SEO strategies are exponentially becoming susceptible to having to change in shorter and shorter time periods as time goes on. There used to be a time when you were able to apply SEO tactics for a stretch of 3-4 years, and then 2-3 years, and so on and so forth. With the ever innovating changes of the search engines, like the recent algorithm update called “Panda,” and the hardcore integration of social media, providing the absolute best value on your website is what you should aim for when creating a website – letting all the other off-site SEO stuff come naturally.
The best part of doing Internet marketing for a local business is that as long as the company you are working for is a high quality company, you will always be providing value on the Internet. The mere listing of that company on the Internet provides value, as anyone who reaches the company through the web site will be satisfied. The website could be terribly designed (hopefully that’s not the case), but as long as it is able to generate leads it is providing value in the SERPs.
There are some things that change in the local search, and Google maps is a huge part of the results, but for the most part the fundamental strategies to obtain local organic results have been able to stay relevantly consistent compared to strategies used in informational or affiliate websites that are relevant to nationwide searches.
Here’s a quick look at the Panda Algorithm update and a few of the types of characteristics that it recognized as attributing to a poor page or website, and why local markets are able to survive algorithm updates of the like:
Unique Content. You can be assured that all local business content on web pages is unique, as they are representing their unique company, and the unique services, products, or strategies that their company provides.
Bounce Rate. Businesses do not have to worry about bounce rate as much as informational, or “content mills” (the type of web sites that Panda was after) websites. This is because the searcher is not going to a business for a source of entertainment, rather because they are in need of a product or a service.
A high amount of inappropriate and non-relevant advertisements on web pages. Ads that have no relevancy to the content on the page are a sign of a poorly optimized website, which is turn a sign of a poorly developed website, which is in turn a good indicator that the content on the page isn’t that valuable. Local businesses obviously do not suffer from this penalty as there is no need for them to place advertisements on their sites as they make money off of the services or products they provide!
A Local Business Strategy That Seems to Be Absolutely Flawless
One of the things that can greatly help a local business with their Internet marketing, whether you are a local business owner doing your own web marketing, or an SEO service provider, is owning a collection of exact match domain names on top of the company’s business name domain name website in which the domain names are either city/service or city/product keywords.
Having 5-15 exact match domain names will allow these websites to rank fairly high in the SERPs with a minimal amount of link building and other off site SEO tactics. By using this method, you will be able to use the adjacent cities to the city of which the company works out of and all of the products and or services to create a massive funnel in the SERPs. This funnel has nothing to do with article marketing, or link directory submissions – which are all susceptible to an algo update like Panda, and hence should be able to stand the test of time.
This strategy works great in large metropolitan areas (although it is effective in low populated areas as well) – where the suburbs have a decent amount of volume in terms of the search market and you are able to make multiple websites. Domain names are being taken at an alarming rate however in these large metropolitan areas, so the time to make the move is now!
Related articles
- Google Survivor Tips (outspokenmedia.com)
- 10 On-page SEO Tactics for 2011 (kaiserthesage.com)
- Yellow Pages SEO In The Post-Panda World (searchengineland.com)
I personally think that a good website that looks professional (I won’t say pretty there) and has a map and a phone number is much better than those default listings people use. It just makes it look more legitimate. Of course I am biased since I like pretty websites, but still. Problem is that when a website is web designed and the information jumps at you (the phone number and address) people tend to leave, and the bounce rate skyrockets. Clients get worried about that, even if they get an increase on phone queries!
I’ve found placing the company site on Google Maps helps a bit with the searches, though it’s a bit unreliable.
Thats true there is lot of difference observe in this matter and recently due to new PANDA algorithum serach results shows desired results coz as it concentrate more on that content which are only informative and useful.
So this is very GOOD thing that sites with informative and unique content will benefitted more.
Thanks a lot for this. As I personally like this new PANDA.
I agree, Google’s algorithm is finally here to clean up the clutter. The fact that it’ll be easier and faster to find quality information makes this update a good news. Those practicing shady link building practices and low quality contents, even duplicate contents, are coming under scanner. So, whether the local business is a high quality company or not the way it functions on the internet will certainly come under Google’s scanner.
using map and a phone number is great idea, thanks for sharing.
the local business strategy and bounce rate are really effective points in this post, thanks
Every webmaster should never overlook local opportunity! We should also leverage Facebook and Youtube local search.