If you’re looking for a way to get your business to rank on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or another search engine than a local SEO company can help you achieve your goals! Approximately forty-three percent of Google searches are local, but more than fifty percent of local businesses haven’t even claimed their Google business page. This means that as a local company you’re missing out on a lot of digital marketing Orlando and these are opportunities you don’t want to miss! Hiring a team of digital marketing experts can help you achieve your marketing goals while providing advice and tips throughout the process. The professionals at MyCity Social can work with you and your team to understand the importance of digital marketing and learn some of the best practices to follow. Keep reading to find out more about the techniques that the experts use!
Tips and Advice From The Team At A Local SEO Company
It may not seem like a big deal that your Google My Business page is unclaimed, but claiming and optimizing your page can make a significant difference in your local SEO. Although claiming your page is a fantastic starting point in the SEO process, there is a lot more to local SEO than just doing that one thing. For starters, it is essential for you to understand what exactly local SEO is. The term refers to the process of optimizing and utilizing your online presence to draw in more customers and business from relevant local searches that are conducted online. Potential customers perform these searches on search engines like Google or Bing. Although Google accounts for an estimated eighty-seven percent of searches, it is critical to note that local SEO isn’t just about Google because people use other platforms to conduct online searches, including Yelp and Apple Maps.
Most of the time when people are discussing the digital marketing Orlando businesses are most concerned with they are thinking about Google since most of the population utilizes that search engine because of this let’s take a more in-depth look into Google, and it’s inner workings! Whenever you use the Google platform to conduct a search like “restaurants near me,” you get two different sets of search results. The first is called the “snack pack” results, and the second is the “regular/authentic” organic results. The “snack pack” results are shown in a boxed off area at the top of the first results page when you conduct a local search through Google. This boxed area displays the top three local businesses that are most relevant to the terms you searched for. Research has shown that about thirty-three percent of click go to the local businesses that are displayed in the “snack pack” results. This doesn’t mean that the results in the “organic” search have been left out because the same study showed that about forty percent of clicks go to the regular organic results. What this information is telling you as a business operator is that it pays to rank highly in both categories when it comes to local SEO. However, before you can even begin to worry about whether or not you’re ranking in these local searches, it is critical you get the basics of SEO down first. This means making sure your site is optimized for a mobile experience. Over sixty percent of mobile searches are likely to contact a business if they have a mobile-friendly website. Another basic that you need to have down is making sure that your website is appealing. This means that all video content, pictures, and graphics work! No one is going to contact a local business that has an ugly website. Ranking highly in a search won’t change that.
One of the first concerns you need to be worried about when optimizing your website for local SEO searches is figuring out what keywords you need to be optimizing for. Understanding local keyword searches aren’t that difficult most of the time; every business can think about a “service in location” and be just fine. For example, if you’re a tailor in Orlando, what do you think people will search for in order to find your service? They will probably go to a search engine like Google and type in some variation of “tailor in Orlando.” Ensuring that you rank highly in all “service in location” searches is easy, simply make a list of all the different services you offer at your business and the locations you serve and combine them to make a variety of keywords. It is also crucial that you consider plurals and variations of your services as well. For instance, “tailor in Orlando,” “tailors in Orlando,” “tailoring in Orlando.” That way, no matter what potential customers are searching for your website will rank among the top local businesses. Another expert tip is if you’re optimizing for a local business in a smaller town try including the closest major city your keywords. That way, you will receive a larger pool of customers.
Another trick for figuring out which keywords you should be optimizing for is utilizing sites like CraigsList. If you visit the site and go to their services page and look for a service you provide in your area, there will be a number of keyword ideas right in front of you. Conducting research like this provides you with an inside look into your potential customers’ minds and what they are typing in when using a search engine. In addition to CraigsList, utilizing Google’s autocomplete can help you generate keyword ideas as well. If you go to Google and start searching your primary keyword like “tailor Orlando,” there will be a number of autocomplete suggestions that will pop up. You want to make a note of the top three or four and consider adding them into the variations of keywords you’re creating. Doing this is also a fantastic way of getting ideas that you may not have originally thought of on your own.
Claiming your business pages is essential to ranking highly for local SEO searches. Leaving your Google My Business page unclaimed can be detrimental to your goal! Also, it is important that you set up pages with Bing Places and Apple Maps as well. Although they are not used as often as Google is these other search platforms are a critical part in raising the position of your business on a local search. Creating these pages isn’t too difficult, either. Google, Bing, and Apple all provide step by step instructions, so you know exactly what to do. However, there are some parts to creating your Google My Business pay that can cause some confusion or difficulty, which is why there is a guide below.
- Enter your business name: Here you have two options to search for an existing business to claim or enter a new business.
- Enter your business address: If you are claiming an existing business that is already in their system then this will be auto-populated, but if you are entering a new business you will have to input this information. This part causes some business owners some trouble if you work from home, have more than one business partner who works from home resulting in multiple addresses, own a mobile business, have more than one office, have a virtual office where there is no real physical address, or if you serve customers at a physical location and remotely. The expert advice for handling these situations is if you have a physical office us that address, if you or your business partners work from home list the home address of the person who is closest to the area you serve, and finally if you have a virtual office do not list that address unless the office is staffed during traditional business hours, if it isn’t use your home address instead. When it comes to your address, consistency is key when you’re trying to rank high, so make sure you pick an address and stick with it!
- Pinpoint your exact location: After you have entered the address, a map will come up on the next screen, and there will be location pin that you can drag and drop. Usually, Google will place the pin in the correct location, but if it looks off to you feel free to move it to where you think it needs to be.
- Choose your category: When you’re setting up your Google My Business page you are only allowed to pick one category, which is why it is crucial that you take the time to select the category your business is in carefully. When you’re trying to figure out the category to choose professionals suggest finishing the statement “this business is a…” rather than “this business has a…” The purpose of the category is to describe your business as a whole not list the services it provides.
- Enter your phone number and website: This step is optional, although it is highly recommended that you complete it, and is pretty straightforward.
- Verify your page: Before Google will allow your Google My Business page to go live, you need to verify the listing and the information in it. This is typically done through phone, and all you need to do is follow the instructions from Google.
- Optimize your listing: Once you’ve verified your Google My Business page, you are live and verified. However, it is critical that you don’t just stop there and forget about it! You can optimize your listing by adding more categories, upload photos that are authentic and taken at your business, listing your operating hours, listing the services you offer, inputting any additional phone numbers you have, and adding the amenities you offer.
Another way of optimizing for local SEO searches is through local citations and name, address, and phone, which is often referred to as NAP. There are two different types of citations structured and unstructured. Structured citations are where the name, address, and phone of your business is presented to the customer is a visually-structured manner. These are typically found in business directories and social profiles. An unstructured citation is when your business is mentioned in an unstructured format; this includes blog posts, newspaper articles, and social media posts. The reason accurate and continuous NAP citations are important is because they are one of the top local ranking factors for both Google “snack pack” results and “organic” results. If there is inconsistent NAP information about your business, this will only confuse and misdirect the search engines and potential customers. This also leads to negative user-experience. Unstructured citations are critical to your business because people also use Facebook and other social media platforms to conduct local searches as well.
Contact A Local SEO Company
MyCity Social has gained recognition throughout the Orlando area as providing the digital marketing Orlando businesses can trust. We pride ourselves on having extensive knowledge in the internet marketing field, which has made our clients come to us again and again for advice and help with content marketing services. We make it our top priority to help businesses reach their full marketing potential through unique and strategic tactics. Call or visit us today to find out how we can help you!
