Recently a local business owner who subscribes to our local SEO content services called us about an SEO report that showed that the local business website we built for them had all kinds of problems affecting their local search rankings. Rise Local works exclusively with local small business owners, so that conversation started off real subtle like this…
What the hell are you doing over there? I pay good money for SEO. Image how surprised I was when my networking buddy, who happens to sells marketing services, ran a SEO report that found a long list of problems.
Local Business Owner Who Shall Remain Nameless Because We Fired Him (Just Kidding)
Oh boy….. Where do we begin?
FACT #1 – That SEO Report…. It\’s a Sales Tool
It\’s an accepted and common practice among local marketing agencies to buy white-labeled SEO report to use as a sales tool. For a low monthly fee you, the local SEO guru, can produce reports that generate a long list of \”problems\” that unsuspecting business owners will pay you to fix!
FACT #2 – Content SEO Is 100% Focused on Words and Pictures On Pages
The SEO professional I know who use those reports are too in the weeds on things like Title Tags, Alt Tags, META descriptions, etc. because thats what they know. Sure, it really is nice to have all the conventional on-page SEO and technical SEO bases covered. But do you know what really helps your organic search ranking and local listings visibility grow more than anything?
Publishing more pages with keywords and photos!
That is the only way to make sure your local content and local listing signals line up with Search Intent (SI) so your webpages rank higher!
FACT #3 – Location Proximity and Publishing Velocity Works
Local business owners must generate foot traffic, phone calls, and web leads to grow There is certainly a time and a place for On-Page SEO and Technical SEO, but that is never where you start. The first step is creating the pages, text, and photos you need to present your brand and tell your story. Only then will you have the Proof of Presence (POP) and Proof of Work (POW) you need to rank.
Local Content SEO and Local Location SEO = Real SEO
Owners, if you need a report to tell you if the SEO strategy is working I got news for you…..it ain\’t! The phone ringing off the hook is the real SEO test. The typical On-Page SEO prescriptions like fixing Alt Tags, H1s, etc. isn\’t enough juice make that happen.
Here are few things local business owners can focus on that will really help.
- Is your target market defined?
- Is you value proposition clear?
- Do you have enough text on the page to describe who you are and what you do?
- Do you have enough photos for POP and POW?
- Are all your listing current and up to date?
- Is your NAP on your website?
- When someone calls the number is it a great experience?
Local Content SEO and Local Location SEO is all about telling your story. And telling your story is the REAL SEO that makes your phone ring.