Local SEO Website Optimization Best Practices

Website Optimization

Basics for Local Search DominanceTrevor Weitzel // Local SEO Expert http://trevorjweitzel.com

@Trevor_Weitzel

http://trevorjweitzel.com/

What Is SEO?

Trevor Weitzel // Local SEO Expert http://trevorjweitzel.com@Trevor_Weitzel


“SEO is the process of making websites technically sound and contextually relevant for both the user AND the search engine in order to improve rankings, drive traffic and increase awareness in the search engines.”



Your Website is Key to Your Rankings



Survey Says...

Overall Ranking Factors From Moz.com



On-Site Best Practices



#1Have a decent amount of content on your homepage

Homepage holds all the link equity

Has best chance of ranking

Target the most important keywords



Don’t Do This… (No Text)



Do This...


● Solid word count● Keyword rich● Location specific● Services broken out● Scannable


#2 Don’t use bulleted lists

One mention of a term isn’t going to make you rank

You can’t rank for content that isn’t there

Have a webpage for every service and location



Bad


● No individual service pages, just bullets

● Can’t rank mentioning a term once


Good



#3 Don’t stop with the homepage

Consider breaking down services into sub-services

Cast a wider netHave plenty of quality content throughout the

site



Quality Content

Go into detail

Provide the best and most thorough page possible



#4DO THIS

domain.com/about-us/

domain.com/wedding-photography/

NOT THIS

domain.com/the-best-photography-studio-in-phoenix (this is spammy)

domain.com/index.php/11298774?=gclidtest (not keyword rich)

URL’s



#5Title Tags

The 2nd most important ranking factor in SEO next to the content on the page



Title Tags

You edit these in the HTML code

Google uses to identify the topic of a page

Not visible on the page but they appear in the search results

When keywords match the user’s query they are bolded



Title Tags - Suggested Format

Keyword City | Business Name

Cosmetic Dentist in Phoenix | Harris Dental



#6 Used to describe the page within the SERP

Meta Description



Meta Description

Not visible on the page

Provides explanation of the contents of a page

Functions as ad copy

Can help drive Click-Throughs

When keywords match the user’s query they are bolded



#7Meta Keywords



Meta Keywords

Was actually a thing in 1998, but this meta tag is COMPLETELY ignored by search engines today



#8 H1’s, H2’s & H3’s

Headings



Headings (H1s, H2s & H3s)

Tweaking the headings without making them spammy can help

Identifies key topics on the page

H1

H2

H3



#9Img Alt Attribute



Img Alts

In the code, not on page

Used to describe the image

Don’t spam it

Can help to show up in Google Image Search

Alt= “Pediatric dentist in Phoenix”



#10 Link related products and services within your content

Internal Linking



#11Site Speed

Google is obsessed with speed

Your website must be fast or users will leave



Site Speed



#12 Users are mobile so businesses should be too

Mobile-Friendly



Mobile-Friendly



When in Doubt, Go Responsive

Responsive is better

Separate mobile sites can cause duplicate content issues



#13NAP (Name, address & phone

number) info on every page of site

Markup NAP info with schema

Correctly embed a Google Map

Other Elements



That’s It!You’re On Your Way To Search

Dominance.



Local SEO Website Optimization Best Practices

Marketing

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