If you own a brick-and-mortar store, or a chain of stores situated in different cities you have to read this article. By even clicking to read this article so you probably know that SEO is an important part in getting a business to draw in customers online. Already you might have a set of keywords that have proven successful in a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising strategy. These keywords, when coupled with the few keywords already marketed to rank organically, might be bringing you a decent amount of traffic and a modest ROI. But if you haven’t put any energy into local search engine optimization, particularly with Google, you may be doing yourself as well as your small business a disservice.
Not too long ago placing an ad in the Yellow Pages might have been enough. Let’s say you sold plumbing services in Texas. Once upon a period, before Google Maps was so data-rich with local listings, somebody searching for “plumber in Dallas” might have found what they were looking for without doing much work. If you were optimized for that term and ranked well for it, you were ahead of the game and can have popped up on top spot. But what happens when the customer just typed “plumbing”?
Google has evolved - and for some time now has been able to know where a person searching on the internet is located. That person is and will display a map rife with local businesses providing related services. True, there might be some further keyword refinement for type of tire, brand, etc but if you didn’t properly consider Google and native SEO marketing as part of your overall strategy and, consequently, you’re this is not on that map, the client may never know you’re just a couple blocks from their location.
There are simple but critical strategy steps to increasing local visitors to your website.
When dealing with a knowledgeable business owner a SEO Firm might assume that there is already a good amount of on-site optimization completed, and also the business only needs to let Google know that your brick-and-mortar store exists. The first step, then, is to add your business to Google Places. From there, make sure your address is displayed on your site somewhere. Google recommends the home page but so long as it’s in plain text, they should be able to find it. This is required because Google in early years was burned by spammers and isn't trying to only provide legitimate local business information to online searchers.
Google also recommends creating a rich “About Us” page which includes the store address and any other relevant information such as phone numbers, email addresses and other contact methods that could be available. While you’re building or tweaking that page, consider using Google Maps to embed a roadmap to make it as convenient for customers to locate you as possible.
A company that does not ranking either in the orgainic or Google Maps section for local searches for their services might as well open a window and throw money out it every day. Hundreds of potential customers 're going about their business providing your competitors their money and who know how many referrals. Get in on the game - do not hate the player - hate the sport. Hate all you want, but make sure Google know who you are.