Learn Local SEO

[mnkpso]

What are best local SEO practices 2013 ?? to get website on top of all major keywords ???

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey, that is a great big question posed in a very succinct way.

As ever, there are a lot of moving parts and it depends on every keyword in every niche regarding how tough it will be to rank.

Main elements to consider are:

• Structured Address (NAP) + Consistency of Address
• Structured Citations - total number, quality
• Unstructured Citations - total number, location, relevance of citation site / page
• Optimisation of Google+ Local page (images, updates, video, completeness)
• On Page SEO for site
• Local Links & Citations
• Site Popularity (Search & possibly social)
• Reviews on Google+ Local and other popular citation sites

I wish it were just that simple though and any approach has to consider the industry and existing competition. We tend to review the competition, try to understand their strengths and weaknesses and use that to formulate a customised plan for each local / small business client.

Review the competition, find out who is where they are and how. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the competition. Do the basics really, really well - citations, on page, Google+ Local page. Then, look at local links, general site popularity. Create  review strategy and try to encourage (without cheating) mentions of your keywords  and targeted location in the reviews.

Don't be tempted to cheat. Don't just buy 100 crappy citations. Do things properly, craft each mention, work on getting good reviews. Do real company shizzle #RCS. Consider each citation a possible advertisement. Love your customers, ask them to love you back.

I will stop here as this is starting to sound like Baz Luhrmann song:

"sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself."

You really have to avoid an SEO by numbers mentality though as it is easy to fall into that trap here and whilst you may see some initial flourish you won't win the race with that approach and returns will rapidly diminish and you may see a bell curve with an improvement and then a drop around low quality tactics.

One last thing, consider co occurrence, it is a hot topic but think about mentioning your keywords where you mention your brand, URL, NAP or elements of. If I was creating a citation or unstructured citation on a site then I would look at mentioning my brand, phone number, location and possibly URL - something like:"

"At Bowler Hat we concentrate on technical SEO Audits and small business SEO for companies in Birmingham. You can call us anytime for help on 0121 314 2001 or visit our site at www.BowlerHat.co.uk.".

The highlighting is mine to better illustrate the important aspects of that sentence and how it can be done cleanly and naturally without the need for crappy writing etc.

Citations often boggle people but they are just directory listings really - a little more on that here:
http://www.bowlerhat.co.uk/blog/types-of-citations-for-seo/

Remember that citations are abused by folks in the medical world to artificially inflate the worth of a medical paper or report so as soon as you factor money into it and add the dirty SEO word then citation abuse can and will be rampant and google knows about this and is on the lookout for it. So... play nice!

Back to the original question - where to learn?

Well, here for starters, search the blog then:

• http://www.localseoguide.com/
• http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/
• https://getlisted.org/ - will get you on the right track.

Some good tools:

• https://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/
• http://www.brightlocal.com/

Hope that helps! 
Marcus

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Mnkpso,

Marcus has done an awesome job responding to you. I will add just a few things here.

When I have clients who are completely new to Local SEO, I have them read these 2 pieces I wrote to describe both the technical and mental basics of Local SEO:

The Zen of Local SEO

The Rudiments of Local SEO

For the most complete description of the factors that make up local rankings, I point to:

Local Search Ranking Factors 2012

*Note that this last survey was conducted a year ago and that significant changes have taken place since then, but the basic factors are pretty much the same.

And, because a major key to success in Local is keeping on top of the news, I would recommend these blogs and fora in addition to the two mentioned by Marcus:

http://www.blumenthals.com/blog

http://www.ngsmarketing.com/blog/

http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/

There are other super Local SEO bloggers out there, too.

Hope these tips are helpful!