Greg Gifford, a self-described "Local SEO geek", just put out a timely guide titled Everybody Needs Local SEO on the Moz Blog. He knows what he's talking about because he does hyper-local SEO and manages social media for car dealerships all over the country. I love reading the voice of experience, especially when it is so helpful to the rest of us.
Basic Local SEO
From the first "Don't Be A Local Search Weakling" to the last "Reputation Management Workout", this is a simple exercise plan to beef up your local SEO muscles and get strong results. (It's also reminiscent of the musclebuilding ads in all those comic books you read in junior high school.) Here's the categories in the guide:
- Seven site elements for local SEO - tags, meta descriptions, embedded maps, etc.
- Beef up your citations - different spellings of your business name, address, and phone number will affect your rankings
- Easy citation workflow - practical suggestions for making it happen right
- Reputation management workout - how to increase positive reviews
The Reason Why Local SEO Is Important
If you have a business that is open to the public, you want the public to find you so they become loyal customers. You want them to keep coming back and tell their friends good things about your business. If the information about your business is hard to find or incorrect when they look up local options, your business suffers.
Even if you are hiring someone to manage your local SEO and other online matters, you should know why these factors matter to your bottom line. This is basic marketing stuff, because it affects the point of contact between you and potential customers.
Photo Credit: Local Search Tips/shutterstock