We all know that a key component of any small business’ marketing strategy is to effectively position its brand in search engine results. But is it possible to dominate search results with content you control — or at least content you’ve influenced?
The answer is yes. There are simple and effective ways to boost visibility for your business in search results, while simultaneously improving related marketing efforts in social media, ratings and reviews, and media outreach.
Take a look at my six tips for local SEO success, along with action items for each in order to successfully implement them. Throughout, I’ll reference some great work done by Billy’s Bakery, a New York bakery chain, which has utilized many of these tips to dominate their search results with positive content and coverage.
1. Properly Optimize Information On Your Business’ Website
Your website is your most important and valuable online asset, so ensuring that it is properly optimized to appear high within search results is key.
Action items:
2. Secure, Build Out And Update Your Business Listings On Local Websites
Perhaps one of the most effective ways to boost local SEO is to ensure the availability and consistency of your business’ listing information across a myriad of third-party sources. Google and other search engines constantly scan these sites to develop a stronger understanding of the local web and your business.
When your business isn’t listed — or the information listed about it is incomplete or inaccurate — there is a risk of diminishing or negatively impacting your business’ placements in search results.
Action items:
3. Ensure An Appropriate Link Strategy
Links from your website to other related websites, and vice versa, play a role in your business’ SEO visibility, because they help to establish the authenticity and credibility of your business. But trying to game system by leveraging unrelated links will damage visibility over time.
Action items:
4. Encourage And Respond To Online User Reviews
User reviews help to build your business’ visibility in local search results, and so does your engagement in responding to them — whether they are positive or negative. However, small businesses need to ensure the reviews themselves always come from the outside.
Action items:
5. Engage Regularly Via Social Media
Social media pages play a notable role in local business’ visibility in search results. The more proactive your social media strategy, the higher likelihood your pages will attract followers — and in turn, appear within search.
Action items:
6. Drive Media Coverage
Media coverage of your local business — especially from highly credible news websites — can result in a long-term positive impact on your business’ search results. For example, MarthaStewart.com’s coverage of Billy’s Bakery above appears high in its search results. Coverage like this can drive even more business to your brand, especially because it’s coming from a reliable, third-party source.
Action items:
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
