Domain Authority: What It Is & How You Can Boost It

For business owners who are (and should be) constantly working to boost SEO (search engine optimization), understanding Google ranking factors is key. In fact, domain authority is one factor among 200 which Google uses to calculate domain ranking scores. 

 

Every business owner prays for high Google rank and FREE (organic) website traffic. However, many assume that by increasing website authority, automatic boosts in both Google ranking and organic website traffic will be the natural result. While it’s absolutely true that beefing up your website authority is advantageous, you also need to focus on getting those coveted high-quality backlinks from strong, authoritative websites. 

Domain Authority:

 

In short, domain authority is a ranking metric. This metric predicts how your company website might rank on SERPs (search engine results pages). The ranking score ranges from 1 to 100 and the higher your website’s score, the better you can expect it to perform in search engine page results. The authority of your domain speaks to its relevance to a given topic, however it is not synonymous with page authority which entails on the ranking of specific pages and not an entire domain.

 

Digging even deeper, domain authority measures the potency of a website’s backlink profile in comparison to all the other websites in their index. All major SEO tools use this metric, however the difference lies in the name and method by which it is calculated. For example, the Domain Rating website authority metric runs on a logarithmic scale from 0-100. Logarithmic simply means there is a greater challenge in going from DR 69-70 than 9-10. If you are still confused, let’s approach this as if we are talking about a computer game. Let’s say that you started the game with a status of “good” and, after a couple of hours, reached a status of “great”. However, obtaining an “outstanding” status is going to take you several months of hard work and dedication. Even then, there are no guarantees of ever reaching this highly sought after status.

 

You should also understand that the logarithmic scale means that a website that has a DR 20 rating holds more than twice the authoritative status as a website with a DR 10 rating. 

 

Factors for calculating domain rating:

• Number of referring domains: the number of websites which link to a website or specific page. It’s important to note that a higher number to referring domains is not necessarily synonymous with a higher domain rating because only ‘followed links’ are taken into account when it comes to domain rating calculations. Domain rating isn’t improved with UGC links, nofollow attributes and sponsored links nor can subsequent links from the same website boost your domain rating because backlinks aren’t taken into account. Only referring domains factor into the calculation. 
•  
• Domain rating scores for linking sites must be factored into your domain rating calculation because anyone can obtain endless low-quality website links. At the end of the day, it’s all about quality over quantity because backlinks with low domain rating scores aren’t going to increase your own domain rating like backlinks from sites with high domain rating scores will. In other words, you want backlinks from sites who have continually increasing domain ratings in order to increase your own domain rating score. It’s best to think long term from the standpoint that if you build a link today from a DR 15 site whose owner works equally as hard as you have to guild authoritative links long term, then it stands to reason that that same link could eventually be from a DR 40 site at some point down the road. In other words, if you only ever built on that one link, it would be logical to expect your domain rating score to increase over an extended period of time. If you find sites with low domain rating scores, but they have a great deal of potential, then it could pay off in the long run to build links from those sites. You just need to verify that potential by checking their content for high-quality material and check their link growth. Consult your local SEO Jacksonville expert regarding this process. The referring graphs domain will reveal the potential of the stie. If the graph slopes upward, you have a solid indication that their domain rating score is on the uptick and will spike over time.
•  
• Referring domains each have a number of sites to which they link. For example, if you build a ‘followed’ link from Guardians of the Galaxy and another one from Space Monsters and both have the exact same domain rating score, how would you know which one would contribute most to boosting your own domain rating? It really all depends upon how many sites each one links to with a minimum of one followed link. In other words, the more inimitable the sites to which a website links, the less domain rating value it is able to pass. It’s best to check the Linked Domains report using the filter ‘followed’ links. For example, Guardians of the Galaxy links to nearly fifty times more websites than Space Monsters. Guardians of the Galaxy isn’t going to improve your website domain rating, but Space Monsters certainly will. It’s important to note that there are a number of factors which go into determining a solid backlink. Not all links from Space Monsters carry more authority than links from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Increasing Domain Rating:

You can easily increase your website’s domain rating by building more ‘followed links’ to your site as long as sites from which you obtain those links don’t have lower domain rating scores and as long as they aren’t already linked out to a ton of websites. If your domain authority is ranking between 20 and 30, it will be much easier to improve than if it ranks between 70 and 80. Let’s break down the numbers and what they mean: 

 

• Below 30 = bad.

• 30 to 40 = less than average.

• 40 to 50 = keeping your head above water.

• 50 to 60 i= okay.

• 60 to 70 = pretty good.

• Above 80 = you’re rocking it.

Try to avoid building links to random pages as this process isn’t going to work favorably to boost your domain rating score nor will it actively beef up your organic traffic. In other words, your primary goal should be to link build specifically to pages that you would like to rank higher on Google. When your focus is solely on increasing your domain rating score, your organic traffic will suffer. Organic traffic is more closely associated with the number of referring domains to a specific page and not so much with the domain rating score of a particular website. 

 

Building links to a page you’d like to rank in Google:

 

Quality is key. People don’t want to link to subpar content. You need to ensure your content is noncommercial, helpful and has an established history of getting backlinks. It’s tough to get links to content that is solely about money making. Focus on creating helpful blog posts or a utility such as a calculator or another type of free tool. Furthermore, incorporating stats that can easily be referenced by other bloggers all fall under the category of “helpful” and are known to attract backlinks from over 800 referring domains.

 

NOTE: It’s crucial that when you are searching Google for the topic related to your content focus that you check out the number of referring domains to pages with a top-ranking status because the higher the number of links, the better! 

 

Selecting a solid topic:

 

Check out seed keywords on Keywords Explorer by checking the “all keywords” report. This report will reveal keyword suggestions according to the seed.
You can then build a comma separated list with words such as why, how, who, what, guide, stats, etc. to add to the “include” filter. Make sure to then check the “any word” toggle which will ensure topics with higher citability and utility are filtered. You should also filter for keywords which have a higher score for Keyword Difficulty. For example, anything over 40 should yield topics which have a good track record for getting links. Pages which have a high Keyword Difficulty score will have tons of backlinks because that score is based on the average number of linking websites to high scoring results. You can then create content in line with search intent once you’ve found a relevant topic in the results. 

 

Stay authoritatively relevant. People need to know your content exists in order to link to it. You’re going to have to spread the word and start contacting relevant people: people featured in your post, those who’ve authored content regarding similar topics and those who’ve linked to content regarding similar topics. Remember: internal linking improves important page authority. 

 

Be sure you are always working to build high-quality links from websites which are authoritative and relevant to the pages you want to rank because your domain rating will naturally soar based on this practice.

If you’re looking to improve your domain rating, contact Marlin Consulting Solutions today. We can assist you boost your domain authority and reach your dream domain ranking.

How to Stand Out in Search Results

Best Word Press SEO Plugins for Your Website

In today’s world, it is absolutely paramount that business owners have the right tools and implement the best strategies in order to make their business websites attractive to Google. As a business owner, you want your company website to rank high in Google search engine results. 

 

Choose the right SEO plugin.

WordPress SEO plugins are the bomb! They have the ability to:

 

• Affect page loading speed and overall performance.
• Boost SEO.
• Augment your business website’s security. 
• Bring up backlink information, important stats and keyword rankings.
• Improve your business website’s rankings in search engine results. 
• Fix broken links.
• Conduct comprehensive SEO audits.
• Help you find authoritative posts and pages.
• Reorganize your company website’s structure. 
• Effectively optimize your company website.
• Keep you ahead of the competition.
• Increase brand visibility.

 

A reliable hosting service for your WordPress site is a great way to earn SEO ranking and beef up your website’s speed, however it’s only the beginning. In fact, 75% of consumers who search using Google admit to never clicking beyond the first page of search engine results. This is why your website optimization (in collaboration with smart keywords, knowledge of search intent, content readability and image files sizing) is a MUST. It’s the only way to earn traffic that is organic (free) and relevant, which will boost your conversion rate. Furthermore, a solid SEO plugin will help speed up your optimization tasks more efficiently (sometimes automatically), freeing you up to strategize with your marketing team in order to stay on top of the latest SEO data and quickly employ strategic, results-based plans in order to boost productivity. The benefits are truly endless. 

 

Obviously, when it comes to optimization, a good SEO plugin makes all the difference, BUT… How on earth do you tell the good from the bad?

Good WordPress SEO Plugins:

• Yoast SEO is user-friendly, especially for beginners, and offers:

 

• Page Optimization which allows you to easily manage page titles, URLs and meta descriptions. You can easily create an optimized, customized web page title via the user interface along with an SEO-friendly URL and unique meta description. You can then review your SEO report which will allow you to improve blog post optimization. In addition, you can easily switch on the robot tags or turn them off. This function allows you to manage your web page’s “discoverability”. 

 

• The Robots.txt file communicates with search engines in regards to which pages are crawlable. The Yoast SEO plugin allows you to change your robots.txt via the user interface which is a time saver. There is no need to install, modify and upload the robots.txt file with each and every change, plus the file is protected from accidental overwrites resulting from system updates. 

 

• Google Search Console allows you to authenticate your company’s website by copying and pasting an HTML code into the Yoast user interface. This is a huge benefit as it allows you to capture powerful SEO data. It is also further code protection against accidental overwrites when it is added through the plugin. Yet another time saver as you won’t need to re-add the code post site-code modification. Frankly, web developers and SEO specialists are experts at carefully handling theme modifications and WordPress updates, but I digress. 

 

• Sitemaps are crucial for SEO as they provide search engines with lists of pages to crawl on your business website. Yoast’s auto generated XML sitemap automatically updates as you post new content to your website. You can improve search engine accessibility to certain website sections via the user interface through the XML sitemap. 

 

• The free Redirection Plugin from WordPress’ plugin repository is fabulous  for managing redirects and preventing your users from getting 404 error messages. These are easily managed via the user interface in your WordPress dashboard. The plugin is updated regularly, is secure and is also user-friendly, aiding you in reporting errors on alternate servers (broken links, 404 errors) with info entailing the way in which the error was accessed. 

 

• The WP Internal Link Juicer plugin works specifically to help optimize your company website’s internal link structure, automatically linking phrases and keywords from your posts and comments to relevant blog posts, pages, tags and categories. This plugin avoids fraudulent SEO practices while creating internal links. 

 

• MonsterInsights helps you track your business website’s analytics and performance, is user-friendly and sends Google Analytics data straight to your dashboard. This is great for measuring customer engagement on your website as well as understanding how consumers search for you. You are able to monitor frequently visited pages via the content reporting feature. MonsterInsights is a simpler alternative to the more complicated Google Analytics as it streamlines the gathering and interpretation of data. You’ll never need to login to your Google Analytics account

 

• Improve your company’s web page speed with the WP Super Cache plugin which allows you to test loading speed across several of your company website pages. You can then leverage Pingdom tools or GTMetrix. Simply turn on the caching features after you install the plugin.

 

• Really Simple SSL streamlines the process of hard coding the HTACCESS file configuration for the domain-recognized setup of an SSL address in WordPress. If this is Greek to you, it’s because this is a complicated task best left to experts in search engine optimization Jacksonville. In layman’s terms, simply download Really Simple SSL, ensure your website domain’s HTTPS version is the default address and the plugin will do the rest. It will also make sure SSL encryption and encryption protocols are automatically updated in order to protect against cyberattacks. 

 

• Rank Math also aids in website content optimization, offering real-time content insights via your WordPress dashboard. Snippet previews allow for easy optimization of titles and meta descriptions, reducing the amount of SERP display errors on search engines. This plugin is optimized for better speed and now has IndexNow integration resulting in quick alerts to search engines regarding changes to deleted or new content, redirects and much more. No need to wait for weeks on end for Google to crawl your content.

 

• Easy Table of Contents enhances user experience which boosts your SEO. This plugin presents a table of contents for users who wish to jump to key content. In addition, an HTML table is automatically added to your business website’s posts and pages, generating internal hyperlinks within each page. Auto generated links are an added perk as they are based specifically on page content headings. Your table style can be easily configured within the dashboard settings.

 

• Weglot offers the most accurate translations to date. Translation is a huge component of SEO as Google considers grammar and copy to be major ranking factors. Unless you employ interpreters in every language, you need this translation plugin which will reflect the way languages are spoken in order to properly articulate your brand’s story and what you offer. 

Bad WordPress SEO Plugins:

Unfortunately, there are harmful WordPress SEO plugins. While the good ones help boost your company website’s ranking and visibility, there is a risk with any plugin authorized to access your business website:

• Exploitable vulnerabilities.
• Unsupported or outdated.
• Incompatibility with existing site code or plugins.
• Lack of adequate testing. 
• Scam related. 

Always ask your search engine optimization Jacksonville based expert to review the plugins in which you are interested prior to installation. Be sure you select a WordPress plugin which automatically backs up your business website while simultaneously guarding it with the correct SSL protection. There are many free WordPress plugins which can accomplish this for you. Add reputable WordPress SEO plugins to your website, properly configure them and enjoy the benefits of improved URL and content accessibility. Your organic traffic is bound to increase and your business website’s SEO rankings are bound to soar very quickly!

How to Get on the First Page of Google

Do I really NEED to be on the first page of Google search engine results?

Almost all questions in this day and age are answerable by Google and understanding how to get your website on the first page of Google search results is one of the most profitable moves you can make for your business. In fact, Google occupies 92% of search engine market share with Bing at 2.28% and Yahoo as even less at 1.52%. I dare say Google’s powers are boundless and can even help you gain website traffic while spiking revenue! 

Many entrepreneurs don’t fully understand how to use Google’s boundless powers to their benefit. Here is where the rubber meets the road: consumers don’t want to click more than they absolutely have to. If desired results show up on the first page of Google’s search engine results, you can bet the farm customers aren’t going to continue clicking through page after page when what they’ve searched for is staring them in the face on the first page. In fact, 75% of users don’t even want to think about clicking to the next page. Why bother?

Yes, and here’s how to get on the first page of Google!

Here’s where you, as a business owner, come in. Let me start by saying one thing: if you’re excited that your company shows up on the third page of Google’s search engine results, prepare for me to burst your bubble. You are are not visible to your customers unless you have a first page presence and here’s how it’s done: 

• Communication is key! Notify Google right away that you have a company website. Google bots are extremely thorough, never missing a beat when crawling the web for various websites. It can take some time for the bots to pick up on your website and, while waiting around is one way to do things, it’s best to submit your website to Google Search Console pronto. The program is free and breaks down your performance on Google search, emailing you suggestions as to what you can do to enhance your website’s visibility. It’s still important to login regularly in order to make sure all is well. For step-by-step instructions, visit “The Beginner’s Guide to Search Console” in Google Search Central.

• Be strategic in targeting brilliant keywords. There is a great deal I could say about keyword selection, but I’ll try to keep it short. Finding the right keywords is the beginning of your process in ranking your website on Google’s first page of search results, but what is right to one business owner may seem wrong for another. Fortunately, there are some basic principles that apply to everyone:

• Think about words best describing your products or services and think like a customer. For example, what would a customer type in the search engine bar if they were shopping for a reputable lawn service? 
• Shoot for phrases with the three to five words your customers are most likely to type into the search bar. If your keyword consists of those matching your website and coincide with what customers are likely to enter, then your website will most likely appear in the search engine results. Stay with me. This is just the beginning!
• Walk a mile in your customers’ shoes. Really get inside their heads and think about the types of questions they will ask on Google. This will help you generate keywords specific to your website, easily located by Google’s search engines. Be sure to do a search in order to learn which phrases are most commonly related to your company.
• Once you decide on your keywords, be sure to weave them generously into your content, communicating to Google that your company website exudes authority and is the place where customers need to go in order to gain the right answers to their questions. This will help boost your website ranking on Google’s first page as you stand out from your competition.

• Research your competitors and find out how they got on the first page and what is keeping them there. You know the olds saying, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. In this case, keep your customers close and your competition closer by researching your competitors. You might be up against some tough competition with an impressive audience. Don’t be intimidated! Type your desired keyword into the search bar and learn what and who you’re dealing with! This will allow you to adopt a strategy and select keywords best geared to your target audience. Furthermore, try to learn why your competitor ranks higher for the same keywords and whether they are gaining popularity due to paid campaigns or organically. You might even discover that you can target keywords your competitors haven’t yet implemented! In addition, research long-tail keywords that your customers might be using and grab keywords targeted by your competitors. You can strategize about ways to beat your competition at their own game by using them more effectively. 

• Make sure you create a page which supports search intent. Let me be clear in saying that web pages and not actual websites rank on Google’s first page. For example, you might rank for “how to spot clean a sofa” and “carpet pet stain removal” as two separate web pages, both landing on separate search engine results pages. It is entirely up to you as to which page you’d like to rank, but the options are limitless. You may choose as many as you’d like as long as you understand that website authority will affect the ranking of each individual page you select. Just be sure that your page content is chalked full of info that Google can rank for your target keyword as your chances are better when your content lines up with the content of search intent. Don’t be tempted to tamper with your web page URL so as not to compromise established quality backlinks. If you absolutely must reconfigure your URL’s, don’t forget to direct the old ones to the new ones!

Develop a content angle, addressing your target audience and be thorough in your content descriptions and discussions as the authority on the subject(s). Stick to subjects directly related to your website and industry.

• Incorporate both internal links and quality backlinks. Backlinks will serve to enhance page authority and higher authority websites mean higher ranking on search engine results pages. You can easily acquire quality backlinks by looking for sites similar to yours. You can email those sites with requests that they link a relevant post to your website. You can even add internal links which are relevant to your industry in order to boost authority. Both backlinks and internal links which point to your business website, communicate with Google that consumers consider you a reputable authority. All the more reason to ensure that your backlinks come from reputable sites in order to boost your rankings. Be sure you aren’t incorporating SPAM! 

• Shoot for snippets featured. Short text snippets located above various Google search results offer quick answers to search queries and are even better than having your web page rank on Google’s first page of search engine results. Google selects the featured text, so there is no magic trick for achieving this and it is not automatically generated. The best thing to do is alter your content in order to boost your chances of having featured snippets. You can also implement a bulleted format, create bulleted lists, and incorporate sentences beginning with how, why, where, when, what, and who. Extra points for developing content that immediately answers these questions.  
• Take charge of your meta tags and manage them well. The short text appearing in Google search results are called “meta tags” and they are content descriptors which are shorter than featured snippets. Meta tags consist of no more than 120 characters, containing the most crucial info plus a keyword. While they don’t show up on a website, they are made up of clear, concise verbiage specific to each individual web page on your website. Keywords should be incorporated in your meta tags, so be creative!
• Make sure your web page is mobile optimized. Half of global internet traffic takes place on mobile devices such as smartphones and iPads. Users get frustrated when web pages don’t load or they cannot be viewed in full, so it’s paramount that you ensure your website is optimized for all screen types. Customers will avoid your page if the experience is poor. 
• Include your location! Customers want to know whether you are locally based or overseas. Increase your chances of getting on the first page of search engine results by incorporating your locale in your keywords. Many consumers want to do business with companies located in specific cities or states, so adding your business to local directories such as Foursquare or Yelp will only gain your higher search engine visibility, boosting your online presence.

IN CLOSING

Web page visibility entices consumers to click in order to learn who you are and what you’re about. Don’t shy away from tools such as social media and chat forums in order to show consumers what they’re missing. Establish your authority and expertise regarding your products and services and you are sure to turn the right heads as you show consumers they can rely on you for questions regarding your profession. Keep your target audience engaged with consistent, fresh content, leaving them hungry for more. Better yet, consult your local small business SEO Jacksonville Florida expert today!

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Ninety-one percent of adults prefer to use search engines in order to quickly glean information and Google has over 90% of the search engine market share. As a result, a solid Google Business profile is a necessary must for your company. The benefits are endless and you can easily edit your company info at any time in order to maintain an updated online presence. Consumers want to know your story and learn about your brand and a solid Google Business Profile is a very simple, effective way of: 

• Sharing your story.
• Ensuring your company shows up in Google Maps searches.
• Boosting sales (both online and in-store).
• Building trust with your customers.
• Earning reviews in order to boost your brand’s appeal.
• Increasing website traffic.
• Getting the lowdown on your customers.
• Ranking higher in search engine results.
• Taking advantage of FREE advertising!

In addition, 16% of companies who utilize their Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) can gain as many as 100 additional calls monthly because this is how 64% of consumers use this tool to get info on various businesses. 

Creation and optimization of your Google Business Profile is quite simple and I’m going to walk you through five simple steps which will help you navigate this process:

Make sure you create or “claim” your business profile. You need to check to make sure you don’t already have a Google Business Profile. Go to Google Search or Google Maps and search for your company by name and location. You might be surprised to learn that your profile already exists. In this event, you would click “Claim this business” and follow the prompts through a verification process. If you don’t see your company already listed:

• Bookmark google.com/businesses.
• Login with your google account or create one if you don’t already have one.
• Enter your business name/address.
• Select “storefront” or “service provider”.
• Select your primary business category.
• Add your business phone number & company website.
• Follow the prompts through the verification process.
• Follow the prompts to finish the population process.

Regular updates are the key to success! Updating your business profile is even easier! You can incorporate images, videos, product and services information and even post weekly updates! 

• From the Business Profile menu, click “Info”.
• Click on the section you wish to edit and begin entering your new info. It can take as many as 60 days before you see old info deleted. Also, summaries or keywords from the internet appearing next to your business, such as the description, cannot be edited. 
• Boom!  You’ve just updated/edited your Business Profile!  Click “done editing”! Who’s the pro now?

It’s important to respond to reviews left by customers as it shows you are paying attention. This helps to establish trust among your consumership while building brand authority and credibility. Don’t be tempted to stick to the positive reviews. Addressing negative comments can be a game changer, showing the public that you take ALL concerns seriously and you are both respectful and considerate of all consumers. 

Use your Google Business Profile as an opportunity to answer questions. Google relies on a lot of user-sourced info, so it’s important to ensure that questions are answered correctly and in a timely fashion. 

• Log in to your Google Business Account.
• Click on “See all questions (#)” under the “Questions & Answers” section on the right-hand sidebar.
• Click on the “Answer” button.

In addition, answering messages through your Google Business Profile is equally as simple and powerfully effective in communicating with your customers. Simply select “turn on messaging” under “complete your business profile” voila! You’re a genius! 

Remember: the goal with any business is to stand out and apart from the competition. A well managed Google Business Profile will help you do just that!

What is SEO & How Does SEO Work?

What is SEO?

“SEO” stands for Search Engine Optimization. This explanation will likely leave you questioning, “What is Search Engine Optimization”? SEO is the process by which free, organic leads are generated via search engine results. 

How does SEO Work?

SEO is paramount to the success of your digital marketing plan and relevant keywords are the engine which drives the SEO machine. 

A keyword is one which best describes content on your webpage. A keyword is also a search term that boosts website ranking on search engine results. Keywords determine how search engines are utilized. When a consumer searches for a specific phrase or keyword, the search should lead them directly to your company website. Keywords are nothing short of foundational to a consumer’s search of your business. Relevant keywords must be woven into your search phrases in order to improve your website’s search engine ranking. The goal isn’t for all your keywords to be high-ranking. The goal is to incorporate keywords which could be most profitable for your business. The more relevant the keywords, the greater the yield of positive search traffic.

Bad SEO

In fact, you could be penalized or permanently suspended by Google for implementing such tactics. You’re better off focusing on providing a user-friendly experience for browsing consumers. Avoid paying for bad back links, don’t incorporate pesky or intrusive ads, don’t replicate content and don’t use your website link to spam others with comments or redirect consumers from other websites. How rude!

Good SEO

If you remember nothing else from the post, remember this: slow and steady wins the race and cheaters never prosper! While bad SEO tactics can be tempting, nothing yields free, organic search leads like quality content and following good SEO practices. Plus, you will avoid pesky penalties and or permanent penalization for wrongful shortcuts.

Local SEO in Jacksonville

In short, SEO means more money in your pocket. Employing a reputable Jacksonville Local SEO company can only multiply those dollars, drawing free, organic leads to your business website!

Contact the SEO company in Jacksonville, FL for your next local SEO project.

Does ADA compliance apply to Real Estate Websites?

The 3 Pillars of Local SEO Dominance for Small Business

Building a strong local SEO presence in Florida comes down to three key aspects. First, you must optimize your Google My Business page with verified information, Google Posts, and reviews from your customers. Once your Google My Business page is optimized, you should then move your focus onto your website. Optimizing your website for local SEO comes down to your internal linking structure, meta-content, location pages, local content, and how mobile-friendly your site is. The last step to dominating local SEO involves building your external links from directories and other authority sites within your industry.

Optimizing Your Google My Business Page

Optimizing a Google My Business page gives you the benefit of showcasing your business information right on the Google search results page when potential customers are searching. Optimizing this page involves ensuring all information is verified, posting to your GMB(Google My Business) page, as well as receiving and responding to customer reviews.

The first step to setting up your Google My Business page involves making sure Google has accurate information and getting that information verified through Google. This process is streamlined with a simple registration process. Once all information is filled out and accurate, Google will ask if you’d like to verify this information. Verifying your information is the key to getting your page to appear in search results. They typically send a postcard to your business address with a pin number to verify your mailing address. Sometimes there is an option to verify with an automated phone call. If you already have a GMB you can sign in by visiting https://www.google.com/business

Now that you have a verified Google My Business page, you can start posting to that page. This involves creating short articles related to your business and posting them through your Google My Business. These posts are a great opportunity to build customer trust by showing you truly know what you’re talking about. You can also tailor these posts to your local area to improve your local search engine results.

You’ll also want to try and build a steady flow of reviews from your customers. There are systems available to help you get your customers to submit reviews. Our local reputation management platform is one of those systems. Once you start generating reviews, you’ll want to respond to those reviews. Responding helps you demonstrate to Google that you are an active and engaged business. It is also recommended you set up Google My Business notifications as well. 

Optimizing Your Website for Local SEO

Now that your Google My Business page is all set up and verified, the next step is optimizing your website. This comes down to optimizing your home page, Meta Data, setting up your internal linking structure, building out content, and adding a location-specific page. 

Your home page should clearly state who you are, what you do and where your business is located as well as the areas you serve. Internally your website’s page title, header tag and meta description should echo this. 

While the ranking of Meta Data factors is debated, it is a fact that they play a big part in a visitor’s first impression of your website. 

Now setting up your internal linking structure helps your users to easily navigate your website and for Google to index your website accurately. Typically this involves setting up an XML site map. There are plenty of tools to create this.  There should also be a link to an HTML version in the footer of your website.

Next you’ll want to build out content and optimize that content for local SEO. This involves setting up meta descriptions, accurate URL tags, well thought- out headers, and image alt-descriptions. Setting up these internal content structures as well makes for a great way to include all of your local keywords in your content without overloading your site with keywords and making it awkward to read. Doing the basics right is an easy way to beat your competitors in search results.

Adding location-specific pages makes it easy for Google to determine what areas or locations your website is most relevant to. These pages can be incorporated into the “About Us” or “Contact Us” pages which are found on most sites. This involves a simple extension into Google Maps that can be applied through a wide number of plugins. This will also link your website to your Google My Business page.

Finally, you’ll want to start writing blog posts applicable to your local area and the services you offer. While it may seem counterintuitive, offering information about how your customers can do the work themselves is a great way to build consumer trust and drive traffic to your site. You’ll find most people end up contacting you for work once they realize the skill required to actually do the work.

Building External Links

Now that you have an optimized Google My Business page and a great website that is ready for traffic, you’ll want to find other websites and directories in your industry that can provide links to your site. The number of links directed to your site makes a huge impact on your ranking in search engines. This can be accomplished through local directories like your local chamber of commerce, large business directories, and other authority sites in your industry.

A great way to build links from high authority sites in your industry can involve offering to write a piece of content for them in exchange for a link. This will help you build your audience by allowing their visitors to see your knowledge within the industry and possibly visit your website. By having links from other authority sites it shows Google that your site provides value to your customers as well as the other websites. Most high authority sites have an email address you can contact, so start emailing these sites today with an offer of writing content in exchange for a link!

While each of these areas may seem like a lot of work, they do work and make for a great investment of your time. Local SEO is a great lead generator for any industry. If you work at it and your website ranks well it becomes an extremely inexpensive channel that generates a recurring stream of customers. Organically generated customers typically have a higher confidence level. And tend to have a higher conversion rate. It is worth considering allocating budget for local SEO, as part of your ongoing marketing efforts.

Local SEO: A Deal Maker For Local Businesses

The concept of ‘local search’ plays a key role in the success of the local online presence of local businesses.

You can now edit Google My Business Listings directly from the search results

For those of us that already have a verified business in Google My Business, we have some interesting news. You can now update your business info directly from the Google search engine result page. Please remember that need you to make sure you’re logged in to your Google My Business account.

Let’s try editing your Google My Business Page right from the search page

Let’s dive right in and see how it works. To get started, just type the name of your business in the Google search box and you will see a menu right above the search results. Again, you need to be logged in to your Google My Business account. After you click the edit info button, you will see all the fields you are able to edit become highlighted.

From here, you will be able to upload photos, see the number of views, check and respond to any customers reviews, and even access detailed info about your site metrics. The best part is, you can do it from any device, in your office on your desktop or right from your mobile device.

Google heavily relies on the business owners to provide accurate and updated information to their users. Google realized early on that if they want valuable content for free, they have to make the process simple and easy.

Now lets take a quick look at Why Google would do this?

For starters, who is best suited to provide the most accurate information about a business? The business owner, of course. Google decided to create a process to outsource the business info-update process, and now this process has just become a little more efficient. The good news is, this is a win not only Google but it is also a win for clients of local business because they get info directly from the business owners. The business owners win by getting to provide info directly to potential clients. Google wins by having the most up to date, timely and accurate local business info.  A win-win-win situation for everyone!

If you are a business owner and you have not setup your Google My Business page, please contact us and we will send you a free guide.