By Jim Clanin
Today, the popularity of the Internet has revolutionized the way some businesses attract local customers. Paying close attention to search engine optimization at a local level assists companies in gaining a competitive edge within their marketplaces. Even firms that consistently utilize top quality review management services discover benefits in devoting careful consideration to the issue. This brief article explores a key step in improving local search results.
Define Your Brand
One issue that frequently prevents a business from achieving SEO success on a local level proves deceptively simple. Yet omitting this crucial step sometimes renders a marketing campaign ineffective. Business leaders must clearly identify and define a company’s brand category in order to impact local search results.
For example, consider the hypothetical case of a company which markets widgets. If it defines its mission in overly broad terms, such as “sales”, the business makes a grave mistake. Its name likely won’t occur at the top of an Internet search engine’s listings when potential customers hunt for “widgets”. Missing information prevents some of the most potentially interested prospects from locating the company easily.
Selecting The Best Brand Category
Taking some time to clearly define the firm and its mission offers help in clarifying an SEO category. For example, the imaginary company discussed in the previous illustration would generate a lot more business on the local level by presenting itself as a local widget retailer. Using carefully selected keywords, the business would ensure its products appeared in search listings requesting information about regional widget providers.
Some useful tips for boosting local SEO rankings include these helpful steps:
- Prepare a clear firm (and brand) identity and mission statement.
- Identify keywords associated with the company’s primary service or product.
- Don’t focus SEO efforts based upon underused keywords per se; instead, select keywords flowing from the firm’s core identity.
- Use search engine optimization to promote the firm and not any associated venue or partner.
Focused SEO Efforts
By exercising discipline during the course of an SEO campaign, companies often boost their results significantly at a local level. Due to the rapid expansion of the Internet, far too many web pages exist for any single searcher to possibly access every page. Websites which dominate a specific keyword one week, may need to resume SEO efforts to continue to perform this well during coming months and years.
However, companies that make an effort to clearly define themselves already possess an advantage when visitors conduct local online searches. The accuracy the firm displays in clarifying its business category offers assistance to search engines and indexes. Customers frequently hunt online for goods or services within designated locales.
