SEO Commandments You Should Keep
Image courtesy of George Bannister
Because local search is a very young and fragmented industry, we want to help you understand the most important concepts and terms you need to know. The inspiration from this post comes from a by Matthew Kobach that talks about the three social media commandments your business needs to break. This started us thinking, what are the commandments of local SEO you should keep and those you should break? These tips can be helpful for both business owners and SEO specialists. Here are the 10 commandments of local SEO, as suggested by SyCara Local and other industry leaders.
- Thou shalt make sure your business is listed on Google Plus. Create and manage your Google business page. A Google Plus business page is an account you can create for your brand, similar to a personal Google Plus page. In his Digital Doughnut article, Daniel Doherty lists getting active on Google local pages as his number one commandment.
- Thou shalt also connect your Google business page and Google Maps listings. Back in June, Google announced you can now link your business page and separate Google Maps listings. Make sure your local business is added to Google and check our blog post on this some-what complicated process for more information!
-
Image courtesy of Google Plus
Thou shalt promote your business locally. Whether your business has 10 locations or 100, we believe all businesses should be promoted locally. For example, Starbucks needs to promote all of its many locations around the world, big or small. Let’s say management might see that the Scottsdale Tatum and Shea location needs some love and share some promotions on that store’s Facebook page, specific to that shop. “Promote locally using social media. Your links shared via social media give search engines social signals that affect search results,” says Doherty.
-
Thou shalt keep all your contact information accurate online. This means getting a handle on all your information across all online directories, including Yelp, Bing, Facebook and more. 73 percent of consumers lose trust in a brand when an online listing is incorrect, so listing accuracy is essential. (If you have a service like SyCara Local, this can automatically be tracked for you)
-
Photo courtesy of futureatlas.com
Thou shalt covet citations. Citations are one of the most important elements in local SEO. A citation happens any time your business is mentioned online, from a blog post to a review site. SyCara Local also tracks these for you.
- Thou shalt consider your competitors. Competitor citations go hand in hand with the regular citations your company receives. Use competitor citations to improve your local search visibility. Simply provide the name and address of your most direct local competitors and let SyCara Local show you where they’re found and you’re not!
- Thou shalt join local communities and forums. Local Search Forum is a great one with tons of discussion and relevant local topics. It’s very beneficial to see what others in your same shoes are saying, and it’s always good to network and connect with potential business partners. Doherty also lists this idea as one of his commandments.
-
Image courtesy of 10ch
Thou shalt produce and share original, great content. “Optimise for search by creating the best content possible, create something useful for the end user. Do your research and make it newsworthy, (infographic, insights),” Doherty shares. “Remarkable content is something that not just wows your readers – it compels them to share it with their friends, quote it, link to it and recommend it,” Result First agrees in an article on seven SEO commandments.
- Thou shalt make it easy for your search results to be found. SEO services company Result First’s article focuses on SEO commandments, but there are local implications. One of them is this idea of making it easy for search engines to read and find you online. You can do this by making your website “crawlable. That means you need to optimize your page titles, meta tags, heading tags, alt tags, keywords, URLs, site structure, internal links, site speed and more,” Result First says.
- Thou shalt not worry about having lots of links. It doesn’t do anyone any good to obsess over links, Result First says. Stay away from unnatural and paid links, and instead write great content to build and earn links the natural way. Focus on marketing and advertising efforts that drive people to your site for the right reasons.
Image courtesy of Michael Dorausch
And here’s a bonus commandment to give you a laugh-
11. Thou shalt always feature Matt Cutts as Moses. Check out this hilarious 10 Commandments of SEO infographic created by Seth Toth last year. We’re loving Cutts in a tunic!
Did we miss any essential local SEO commandments? Let us know by commenting below or starting a discussion on social media!