a high Google ranking.
Specifically, it’s necessary to audit your site for local search. You need to know if your site is ranking locally and getting organic traffic. If your site is falling short in this area, an SEO audit will help identify the reasons why.
SEO auditing is a complete topic on its own, but here’s a 30-minute SEO audit cheatsheet that can help. You can also hire a professional SEO company to do this job on your behalf.
2. List Your Business with Google
Getting your business in the Google three-pack will bring your website a continuous flow of local visitors.
The Google three-pack refers to Google My Business, Google Maps, and Google Plus. These services are primary sources for prospects to find you when they’re searching for local businesses.
Once your site is listed on these platforms, you’ll begin to appear in search results, which can include a map of your location and reviews. This automatically places your website above large sites like Trulia and Zillow, giving you a local advantage.
3. Optimize Site for Keywords
Keywords are how you get found on Google. In other words, when users type a keyword phrase in the search engines, your site will show – if it’s optimized for the target search terms.
Write down all the keywords you want to rank in Google for. Target keyword phrases focusing on real estate in your local area.
Once you have a list of keywords, optimize your current content and create new content around those keywords as well.
To optimize, you’ll need to make sure the keyword phrase is prevalent in these areas: URL, page title, body of content, image titles and image Alt tags.
As an example, if you have a website page focusing on the keyword phrase “San Antonio Real Estate,” this is how the SEO elements should appear.
- URL – www.yoursite.com/San-Antonio-Real-Estate
- Page Title – San Antonio Real Estate Listing by (Your Company Name)
- Body of Content – Include the keyword phrase approximately one to two percent throughout the article or page
- Image Titles – San_Antonio_Real_Estate.png
- Image Alt Tags – The Alternative tags are what displays when you place your mouse over a picture. Include your keyword phrase in your alt tags.
4. Start a Blog and Create Blog Posts
Start a blog if your site doesn’t already have one. A blog establishes an area on your site specifically for producing content designed to rank higher on Google.
You’ve already created a list of keywords for your website. Now pick three to five major keyword phrases you want to rank for. These should be keywords your ideal prospect would type into Google, such as “Real estate in (your city)” and “best realtor in (your city).”
Create specific articles for each of your main keywords. Once that is done, produce more content based on closely related keywords.
The more content you generate, the more signals you’re sending to Google about the subject your site should be ranked for.
5. Focus on Local Content
Did you know that Google has a separate search engine just for local results? When a user types in a search term that includes the name of a location, such as a city, state, or address, Google activates their local search engine to return the appropriate results.
This presents a huge opportunity for you to acquire loads of online traffic and leads to your website. Instead of competing with the world at large for a keyword phrase, you’re only competing with businesses and individuals in your area. If you’re SEO savvy, you can establish a significant advantage over your competition.
To that end, create as much local city-specific content as you can about your local area. Try to become the ultimate resource for information related to your city with blog posts about landmarks, restaurants, entertainment, sports teams, and shopping.
Provide information and statistics about the best neighborhoods, schools, crime rates, and income statistics.
Interviewing local businesses is a great way to get noticed in the community. Most times, these business owners will share your content on their social media pages. This sends strong social signals to Google while providing new leads for your business.
6. Guest Post on Real Estate Authority Sites
Guest posting is all about contributing with content to well-respected authority sites in your niche.
For example, you can write content for sites like Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, and NerdWallet. By doing so, you expose your business to a larger audience. Your guest posts also bring readers who enjoy your content to your website.
Just as importantly, you can increase your site’s authority metrics with Google with the links back to your website found in your guest posts. These backlinks are a major ranking factor. Even just a few authority backlinks can catapult your business to the top of Google for local searches.
7. Create Videos
The web is shifting from being text-based to video-based. Have you noticed more videos showing up in the Google search results? Not only that, YouTube is now the second most popular search engine, with over 30 million visits each day.
Your local leads are on YouTube, which means you should be there too. Create a channel and upload videos regularly. Also, upload these videos to your website and share them on your social media channels.
Open houses, local listings, and virtual tours are great ideas for video content. You can also do Q & A videos and live streams as well as neighborhood tours.
When you upload your content, optimize it for local search as much as possible. Include local search terms in your headlines, descriptions, and hashtags.
Realtor SEO: The Bottom Line
By implementing a few of these realtor SEO strategies, you can give yourself a significant online advantage over your competitors.
Dominate Google’s search results by optimizing your content for local search and geotargeting keyword phrases specific to your city.
If you enjoyed this article, please share it so others might benefit too. Remember to check out our blog for other helpful tips!
by Support | Aug 20, 2018 | SEO
Looking to market your practice online?
That idea may not be half bad, considering that around 4.1 billion people are active on the internet daily. Why focus solely on advertising your medical practice with traditional banners or ads in the newspaper when you can use the internet?
However, setting up a webpage is not enough to get customers, because no one will know about your website unless you talk about it in person.
So that this will not happen to you, you should consider increasing your SEO score. SEO is what determines the chances of your site getting noticed on search engines such as Google and Yahoo.
Setting up SEO for doctors can seem complicated at first, but once you get the basics down, you’ll find that the rewards are worth the work. Read what we’ve written below for some tips on how to increase our SEO score.
1. Maintaining a Blog
Making a blog for your website is one of the best search engine marketing strategies available.
Putting one out on a regular basis helps your site grow by adding more content to it little by little, making your blog more visible on search engines. Doing this also helps you build links to your website which people may look into when they find your blog helpful.
Make your blogs as informative and interesting as possible. Doing this increases the chances of people referring it to others.
2. Avoid Big Walls of Text
When it comes to websites or blogs, no one like to see a big block of text. When you’re writing your blog, break it down into smaller chunks of texts so people will have an easier time reading it.
Incorporate some videos or some photos in your blogs too. People have a tendency to skim or even skip blogs if they don’t find them engaging. Doing this will keep your readers interested and help you avoid getting a high bounce rate.
3. Conduct Keyword Research
When you’re making your medical website search optimized, you’ll find that conducting keyword research will help you out a lot.
Keywords are words or phrases that people tend to type in search engines when they’re looking for particular services or products such as where to go to get check-ups. These will result in them seeing a list of websites that utilize the keyword in an effective way.
There are online tools available such as Google Keyword Planner that can help you determine which keywords are often used, have a high search volume, and which ones get used by your competition the most.
Keywords are often general and cover a large area, leaving certain, specific niches less searched. You can capitalize on this by searching for something specific that potential customers are looking for which is in your skill set. Keywords like “doctors who do house calls” is a good example of this.
Incorporate these keywords in your blog to get higher visibility on search engines.
4. Spy on Your Competition
It doesn’t hurt to know what your competition is up to. Looking up your competition’s websites will give you an idea of how you can improve your SEO. Online tools such a SpyFu can help you do this.
Other than improving your SEO, spying on the competition also gives you an opportunity to see what you can do to do better than them. Looking at the areas that they are lacking and incorporating those in your practice will get you more online traffic to your site.
You can also look them up to check what keywords they are using the most, and if you see that there are good keywords they’re not utilizing, you can consider using those ones to increase your SEO score.
5. Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile-Compatible
Nowadays, most people now use mobile devices to surf the internet for convenience, and Google’s new algorithm update now prioritizes website with mobile compatibility first. Making sure that you’re compatible with mobile devices is of the utmost importance.
There are different ways for you to utilize to make sure your website is mobile-compatible. Web tools such a WordPress have templates that allow you to design your website to be more accessible to mobile users.
6. Design Your Web pages to Load Faster
A common problem among websites is that sometimes your pages take a while to load if not crashing at all. This is a problem for you because pages that take a while to load often make visitors leave before they can even see the content.
There are different website designs you can use to improve the speed of your webpage. It may even improve your mobile compatibilities.
7. Utilize Geofencing to Prioritize Local Patients
A geofence is a virtual perimeter that encompasses a selected area. This area then notifies anyone who enters with ads of the nearby establishment who set the perimeter.
For example, when someone from Chicago enters Denver, where you’ve centered your promos in, they will get an automatic notification that gives them ads about your medical services.
This is also a useful tool that you can use to boost your local SEO. It gets you a higher search result when people in the selected area searches for medical services.
You can also use your Facebook account or Google to send out these ads, using either medium will help narrow down your preferred audience.
8. Make Use of Social Media
Social media plays a big role in search optimization. As a matter of fact, social media remains as one of the best SEO strategies available.
Social media helps by spreading links and other content found on your website to other web pages, people, and sometimes other groups that relate to your medical field.
To use the full potential of Social Media, make sure that your content is fun to read while being informative and down to earth. It also helps that your website is easy to use and understand for newcomers.
9. Make a Site Map
A lot of people often abandon a website because they find that the place is hard to find on the map.
Making a site map will increase the chances that people stick around and even consider reaching out for your services. This also makes it possible and easier for your place to appear on Google Maps.
Know the Best Tips for SEO for Doctors!
Making a search optimized website is easier now more than ever with these 9 tips for SEO for doctors!
But don’t stop there. We have a lot more to show you and help you succeed.
If you have any questions about SEO, don’t hesitate to contact us.
by Support | Jul 17, 2018 | SEO
Are you wondering how to get on top online?
Did you know there are over 1.89 billion websites in existence? You read that correctly. We said billion with a “B.” So how will you ever achieve a high enough page ranking to attract an audience?
Fortunately, popular search engines, like Google and Bing, know all about your dilemma. With the advent of complicated algorithms and the introduction of AIs, they can predict how useful your website will be to web surfers.
Unfortunately, they can’t always make an accurate prediction. They build tools for website owners to use which will help them better forecast the value of your site. A higher value equals a higher page ranking.
One of the most practical methods to boost those rankings is through a new type of optimization called Local SEO. The sections below outline the process. Read on to learn more.
What Is Local SEO?
Search engines now give web surfers geographically relevant search results. What does that mean? It means search results now include sites located in your area.
If you happen to own a brick-and-mortar store, it’s a phenomenal breakthrough in web technology. If you own a business that only caters to local customers, it’s just as amazing.
Even if you don’t, it’s a way to give yourself a leg above your competition and connect with new customers in your area.
Google My Business
If you want to drive traffic to your website, this should be your first stop. The information on Google My Business is what Google uses to display on their maps, knowledge graphs, and local rankings. If you don’t already have a profile on this site, today’s the day to change that.
Head over to their site and fill out their form with your business name, address, and phone number. Be sure to use the same info you have on your website. If you don’t, Google may get their wires crossed. Be forewarned.
Then you give Google more information on the type of business you offer, so they better understand who might benefit from your company. Don’t worry; they provide detailed instructions for each step. Be sure to complete your profile on Google My Business before you move on to anything else.
OnPage Local Search Engine Optimization
Format your content in a way that search engines understand. If you do that, your page ranking will shoot up overnight. Follow local SEO best practices and pay attention to the following steps.
Create Separate Landing Pages
When you serve multiple locations, you need a landing page for each city. If you try to build a single page that ranks for numerous cities, Google is likely to misunderstand your intent. Google algorithms rank each page for only one keyword.
This is likely to change in the future, as AIs predict your web pages more accurately. But we’re not there yet. If you want to rank organically, you need to have a page for each city you serve.
Adjust Headers, Content, Tags, and Descriptions
All the usual SEO hints and tricks apply with one addition: add your city. Include it in your H1 header. Include it in your title tags. Include it in your meta description.
Also, add it to your content. But stay away from keyword stuffing. Google has declared war against over-optimizing your website.
Throw out your old more-is-better handbook. Work with this new motto: create accurate, actionable content. Write like a journalist instead of a web designer.
Journalists take advantage of synonyms. They rarely use the same word twice, unless for emphasis. They know the words they use must accurately portray the ideas they want to share.
Try to limit the use of your city name to three times in your content. Use one in the first couple hundred words, and spread the rest out.
Format Your Information for Schema
What is a schema, you ask? It’s a type of format which helps web crawlers better understand your website. Include your name, address, and telephone number in this format. It’ll guarantee search engines accurately portray your info for local listings.
Include a Google Map
This is less about SEO optimization and more about common sense. It makes it easier for website visitors to find you in the real world. Well over 50% of web searches are performed on mobile devices.
Many of those are looking for solutions to their problems. Make it easy for them.
Make it Mobile Friendly
While we’re on the topic, build your site and your contents for mobile devices. Remember earlier when we mentioned factors that search engines look at to calculate page ranking? Guess what? Your sites ability to perform well on mobile devices is now a primary factor.
Use Google’s mobile-friendly test to find out how well your site runs on mobile devices.
Link Locally to Get on Top Online
Another factor in those complex search engine algorithms is the link. We should say links. Websites contain many.
If you read a blog article, you’ll find words which are usually underlined and in a different color than the rest of the text. When you click on these words, your browser opens up a new page. That group of words or numbers is called a link.
If you write a blog article, you should always include links to your sources and links to other, appropriate pages on your website. When other bloggers read your amazing articles, they too will include a link back to your site.
The trick is to get the right people to link back to your site. Often the best way is to simply ask. Offer to give them something in return, such as mentioning them in your marvelous article.
Not sure who to ask? Hit up local business directories, charities, non-profits, schools, newspapers, or city governments.
Land Local Reviews
Reviews help drive search rankings. That’s why you should claim your business profile on review sites. If you sell houses, jump on Zillow. If you rent houseboats, check out TripAdvisor. You get the idea.
No matter what kind of business you operate, be sure to claim your listing on Yelp. They boast over 100 million users, and they’re bound to already have a profile on you. Make sure it’s accurate, and make it yours.
What’s Next?
Simple, right? Local search SEO strategies aren’t tricky. You just need to jump through a few hoops to get on top online.
Start with regular SEO strategies. Make sure you understand and utilize them correctly. The addition of a local strategy only takes a few extra steps.
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So long and good luck!
