Local SEO Panel

Search Engine Optimization – employing techniques that help your website rank higher in organic (natural) search results.

What is SEO

Organic

Paid

Organic vs. Paid Search Results

Local Search Results

Impact of Rankings on CTR

“On average, over 50% of users click on the first result on the page. From there we see a significant drop, with less than 1% of people clicking on the 8th link on the page.” – Bing, 4/13

70%

25%

5%

US Search “Powered By” Marketshare

GoogleBingOther

Search EnginesGoogle Places (Google+ Local)Bing LocalYahoo LocalAsk Local

Google, Bing, and Yahoo incorporate local results depending on query

LocatorsSuperPagesYellowPagesFourSquareYelpLocal.comManta

Local Traffic Sources

SearchFriendly

Site

On-PageContent

Links + + = HighRankings

Link Architecture•Text in hyperlinks•Anchor text diversity•Quality of link pages•Relevance of link pages•Content on link pages•Local citations•Social Media mentions•Reviews

Content•Title tags•Meta tags•Headlines•Bullet/numbered lists•Bold and italic text•Link text•Body copy•Keyword distribution•NAP•Images & video•Rich media & PDF’s

Site Architecture•Code base•Robots.txt file•XML sitemap•Image hosting•Site speed•Folder structure•Javascript, Flash, Ajax

200+ factors in Google’s organic ranking algorithm * Formula constantly changing

Local SEO Formula

Target local keywords like “Omaha contractors” or “Omaha chiropractors”Ask customers for reviews (Google Places, Yelp, etc.)Embed map of your location along with directionsSocial sharing icons“NAP” – name, address, phone in footer (local # and not 800 #)

Get your business listed in local directories (consistent data!)

Goal: show Google that you are a local, legit, brick and mortar business

Key Points

A critical component of SEO is choosing the right keywords for optimization.

If you are a law firm, you may be tempted to want your website to rank for “lawyer,” (a head term), but chances are you might have some trouble there…

A keyword like “omaha dui lawyer” (a long-tail term) is a better target keyword. Sure, the number of people that search for this keyword will be much lower than the number that search for “lawyer,” but you are more likely to rank for this term, and the traffic is much more relevant to your business, resulting in a higher conversion rate.

Keyword Selection

TrafficMeasuring overall traffic to your website from organic search is something you should look at on a monthly basis at a minimum. To factor out seasonality, be sure to look at year-over-year sessions. Unique KeywordsThe number of unique (particularly non-branded) keywords driving traffic to your site is an important metric which indicates the “health” of your SEO efforts. You should see gradual increases in the number of unique keywords over time.

Leads/ROIWeb analytics tools like Google allow you to see how many conversions have occurred on your website as a result of organic search traffic and keywords, provided you have some way of tracking the desired customer action (contact form, order confirmation page, email signup, etc.)

Measuring Success

Questions?