Targeting Local Search

A Step-By-Step Guide to Small Business SEO

Increasing numbers of people are using local search terms to find products, information or services online. Targeting local search is therefore an ideal starting strategy for many small to medium size businesses that are looking to increase their website visibility. So, for part ten of my guide to small business SEO, I will offer some advice on how to target local search more effectively. This article follows on from Part Nine: Key-phrase Research. To go back to the start of my guide click here.

Setting up for Local Search

In Part Nine of this guide I indicated the importance of identifying high and low competition key-phrases and using this research as a basis to form a key-phrase strategy. I concluded that small business SEO strategies need to be both realistic and specific with their objectives. In addition to this, small businesses also need to think about their long and short term objectives. For example, if you were to set-up a new pizza delivery company, you might wish to secure a top ten placement for the search term “pizza delivery”. However, the competition on this key-phrase will be too intense for you to achieve a result in the short term (especially if your website is brand new and you have budget limitations). Small business start-ups therefore need to “think big” but start small (the old cliché “don’t run before you can walk” might apply here). The way to “think big” in the example of the pizza company would be to set the key-phrase “pizza delivery” as your long-term target. Who knows, in a few years time you could find yourself contending with Dominos and other market leaders. So, as mentioned in Part Five: Web Design and SEO, you should build your site with the term “pizza delivery” in mind, by including this key-phrase in your navigation scheme, categories, headings, page titles and cross-links. However, don’t expect to achieve a top placement in the search engines any time soon. Instead focus your short-term objectives on low(er) competition key-phrases that sit within this key-phrase niche. One way to do this is by targeting local search.

Optimising for Local Search

There are several key things you can do to optimise for local search. These include:

• Researching and identifying local search key-phrases. A tool such as Wordtracker, for example, might help you to identify that the term “cheap pizza delivery Oxford” has low competition but a moderate volume of monthly searches.
• Optimise your homepage for your main town or target region. If the focus of your business is in Oxford, then ensure that this is clear on your homepage and contact page. If you wish to target multiple towns or regions, ensure that your homepage is optimised for the most competitive region and that the less competitive regions feature on your sub-pages.
• Don’t over-optimise your sub-pages. Stuffing your web pages with hundreds of local search terms such as “pizza delivery” followed by a city name, will not help you to generate web page quality and relevance. Instead, you should aim to create a web page for each specific town or region that you wish to target.
• Create original content for each region you target. Your individual web pages should offer as much local relevance as possible. Be specific with your on-page details and differentiate the content across your pages.
• Add your company address and phone number. Make sure you add these details to every page. Search engines are able to detect address and phone number formats and are able to cross-reference this data with its existence elsewhere on the web.
• Make sure your address and phone number matches up everywhere it is mentioned. This applies both on your website and elsewhere. Consistency of your address and contact details helps to build trust and credibility with the search engines.
• Get your website listed in local directories and on local websites. Links from geographically specific web properties such as directories or listings with your Local Chamber of Commerce will help enormously with achieving better rankings for specific local search terms.
• Use your official business name in the title tag of your contact or location page. This helps search engines to associate your business to a specific region.
• Add your business to Google Maps. Add as much information as possible to stand out. Use your target key-phrase terms in your business description and ensure that you select the appropriate business category. Submitting your site to other local directories will help optimise your listing.

This is not an exhaustive list of steps you can take to ensure you are targeting local search optimally. There are several SEO guides available that focus specifically on this topic. Two of the best are David Mihm’s Local Search Ranking Factors and Andrew Shotland’s Local SEO Guide. However, bear in mind that both of these guides are written for the U.S market and that several of the optimisation methods they suggest are irrelevant to those here in the UK.

Targeting Local Search Checklist

• Conduct key-phrase research to identifty relevant local search terms
• Think big but start small with your objectives
• Follow all of the bold high-lighted points above for optimum local SEO

Part Eleven

In part eleven I will cover the importance of high and low competition key-phrases in more detail by looking at the broader topic of competitor benchmarking and methods to use when analysing your competitor’s websites. Click here to go to part eleven.