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vangogh
04-12-2013, 12:30 AM
Here's a good video from SEOmoz about what you should be doing if you want to rank a local business better in local results. The video, Evolution of the Local Algorithm (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/evolution-of-the-local-algorithm-whiteboard-friday), runs through the major factors Google looks for in local results.

Anyone here who has a physical location should really watch the video. A quick rundown of what the video covers.


Title tags and links
Citations and Location Data
Reviews
Social, specifically Google+
Offline - Checkins, mobile payments, etc.


The video is less than 8 minutes long so you can't say you're too busy to watch. Seriously anyone with a physical store or who performs a local service and has questions about how to get more search traffic should watch. A lot of your answers are right in the video.

Wozcreative
04-12-2013, 10:15 AM
I'll have to add you have to be continuously engaging the internet with your brand, and engaging other brands all the time.. the day you stop, that's the day your company starts falling off the charts.
Been watching some SEO videos yesterday and this is what I came to the conclusion, simple but difficult to do if you don't have the time!

vangogh
04-14-2013, 12:04 PM
Absolutely. SEO is just a subset of marketing. In fact I think the best seo firms see themselves as marketers with a special interest in search engines. Like any other form or marketing you have to keep at it all the time. It's no different than placing an ad. If you pull your ad from a magazine you wouldn't expect it to keep sending customers your way.

With seo what I do is learn what I can and then use what I've learned to help make the decisions I have to make anyway. For example when developing a site I can make choices about writing the code or organizing the information. It's not that I automatically do something just for a search engine, but I'm aware how search engines are likely to look at the things I do. Same thing when it comes to marketing myself and my business.

patrickprecisione
04-29-2013, 08:30 AM
Absolutely. SEO is just a subset of marketing. In fact I think the best seo firms see themselves as marketers with a special interest in search engines.

Especially with recent changes made by Google, it's not as simple as "doing SEO". SEO firms need to take a holistic approach to marketing, including engaging content and good social work, as well as link building and other traditional SEO tactics.

JacobPhillips
05-01-2013, 04:52 PM
This is truly great stuff Vangogh! I've always kind of thought that the hardest part of SEO was not knowing where to start. This is a pretty cool resource that definitely points local businesses (and SEO agencies) in the right direction.

I also just wanted to add that for those interested in local SEO there is a pretty cool two-part series over at source-wave.com that outlines the strategies for getting clients and increasing there SEO. I figure a few of you might be interested in them:

Local SEO Guide: Part 1 (http://source-wave.com/local-seo-guide-2/)

Local SEO Guide: Part 2 (http://source-wave.com/local-seo-backlinks/)

vangogh
05-06-2013, 10:51 AM
I've always kind of thought that the hardest part of SEO was not knowing where to start.

I think you may be right. seo can seem very confusing when you first approach it. I think that's mainly because people have a mistaken view about what it is. I see too many people think seo is all about placing the right word in the right place in the code and then everything else just happens. Too many people seek the magic formula when none exists. I think that view comes from how seo first started to some degree and also to it seemingly be a lot easier than consistent marketing over the life of your site.

When people can see past magic formula seo and understand it as a holistic approach to marketing online it becomes a lot less confusing. It doesn't necessarily make it easier to gain search and other traffic, but how one needs to go about it becomes much clearer.

patrickprecisione
05-07-2013, 09:12 AM
Very helpful info. Thanks!

I'm curious, my e-commerce website sells products nationwide, but would it still be worth it to do some of the local SEO outlined here? My gut reaction is yes, as there may be some local customers who would prefer to pick up an order from us rather than pay shipping charges. What do you guys think?

vangogh
05-14-2013, 12:15 AM
Local seo is more for businesses with a physical presence than a national or international ecommerce site. It's not that you can't learn something from the local seo advice and apply it, but it's more strategies and tactics for a business who does business at a particular location.

Tyrant
05-19-2013, 05:32 PM
Very helpful info. Thanks!

I'm curious, my e-commerce website sells products nationwide, but would it still be worth it to do some of the local SEO outlined here? My gut reaction is yes, as there may be some local customers who would prefer to pick up an order from us rather than pay shipping charges. What do you guys think?

No, you certainly don't need to invest in local SEO since you are targeting a wide area of potential costumers, why focus on a few million when you can reach 10x more? I would recommend investing in other areas of marketing and television ads (depending on the product which you're selling) if you are already investing enough money into SEO.

imarketingpromoter
05-21-2013, 04:16 AM
Thank you. That was a very useful piece of information.

dianecoleen
05-21-2013, 07:51 PM
I'm curious, my e-commerce website sells products nationwide, but would it still be worth it to do some of the local SEO outlined here? My gut reaction is yes, as there may be some local customers who would prefer to pick up an order from us rather than pay shipping charges. What do you guys think?

Local SEO will require you much of attention compared to targeting the worldwide where you have unlimited resources. I agree with tyrant that you could have 10x more leads from targeting the worldwide than the Local. Furthermore, if you plan to do both at the same time, the time you'll spent for both strategies will be cut in half. And I think that will be too confusing to manage.

MasBro
05-21-2013, 09:06 PM
Right on. Love SEO Moz. Full of so much good content. For any beginners, that's where you're going to find the SEO experts - the people who really know what they're talking about in a field of many, many posers.

vangogh
05-29-2013, 01:32 AM
I agree. I think they generally put out good information. Not always perfect and they aren't above writing content just for the clicks and views at times, but overall they share good information and I believe are trying their best to help people understand SEO better.