Getting the right local SEO is a key foundation for business success
Tommy Lee-Zmuda, Founder and Founder of The Boiler Business, explains the importance of getting your business SEO right.
In last month’s column, I introduced the ASK framework to help you focus on attracting, selling, and retaining better customers. Today we will be enhancing Local SEO which is the best strategy for attracting new customers to your business.
Local SEO
There is a lot of “one size fits all” advice for using SEO and Google to attract customers to your business. Every time you open your email, you might see an offer for help to ‘his 5-star review on Google’ or ‘get to the first page of Google’.
The truth is that Google has learned over the years to find people who have tried to trick the system. Scamming to appear higher in Google’s search results is likely to be a waste of time and money.
It should also be pointed out that having a local business on the first page is not enough. To grow your customer database, you need to start by building a lead generation website that consistently delivers new leads. Most businesses that are crushing it rank in the Google Maps pack. This is the top 3 businesses that are usually shown below the map displayed in Google Search.
Before we get into the core SEO jargon, we need to remember the number one rule. Your online business doesn’t have to be perfect. We just need to be better than our local competitors.
SEO is a huge subject that should be fully covered in an entire book, but let’s take a shortcut and see which key areas of SEO influence your local business ranking.
Technical SEO is the number one reason why you shouldn’t use web experts and try to build your own website. Of course, what if you don’t fully understand how to make your site mobile-friendly, secure, HTTPS and super-fast via content delivery networks? Think of this as an investment rather than a cost, as it is the other aspect that determines your website’s chances of generating leads.
However, one of the key parts of technical SEO is being a plumbing/HVAC business owner and taking ownership of your website plan.
It’s best to start by creating a list of Google search phrases you want your business to rank for. Then ask your web team to do keyword research for these phrases. This data helps us plan and build websites that rank on Google and sell to real humans.
A good base for a website is about 12-18 pages. You also need to plan the website developer and the content of each page. They don’t know your business, your industry, or customers like you. So you’ll need to work with them to plan which pages are most important and what content should be featured. This structure helps you plan the words, images, and videos you need to grab Google’s attention.
On-page SEO content
Thankfully, on-page SEO and written content creation are well within the skill set of people who can string together 1,000 words with a laptop. Words, title tags, meta descriptions, internal links, and alt text are easy to understand. You can then choose to implement them yourself or instruct the web team on your requirements.
Your content should be the authority in your chosen area of expertise. Bristol boilers, Hastings heat pumps, Sheffield solar, Aylesbury air conditioners. Google rewards his 3 best pages on the internet for the top 3 search results. However, the local map pack above the national search results only shows local businesses.
In local search, Google gives an advantage to the three local companies in the map pack.
So how are the top three local businesses selected? In a highly competitive area, a local business with a well-structured website can give map packs an edge over local competitors. Dominating a map area and having a well-planned website go hand in hand.
back link
There is another area of SEO worth discussing. It’s a backlink.
Don’t pay someone to build backlinks to your website until your website is a fine-tuned sales machine with its own valuable and shareable advice.
Paying for hundreds of backlinks on Fiverr is a waste of money and can damage your website.
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