Local SEO (UK)

[TomKing]

Hi all,

Question about 'local SEO' or 'Google Places' or whatever it is now called!

My day to day work is in house for a UK national travel agency and I pretty much know what is expected and what I need to do with regard to SEO. However, I have a friend who owns an 'upmarket' hair salon in my city of Sheffield (UK) and after a rebrand and a complete new website he has asked for my help with regard to 'local SEO'

This is my dilemma, because the salon only wants to target the local area of Sheffield (5th largest city in UK with approximately 500k inhabitants) should I focus solely on 'Google Places' and if so, can anyone recommend any guides, books, or training that will give me an overview of what is required?

I have previously 'touched' on citations and claiming the 'Google Place' but I could seriously do with a refresh!

Many thanks

Andy

[Ant71]

Yer i watched this today, was very interesting and useful. Lots to learn.

[Christy-Correll]

Hi Andy, you may want to watch the recording of Greg Gifford's recent Mozinar How to be a Local Search Superhero. It packs a ton of up-to-date information on Local Search into less than 90 minutes. I'd also keep an eye out for his followup post

[crackingmedia]

Hi Andy

If the hair salon owner only wants to target Sheffield and nowhere further afield, then one option to guarantee page one attention would be Google Adwords.

Whilst local SEO is easier because of the smaller target demographic, the city of Sheffield is quite large as you say, so if he is wanting to target quickly after a rebrand then that may not work as quickly as he wants through organic SEO.

I hope that helps,
Peter

[NoisyLittleMonkey]

Hey,

You probable what to make sure you have the correct schema added to you contact page on your website. Have a look at http://schema.org/LocalBusiness and http://schema-creator.org/organization.php.

If your using a WordPress site theirs also a plugin available but it needs editing to make the information it gives out correct.

[Dave_Schulhof]

Hello

If Sheffield is the only target then Sheffield needs to form part of the keywords strategy. Local SEO works in the same way as national SEO strategies except on a more targeted approach. They will still want to appear in organic SERPs when people type things like Hair Salons Sheffield etc. Local directory listings can also work well as sites like Yell.com rank well for targeted searches. Hope this brief response helps.