Key Facts about Local SEO
Local SEO is a way to get your website well ranked in the search engines for local listings. The following ideas on local SEO will show you how to get a higher ranking for your site.
Beyond all else, your website must have content that is relevant and informative. Why do you want to optimize your site with the search engines? So that your website attracts targeted visitors. Your website has to capture your visitors' interest so that they look around and maybe even buy something, so you have to publish content that holds their attention. The majority of people who visit a website don't read every word, but browse around here and there. If you want to ensure that visitors don't overlook certain parts of your site, make them noticeable with highlights and bullet points. You can even use pictures as an aid to achieve this. One thing to watch out for is overusing keywords, as this can work against you for SEO purposes.
It's a good idea to take advantage of services such as Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo! Local, and claiming your profile is your first step on these sites. When you get into these sites, you'll notice that there is an option to claim your profile by going through a few verification steps that includes a simple phone call to know if your address is yours and verify it. This doesn't take much time but it will definitely give you an edge over the others who haven't done it. Besides that, upload pictures to these local site listings because they make you appear genuine in the eyes of the users by providing them pictures of your business. It really helps if you post a few good pictures from your site so your prospects get a look at your business. You want to portray your business as impressively as possible, so you should use quality pictures, though they don't have to be perfect.
When you want to rank well locally, you should focus on getting links from well regarded local websites. A large part of local marketing is becoming known and networking with others in your area. To maximize your effectiveness as a local business, you should really focus your efforts on getting well respected and popular businesses and groups in your community to link to your site. The reason for this is, search engines rely on quality backlinks when they're ranking a site and when your keywords are location based, then it becomes obvious that you should have backlinks coming from these important local sites. Doing this will cause the search engines to see you as a quality site in your location. Keep in mind that what you are really looking for in backlinks is not so much the quantity, but relevance and quality. One link from the Chamber of Commerce is better than a 100 links from local blogs.
The best approach to linkbuilding is to not focus so much on quantity, but on getting the links that really count. Local SEO can do more for your business than any other kind of promotions.
Beyond all else, your website must have content that is relevant and informative. Why do you want to optimize your site with the search engines? So that your website attracts targeted visitors. Your website has to capture your visitors' interest so that they look around and maybe even buy something, so you have to publish content that holds their attention. The majority of people who visit a website don't read every word, but browse around here and there. If you want to ensure that visitors don't overlook certain parts of your site, make them noticeable with highlights and bullet points. You can even use pictures as an aid to achieve this. One thing to watch out for is overusing keywords, as this can work against you for SEO purposes.
It's a good idea to take advantage of services such as Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo! Local, and claiming your profile is your first step on these sites. When you get into these sites, you'll notice that there is an option to claim your profile by going through a few verification steps that includes a simple phone call to know if your address is yours and verify it. This doesn't take much time but it will definitely give you an edge over the others who haven't done it. Besides that, upload pictures to these local site listings because they make you appear genuine in the eyes of the users by providing them pictures of your business. It really helps if you post a few good pictures from your site so your prospects get a look at your business. You want to portray your business as impressively as possible, so you should use quality pictures, though they don't have to be perfect.
When you want to rank well locally, you should focus on getting links from well regarded local websites. A large part of local marketing is becoming known and networking with others in your area. To maximize your effectiveness as a local business, you should really focus your efforts on getting well respected and popular businesses and groups in your community to link to your site. The reason for this is, search engines rely on quality backlinks when they're ranking a site and when your keywords are location based, then it becomes obvious that you should have backlinks coming from these important local sites. Doing this will cause the search engines to see you as a quality site in your location. Keep in mind that what you are really looking for in backlinks is not so much the quantity, but relevance and quality. One link from the Chamber of Commerce is better than a 100 links from local blogs.
The best approach to linkbuilding is to not focus so much on quantity, but on getting the links that really count. Local SEO can do more for your business than any other kind of promotions.
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