Google Local Business SEO Strategy Guide

3 Local SEO Tips

As a local business owner you should always have an eye out for your local business listing rank position. Google reports, “97 percent of consumers conduct a search for local businesses before shopping.” That number is damn close to 100 percent which means you better crack Google’s local listing pack (3 pack, 7 pack, or 10 pack) if you want to be competitive in your local business space.

Now granted that the biggest factors in local search rank position seem to be your business name, address, and business category; there are three other controllable factors for which you can help your business earn a top local rank position.

1). Use of Authority Citations

One of the quickest ways to help Google verify your local business listing and to also increase your local business rank position is to have other websites mention your business name, address, and phone number in proximity to each other. When another website mentions your business including your address and phone number this is known as a “citation”. A citation is viewed from Google as verification that you business does in fact have the address and phone number that you have listed on your place page.

Google looks for citations on the web in order to verify your physical business address. Each citation helps Google feel more confident that your physical business address is correct on your listing and is not fake by means of stealing a local search listing position. (Imagine businesses creating fake addresses in order to steal search positions in cities and states where they do not have a physical store location.)

Citations help Google not only verify your listing but helps to determine the order in which listings rank. In scenarios where several business may have the same criteria for a rank position Google may turn to the number of citations and the prominence of those citations to determine which local listing deserves the position. Google’s location prominence patent states that, “the highest score of documents referring to the business” will indeed serve as a ranking factor in its algorithm.

Local SEO Action Tip: Increase the number of citations for you business using other local directories!

2). Use Inbound Anchor Text

Location keywords in anchor text will also help your business earn a higher local rank position. Location specific inbound anchor text is also seen by Google as verification that you business provides service in a particular geographic region. Although inbound anchor text is not known to be as big of a ranking factor as citations are, there is no doubt that it will certainly aid in your local search rank position.

Local SEO Action Tip: Increase the number of location-specific inbound anchor text links!

3). Ask for Google Reviews

Google reviews help your business rank position for several reasons. First, reviews helps Google to verify your listing. Secondly, revie ws also imply that people are visiting your place page. For every place page visit by a logged in Google user, that page becomes indexed in that user’s search history. Thus it is more likely your business place page will be a search result for that same user in the future as a result of Google most significant algorithm change known as, Search Plus Your World.

Local SEO Action Tip: Ask your customers to leave your business a review!

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10 Mind Bending SEO and Social Media Stats

Ten Incredible Social and Search Stats

It is no secret that “inbound marketing”, a term coined by the genius’ at Hubspot, is beginning to dominate traditional marketing. Search Engine optimization and social media is powerful in theory because it is based upon providing consumers the information they want to see and hear where and when they want to see and hear it. Unlike traditional marketing and interruption advertising, inbound marketing delivers a message in the right context. As the social and search bandwagon grows larger more statistics allow marketers to understand just how gigantic a movement online marketing has become. Below are ten mind bending SEO and Social Media stats to juice up your Monday spirits.

1). Every minute more than 500 tweets contain YouTube Links. (SEO Chat, 2011)  TWEET THIS!

2). Firms generating 60% or more of their leads online are 2X more profitable than those generating less than 20% of their leads online. (HubSpot, 2011) TWEET THIS!

3). In the past 4 years, the web has gone from 100 million websites to 250 million. (Source: Netcraft, Dec 2010) TWEET THIS!

4). 67% of consumers conduct research online prior to purchase during the holiday season. (Source: Post Holiday Learnings for 2011 Google/OTX, Jan 2011) TWEET THIS!!

5). In 2011, the average shopper consults 10.4 sources prior to purchase, twice as many as a year ago. (Source: Google/Shopper Sciences, Zero Moment of Truth Macro Study, U.S., Apr 2011) TWEET THIS!

6). 53% of searchers purchase as a result of a smartphone search online. (Source: Google/OTX, The Mobile Movement, U.S, Apr 2011) TWEET THIS!

7). 43% of US adults say they’d be willing to give up beer for a month if it meant they could keep accessing the internet on their smartphones. (Source: Google/OTX, The Mobile Movement, U.S, Apr 2011) TWEET THIS!
 
8). 82.6% of internet users use search. (Source: eMarketer, July 2011) Tweet This!
 
9). 16% of the daily queries on Google have never been seen before. (Source: Google Internal Data 2011) Tweet This!!
 
10). 88% of US companies over 100 employees will use social media for marketing by 2012. (Source: eMarketer, November 2010) TWEET THIS!!

5 Tips For Generating Keywords for Your SEO Campaign

Probably the most important factor for determining both the strategy and success of a search engine optimization campaign lies in the selection of keyword phrases. Choosing the right keywords phrases to optimize for any particular website should not be taken lightly. The keyword phrases that are chosen for a campaign determine how people will find a website, how many people will find a website, how quickly a website will rank on the first page of a search engine, and the interest level of the searching party.With that said you must generate a comprehensive list of keyword possibilities before you can select keywords for you SEO campaign.

Here are 5 tips for generating the best keywords for your SEO campaign:

[custom_list style=”list-1″]

  • List as many product/service names associated with your business as possible. (e.g. lawyer, doctor,)
  • Brainstorm as many descriptive variations of those product/service names as possible. (e.g. attorney, criminal law, bankruptcy lawyer)
  • Study your competitor’s website and their keywords. This is a great strategy to realizing keywords you hadn’t thought of yourself.
  • Add geographic specific keyword variations. (San Diego Lawyer, San Diego bankruptcy lawyer, La jolla Bankruptcy lawyer)
  • Take your list of all keyword variations and enter then into Google’s Keyword Tool to have Google recommend even more keyword variations.

[/custom_list] Once you have completed these 5 steps you should have an excellent list of keyword possibilities for which to choose for your SEO campaign. This is a crucial first step. Without a full list of possibilities it is likely that you may miss out out on a great keyword ranking opportunity. After you have assembled this list you are ready to compare keywords and select the best choices for your campaign based upon relevance, competition, search volume, and profitability potential.

Search Engine Optimization San Diego

DinoMite SEO is located out of Vista, California but our search engine optimization firm primarily provides service to business owners in all areas of San Diego. We work with both small and large companies alike as well as individuals.

DinoMite SEO provides optimization services based upon keyword packages. Our clients decide how  many keywords they would like to rank for and we deliver the results. Our Keyword packages range from 5 to 30 keywords on average.

La Jolla Search Engine Optimization

La Jolla, California is home to several amazing beaches, restaurants, and night clubs. It is a favorite suburb of San Diego to both tourists and local San Diegans alike. A few members of our DinoMite SEO team actually surf La Jolla Shores every morning and thus our company has made several efforts to provide our services to local businesses in the area.

If you know of a La Jolla restaurant, health club, business, night club, retail store, or individual who is in need of a stronger online web presence then please contact the DinoMite team. We would love to help out another local business and can offer up to 20% off to friends and family!