Local SEO Services For 2021 And Beyond
Taking Local SEO Services To The Next Level
Local SEO services. How effective can they really be right? I’m sure, as a business owner, you’ve heard all the pitches. Some guy (or gal) in a hipster blazer and designer jeans hits you up for an appointment to talk about how they can get ‘your local business’ on the map (vague) and how, if you’re not careful, your local Google listing can actually be hurting you if you’re not optimizing it properly (scary), and,… oh, here’s the best one – what are you doing about boosting your presence in local search and the map pack?
So what the heck is a map pack?
Don’t sweat it. Pixelchefs is here to help untangle the assault of acronyms, toss out the high-pressure sales tactics, and help your customers find you locally so that you’re at the top of the local search engine results mix when people are searching for your product or service. Now, it is true,… without a local SEO company that’s keeping pace with Google’s endless stream off best practices (and actively applying them to your website, Google listing, and referral link marketing), your business COULD miss out on sales to someone else’s business that less qualified, but better optimized. It happens all the time.
But let’s back up a sec and dig into the details. Grab a drink and dive into local SEO with us for a few minutes, and then make up your own mind. Here goes…
Local SEO Services: What’s Local SEO?
Simply put, local search engine optimization (SEO) is a very specific type of SEO that focuses on boosting your local business listings in online search results.
Here’s an example: A potential customer has a leak spring in their plumbing, or they realized they haven’t groomed their poodle in 6 months (and Fifi’s looking like Chewbacca at this point),… or maybe they just had an accident and they REALLY need an injury attorney NOW.
What’s the first thing they do? They pull out their phone and Google…
‘plumber near me’
OR
‘best pet groomers for poodles’
OR
‘reputable injury law firm nearby’
..and at that point, their Google app or web interface on their phone is (likely) going to deliver some search results that look like this:
The question is, how can your business be part of this pack of search results? (this IS what the Map Pack is, BTW – and some people also call it the 3-pack, 4-pack, or local-pack,… yeah, we know… there’s a whole PACK of terms being thrown around to describe it, but now you see why).
And even more importantly, how can you be at the top of results, more consistently, because (let’s face it), people hate scrolling on their phone, and (in the immortal words of Ricky Bobby), if you ain’t first,… you’re last.
Another aspect of this is how you show up in Google Maps, which is a slightly different (but incredibly profitable) local search experience, for people looking for a business like yours, especially in mobile searches.
And yet ANOTHER place you might be discovered is in online, third party business directories, but let’s take it one step at a time!
Ultimately, this is the local SEO game. Getting better rankings for this type of local search result, so that more people can find and contact you by phone or by your website, and then visit your local business (or schedule an appointment with you, if you perform a service where you visit them).
That’s the heart of local search marketing, and it’s key to conquering your local landscape (which is doubly true if you happen to own a landscaping company! sorry, we had to throw that one it there!)
So how does local SEO strategy actually work? What has to happen behind the scenes? We’re glad you asked!
3 Keys To Leveraging Local SEO Services FTW!
If you want to rank at the top of search results on search engines like Google, you’ll need to focus on these local SEO services to attract potential customers to your business.
1. Google My Business Optimization
The cornerstone of local search for nearly all consumers, your Google My Business listing (also referred to by fast-talking digital marketers as your GMB listing, or just GMB, for short), is a business listing you can create, register, and verify with Google for FREE. Yes, that’s right – free. you can do this part on your own (seriously, HERE’S THE PAGE TO DO IT AT), but before you drop your drink and surf away to GMB paradise, let’s examine WHY your GMB is the ultimate key to local search.
Let’s say you make a quick search for “best tire service near me” …
The listings at the top of search results make up Google’s local SEO map pack/3-pack/4-pack/local-pack (you know the name game now). Depending on where you’re searching, you can see the physical locations of these tire service providers on the above map, and clicking one of the results, will open (drumroll) that provider’s Google My Business (GMB) listing.
These listings contain critical information like address, hours, website, phone number, images, reviews, and even special posts or messages about products/deals that the business may be running.
Understand, you STILL have not even visited their website yet – but already your decision-making process to spend money with this provider is being steered towards their location (and ultimately, their service).
So the first pillar of local search is this, if you want YOUR GMB to start steering revenue to you, you need to take these steps:
- Claim and verify your listing
- Add key information to your listing, such as your business address, business description, and more
- Optimize your listing, through descriptions, categories (types of businesses), images, reviews, and frequently asked questions/answers to those questions
- Get your best photo game on, with videos and images that help increase your local rankings (yes! believe it! they can!)
- Make sure your listing is aligned with your content back on your website
- Put in place a positive review strategy for online reviews
And this is where it gets tricky – because there ARE tricks that can increase your listing’s discovery in organic search to increase your SEO rankings, and there are some mistakes when optimizing your listing that CAN reduce your chances of showing up. In fact, many studies show that, without the right technical tools, there’s a good bet many online searches WON’T trigger enough discovery for your target audiences.
The marketing strategy behind local is getting clearer right? Awesome, on to the next service that force-multiplies your chances for profitable traffic,… read on.
2. Keyword Optimization
To rank at the top of local search results, you’ll need to target local keywords on your website’s content.
What’s the heck is a keyword?
Check out this example:
If a mechanic for import automobiles in Orlando, FL wants to rank better in more local search results, they SHOULD optimize their page titles, meta descriptions, and the information they place on their website to include the keywords “5 Star import auto mechanics in Orlando” or “Award-winning import auto work serving Central Florida for 40 Years”. In addition, the business (especially if they have multiple locations) may want some location-specific pages on their site, in order to make it clear to search engines (yeah, we’re talkin’ about you Google) exactly where these businesses are located, and the specific services each location can handle.
In this case, the keywords they’re optimizing for are really just the words people use to search (like we illustrated in the above examples). So keywords are really just ‘search terms’ or the ‘search query’ that people use when Google something, and (as you can imagine), there’s a LOT of them. So many, in fact, that Google even has a hard time keeping up with all the nuanced search terms emerging every day. The overall presence you show up in due to these is your ‘search presence’, which ultimately leads to more visitors
The bottom line though, using location-based keywords can help your business appear in more local searches so people in your locale can find and do business with you. In a lot of ways, it’s more powerful than just a slick photo on Facebook, right? And if it sounds like keywords drive more profitable, natural search traffic for local businesses than advertising, you’re right.
An Abundance Of Caution: Over Optimizing Keywords
Now, here’s the $50,000 question – how MUCH optimization is TOO much? That’s where having a local SEO company with the tools, tactics and proven methodology in the house can make the difference, because it IS POSSIBLE to over-optimize for certain words in your content, and that (typically) can keep you from ranking as well as you’d like, and in some (extreme) cases), it might even hurt you. But more on that later!
3. Local Link Building
Okay, once you’ve got your GMB (Google My Business) jamming and your website content humming on schedule with regular, optimized content that’s relevant to your local market, then it’s time to bring in the nukes – backlinks.
What the heck is a backlink?
Simply put, a backlink is a link from someone else’s website to yours. And earning legitimate backlinks from other reputable, local business websites can also help to boost your local search rankings.
So how can you earn these links?
Having super-useful or relevant content on your site that targets local keywords related to your business AND that appeal to some topic your audience is interested in, is a great start. If other website owners like what they see, they can link back to your site in their own content. This is known as a natural backlink – and this also takes LONG time to do without a local search firm out there, beating the bushes for you, getting links in while you bust your tail running your business. And this is one of the many reasons PixelChefs succeeds in local markets, where other local SEOs often fall short.
Search engines consider the number and quality of backlinks when ranking businesses, especially in local search. This means it’s important to have a strong backlink profile, complete with links from authority businesses in the local area. Local links can also provide a source of referral traffic from other business sites, which is another channel of potential revenue for you.
Outsourced Local SEO Companies v.s. In House Expertise
All of our experts are located at our actual HQ, and we all have names and phone numbers, so when you have a question or need service, there’s an expert team that’s ready and delighted to talk to you. We continually re-align search marketing services to drive your local online revenue, but most importantly – we’re available. That’s the Pixelchefs promise – we don’t just DO local, we ARE local, listening to your needs, live and in person.
How We Do Local SEO
First off, we perform SEO audit services to make sure your business information is correct to give you the best, error-free local leverage.
Next, we take care of Google My Business, Bing, and Yahoo Local optimization, making sure that all these business profiles are optimized for your target location/city/metro or service area.
We also make sure you get tons of good, natural backlinks for the hidden market of smaller, local online directories such as yp.com, white pages, FourSquare, MojoPages, local.com, Yelp – and dozens more, where your listing can be found. These are known as citations, and it’s easier to create and manage these in bulk, than to make them one at a time (which could take years).
We then scrape the local market for niche directories that are difficult to find without specialized tools and processes, based on your industry and submit your business information to these directories for links as well.
We’ll help you get online reviews that matter, and provide a blueprint for getting the RIGHT reviews, as well as injecting optimized answers to questions people ask of you on your business listing, for MORE SEO value, and better rankings in the map pack.
We focus on user experience – which is one of the hallmark traits we’ve developed over the years and goes towards actual CONVERSION for end users of your website.
Lastly, we provide transparent reporting on real, tangible business goals, such as your search engine rankings, phone calls we’re driving, visits to your website (from all listings), and rankings in your local search profile on a monthly basis. Our reports are easy, and we go over them with you – so you don’t end up with some impossibly complex Google Analytics report, that obviously got exported 2 minutes before your monthly phone call.
We even provide a fully-formed, suggested content marketing calendar of the RIGHT content to add to your website, and then we write it, and add it, to increase your ranks, organic traffic, and discovery for local keywords.
This is how we bring our search marketing services to life,… and we know, it’s a lot of potential opportunity to take in.
Why Hire a Local SEO Company?
If you’re like most business owners, you wear a lot of hats. Between running your biz, solving problems, keeping consumers happy, and having a life (uh yeah,.. that’s important!), there’s just not much free time left at the end of the day to drag your brain through the digital rabbit hole of Google My Business, listings, links, keywords, and content, let alone keeping up with NEW local search ranking factors/search engine algorithms that are constantly rolling out or changing – it’s too much to take on, and you can’t cram 20 hours into your already-overflowing schedule.
Enter PixelChefs Local Search Marketing!
We’re an award-winning local SEO company with superior results in some of the MOST challenging verticals for getting our clients more revenue, leads, and discovery from local search.
Some of our areas of expertise include:
- Local SEO For Attorneys
- Local SEO For Real Estate
- Local SEO For Retail
- Local SEO For Technical Services
Our local SEO efforts are backed by decades of expertise, specific industry experience, top research into your competition, and a full arsenal of local SEO tools (some of our own making) to understand, market, and sell your business from a local search perspective.
When it comes to local, you’re in good company with us. We leverage local for you. Don’t go it alone.
Start Leveraging Local SEO Today!
Now that you’re down with the details of local SEO basics and how Google determines local search results, it’s time to source the signals that drive discovery in your local-oriented search ecosystem. There are a lot of SEO companies out there that talk local,.. but do they ROCK local? Whether you need more Google Maps presence, need better review strategies for consumers, need to generate more citations, or just need to get your online presence off the ground, we turn searchers into buyers. Reach out to us today and make your local searches count with a company that cares about local business clients.
Call 407-283-7293 to get local.
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