How about some SEO tips for small local businesses
-
The amount of time I hear people say write good content and people will naturally link to you. I appreciate this must be valid for large websites that a driven by content. However, it doesn't really hold much hope for smaller businesses with just service information etc.
I work for a small business that does web design in the UK. However, I'm finding it difficult to do any sort of link building.
In my opinion nobody is going to link to any of our content naturally or if it is, its going to be small time.
Our rankings have dropped slightly (only to 4th in our local county). I've done the following thinks to try get it back up there but its having little or no results.
- Adding us to local business directories
- External Articles on site
- Cleaned up some duplicate title tags.
What link building can I do? Is link building the home page sometimes not always the way to go?
What content can I write that google will like? See what I mean?
My rankings did climb a little bit but then dropped straight back down to their original places 2 weeks later.
Help would be appreciated.
-
When you say you:
"Adding us to local business directories"
How many did you do? Which ones did you add your small business to?
I don't know about the UK, but there's a ton of directories and sites depending on the niche/vertical you can submit to. While they don't necessarily create better organic rankings, they can help build your PR + if done correctly help your google places page rise. It's one of the reasons why we were able to move to the top for the main phrase for our business locally in maps.
What's your site?
I just searched "local seo uk" and this popped up: http://www.seo-doctor.co.uk/local-seo-20-citation-places.html Are you guys in all of these? There looked to be 2-3 other posts about local seo in the uk.
That's the thing I love about search. You just have to do it in order to learn more.
-
Getting links for local sites can be tough, especially if you don't live in an area with a lot of tech geeks that you can schmooze with.
I would suggest giving local business bloggers a reason to link to you. Find local businesses that have at least a "somewhat active" blog. Reach out to them and ask if you can drop by and interview them for a blog post. Better yet, do a quick video blog post featuring them giving their opinion on the subject you are covering.
For instance, if I were you I would:
- Interview a videographer on what equipment it takes to begin producing video for the web.
- Interview an accountant giving a few tax tips that may specifically help web designers.
- Interview web-savvy small businesses on how they do social media successfully.
Most people aren't going to give a hoot about the content, but they will want all their friends and customers to see how smart they are in the video. And they will link to your post, featuring them, all day long.
You not only get the link, you get to meet new people who may refer people to you later.
-
There is a webinar from Rand on this. http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/content-for-local-sites-and-local-search
Also if you purchase the Mozcon videos, there was an AWESOME presentation on this: http://www.seomoz.org/videos/turning-google-places-pain-into-gain
I don't do local result anymore, but when I did 4 years ago for a client, I tried getting reviews from people everywhere (even overseas, ya know where I going?). His site still ranks #2 on local SERPS.
If you are having trouble, send a personal email to ALL your FB friends and have them "Like" your site. Have them post your domain on their wall. OR use AddThis on your site like I do here: www.shipoverseas.com. I have facebook likes on all my individual pages (not the new ones though). People in Nigeria, UK and all over the world are liking my stuff.
You may not have international rankings, but my point here is you have friends to help you out in the beginning. i would give you a link from one of my sites "IF" you did some work for free. Help people and they will help you.
-
Have you gotten involved with LinkedIn, google google+ business page, local places, Facebook and Twitter? Do you have local customers who might leave reviews at google, leave likes via facebook and retweet you on twitter? What about guest article writing for other local companies?
Some niches are definitely tougher than others, but I think if your content is relevant to your niche, good quality, and helpful to others mixed with relevant keywords, Google will like it. Answering questions and commenting can help build your relationship and pull in a few links as well.
-
I work with/for a small business as well and have found a similar struggle. I have found a life time of great information within the the content of this website. Have you looked here yet?
http://www.seomoz.org/pages/search_results?q=link+building
I find this a great resource. Hope this helps!
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Will having two wordpress themes installed hurt seo?
We currently have 3 sites built on WordPress that have little to no blogging capabilities. Currently, all published posts show up on a /category page which does not resemble the traditional blog format and is not aesthetically pleasing. We would like to have a more traditional blog and are considering installing a second wordpress theme on the site which will strictly be used for /blog and all the posts. My question is will having the second WordPress installation on the sites hurt us in any way on the SEO front and if we go this way should we place the install in a subfolder or on a subdomain? Is there anything else we need to worry about with making this transition? Thank you in advance for the advice! Patrick
Web Design | | PlanetDISH0 -
Will keyword optimization for a landing page impact SEO for subsequent pages?
For example, if I optimize keyword “pleurx” really well on our landing page, I'd like to know if subsequent
Web Design | | Todd_Kendrick
pages linking back to that landing page will rank higher than before for “pleurx”
even if “pleurx” wasn't optimized on the subsequent pages. Thanks! -Andrew0 -
For A Corporation With 3 Distinct Business Divisions, Is It Better To Go With 1 Domain & 3 Sub-Domains, 1 Domain & 3 Folders, or 3 Domains for SEO Purposes?
Hi, I am working on a project right now for an existing client, we have one domain up and running well, they want to create an 'umbrella' site to cover three current business divisions and roll everything up under that main site, including the existing site on a totally different domain (would migrate over and 301 redirect from current domain). From what I've researched, I am inclined towards one main domain with three sub-domains due to the amount of content for each business division being significantly different enough that it seems to deserve separation from each other. However, in terms of SEO and maintaining consistent domain authority, would anyone recommend it be better to structure this as just folders/categories falling under the main domain instead of separate sub-domains for each division, and focus keyword targeting on pages tailored to that end within the main domain structure rather than spreading out link-juice to different sub-domains? Thanks!
Web Design | | Dan_InboundHorizons0 -
What is the difference of HTML5 and web 2.0? What is web 2.0 and is this better for seo?
A little bit confused with the new stuff. The web 2.0 webpages are so much better? What changes?
Web Design | | Naghirniac0 -
Website using javascript to serve up content - SEO Friendly?
I'm checking out a dentist website http://www.sagedentalnj.com/ I was referred by a friend so just taking a little peek at it. When you click on the menu items, the url at the top doesn't change. When you view source, the page titles are all the same. when I do site:http://www.sagedentalnj.com/ none of his pages are indexed by google. What can be done with his site so that google sees his pages? Maybe submit sitemap?
Web Design | | Czubmeister0 -
Technical SEO Question about TLD combined with SubDomain
I am making a new website but need to figure out the best way to do this in terms of SEO. I would like the website to have functionality of brochure website combined with an online store. My issue is that I will be using software called prestashop for my online store and CMS called MODx to develop my brochure site. (These can not be combined into one CMS). I can create brochure site with MOdx = www.example.com & then from that a subdomain using prestashop for my online store = store.example.com Can I get Google to index these as one site or would I be better off trying to get everything under the TLD. Ideally I would like just one site without subdomain Bacially what I am asking is... What are the effects of having subdomains in terms of SEO? Am I better of having everyhitng under TLD? Can I get Google to view TLD and Sub as one site? Hope this makes sense, thank you.
Web Design | | Socialdude0 -
SEO Friendly Image Swap Functionality Software
Anyone know of any software for this... I need a simple way to create SEO friendly Image Swap Functionality on multiple product pages of a static site. The idea is that customers can see different images within the product screen by clicking on thumbnails. For SEO purposes it is essential that: The rollover does not create a new URL when the product images are cycled The image needs to have an alt attribute (a different attribute set by the client for each product) As per: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/tips-and-musthaves-for-your-ecommerce-platform Thanks in advance. Justin
Web Design | | GrouchyKids0 -
What are the SEO best practices for infinite scrolling?
Is infinite scrolling bad for SEO? Is there a way to implement infinite scrolling without hurting a site's SEO?
Web Design | | BostonWright0