There has already been a lot of conversation in the SEO industry about how various keyword rankings have increased or lowered on Google for local results, so I won’t rehash that too much here.
However, I did want to share my experience with one of my locally based business websites and one of my “national” business website and their respective rankings for local keywords. Read On
A recent study by BIA/Kelsey and ConStat reveals key data concerning consumers’ online habits of researching products and services locally before purchasing. Here are two of the most noteworthy stats that I found: Read On
If you’ve been reading PPC blogs for any amount of time, you’ll notice that much of what you read seems to be tailored for businesses with big budgets and slick websites. Mind you, there’s tons of great advice and food for thought out there–it just may not help the SMB owner with limited development resources and budget.
Working at OrangeSoda has equipped me with a wealth of experience in dealing with the challenges of using PPC effectively with a less-than-perfect website. Here are a few of the most common problems I’ve come across, along with ideas for how to work around the problem without making wholesale changes to your website:
The Local Search, SEO, and Rants blog by Stephen Espinosa has some helpful tips on how local businesses can get higher in search engines. Yahoo actually indexes the text of local business reviews.
So if you have reviews, there are more ways people could search and have your business show up at the top of the list. This is important for local searches (a local search is when someone searches for a city and/or state along with a phrase, such as “dentist, orem, Utah”). Google pulls reviews from other web sites and takes reviews into account when deciding where to rank sites.
Yahoo Local Business Reviews
Yahoo local business searches actually search the text of reviews. Example: Someone types in the words “cavity, needs filling, Provo UT.” They get back a list of dentists in Provo, Utah. If you’re a dentist that has reviews written about your practice, the chances are better that you’ll show up near the top, if you have some reviews written about your business.
Let’s say someone wrote a review that included the words, I had a cavity that needed filling” and this dentist fit me right in…the words “cavity” and needs “filling” will be bolded and that dentist will probably be at the top of the list.
Google Local Business Reviews
Google takes reviews on other sites for their results. They value reviews. Here’s a trick: Go to Google Maps, and type in your business name. Look for the competitors who rank above you. Click on the reviews tab, see what sources the reviews are coming from (Google pulls reviews from other sites). Other places Google gets reviews are from InsiderPages.com, CitySearch.com, Judysbook.com, and Tripadvisor.com. They get other details (such as details about a business) from a variety of other sites.
Local Business SEO Tip: Ask your clients or customers to write an online review of your business. It’s one of the best tips your customer can give you.
