What you need to know about getting found online
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The document emphasizes the importance of having a professional website for branding, marketing, and ranking in search engines. It explains the basics of search engine optimization (SEO), highlighting factors that affect rankings, such as keyword usage, backlinks, and local business listings. Additionally, it discusses the significance of online reviews for local businesses and provides tools and strategies for improving visibility in both organic and local search results.
What you need to know about getting found online
- 1. What You Need to Know About Getting Found Online presented by seOverflow Mary Bowling & Mike Belasco
- 2. Do I Really Need a Website? presented by seOverflow YES!
- 3. Website = Branding & Control Your website isTHE authoritative web document about your business. Your website ranks #1 for business name. Your website helps you own your own brand name online.
- 4. Website = Marketing & Trust Your website gives you the opportunity for much more promotional messaging than any where else on the web. Your website enables you to provide as much information as you want to prospects. Your website helps build searchers’ trust and confidence in you.
- 5. Website = Rankings When well-optimized, a website gives you the opportunity to rank well in organic search. A website can also help your Google Local Business Listing rank better by building the Search Engines’ trust in the info they have about you.
- 6. Shopping for a Website Get something simple that you can make simple changes on yourself! But make sure it’s professional looking.
- 7. What Is SEO? Search Engine Optimization presented by seOverflow
- 8. Creating and improving a website so that it will rank highly on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to help potential customers find the website . For Local Businesses, SEO Is…
- 9. Anatomy of a Google SERP Organic Web Results Local 7 Pack Pay Per Click Pay Per Click
- 10. Default search settings = 10 per page #1 spot = 42% of visits The top 5 spots get about 3/4 th of the traffic! Organic Rankings Are Worth… #1
- 11. Who Gets The Clicks? Source: COMSCORE US Search Engine Market Share June 09 65% GOOGLE 20% Yahoo Bing 8% 65% of searches are made on Google Now, Yahoo Search Engine powers the Bing Search Results. Yahoo now powers about 30% of all searches.
- 13. There are 3 distinct algorithms (ranking formulas) in Google that concern local businesses: Organic Search Google Places (aka Maps or Local) The Google Local 7 Pack The Algorithms are Different
- 14. Organic Search Organic Web Results Searches made here Results displayed here
- 15. Organic Search = Web Pages Organic Web Results Web pages are shown in the organic results –you need a website to rank here
- 16. Maps Search (aka Local or Places) Searches made here Results displayed here
- 17. Maps Search Local Business Listings are shown in Maps results-You need an LBL to rank here
- 18. Web Search With Local Intent Local Pack Searches made here Results displayed here, when there is local intent
- 19. Web Search With Local Intent Local Pack LBLs are shown in Local Packs. You need an LBL to rank here. Your website can help you rank better here!
- 20. Search using a geographic term (explicit intent) Denver Aurora Colorado Springs Searching for something traditionally found nearby you (implicit intent) ATM Chinese Take Out Haircut Veterinarian What Is Local Intent?
- 22. Local Packs at Yahoo & Bing
- 23. Small Business Advantage in Maps RESTAURANT SITE RESTAURANT SITE Local Directory National DIrectory National Directory Local Directory Wikipedia Local Directory Local Directory National Directory ALL RESTAURANT WEBSITES Maps (Places) and Local Pack algorithms give local businesses a BIG advantage!
- 24. SEO Basics On-page and Off-Page Optimization
- 25. The Search Engines want to return the most relevant results for every search query. So, we have to demonstrate the relevance of our pages for appropriate search queries. What the Search Engines Want
- 26. By the titles and tags we place on our web pages. By what they learn for themselves when they spider or read our pages. By what we and others tell them the web pages are about through the text in the links pointing to them. The SE’s Determine Relevance…
- 27. Google Ranking Factors…Simplified Incoming Links On-page Keyword Use Everything Else
- 28. On-page Optimization Keyword Usage on Your Web Pages
- 29. Keyword research lets you find out exactly what your potential customers are searching for on the Search Engines. Don’t Guess! You can get free information on how many people are searching for which words and how hard it will likely be to rank for those keywords. Keyword Research
- 30. How much many searches are made for it? How many other webpages are trying to rank for it? How likely is someone using that keyword to find your site to turn into a new customer? What Makes a Good Keyword?
- 31. Google Suggest - find popular search terms you didn’t think of – just start typing into search box Yahoo Suggest –start typing into Yahoo search box WordTracker Questions Tool – see questions people are asking Google AdWords Keyword Tool - generate keywords and get competition data Market Samurai – use for research and competition data – lots of free training material Google Wonder Wheel – visually brainstorm keywords Free Keyword Research Tools
- 32. Pick keywords with a balance towards low competition and high volume. Toss out non-specific and highly competitive terms (e.g. “restaurant”) despite the high volumes. Include terms that may not get many searchers but are very specific to what you do and sell – easy to rank for. Selecting the Right Keywords
- 33. Implement your optimization plan by using your chosen keywords naturally in the important areas of your pages: HTML page titles HTML meta descriptions H1, H2, H3 tags (headlines and subheads) Unique content – 250+ words per page! Internal links Image alt tags Implementation
- 34. Page title + Meta description = Your “Ad” Your Ads in the Search Results Title: no more than 65 characters Meta descriptions: no more than 170 characters Title Description
- 35. Links = “Votes” When another website links to yours, that site is essentially casting a “vote” for your website. The more votes you have the better, although the quality of the votes is very important, too. Not all links are equal. Continually build new links to your pages. Linkbuilding
- 36. Use your website to reinforce your Local Business Listing by: Using location terms in your on-page optimization: keywords plus location Getting links from local trust sites, like Chambers, BBB, CVB, local newspapers, schools, business directories and other sites that rank well for location searches. Your Website and the Local Pack
- 37. Make Your Location Absolutely Clear Place your full street address (with Zip Code) and local phone number (with Area Code) on all pages of your website in text form. Help Establish Location Trust
- 38. Technical Issues What you don’t know can really hurt
- 39. If the Search Engines can’t find or can’t read your pages, they cannot appear in the Search Results – NOT EVER! Crawlability
- 40. Use Free Google Webmaster Tools! Crawlability – Can They Find You? http://www.google.com/webmasters/
- 41. View the text only cache of pages To See (Mostly) What Google Sees
- 42. Duplicate content is bad for searchers. Do not expect it to rank. Often, it is automatically generated by certain types of websites. You (and your web designer/developer) may need help from an SEO pro to deal with it. Duplicate Content
- 44. The single most important factor in ranking well in Maps and in the Local Pack. Google Maps (aka Google Places) www. google .com/ local /add Yahoo Local http://listings.local.yahoo.com/ Bing Local https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx If you never do anything else online, do this! Claim Your Local Business Listings
- 46. Google has gotten much stricter in the past year. Spammers are being penalized or removed from Maps. Follow the guidelines given here: Business Listing Quality Guidelines Local Business Center User Guide LBLs should be good landing pages-searchers may never go to your website. Do Not Spam Google Maps!
- 47. Core Data = Name, Address, Phone (NAP) These should be the same everywhere online. Confusion about these can keep you from ranking well in Google Maps and in the Local Pack. Standardize Core Data
- 48. Internet Yellow Pages Local/regional online newspapers and magazines Local business directories Convention & Visitor’s Bureau Chamber of Commerce Partner Instead of Competing Trade associations Industry directories Local city guides Locally focused powerhouses, like Kudzu, CraigsList, Yelp, CitySearch, etc. Better Business Bureau
- 49. Partner Up for More Customers RESTAURANT SITE RESTAURANT SITE Local Directory National DIrectory National Directory Local Directory Wikipedia Local Directory Local Directory National Directory 2 of the Top 10 organic search results are for this restaurant’s own websites AND the business is also listed on every other page that ranks in the top 10 for italian dinkytown mn
- 50. Local Business To Do List Optimize your Local Business Listing for Google Maps & Local Pack search results. Optimize your website for Google Organic search results. Optimize your website to help your Local Business Listing in the Local Pack results. Partner up for links and more customers. Be Relevant!
- 51. Reviews and Reputation Reviews are not going away!
- 52. Google thinks reviews are exactly what people looking for a local business want to see. Get Reviews
- 53. Google pulls reviews from all across the web Different industries have different trusted review sources & they change Sources of Reviews
- 54. There is general agreement among experts that having online reviews associated with your business can help your Local Business Listings rank better in the Local Search Results. Reviews Help Local Rankings
- 55. Don’t wait until you have a problem to pay attention to what people are saying. Join the Conversation. It’s About You!
- 56. as of Sept 1, 2008, 85% of all the reviews on Yelp are 3, 4 or 5 stars. Do Not Fear Reviews (unless you suck)
- 57. Have a process in place for encouraging reviews from happy customers and for resolving complaints from unhappy customers. Use reviews to improve your business! More happy customers = more good reviews = more happy customers! Use Reviews to Improve
- 58. Look at the reviews your competitors have and see if you can get them in the same places. Look at the reviews businesses like yours in other areas have. Look at the reviews of businesses related to yours. HINT: Use www.LocalSearchToolkit.com Find Sources for Reviews
- 59. THANKS! seOverflow http://www.seoverflow.com/ Local Search Toolkit http://www.localsearchtoolkit.com Optimized! http://www.marybowling.com 3457 Ringsby Court Suite 307 Denver 80216 (303) 905-1504
Editor's Notes
- #2: SEO = Search Engine Optimization
- #7: Web designers can do amazing things, but…
- #8: Let’s start with a clear but simple understanding of what SEO is and why , as a local business owner, it matters to you.
- #9: We must not lose sight of the reason why we want our website to rank, which is to attract potential customers to our business web site. Web sites are created for people, not for search engines, but by pleasing the search engines and ranking better, more people are more likely to see your web pages.
- #10: When we talk about ranking in the Search Engines, What exactly are we talking about? Getting your website to appear on the first page (top 10) of the organic web results AND getting your local business listing to appear in the Local Pack of Local Search results.
- #11: Most people use the default setting of 10 search results per page. Most searchers do not go past the first page of the Search Results. The top 5 spots get about 3/4 th of the clicks. If you’re going to market successfully on the internet, you need to think about SEO!
- #12: Ranking in Google is what you really should strive for, since that is where most people search. However, with Yahoo becoming Bing’s SearchEngine, that combination has great potential for driving additional traffic to your business.
- #14: The algorithms are different for Organic search, Maps search and the Local pack.
- #15: When we talk about ranking in the Search Engines, What exactly are we talking about? Getting your website to appear on the first page (top 10) of the organic web results AND getting your local business listing to appear in the Local Pack of Local Search results.
- #24: The Google Places algorithm (and therefore the Local 7 pack algorithm) Gives local businesses a distinct advantage over directory type sites and online only vendors.
- #26: So what do the Search Engines want? Relevant results! If someone searches for an Saab repair shop in Boulder, they don’t want to go to the website of a Honda dealer in Boulder or a Saab repair shop in Pueblo.
- #28: On page keyword usage is the smallest piece of the pie, But that is what we have the most control over. You can understand why people talk so much about links, when you See how large a piece of the pie that is. Everything else is all the other factors that might possibly play a part in rankings.
- #30: Keyword research is the foundation of SEO. Without it, your SEO efforts may be misdirected. It does you little good to rank for keywords which no one searches for or will not convert for you. Example: If you are a personal injury lawyer, but you rank well for “Denver lawyer’’, you will get calls for divorce and bankruptcy cases, which will waste your time and won’t make you any money. You really want to rank for the terms most relevant to where you are and what you do. Those are the searchers that you want most to find you.
- #31: It doesn’t do much good to rank for terms that hardly anyone is searching for. It doesn’t make much sense to battle the goliaths, so look for terms you have a chance of ranking for. People use different types of terms when searching. Focus on those that indicate buying intentions. Example, a person looking for a used car may begin researching using the term used car. As they move through the process, they may refine it to used Honda and then to used honda civic . By the time they are actually ready to buy, they are probably searching for something like 2008 honda civic hatchback under 50,000 miles .
- #32: Begin with your own brainstorming ideas. Then use one or more of these tools for more ideas and to get the data you need to make good decisions. Try all of these out!
- #33: Examples of possible terms for a chinese restaurant might be: mandarin chinese takeout, best egg rolls, chinese buffet. For a plumber they may be things like: repair leaky toilet , install water heater, drain cleaning on Saturday
- #35: Remember that the page titles and descriptions that you give to each page Are what searchers will see in the results. They need to be as clickable as possible. Make them good ads for your business and include a call to action. Don’t make them too long or they look bad in the results.
- #36: Think of links as votes.
- #39: You should also be aware of some common technical problems that can keep your pages from ranking well.
- #41: Sign up for Google webmaster tools and then poke around in there for lots of great information.
- #42: For the most part, text is what the Search Engines can most easily “read”. See what Google sees by viewing the text only cache of a page.
- #43: Don’t assume your web designer or developer is good at SEO. In most cases, you don’t want her/him doing your SEO any more than you would want a plastic surgeon doing your liver transplant. They are 2 different skill sets!
- #49: These are typical local authority sites – links from them will help you. People are also looking for local business information on these types of sites. They can’t find yours if it isn’t there. The more of these places where you have a presence, the better chance you have of being found.
- #50: Partnering with these types of sites can give you organic results like these!
- #51: Be Relevant!
- #53: Reviews are exactly what people looking for a local business want, so reviews influence Google Maps results.