Local SEO | "9 Most Important Local SEO Elements For A Site"

Source        : Dashburst.com

By              : Chris Simmance
Category     : Local Search Engine Optimization 
Posted By   : Best Orlando SEO Company

Local Search Engine Optimization 

Say you have a business that relies on a local customer base, you want to rank high in search engines for local users, right? SEO is going to be integral to making that happen and, by implementing the following steps, you will be well on your way to being more visible to your local customers.

Local SEO isn’t about gaming the system; it’s more about convincing a robot (a search engine) that your site is the most relevant for users in a certain location who may want your products or services. Local SEO is a series of signposts that allow the robots to understand where you are in the world and what you're providing. It allows them to better rank your site according to the search terms the user enters.

In designing your site, you will still want to follow general SEO practices, for example, conducting keyword research into the most relevant search terms. On a technical level, your site will still need to meet best practices for crawls. But, to target a local audience, you will need to go even further.

1. Titles

Every page on a site should have a title whether or not SEO is your goal. It just makes sense to have one. In terms of using <title> tags to create local relevance, you should consider the following:

1. Include your brand name within the title.
2. Include the actual title of the page that was derived from effective keyword research for relevancy to the page and search demand.
3. Include the location where you are based or the area in which you operate.
4. And accomplish all that in 70 characters or less! Easy, isn’t it?! Below is an example from a search for “Servicing Horndean”

2. Meta Descriptions

As with titles, a Meta description isn’t something you should have only for Local SEO; it’s something every page on a site should have. After all, it not only offers a search engine a little more insight into what the page is about, it also appears in the search results as a mini advert or snippet to entice the user to click on your page over a competitor's. To create the right Meta description you should consider the following:

1. Include the brand name.
2. Include relevant information about the page.
3. Include your targeted keyword.
4. Include your location or area of operation.
5. Try not to force all of these elements into your description as it could seem cramped, read roughly, or appear ‘spammy’ to the user or search engine. In order to fit entirely within the search results page, the description should not exceed 155 characters. Personally, I try not to go over 148 just to be safe. Using the example from above, you can see how the description was written to include these elements.

3. Schema

Schema works in a similar way to the Meta Geo tags in that they can hold up another location signpost to a search engine. However, instead of working behind the scenes to show a search engine where you are, Schema helps to embed visual structured data into a web page and allow a search engine to gain more of an idea of the important information you are marking up. In this instance, location! For an example of how you can implement Schema into your business address take a look here.

4. Address In The Footer

Since it is always a good idea to have your business address in the footer of your site across all pages, why not use Schema to make your base even more obvious? While adding your business address, you should, if possible, include a local area telephone number.

5. Site Content 

This one is pretty obvious, right? To make sure your site is as relevant to an area as possible you should include references to the location within the content of the pages. Be careful, though, to avoid stuffing references to the area you are targeting in the site copy; just add it where it fits naturally. Consider referencing your location in the same way you would reference your targeted keywords, not too much to be considered ‘stuffing,’ but enough to ensure the page is relevant to the term/location.

6. Geographic Targeting In Webmaster Tools and TLD’s

If you want to target a specific country there are some very easy and obvious things you should do. Firstly you should run your site on a TLD that is based in that country. For example www.mysite.co.uk if you are based in the UK. You can also go into your webmaster tools account and change your preferred geographic target as shown below:

7. Local Profiles 

Setting up local profiles will work wonders for your Local SEO efforts. They provide a relevant link to your link profile, referral opportunities from a locally optimized site/page, and added context for search engines as to the location of your business. At a minimum, you should set up the following profiles:

1. Google+ Local
2. Bing Places
3. Yahoo Local (Provided by Infoserve)
4. These profiles will obviously be favored by the respective search engines so they make the most sense to secure first. The list of local profile sites is almost endless with profile sites likely dedicated to your city or business niche.

8. Embedded Maps

Embedding a map of your business address from Google Maps (showing your Google+ Local profile) on your site's "Contact Us" page is another way to both help the user and help your site's Local SEO rankings! The map will give more context as to your location and will also help users find your business if they want to visit you in person.

9. Reviews 

Ensuring you have a presence on review sites like yelp and qype offers further location relevance for your site through the links and location information in the profile. They also offer a great opportunity for users to become advocates for your business. If users are looking online for a local business, they will be more likely to take their business to you or your site if they see other users have rated you well. Google+ Local, which outranks other review sites, is a good place to push for customer reviews.

Some great review sites are:

www.yelp.co.uk / www.yelp.com/

www.qype.co.uk

www.tipped.co.uk

www.reviewcentre.com

These are what I consider to be the most important elements for Local SEO for a site. There are other things that can be done, too, and I’m sure there are some good opinions out there from personal experience so please feel free to share your views or ask any questions in the comments below.

One great Local SEO resource can be found here, and I highly recommend that you download it for future reference. Mobile sites are becoming more and more important in SEO and this is especially true for Local SEO. Take a look at one of my whiteboard videos which covers a few mobile SEO considerations that you should also incorporate into your Local SEO strategy.

Local Search Engine Optimization | "Top 10 Tips to Improve Your Local SEO"

Source        : flowtown.com

By              : Ethan Bloch
Category    : Local Search Engine Optimization 
Posted By  : Best Orlando SEO Company

Local Search Engine Optimization

To survive in the business world, you must have an online presence. And for small businesses that thrive on local business, ranking highly in search engines is even more vital to your success.

According to research from Webvisible and Nielsen, 63 percent of consumers and small business owners turn to the Internet first for information about local companies. However, 39 percent report frequently not being able to locate a particular known business. This means implementing successful search engine optimization (beyond just a few keywords) to make your company visible to potential customers should be a top priority. The good news: Just a few tweaks can increase your presence and send online customers your way. Follow these 10 tips to improve your local SEO.

1. Get Links From Local Sources

Sites that link to you help bolster your presence in search rankings, and sites associated with your location that link to you will help connect your business in search engine algorithms. Case Ernsting of Search Engine Journal recommends submitting your business info to local directories, community databases, and even your hometown’s Wikipedia page to get encourage links to your site.

2. Work Under One Domain Name

Sure you want to be recognized and use different online outlets for different thing, but having multiple websites for different services or aspects of your business can confuse the consumer—and reduce your overall search engine pull, says the Small Business Administration. It’s wiser to keep all online activity under one name.

3. Encourage Reviews

Though many small business owners shy away from reviews for fear of a bad one, search engines factor online reviews into your ranking. Think of it this way: The more people are talking about you, the more popular you are. Ask friends and customers to review you on sites like Yelp.

4. Add Content to Your Site

Whether it’s a blog, industry news, announcements, or event recaps, adding new content your site is imperative. This creates new pages that can be optimized with new keywords, expanding your company’s reach in the eyes of search engines. You can then encourage links to that content from other sites.

5. Include Content Links on Your Social Media Sites

Post links to your site on social sites like Facebook and Twitter. As Search Engine Land notes, search engines are starting to crawl and track these links back to your site.

6. Title All Web Pages

Many SEO rookies forget to make a separate title for each web page, losing an opportunity to give search engines more content to review. SEO expert Andrew Shotland recommends putting the most important keywords at the beginning of the title and adding your city name to the titles to hone in on local searches.

7. Make All Titles SEO-Friendly

Whether a blog post headline, URL, or file name, use keywords in all titling. Rich Hargrave of Local Search Source notes, however, that a URL with more than three hyphens can look like spam. Keep naming conventions simple but relevant.

8. Add Text to Audio and Visuals

Search engines scan text to determine relevancy.  If your fancy website is heavy on audio, video, or pictures, it may be visually appealing, but search engines won’t recognize anything. Make sure to include text in the form of captions or transcripts with any of this type of content.

9. Input Correct Keywords

Keywords are the lifeblood of your site’s SEO, so make sure yours are accurate and relevant to the type of consumer you want to attract. You can review Google’s Keyword Tool to find applicable terms. Also take the time to target keywords for individual pages on your site. The SBA recommends three targeted keywords per page.

10. Use Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free analytics software package that offers data about your website traffic and how it’s performing in search engine rankings. Periodic review of this can clue you in to trends or areas you can improve.

LOCAL SEO SERVICES Orlando

Source       : bearcatmediaseo.com
By             : Bearcat Media
Category   : Local Search Engine Optimization
Posted By  : Best Orlando SEO Company

LOCAL SEO SERVICES

If you have a small or local business, you may find yourself wondering if SEO is really worth it for you. Nevertheless, SEO for local businesses is an expanding and has become a highly effective form of online marketing. Like other forms of SEO, local SEO utilizes online directories and search engines to promote businesses among specific audiences.

However, local SEO is unique in that it focuses marketing efforts on consumers in a physical location. Its customers are not among the faceless masses online— they’re real, physical people. Any business that finds at least a portion of its customer base locally needs to consider investing in local SEO.

How Does Local SEO Attract Customers?

Local SEO involves multiple parts that work together to market a local business through online means. After all, the Internet is not limited to national and worldwide operations— studies show that around 64 percent of local customers head online as their primary means of finding local businesses. Comparatively, only 28 percent of customers use paper directories to look up local businesses. Online searches for local businesses are continuing to grow, which makes it all the more obvious that you should use small business local SEO to gain customers and retain current ones.

The main elements of local business SEO are the business profile (on Google and any other desired platforms), citation, and last but not least, business reviews. The profile tells customers what your business is and what it offers, in addition to where it is located. If you run a pizza shop, for example, your business profile, also known as the local listing, will come up when someone in your area searches online for a pizza place near him or her. Aside from the profile, the next most important thing is a citation. This is any online source that includes your business’s name, address and phone number (also known as your NAP) all together in the exact same format as that included in your local listing.

After your business online profile and citation information, local SEO focuses on building reviews, devising a strategic content marketing strategy and building links to your site. Reviews should be preferably favorable in nature, as these are what people will be likely reading before deciding whether or not to use your business. Online reviews are becoming increasingly important in today’s business world, especially with the launch of Google+ Local and similar databases.

Investing in Professional Local SEO

Although some may be inclined to try it themselves, professionals specializing in local SEO services for businesses big and small can do a much more effective job. For example, professionals can employ specific tactics for Google+ Local SEO, which helps businesses achieve higher rankings among their competition. Additionally, the growing amount of individuals with smartphones and tablet computers makes apps another way for customers to find local businesses. SEO professionals can help write your business information in a way that is both appealing and easy to find using these apps. The great thing about local SEO is that when done right, it covers all areas online where people may be searching for a business like yours. This means never missing out on a new customer again.

It is important to note that as much as 70 percent of local consumers are said to trust online local reviews of local businesses, but this does n’t mean you should go write a bunch of self-praising reviews. Instead, trusted local customers should be asked to write reviews of their experiences with your business. A local SEO professional can also help you pinpoint other ways to get business reviews. Ultimately though, it comes down to how much you believe in your business. Does it have what it takes to be successful?

Best SEO Company | "Top SEO’s Secrets To Social Media"

Source       : affiliatehelp.info
By             : JON RHODES
Category   : Best SEO Company
Posted By : Best Orlando SEO Company

Top SEO’s Secrets To Social Media

Find out what social networks top SEO’s use, and how they generate traffic from them. I think most affiliate marketers could do with some social networking advice. This is because it now seems that link building is not as important as it once was, and social interaction is growing rapidly in importance. For good website and blog promotion you simply have to up your social game. Great content and good effective social interactions seem to be the order of the day. These days social media tips are priceless!

I know quite a bit about social media as I am active on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. However I wouldn’t say I am an expert, not the best in the world anyway! So I thought, how can I produce a great piece on social media for my precious readers? I know, I will ask some of the top SEO people in the world, and get THEM to contribute. All these experts are surely going to know more between them than any one person in the world?!

I asked several top SEO professionals to write about what is the best social network. Which social networks do they have the most success with, and to share any tricks or tactics they use for getting more traffic from them. These contributions make for fascinating reading, as there are so many different ideas that work differently for different people. However they all work. This is not textbook stuff, this is tried and tested methods to gain social attention. These are great social media tips. There is a lot you can learn from these contributions, so take your time and enjoy! I would suggest that you don’t try and do everything here. Think about what tactics will probably work best for you and do one or two of them really well, rather than spread yourself too thinly.

Best SEO Company | "10 SEO Techniques All Top Web Sites Should Use"

Source         : Social.razoo.com/
By                : Gisele Navarro Mendez
Category     : Best SEO Company
Posted By    : Best Orlando SEO Company

Best SEO Company

SEO is such a hot topic these days. How do you get your web site within the first page or two of the search engines? How do you increase your Google page rank? There are companies who dedicate themselves full time to doing SEO at a pretty penny. Something a lot of people can’t necessarily afford to pay for or spend the time on. However, there are some simple things you can do when building your site that will help increase your chances of having good results. In no particular order, below are 10 of these items…

1. Title Tag

Near the very top of a web site’s source code you’ll find various meta tags — the standard ones being the Title, Description and Keyword tags. The title tag is technically not a meta tag, though it is commonly associated with them. The title tag plays such a large role in the indexing of your web site, that it is considered the most important of the three. A page title is the first thing a search engine will look at when determining just what the particular page is about. It is also the first thing potential visitors will see when looking at your search engine listing. It’s important to include a keyword or two in the title tag — but don’t go overboard – you don’t want to do what’s known as “keyword stuffing” which does nothing but make your web site look like spam. Most people will include either the company name, or title of the particular page here, as well.

2. Meta Tags

There are two primary meta tags in terms of SEO — the description and the keyword tag. It’s debatable whether the search engines use the description tag as far as ranking your results. However it is one of the more important tags because it is listed in your search result — it is what users read when your link comes up and what makes them decide whether or not to click on your link. Be sure to include a few relevant keywords in this tag, but don’t stuff it with keywords either. The description tag should read like a sentence — not a keyword list. Due to “keyword stuffing” many search engines now completely disregard the keyword tag. It is no longer nearly as important as it was years ago, however it doesn’t hurt to include them in your source code. When creating your keyword list, you’ll want to think of the specific terms people will type in when searching for a site like yours. Just don’t go overboard — too many duplicates are not a good thing (as in “web designer” “web designers” “custom web designer” “html web designer” “your state here web designer” – you get the idea). Those are all basically the same, so pick one or two variations at the most and move onto the next keyword.

3. Proper Use of Heading Tags

This is a very important element to consider when writing out your site copy. Use of heading tags helps users, web browsers and search engines alike know where the major key points of your copy are. Your main page title should use the <h1> tag — this shows what your page is about. Use of additional tags, such as <h2> and <h3> are equally important by helping to break down your copy. For one, you’ll see a visual break in the text. But as far as the search engines are concerned, it will automatically know what your topics are on a page. The various heading tags give a priority to the content and help index your site properly.

4. Alt Attributes on Images

Putting alt attributes on your images actually serves two purposes. In terms of SEO, putting a brief yet descriptive alt attribute along with your image, places additional relevant text to your source code that the search engines can see when indexing your site. The more relevant text on your page the better chance you have of achieving higher search engine rankings. In addition, including image alt attributes help the visually impaired who access web sites using a screen reader. They can’t see the image, but with a descriptive alt attribute, they will be able to know what your image is.

5. Title Attributes on Links

Including title attributes on links is another important step that any good web site will have. That’s the little “tool tip” that pops up when you place your mouse over a link. These are especially important for image links, but equally useful for text links. As a note, you should use descriptive text for your links. “Click here” doesn’t really tell a person – or more importantly, the search engines — what the link is. At the very least put a title tag that will explain that “Click Here” really means “Web Design Portfolio” for example. Better yet – make the main link text something like “View my web design portfolio” — this will give some value to the link showing that the resulting page is relevant to searches for portfolio’s.

6. XML Sitemap

My last post referenced the sitemaps used by web visitors to help them navigate through your site themselves. However, there’s another version — XML sitemaps — that are used by the search engines in order to index through your site, as well. This list of ALL pages / posts / etc. of your site also includes information such as the date the page was last modified, as well as a priority number of what you feel the most important pages of your sites are. All elements that help the search engines properly find and link to all content of your site.

7. Relevant Content

Having content relevant to your main page or site topic is perhaps the most important SEO aspect of a page. You can put all the keywords you want in the meta tags and alt image tags, etc — but if the actual readable text on the page is not relevant to the target keywords, it ends up basically being a futile attempt. While it is important to include as many keywords in your page copy as possible, it is equally as important for it to read well and make sense. I’m sure we’ve all seen keyword stuffed pages written by SEO companies that honestly don’t make much sense from the reader’s point of view. When creating your site copy, just write naturally, explaining whatever information you’re discussing. The key is to make it relevant, and to have it make sense to the reader. Even if you trick the search engines into thinking your page is great — when a potential customer arrives at the site and can’t make heads or tails of your information and it just feels spammy to them — you can bet they’ll be clicking on the next web site within a matter of seconds.

8. Link Building

We’ve probably all heard of Google Page Rank — it seems to be every web site owner’s dream to have as high a page rank as possible. While the algorithm for determining page rank encompasses many elements, and is constantly changing, one item is the number of links pointing to your web site. Now, you’ll want to steer clear of link farms and other spammy attempts at getting links to your site. However there are many reputable and niche directory sites that you can use to submit your web site, or specific blog articles to. With genuine content — especially if you have a blog — you’ll be able to generate links with other web sites and blogs, as well. It’s somewhat of a give and take, in that if you link out to other sites, you’ll find sites linking back to you — and hopefully see your page rank going up, as well!

9. Social Media

Although technically not SEO, Social Media is such a growing factor in getting your web site noticed, that it’s an important element to include in your plan. Social media ranges from social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn — to social bookmarking sites such as Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon and many more. There is a lot of relationship building involved, but as you build your own networks and build quality content on your web site or blog, you’ll see traffic to your web site increasing, as well. As with any relationship, it is a give and take. Don’t just expect to join a site like Twitter for the pure sake of pushing your content. That just won’t fly — your true intentions will stick out like a sore thumb and do nothing but turn people off. Even if you are on the site purely for networking reasons, the key is to make friends. Help out members of your network if they ask for a “retweet” or Digg, give helpful advice if asked, etc. You’ll see the same in return. If you write a great post and have built meaningful relationships with peers in your niche, you’ll often find that friends will submit your posts and give you votes on the social bookmarking sites. The more votes you receive, the more likely your post is to be noticed by others and shared around, often resulting in additional link backs from other blogs, etc.

10. A Few SEO Don’ts — Flash and Splash

Along with any list of Do’s come the Don’ts. As far as SEO is concerned, two of these items are splash pages (often consisting of a flash animation) and all flash web sites. Yes, flash is pretty! Full flash web sites can actually be amazing to look at — their own bit of interactive artwork. But unfortunately the search engines don’t get along well with Flash. Although there is talk of possible advancement in this area, for the most part the search engines cannot read Flash. All that great content that you wrote for your site will not be seen by the search engines if it’s embedded into a Flash web site. As far as the search engines are concerned, your all flash web site might as well be invisible. And if the search engines can’t see your site content, a good chunk of potential customers will miss out on what you have to offer, too. Equally as “pointless” are splash pages. Once very popular, the splash page should no longer be an important feature of any site. While splash pages used to serve as an introduction into a web site (often with a flash animation), it is no longer seen as helpful, and often times might actually annoy visitors. For one — it’s an extra click to get into your content. Worse is when you don’t give a “skip intro” option or set of links into your main site content — because you’re essentially forcing your visitors to sit through the full animation. If you’re lucky, this will only annoy them… if not — they’ll just leave without giving your main web site a shot. And without an html link pointing into your site, the search engines have no way to continue either (unless you made use of a sitemap.xml file — but still…)

A good alternative to both issues is to make use of a flash header. There’s no problem to include a flash animation at the top of your main site, or as a feature within the content area, etc. Because this is an addition to your web site, as opposed to a full separate element.