Local Search Engine Optimization for

Small Businesses

Local SEO:Topics

• Local On-Page Optimization (2 Slides)

• Local Off-Page Optimization

• Social Media Influence – Local SEO (2 Slides)

• Local Citations & Reviews

• Directory Submissions & Local Listings

• Track & Improve – Google Analytics

Local On-Page Optimization

• Local Address & Phone # on every site page

• Meta Description Tag – Strong call to action

• Page Titles – unique for each page + keywords

*Include city in Page Title & Meta Des Tag*

• H1 Tag – Keyword in text

Local On-Page Optimization

• Optimize URL Architecture (www.website.com/birds/eagle instead of www.website.com/allanimals/?type=bird&species=eagle)

• On relevant images include keywords in alt tags & filenames (<img src="smiley.gif" alt="Smiley face">)

Local Off-Page Optimization

• Submit site to major search engine’s local listing

• Yahoo Local

• Google Local

• Bing Local

• Ask City

• CitySearch (Data feeds Ask.com & Bing)

• Yelp (Data feeds Bing & Yahoo)

Social media influence - Local

Local SEO & Social Media Influence

• Google Places, LinkedIn, Twitter

• FB, Yelp, G+, You Tube, Pintrest,

• Small Businesses all need some sort of Social Branding – “Social Credit” for Local Search

*Select the right social channel for your business*

Local citations & Reviews

• Citations are “mentions” for your business name and address on other web pages

• Also known as “web reference”

• Key component in ranking algorithms in major search engines – Local Search

• Superpages.com, Local Chamber of Commerce

• Reviews – separate site page

Directory Submissions & Local Listings

• Industry Specific Directory Submissions

• Dmoz

• Yahoo – Yelp

• Bing – Ask City

• Merchant Circle (Hard Costs)

• Whitepages

• ThinkLocal – City Search

Track & Improve

• Let Google Analytics run for 2 weeks before doing any SEO – baseline

• Top 5 Search Terms that define business

• Monthly screenshot of SERPS

Google Local Search

Google (+) Example

Many Thanks and Good Luck!

• Brian Tucker, MBA

• Digital Marketing Specialist