If you’re doing SEO right, there is no quick fix to launching your site to the top of the search results (for more info on what “good SEO” is, read this article about WhiteHat SEO). But, once you start doing SEO, if you don’t see results, then you know that something isn’t working quite right!
For small businesses, one of the most important components of SEO is being seen on local search listings. In the good old days, you garnered all information about local businesses by living in a community and learning all the businesses there to do your shopping accordingly. Sadly for grandmas (and great for everyone else), this isn’t the world we live in anymore.
We live in the world of Internet – mobile devices and Snapchat. If you want your business to get noticed, you need to be online. But, contrary to popular belief, you can’t just have a website that exists online. Your site need to be searchable.
Now, you might be doubting that this article will help you get results in record time. Some of you may be thinking, “Record time results? Compared to what?” Compared to Usain Bolt’s record time results, my friends.
Usain Bolt, the world-famous sprinter from Jamaica, made headlines during the 2008 Beijing Olympics as he crushed both the 100m and 200m events, setting world and Olympic records on both accounts. Then, in 2012 at the London Olympics, Bolt kept his title as the “Fastest Person Ever” as he dominated the same events, again setting world and Olympic records on both accounts.
Usain Bolt’s world record for the 100m race is 9.53 seconds. If you do the math, Bolt’s speed on that race works out to be, on average, 27.44 miles per hour. He is the fastest person of all time! His feats are almost inhuman and they are absolutely standing-ovation-worthy.
Google gave me all of that information in .43 seconds.
All of that information was in my top three search results on the first page of search results and within Google’s Knowledge Graph.
There was probably even more useful information if I had looked further, but I didn’t need to. In a fascinating article from Search Engine Watch, they claim that the top search result gets 33% of the clicks, the second gets 18%, and it just decreases from there.
Want to get your business seen on results pages? You need to be on the top of the results.
How do you do that? Start by ranking locally. Local search results show up first! If you rank locally, you’ll rank in record time…that is, you’ll rank on the first page 22 times faster than Usain Bolt ran his world record 100-meter race.
So how can you rank locally? Follow these three tips:
1. Complete Your Google My Business Profile
Whether your business is a brand, a storefront, or operates within a given service area, you should be actively using a Google+ profile. Storefront and service area listings are now the only way you are listed in Google’s Local Search directory. If you have a listing, you have a Google+ page. Use it!
Your Google My Business profile is a perfect way to get a lot of useful information online and will ensure that Google sees your information to use as a search result. The information you fill out on Google My Business is automatically uploaded to other search engines as well.
The more complete the information is, the more valuable your site is to readers, and search engines will rank your page higher. Search engines are simply trying to present the best information to their searchers so that searchers will continue to use their search engine.
2. Use Good, Legal SEO Tactics
Employ WhiteHat SEO tactics and never stoop to keywords stuffing, as tempting as it might be to load up your meta data with location-specific keywords. Instead, use local keywords naturally in your content and Google will associate your site with that local search. The more organic traffic you get that way, the more Google will rank your sites with higher more frequency.
3. Engage on Social Media
Social engagement is a surprisingly large factor in local search results, according to a study by Moz. Search engines look for credible links within websites to determine the site’s validity and helpfulness to readers.
So, if your site is linked to your customers’ social profiles or they are linked to you based on stuff that you share and their tagging you in social posts, then your credibility with search engines skyrockets. Not only are these interactions invaluable for pushing site traffic and link engagement, but also many of these interactions are traced or tagged to a specific location…which is, hopefully, your business. Google reads these geographically tagged interactions and boosts your ranking in local search results.
Google is just reading the data. Make sure you’re providing great data for Google to read. Local social interactions are a perfect example of great data.
By following these guidelines, you’ll be ranking locally in record time, and this time, I mean that you’ll be ranking more quickly and higher than you ever have before! The hard work you put in to optimizing your site may seem like it’s not paying off at first, but give it a few months to pick up traction and you’ll notice the snowball effect taking place. You’ll be seen online in just a few months and it will all be due to your diligence to excellent SEO practice.
