Our friend, a local small business owner, recently set his business up on Google Maps (more on that next week) and has had two customers so far that he can directly attribute to his entry. His business is small and two customers for him in a reasonably short time is a great result. He has a background in marketing and is very disciplined about asking where people heard about him, i.e. which of his marketing efforts are working. One of these two new customers explained that she’d ‘googled’ him, which surprised him rather. She then went on to explain that this is how she finds all her local suppliers and finished with something along the lines of, “doesn’t everyone nowadays?”.
Many people now use local search
Now, not everyone does use Google nowadays but I would guess that locally the majority do, certainly all our friends and business friends would go to the web first. So what does that mean for local businesses? It means that having a web presence and then optimising it for local searches – if you want local customers – is paramount.
How to use geographic keywords on your website
When you define the keywords that you want to optimise your website for, your location and some geographic words should be included. But, how do you then use them on your website?
In your Metadata
There are a number of ways: add them into your meta data (website code); ensure that they are included in the content on each page if possible; include local articles and information in your fresh content. Meta keywords are less important than they were but you should still include some local keywords in there that is consistent with the content on each page. You may want to include your location information in some of your meta descriptions, which is the bit that Google returns when you appear in a search. Remember though that the meta description needs to be consistent with the on page content otherwise you will disappoint both the search engines and your potential website visitors.
The other piece of meta data that is key is your title tag – the wording that comes up in the bar that shows at the very top of your browser. Far too many local websites just have their company name on every page. The title tag should be different for every page and should include some of your keywords, so on your contact us page you could have a title tag of something like ‘contact us at our New Romney offices’, which has given you a way to mention a local keyword in a really helpful place whilst being completely natural as far as the search engines are concerned.
On your Contact Us page
All businesses should obviously include geographic information on their contact us page but, if you have business premises where people can visit you then you have an opportunity to have a ‘location’ or ‘how to find us’ page and maybe even one about your premises and what your customers can find on site, all good opportunities to add your location into your content and meta data.
Is there a ‘local strapline’ opportunity?
Have a look on each page of your website and see if there are opportunities that you are currently missing to mention some local geographic keywords. The first obvious opportunity is to add a strapline – ‘providing quality socks in Kent’ – or your phone number with the area – Call Folkestone 235641 on each page.
Ensure your location is included on most of your web pages somewhere
Make sure you include details of the area that you cover on your Home Page and on your About Us page, if you have one; in researching this post I have had a look at a number of local businesses sites and found some that don’t mention where they are based anywhere but on their ‘contact us’ page, which is criminal for marketing purposes never mind SEO!
Put a location on Testimonials
If you have testimonials on your website ensure you include the location of the customer in each case. You could also create a page that talks about previous projects/existing customers (where appropriate), which should give you a natural opportunity to mention locations in your area.
Give directions as well as a map
On your ‘contact us’ / ‘how to find’ us page make sure that you don’t just put your address and a link to a map hosted elsewhere. You should add directions to your premises, which apart from being helpful for people who prefer directions to maps also gives you an opportunity to throw in a few local place names!
Add local content
Most local website owners really underestimate the power of adding local content to their websites. Articles about local attractions, the local area or local events are generally not core to the products and services offered by a local company but they do provide a way to naturally include local keywords on your website over and above those related to your business offering.
And don’t believe that this is a bit too much about trying to improve your search engine rankings, people like to see local information and from a marketing point of view you can really help customers to ‘know, like and trust you’ by showing an interest in local information and events. People really like to buy local and what better way to show that you are a real local business than by providing useful local information for your website visitors?
Originally published in Kent on Saturday 5/9 & Kent on Sunday 6/9
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