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Search Engine Optimization
How Search Proximity Helps Local Businesses
In real estate, there are three rules for success when selling a property: location, location, and location. Marketing on the internet isn’t that different. Location counts. Keep reading, and you’ll learn how your location impacts your internet marketing, how you can take better advantage of your location, and the most effective ways to reach the online visitors who are most likely to become your customers – the people closest to you.
Online consumers conduct more than 100 billion online searches each year, and today, location is a more important aspect of those searches than ever before. Why? Google, Bing, and other search engines assume that when someone is searching online for a business, product, or service, the searcher would prefer to find that business, product, or service locally. How can you help to make sure that the local business or professional practice that a visitor finds is yours?
Approximately 60 percent of the mobile users who search for a local business actually visit one of the businesses they find – the very same day – and a full 80 percent contact a local business at some point after conducting a local search. Over 90 percent of online consumers regularly conduct a search for a local business, so it’s imperative to make your location prominent on your homepage and to make sure all of the information about your location is accurate.
WHY WOULDN’T THE CLOSEST BUSINESS BE RANKED FIRST IN A SEARCH?
Local search engine optimization (local SEO) is online marketing that returns results to consumers based on the actual physical location of the consumer and his or her PC or mobile device at the time of the search. However, there are plenty of searches where the business closest to a consumer is not the first business listed in the search results. How does this happen, and how can local businesses improve their search engine rankings?
Let’s say you type the phrase “Italian restaurant” into a search engine like Google. A business named “Luigi’s Pizza Palace” may sit only a block away from you, but it’s not high in your search results. Why? It’s probably because the actual phrase “Italian restaurant” appears nowhere in the text on Luigi’s website. If you’re “Luigi,” you’ll need to revise that text.
While your physical location is primary, it’s not the only consideration of the search engines. Google also takes into account a company’s reviews, the company website’s popularity and quality, its links and backlinks, and the keywords embedded in the text. Websites should be updated – at least monthly – with some type of new content that includes keywords and details about the location.
WHAT MUST BE CONSIDERED TO IMPROVE A SEARCH ENGINE RANKING?
Even if you’ve peppered your website with plenty of accurate details about your location and plenty of key SEO terms, if you want to land high in the Google rankings, you also need to consider backlinks, review sites, and social media sites. Local reviews by local residents of your business or professional practice, for instance, can have a tremendous positive or negative impact.
An experienced and successful internet marketing company can manage any or all of your internet marketing and help you create a coordinated marketing campaign across the internet. Marketing help from internet marketing experts is something that every business and every professional should consider. The pros can see to it that your business or professional practice is everywhere it needs to be on the internet.
What else can you do to identify your business or professional practice with your location? Seek opportunities to speak locally, publish an op-ed in the local paper, or take part in a local charity event. Become acquainted with local reporters or with a nearby radio or TV station. Be the “expert” that local reporters routinely turn to. An internet marketing company will provide important help and insights, but they cannot know your community like you do.
The way consumers make online searches today is another element that you must consider. Voice searching is increasingly becoming the standard, and when consumers voice-search, instead of typing “Italian restaurant,” they tend to say things like “ask Google to find an Italian restaurant near me.” Any phrases you can use that include any of these words will be helpful.
HOW CAN YOU RETAIN THE COMPETITIVE EDGE?
The value of location is paramount, but several other considerations are equally essential if you’re going to win the local clients who are being targeted by your competition. Your website needs to be mobile-friendly because most searches for local products and services are now conduced on mobile devices. Your pages need to load quickly, almost instantly, and paragraphs need to be short. Use a “read more” or “continued here” link for lengthier pieces of content.
You must have quality backlinks, hyperlinks on other sites that link “back” to your website. Google considers the quality and quantity of your backlinks when it ranks your business or professional practice, so whenever you publish something or speak somewhere locally, or take part in a charity event, try to obtain a link on that organization’s website.
WHAT ARE SOME OTHER TIPS FOR ATTRACTING LOCAL CLIENTS?
Other tips for attracting local customers include adding a chat box to your website so that visitors can chat with a live operator; improving the “linking structure” of your site so that all pages are easily accessible; and engaging directly with clients or customers through social media sites, primarily Facebook and Twitter.
Even if you are located in a crowded urban setting where your competition is formidable, updating and revising your website – and all of your online marketing – to stress your location and local ties will help you appeal to local customers and attract a sizable percentage of the local online search traffic.
HOW CAN AN INTERNET MARKETING COMPANY HELP?
Professional internet marketing experts use advanced keyword research tools to identify the specific keywords and phrases that can put your business or professional practice higher in the search engine rankings. They can also help local businesses and professionals with website creation, social media presence, and reputation management. They can create the text, graphics, videos, and other tools you need to attract local consumers and boost your bottom line.
If you do nothing, your business certainly will not grow. But if you do any marketing on the internet, it pays to learn how to increase your local business and how to attract more local customers and clients. Consult a professional internet marketing company today about improving your search engine ranking, increasing your local visibility, and boosting that always-important bottom line.
Tips For Improving Your Local Rankings
Global search engine optimization (SEO) is important, but let’s face it – most attorneys and other professionals in the U.S. are not looking for clients in Sweden or Thailand. The importance of local SEO cannot be underestimated. How can professionals and small businesses improve their local SEO? Keep reading, and you’ll find some tips you can use to reach more potential clients near you.
TIP #1: BE LISTED EVERYWHERE AND HAVE GOOD REVIEWS
Making yourself visible with an abundance of local listings is the key to effective local SEO. Your practice should be listed everywhere that’s appropriate, and your basic business details (name, address, phone number, website URL) should be as consistent as possible on each listing. Review any existing listings, fix incorrect information, and provide any new or missing details.
Are you satisfied with your online reviews? They’re important. Stay abreast of what people are saying about you on sites like Yelp and Angie’s List. When it ranks local businesses, Google considers the number of reviews linked to a particular business name, address, phone number, and website.
Businesses and professionals with more reviews on more review sites will naturally tend to rank higher on Google. If you need help with reviews or listings – and especially if you are dealing with any mediocre or negative reviews – an internet marketing company can work to ensure that your client reviews are positive and widely-distributed online.
TIP #2: FIND WAYS TO OBTAIN LOCAL AND REGIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE
Major publications are ranked high on Google. A very few criminal defense attorneys get a great deal of coverage – primarily because of high-profile criminal trials – but how can you get your own name and your practice noticed in a positive way by local newspapers, regional magazines, and professional journals?
Participate in – or organize – local charity events. Submit op-ed columns to the newspaper. Become a “sought-after” public speaker. If you’re honored with a professional award, send out a press release. Develop relationships with several journalists or with a local television or radio station. Be the “legal expert” that local reporters and news anchors can rely on for a good quote.
It won’t happen overnight, but if you are persistent with your local media outlets over a few months, you will find your efforts paying off. Journalists will tell you – they count on experts who are accessible, knowledgeable, and easy to work with. Consumers seeking legal help tend to presume that if the local media considers you trustworthy, you probably are.
TIP #3: FIND WAYS TO CREATE GOOD BACKLINKS
Your backlinks are the hyperlinks on other websites that “link back” to your own site. Quality backlinks are important because Google – for the most part – ranks you according to the number and quality of the backlinks leading to your site. If you don’t have abundant backlinks, your Google ranking plummets.
Whenever you speak, publish, or participate with a charity or any other local organization, try to obtain a backlink. Include your URL on everything you print or post. A professional internet marketing company can help you obtain the local and regional backlinks that you must have, but no company knows your own community the way you do. Always be seeking opportunities.
TIP #4: HAVE A GOOGLE “MY BUSINESS” PROFILE
Having a Google My Business profile is of the easiest ways to improve your local SEO, and it’s free. A Google My Business profile is a business listing that shows up for local searches. You must have a street address – not a post office box. Optimizing your Google My Business profile should give you a big boost among consumers who are searching for your services locally.
TIP #5: IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE’S INTERNAL LINKING
Many older websites could improve their “website architecture” or linking structure. Sometimes the only way to get to an important page is from the home page. You can do this on your own, or an internet marketing professional can help you add the internal links and menus that will make navigating your website smoother and easier.
Along the same line, your website should make it as easy as possible for consumers to reach you. Offer visitors a chat box and a chance to chat with a live operator. You should also try to have a contact form or intake form available on every page of your website. An internet marketing company can quickly and easily make these adjustments for you.
TIP #6: TIE YOUR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE TO YOUR CITY OR REGION
Make sure that your location is included in everything you do online. This tells the search engines where you are, and it helps to ensure that you’ll be ranked by Google and seen by consumers seeking your services in your area. Beyond that basic technical tip, you simply need to be creative.
You might consider, for example, creating several of your own brief videos highlighting a community landmark, a local or regional festival, or an important local historical event. Don’t hesitate to do a review – in print or video – of a local restaurant or attraction that you find particularly excellent. Be a cheerleader for your community. It raises your visibility and the sense that consumers can trust you.
TIP #7: ENSURE THE BIG DATA FIRMS HAVE ACCURATE INFORMATION
Google, Apple, Yelp, Facebook, and many more important internet companies and websites obtain local business information from four key data providers, so it’s imperative that the information those four data providers have is accurate. It’s up to you – or an internet marketing company working on your behalf – to ensure that they have accurate information about you.
The four local business data providers are Infogroup, Neustar Localeze, Acxiom, and Factual. They supply data to scores of search engines, websites, and apps. If they do not have accurate details about you, scores of other sites and listings may also be inaccurate. You can correct the information yourself at three of the data provider sites; at Factual, you must report a mistake and submit a correction.
TIP #8: ALWAYS BE CANDID AND FORTHRIGHT
You must be honest, candid, and authentic whenever you list your professional practice or small business on sites like Google, Bing, Facebook, or Yelp. Keep your profiles up-to-date. Use current, high-quality photographs and graphics. An internet marketing company can help you create the tools and local content you need, including blog posts, videos, backlinks, and more.
Take the time to learn more about boosting your local visibility and improving your local SEO. Right now, for example, is an excellent time to consult some internet marketing professionals about improving your local ranking, your local visibility, and your bottom line.
How Search Engines Help Consumers Find Local Products
For about a decade, small businesses and local communities have been aggressively and successfully challenging the impersonal nature of big corporations. The emerging support for small businesses and professionals who serve local communities has coincided with rising concerns and suspicions about a number of multinational corporations. Are Google, Amazon, and Facebook protecting our privacy? Do automobile manufacturers care about our safety, or do pharmaceutical companies really care about our health?
Consumers harbor no such suspicions about the small and mid-sized businesses – often family-owned businesses – that have served their communities for years and decades. The same can be said for many of the doctors and attorneys who focus on a local or regional practice. When consumers search today, they are generally rejecting big corporations and going to the local business, doctor, or lawyer they know and trust.
Since 2010, “Small Business Saturday” – the Saturday after Thanksgiving – has been a powerful and successful expression of the trend. Google’s continually-evolving “local search” is connecting more consumers to more local businesses and professionals than ever before, and with smartphone use still growing, those consumers are – for all practical purposes – everywhere.
HOW CAN YOU CONNECT – ONLINE – WITH LOCAL CONSUMERS?
If you own a small business, or if you are – for example – a dentist, a lawyer, or a financial adviser, you want to be connecting with the local consumers who are looking for you online. If your business is local – and most businesses are – you need to identify yourself and your business or professional practice directly with your city, community, or region. The benefits can be substantial, but how do you “identify yourself” online as local?
A professional internet marketing company can help. Here’s an example: Let’s say you live in Chicago, and your spouse serves you with divorce papers, so you must find legal help fast. Almost everyone in this circumstance will go to Google and type in either “Chicago divorce attorney” or “Chicago divorce lawyer,” or alternatively “divorce lawyers (or divorce attorneys) in Chicago.”
Obviously, a resident of Chicago will not care about divorce lawyers in Rockford. You need legal services – and most of your other products and services – from someone who is local, someone you can know and trust.
In March 2017, the Local Search Association (“a not-for-profit industry association of media companies, agencies and technology providers who help businesses market to local consumers”) and Burke Incorporated jointly conducted research regarding local search and internet users across the United States. Of the respondents, four out of five said that using a search engine was their top choice when looking for local businesses or professional services.
WHERE ARE CONSUMERS LOOKING FOR YOU?
In fact, four out of five respondents to the survey said that they had used a search engine within the previous seven days; 37 percent said search engines are reliable, and 32 percent believe search engines are “accurate.” Obviously, it is imperative for local businesses and professionals to take advantage of local search and to achieve the highest possible Google ranking – because that’s where the consumers are looking for you.
There is no reason to think that these trends will not continue to grow. More and more consumers will very likely be depending on “search engines” – meaning Google – in the years ahead. And while you’ve probably been reading that retailers are facing a “crisis” because Amazon seems to be taking over the retail world, the fact remains that half of all consumers who conduct a local search via a smartphone visit a retailer within 24 hours, and more than a third of those who conduct a search on a desktop or a tablet do the same thing.
EXACTLY HOW CAN YOU ATTRACT NEW LOCAL CLIENTS OR CUSTOMERS?
Local businesses and professionals must optimize their websites with a strong focus on local SEO. Google now gives a high priority to a company’s or professional’s user reviews, proximity to the consumer, and what Google calls “relevance,” so that only the most popular and closest professionals or businesses have any chance to be among the three “organically-generated” search results that now appear with a map at the top of some Google searches. How can you improve your own local online marketing?
Optimizing for local search is the surest way to attract new clients to your website. Be certain that your business name, address, and phone number are on each page of your site. Printed text that is part of an image doesn’t count; search engines can only read or “crawl” text, not images. Put your geographic location in your text and title tags. A title tag should be something like “Chicago real estate agent” or “Orlando personal injury attorney,” and that text should appear somewhere on every page.
Everything that is online regarding your business or professional practice must be accurate and comprehensive. Make certain – and then make certain again – that your business name, address, hours, telephone number, and website URL are accurate on all of your pages and accounts.
Write blog posts about local topics to interest local readers. If you are an attorney, write about a controversial local case or a confusing local ordinance. A real estate broker will want to blog about the great local quality of life and the splendid local schools, parks, shopping, and attractions.
As much as possible, be active in your community. Connect with business groups, non-profits, other businesses, and especially with your clients and customers. Look for appropriate opportunities to take part in charity events, educational events, and other community gatherings and projects.
Probably the best way to increase your local online visibility and to attract new local customers or clients is by working with an experienced, professional internet marketing company that can optimize your website – or design a new, optimized website for you “from scratch” – and also create the local content you need. That content may include blog posts, podcasts, videos, and more.
There is virtually no limit to the marketing possibilities that the internet can offer. Consider letting some experienced internet marketing professionals help you to take advantage of those possibilities with a variety of effective and innovative online marketing tools. Take the time – today – and schedule a consultation to discuss your local “presence” and your online marketing options.
How The Internet Is Becoming The Ultimate Lawyer Referral Service
While some consumers still find attorneys through traditional methods – the Yellow Pages or asking friends and relatives for a referral – the internet has dramatically shifted the equation. People who are now becoming adults cannot even remember a world without the internet. For about two decades, internet users have been growing savvier and more comfortable doing business online. Search engines are smarter and more demanding, making marketing more competitive.
Even if a consumer gets an attorney’s name from an uncle, the phone book, or a newspaper article, most consumers understand the importance of doing their research before selecting an attorney. Therefore, it’s more than probable – if you are an attorney – that a consumer will check out your website before contacting your office. Potential clients will select you or reject you based primarily on your website. Is the information there reliable and fully up-to-date? Is the site attractive to the eye and easy for a visitor to navigate? Are you easy to contact?
And most importantly if you are an attorney, are you easy to find online? You probably know that there are a variety of ways to bring consumers to your website. People should be able to find you by using search engines like Google, through “shares” on Facebook and other social media sites, as well as through professional directories, consumer review sites, and links from other websites. A comprehensive online marketing strategy explores all of these approaches while emphasizing what’s working best for you.
WHAT IS AN “ORGANIC” SEARCH?
An “organic” search returns search results that are not paid advertising – that is, the results that come back automatically or “organically.” Organic search results are determined by complex algorithms that seek to match the most relevant websites to the search terms entered by the user. Among the considerations factored in are the content value of potentially matching websites and the geographic location of the user (or another location if the user so specifies).
If a consumer already has an attorney’s name, that usually makes it easier. Typically, the consumer will simply type the name into the search engine and will quickly be able to locate the attorney’s website. Other consumers are not sure which attorney they’re seeking, so those consumers are likely to type in something like “local lawyer” or “DUI attorney” or “Houston personal injury lawyer.” Search engines are designed to return the most relevant matching sites.
When a search engine decides that an attorney’s website matches a search, the website is listed on a search engine results page (SERP) and ranked with other matching sites. The websites that the search engine has decided most closely match the search are ranked in order. Search engine results can run for literally dozens of pages, so it’s imperative to be ranked as closely as possible to the top of page one.
Paid searches are the ads that are returned on search engine result pages – they are pay-per-click or “PPC” advertising. Advertisers pay a small fee each time someone clicks the ad. An experienced internet marketing company can explain PPC’s advantages and downsides and help attorneys set up PPC campaigns if they wish. PPC is only one of the many ways that attorneys can draw traffic to their websites, and it may or may not be right for any particular attorney or firm.
HOW DO PEOPLE FIND ATTORNEYS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA?
Social media not only helps people find you, but it lets you share information that others may in turn share and share again “exponentially.” Most people are familiar with Facebook – and attorneys should take advantage of everything Facebook offers – but each social media platform is slightly different. At a minimum, attorneys in 2016 should have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. An internet marketing company can help attorneys and firms maintain those accounts, keep them updated, and suggest other social media sites that might be appropriate.
WHAT ARE RANKING SITES AND DIRECTORIES?
Online “directories” are essentially lists, and there are all kinds. There may be lists for all of the attorneys in a particular state, separate directories for criminal defense, family law, or personal injury attorneys, or breakdowns by county or city. Most of these directories require payment. Ranking sites, however, are more complicated and more interesting, and they’re growing in number and popularity.
Yelp.com is one example of a ranking site. Yelp reviews everything from airlines to zoos. Other ranking sites have a narrower focus. Many lawyers, for example, already know about Avvo.com. Clients can rank and post reviews of attorneys, but the problem with ranking sites in recent years is the difficulty of distinguishing real from bogus reviews. Anyone with a grudge can leave a fake negative review, and others have been accused of fabricating positive reviews.
An internet marketing company can look at an attorney’s ranking site reviews, and if necessary, can provide some legitimate marketing tools that may help mitigate any damage that negative reviews might be causing. Some ranking sites require payments for a more favorable ranking, but the sites are nevertheless popular with consumers, and they rank high on search engine result pages, so they may be worth considering as part of an overall online marketing strategy.
WHAT IS BACKLINKING?
Backlinks are the links on other websites that “link back” to your website. Potential clients may also find your site through those backlinks, which may be posted for a variety of reasons. Local schools, charities, and community organizations often have sponsorship opportunities or pages promoting local businesses that make a donation. A good internet marketing firm can see to it that an attorney’s website has sufficient, high-quality backlinks.
Links from other websites are a great way to bring new traffic to your site, and they are also imperative for boosting your website’s search engine ranking. Google now measures both the number and the quality of your backlinks, and it ranks websites accordingly. If your website has no backlinks, Google decides that you are offering nothing very interesting, and your search engine rankings decline.
A successful internet marketing campaign for an attorney or law firm will use all of these approaches, but it will also focus on the approaches that seem to be working best. Consumers make quick decisions and snap judgments online, so it is imperative for attorneys and firms to be highly visible across the internet – and to stay that way. Professional internet marketing experts can help attorneys identify what works and suggest effective ways to get more for your marketing dollar.
What About Outbound Links?
SEO alone just isn’t enough any longer, and if you want to remain on the successful edge of online marketing, you might seek some help and advice from a good internet marketing agency. Along with SEO, Google imposes a number of other requirements on those who want to be high in the search engine rankings, and the other search engines follow Google’s precedents. For example, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly now, you’ll start to sink in the rankings. If you aren’t regularly updating your content, you’ll also start to sink in the rankings. And if your website doesn’t provide a few outbound links to other sites, you’ll start sinking for that reason too.
A few years ago, you may have been told that outbound links should never be a part of your website. If you’ve worked hard and spent a few dollars to bring potential clients and customers to your site, you didn’t want to give them an excuse to leave and surf elsewhere. That’s still somewhat true. You certainly don’t want a site filled with outbound links, and you absolutely should never link to a competitor. But for several reasons, you’ll sometimes need to provide a link to another website. The key is choosing those sites carefully and placing the links strategically.
Google penalizes what it considers dead end sites that provide users with no outbound options. Rather, Google and others are committed to the idea that the worldwide web is genuinely a “web” of sites linking endlessly to one another. By providing an occasional outbound link that gives your visitors engaging, authoritative information, you can make Google happy while offering practical and useful content to your potential clients and customers.
Attorneys may choose to link to the texts of statutes, to state agencies, or to specific articles or commentaries. Real estate agents might opt for links to the local Chamber of Commerce, city government, or local attractions. It’s up to you, but be certain that you are linking to quality resources that can help your visitors. For more ideas about staying on the leading edge of successful online marketing, speak with some experts at a professional internet marketing agency. The internet never closes, so make the call promptly.
