Dominate Google Local Search – 2017

Google and other search engines are trying to do 2 things.  1 – Increase their revenue (without looking like they are trying to increase their revenue), 2 – Provide searchers with websites that are most relevant to the terms that they search.  SEO is a popularity contest.  If you can get all of your friends to say you are cool and people at other schools think you are cool, then you must be cool!  This is how Google and the other guys rank you in search.  My information comes from the 2017 MOZ Local Search Ranking Factors report recently released.  As a local business there are two results patterns that you must be aware of:  Local Pack and Organic.

Based on the analysis from the fine people at MOZ, here are the 5 things I think you should do immediately to move up the rankings on Google (and the other guys).

1. Link Building – Obtaining backlinks with proper and proportionate anchor text is the single most effective way to climb the Google ladder. But, obtaining backlinks is not good enough.  A successful backlink building campaign should target obtaining links from high authority sites.  Obtaining just one backlink from a website that has a high authority can be equal to obtaining 100 backlinks from a website with very low authority.  Quality reigns supreme in the link building game!  When you have a high Quantity of high Quality backlinks you have a recipe for success!
2. On-Page SEO – This requires a bit of keyword research to know which phrases you want to target by how many people are searching for related terms to your business. Once you have determined the correct keywords to target, then you must deploy them on your website in an organic fashion but with a purpose.  For example, you should have your #1 keyword in the Title, H1, H(x), and the paragraph of your text.  You should also make sure your NAP is located on your page and it is consistent across the internet.
3. Internet Citations – It is very important that you manage internet citations of your business across all major data aggregators. You NAP (Name, Address, Phone) should be consistent on all aggregators.  The amount of citations is a factor in search rankings so you should have a large quantity of citations that all match each other.  Example: your Facebook page business information should match that on Yellowpages.com.
4. Google My Business – If you have not claimed your Google My Business profile, this is a must! After you claim it, you need to optimize it to help you “place” in the 3 Pack and organic search.  One tip that is still working as a “hack” is to make sure your keyword is in your business title.  For example, if you have multiple locations or you are targeting 1 city that has a huge search population you may want to include it in your business name (Roots Southern Salon – Savannah).  Proximity to the searcher’s IP does matter, but there isn’t much you can do about that (other than move your location).
5. Great Content – This knocks out a couple of the ranking factors if you leverage it successfully. If you have a blog and are producing content that will keep people engaged, this will help on the Behavioral Signals factor.  You will also have shareable content for Social Media, so when you get your profiles built out you can have your great content shared among the masses.   This great content may also get saved as bookmarks or shared on Google + and help with the Personalization ranking factor.

Now go forth and conquer the Googleshpere…. Until the next Google update!
If you feel you may need help with some of this boring SEO stuff, FirstPage Marketing can help!  We can assist you with a plan and let you execute it or we can be your full service SEO provider and help you reach that coveted #1 spot on Google!

We also have a Free SEO Audit Tool to help you find you way!  Try it out now!