As a small business owner, you know that word-of-mouth can be the best form of marketing. And in the digital age, online reviews have taken the place of face-to-face conversation when it comes to reputation management. But what about local SEO? Here are three simple but effective techniques for improving your local SEO while monitoring and improving your listings through reputation management (with a little Bonus at the end).
1. Claim your Local Business listings.
Google My Business and Bing Places are free services that allow businesses to manage their online presence across Google, Yahoo, and AOL, including Search and Maps. By claiming and verifying your business listings, you can control the information that appears when customers search for your business online in search engines and within mapping sites. This is an important first step in improving your local SEO because it ensures that your business information is accurate and up-to-date.
Before you jump into the instructions below, be sure you don’t already have a listing. Search for your business on both Google and Bing. If you DO have a listing, scroll down to the portion of the listing that says, “Your business? Claim now.” Be prepared to answer some questions before you are given access (questions will be slightly different, depending on whether someone has already claimed your listing FOR you, or your listing was auto-generated by the search engine). If you don’t find your business, proceed with the instructions below:
To create a new Google My Business listing:
- Go to https://business.google.com/ and sign in with your Google account
- Click on “Get Started” under the “Google My Business” header
- Enter your business information, including name, address, phone number, and website URL
- Click on “Verify Now” and follow the instructions to verify your business ownership
- Add photos of your business and its location
- Write a brief description of your business
- Respond to customer reviews
To create a new Bing Places listing:
- Go to https://www.bingplaces.com/ and sign in with your Microsoft account
- Click on “Add a listing”
- Enter your business information, including name, address, phone number, and website URL
- Click on “Verify Now” and follow the instructions to verify your business ownership
- Add photos of your business and its location
- Write a brief description of your business
- Respond to customer reviews
2. Monitor Your Online Reputation.
Online reviews are essential for reputation management, and they can also help improve your local SEO. When customers leave online reviews, they are effectively vouching for your business, which helps to build trust and authority with potential customers who may be searching for businesses like yours. In addition, Search Engines use customer reviews as a ranking factor in their local search algorithm, so the more positive reviews you have, the higher you will appear in search results.
It’s not enough to just get positive reviews; you also need to monitor your online reputation so you can quickly address any negative or false reviews that pop up. There are a few different ways you can do this. First, set up Google Alerts at google.com/alerts for your business name so you’ll be notified any time someone mentions it online. You can also use a tool like Mention or Hootsuite Insights to track online mentions of your business in real-time. Finally, make sure you’re regularly checking review sites like Yelp, Google, and Facebook to see what people are saying about your business.
3. Optimize your website for local keywords.
In order to rank highly in local search results, it is important to optimize your website for relevant local keywords. This means including city and state names in your titles and meta descriptions, as well as creating content that is specific to your location. For example, if you are a restaurant in San Francisco, you might create a blog post about the best SF restaurants for date night or the top 10 things to do in SF with kids. Additionally, you would create information throughout your website that demonstrates how you are the #1 restaurant in your area of San Francisco, lists your top menu items, and provides an opportunity to make a reservation and/or view images. By optimizing your website for local keywords, you can improve your visibility in search results and attract more targeted traffic to your site.
When you’re looking for keyword guidance, you have a few great options:
Spyfu – Spyfu’s keyword tool is a great way to find new and relevant keywords to target for your SEO and content marketing strategies. The tool allows you to see how much traffic each keyword receives, as well as the competition for that keyword. You can also view the ad history for each of the keywords, which can give you some great ideas for creating your own paid search campaigns.
Moz – Moz’s keyword tool is a great way to find new keywords to target for your website. It provides information on the search volume and competition for each keyword, so you can choose the best ones to target.
SEMRush – SEMrush’s Free Keyword Magic Tool is a great way to get started with your local SEO and reputation management. The tool allows you to research keywords and track your website’s ranking for those keywords over time. This can help you to identify what strategies are working well for you and which ones need improvement. Additionally, the tool can help you to identify potential competitors and track their progress over time.
BONUS TIP: Make sure your NAP is consistent across all platforms.
NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. It’s essential that this information be consistent across all of your online listings—from Google My Business and Bing Places to Yelp to your own website and Social Platforms. Why? Because if Search Engines see that your NAP is different on different websites, it will hurt your chances of ranking highly in local search results. Many searchers automatically visit the contact page and/or website footer for this information, so the search engines generally look in those places as well. It’s a safe bet that your NAP information should be complete in both of those areas AND match what is listed on Social platforms and other local sources.
Local SEO and reputation management are two important aspects of digital marketing for small businesses. By claiming and verifying your Google My Business listing, encouraging customers to leave reviews, and optimizing your website for relevant local keywords, you can improve your visibility in search results and build trust with potential customers.
Not sure how to do it all yourself?
I can TEACH YOU how to do this so you can manage your own online presence with ease.
Is this all too overwhelming?
I understand that much of this can seem overwhelming. I can help. Using the above techniques (and more!), I can help improve your visibility in search engine results and manage your online reputation by taking it on myself on your behalf.
I am an experienced Digital Marketer who knows how to optimize websites for local and overall keywords, monitor your search engine status, and assist in encouraging customers to leave positive reviews. In addition, I can assist you in addressing any negative or false reviews that may pop up.
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