The first mistake made by many local businesses with regards to SEO is that they think they already rank high for what customers, THEIR potential customers, are searching for. After sitting with many local business owners and listening to what they need be relevant for it's easy to go back and figure out where the foundation for their SEO should start.
When we talk about Local SEO we are always talking about the "what" plus the "where". This is a logical step but one that is often missed. If I am looking for a caterer and I live in Grand Rapids MI, do I care if there are some exceptional caterers in say Chicago, San Francisco or New York? Not really.
After some quick reconnaissance and keyword research you can come up with a comprehensive list of keywords that are relevant AND have significant search volume. Once this list is generated you can then use your favorite rank checker to determine where your client is actually ranking. I always double check the rank checker results with some actual searches to verify SERP results.
This is the foundation to where all your title tags, meta tags, content creation, etc will be born. This is a quick and easy step but one than not only local businesses don't know about but one that many SEO professionals will skirt, shorten or all together skip.
-Matt Bonofiglio
Senior Sales Consultant - SEO Specialist
MLive Media Group
Thanks for sharing, Matt! :)
ReplyDeleteWhen using the Google keyword tool, what is the difference in Google's "Global" & "Local" searches? Is it International & "United States?
ReplyDeleteMr Grassroots - That is exactly correct. This is why it's important to use the geo modifier when doing your research. If you are searching for "caterer" and "caterer grand rapids mi" the geo modifier will be more accurate. We then have a truer picture of the search that is being done for our what, being caterer and our where, being grand rapids mi. Thanks for your comment.
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