Five WAYS to Enhance Your LOCAL SEO in Five Minutes OR Less! An easy, step by step guide from your local Google ranking guru, Emily Fontes.
Lessons in This Guide 1 2 3 4 5 Touch Up Your Page Title & Description Properly Code Your Name, Address & Phone Number Optimize the Images on Your Website Expand Your Resource Page Email Businesses to Ask for Backlinks Each of these lessons can be completed in about 5 minutes. But who knows? You might start having fun and work for longer! There are over 200 known ranking factors that Google uses in their algorithm. So while each of these strategies helps in a small way, they are definitely not an exhaustive SEO strategy. Google ranking is a long term investment of time and resources and I hope you enjoy getting started with these free tips! Copyright 2016 Tiny Giant Marketing Inc. - All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Touch Up Your Page Title and Description
TOUCH UP YOUR PAGE TITLE & DESCRIPTION Your page title and description carry a lot of weight in rankings. Each page of your website should have a unique title & description that focuses on your primary keywords. For example, a Houston dentist might use this title & description for his home page: PAGE TITLE Houston Dentist - Dentistry in Houston, TX - James Smith DESCRIPTION Looking for a gentle, compassionate Houston dentist? James Smith, DDS and his caring staff are here to serve you. If you use your business name at all in your title or description it should play second fiddle to your primary keywords. Remember: Potential clients are searching for the service, not your business name. You want to be indexed by Google under your keywords. Page titles should be no longer than 65 characters and descriptions should be no longer than 155 characters (this includes spaces). Remember: Use a different title & description on each page of your website. HOW TO EDIT YOUR TITLE & DESCRIPTION Weebly Squarespace Wordpress - install the Yoast SEO plugin GoDaddy Website Builder Wix (FYI the Wix platform is notoriously bad for SEO) TINYGIANTMARKETING.COM 4
Properly Code Your Name, Address and Phone Number
PROPERLY CODE YOUR NAME, ADDRESS & PHONE NUMBER Let s talk about NAPs. No, not that kind of naps! NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone Number. In terms of local SEO, Google is looking for your NAP to be consistent across the internet. Every citation of your business should display your NAP exactly the same (eliminate even small differences such Street vs St. in the address). ON YOUR WEBSITE, USE SCHEMA MARKUP Use the generator here: jamesdflynn.com/json-ld-schema-generator/ Paste the code it gives you into the header of your website. It will not display anywhere but Google will be able to read it. DOUBLE CHECK SOCIAL MEDIA & DIRECTORY LISTINGS Make sure that your NAP is precisely the same in every listing. Facebook Yelp Google My Business Association directories LinkedIn Industry directories Chamber of Commerce BBB YellowPages.com CitySearch.com TINYGIANTMARKETING.COM 6
Optimize the Images on Your Website
OPTIMIZE THE IMAGES ON YOUR WEBSITE 1 2 3 COMPRESS FILE SIZE When images are too large in file size it increases page loading time and can negatively effect search engine ranking. Many people will upload images to their website straight from their camera not knowing they are 8MB each! Try to get all images under 250kb. You can use a program like Kraken to optimize your images: https://kraken.io/web-interface RENAME IMAGES While you are compressing, save your images with optimized names! For example if a Houston dentist has a headshot he should name the image: JamesSmithHoustonDentist.jpg or something similar. Be sure to use a variety of image names. No duplicates! USE IMAGE ALT TAGS STRATEGICALLY When you place an image on your website you can set ALT attribute text for each. This isn't seen visually on your website but describes the image to search engines and website readers for the visually impaired. You can use up to 16 words in your ALT text and it's most effective to make it conversational as well as relevant to the image with a few of your keywords. So an image of a Houston dentist greeting a client could be Houston Dentist James Smith welcomes new dental patient". How to set image ALT text on your website: Weebly WordPress Squarespace Wix TINYGIANTMARKETING.COM 8
Expand Your Resource Page
EXPAND YOUR RESOURCE PAGE Most local businesses have a list of resources or referrals that they give to clients. You should definitely feature this on your website. Things you can include on your resource page: Products you recommend or that your clients may need. Websites that are helpful for your clients. Blog posts or articles that they may find useful. Local businesses that you recommend or that may be of service to your clients. They don't have to be in your same industry. LOCAL BUSINESSES SHOULD BE IN THIS FORMAT Real Estate Agent Jane Jones, Realtor 123 Some Street Houston, TX 12345 123-456-7890 janejonesrealtor.com Pediatrician Tiny Folks Pediatrics 123 Some Street Houston, TX 12345 123-456-7890 tinyfolkspediatrics.com Architect Pretty Homes 123 Some Street Houston, TX 12345 123-456-7890 prettyhomes.com WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT? Who & what you link to helps Google understand your website s own relevance. Many local businesses you add will have addresses within your service radius; listing them creates keyword density on your resource page. Be sure to include their address on the resource page. TINYGIANTMARKETING.COM 10
Email Businesses to Ask for Backlinks
EMAIL BUSINESSES TO ASK FOR BACKLINKS Now that the resource page on your website is all spiffed up, email some of the people on that page to ask for backlinks. WHAT IS A BACKLINK? Simply: A link to your website from another website. In SEO, genuine backlinks are gold. They help Google understand what your website is about and proves that it contains useful information worth linking to. SAMPLE EMAILS Local business that you have an established relationship with: Recently, I created a referral list of local businesses that I give to my clients. Your business information has been included on the list which you can see here: [LINK] Would you take a moment to check your listing and let me know if there is any incorrect information? If any details of your business change, let me know right away so that I can update your listing. If you have a resource page on your website, would you consider adding my business as well? Thank you! Local business that you DON T have a prior connection with: I am a [PROFESSION] serving [YOUR NICHE] in [AREA OR COUNTIES YOU SERVE]. Recently, I created a referral list of local businesses that I give to my clients. Your business information has been included on the list which you can see here: [LINK] Would you take a moment to check your listing and let me know if there is any incorrect information? If any details of your business change, let me know right away so that I can update your listing. If you think my services would benefit your clients, I would love to receive your referrals as well. Would you consider adding my business to the resource page on your website? Thank you! TINYGIANTMARKETING.COM 12
So What s Next?
Are You Google s Best Kept Secret? CLIENTS ARE SEARCHING. IT S TIME TO GET FOUND! YOU NEED A WELL ROUNDED APPROACH TO SEO A mobile-first strategy that makes sure Google ranks you first for clients searching from smart phones. An expertly coded website that gives both potential clients and Google bots exactly what they are looking for. Link building and content marketing that is fully Google compliant and targeted to your ideal client. I M EMILY FONTES, YOUR SEARCH ENGINE GURU I believe that you should dominate search engine results so that you can connect with your local community with ease. Over the last 15 years, my SEO specialty has been local small business owners just like you! I understand the unique needs of local businesses in saturated markets. I m an expert at helping you attract clients like a magnet to your local business through excellent Google ranking. Click Here to Schedule a Free SEO Consultation TINYGIANTMARKETING.COM 14