Help for a complete SEO newbie!

[totaldriveways]

Hi all,

I've just joined seomoz today to try and further my very young education on SEO.

My major problem is i need my site to rank high in local search engines but feel that none of the customers read much of the content as i am a landscaper and feel they just search "landscaping in Newcastle" and are immediatly looking for a contact number to arrange a free estimate. I dont do any online sales, its just to generate  leads.

I've spent alot of time building a better site than my local competitors but they still out rank me on alot of keywords i.e. "Driveways in Gateshead"

My question is do i keep adding more and more content hoping this will work long term or do i link build with anchor text etc or both? I cannot believe they still out rank me when i feel i have more links more anchor text and a load more origional content and images. I think it may be that my site is still under 1 year old.

I feel i am boucing from content to link building then trying something else without any real knowlegde of what i really should be doing or what should be the priority at this young stage for my site.

I have managed to get on page 1 of google for most of my keywords in local searches   ( obviously not national) but still feel its been more down to luck and effort than actually knowing what i am doing when it comes to site and offsite optimization

Any help, tips etc would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

John

[SEODinosaur]

Hello John and welcome. You came to the right place.

I would recommend building links from local places to you keywords. If you are building links for your keywords within New York City, get links within New York City to point at your site. Definitely anchor your keywords, best to use diffirent variations of the keywords it looks more natural.

There are many ways to build links, my favorite is guest blogging. But for every niche there wil be a good strategy that works. You can refer to SEOmoz blog to learn more on link building and how to.

Also you might want to do some AB testing to check if your uses like your site. AB testing can be done within googles webmaster tools.

[dimanyc]

Hi, John.

How long has it been since you started optimizing your website?

Adding unique, informative content to your website, combined with link building should be enough to compete in local markets. Try to see your competitor's metrics by analyzing their URLs with OpenSiteExplorer.

Adding your company's phone number to meta description will display it in search results. You can also add your location to the Google Places platform.

Best of luck, and let us know how it goes!

[AndySolo]

As the others have said, continual link building and constant effort will continue to build your strength. Have you analyzed where your competitors are getting links from? build relationships with local businesses and ask them to link to you.

Also... Think Long-Tail Keywords

My company is primarily a window replacement business. We have the unfortunate situation of being up against major players with huge bankrolls for SEO and advertising. How to compete?

Well, instead of focusing primarily on the major keyword of "landscaping". Try to solve some other issues that may lead into larger jobs.

Examples:

Bed Weeding newcastle, Tree/Shrub Pruning newcastle, mulching newcastle, edging, lawn care, mowing, ect....

Use your blog to create some Tips & How-To's, optimize those blog entries for the long tail keywords and soon enough your blog will be the gateway into your website.

Learn how to target longl-tail keyword searches and how to analyze keyword competition to find the right niche blog posts to create.

Also, don't forget your standard offline marketing practices. As more people gravitate towards SEO it does leave open some traditional ways of getting business.

Also, I would run some PPC campaigns using a platform like unbounce or lander

Good Luck!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi John,

You've gotten some good responses from members here. I have a few suggestions to add.

1. Remember that citations are extremely important in local campaigns. Citations are not necessarily links. They are simply indexed mentions of your company's name, address and phone numbers. These might included directory listings, mentions of you in local news, on blogs, review sites or what have you. If citation building is new to you, I recommend reading Miles' Anderson's list of top 50 citation sources for the UK and USA:

http://searchengineland.com/top-50-citation-sources-for-uk-us-local-businesses-104938

2. Also, I understand your concerns that your readers may not read all of your content. That's always the case, but remember that every page on your site is potential entry page to your website. Even if someone coming to a page about 'driveways in gateshead' does no more that glance at the title and look for a phone number, at least they've come to you because you've got a page that exactly matches what they were searching for. Copywriting is critical to nearly all local marketing campaigns.

3. Finally, as you mention you are new to SEO, and I'm inferring from that that you are also new to Local SEO. Is your site well-optimized for local search with strong local hooks in place? And, have you created and claimed a complete, violation-free Google Place page for the business? Be sure you are compliant with the guidelines. And don't forget about reviews. They count, too.

Hope these thoughts help!