How to rank for local keywords (cities) when you don't have brick and mortar stores

[Henrik_Kruse]

Hi folks,

We have developed a site that connect local consumers with local businesses (brick and mortar).

The keywords that consumers search for are e.g. "plumber san diego" or "hairdresser" + "local area" and so on...good old fashioned local searches. Sometimes even without the location added in the search.

But how do we BEST optimize our site to get the most organic traffic from these local searches?

We don't have brick and mortar stores or offices but our service is of high value and will save consumers lots of money and even help the local businesses when in need of extra customers.

Thanks in advance for all your input.

Have a nice day.

Chris

[Alick300]

Hi,

Please check this article @ http://searchengineland.com/local-seo-rank-local-business-218906

Hope this helps.

Thanks

[Henrik_Kruse]

Thank you, Alick300 - but that article seem to give advice to businesses that actually have brick and mortar stores/local addresses.

What I am looking for is ideas on how to rank locally when ones business is NOT local, but target local keywords/customers with it's services.

Hope someone outhere can help

BR

Christian

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Chris,

I want to be sure I'm understanding your business model. It sounds like your business is virtual (doesn't make in-person contact with customers) and might be along the lines of a directory or a lead-generation company. Am I close to getting that right?

If so, then basically you are limited to go after organic rankings for the terms you want to rank for. Virtual businesses are not eligible for inclusion in Google's local results, so what you want to do is evaluate your ability to compete for spots in the organic results for the terms that are important to you and your customers.

An example of this would be the review platform Yelp. Yelp specializes in a product: business reviews. They have been so successful at becoming known for their review product that when you search for a very wide variety of businesses in Google, Yelp pages often come up on page one of the organic results due to the authority this brand has built.

Another example would be something like ZocDoc - a directory for medical professionals. If you search for 'doctor san diego' or 'doctor boston' or 'doctor burlington', chances are strong that you'll see results coming up from the ZocDoc directory, because they have become a perceived authority when it comes to finding a local doctor.

So, your own brand needs to take a look at where you can build this type of authority, whether on a local or national level, and then create the types of content that can begin to earn organic rankings for relevant terms.

Hope this helps, and please feel free to provide any further details if our community isn't quite understanding your exact business model.