First Attempt at Local SEO
-
Hi everyone, I've only been a member for a few days but this community is extremely supportive of one another, and I appreciate that very much. Here's my current project.
I've done IM for awhile but now I'm helping a massage therapist with his personal brand here in Chicago. I've used the tools here to identify a few of the bigger sites and ten local keywords that he'd like to rank for - things like chicago massage, cheap massage therapy, and chicago reiki, his favorite.
I'm currently getting him set up with Google Places properly so he shows up there. We have a Facebook and Twitter underway. We have a blog he can use if he wants - though I'm not sure how insistent he's going to stay. I'm planning a separate page targeting each of the keywords we're after.
His competitors each have a couple local blogs talking about them, so I'm going to contact some local bloggers and offer them free massages in return for a review. He also is getting registered in some of the local business directories - mostly the ones I see the other sites already in.
Finally, I was going to use some Build My Rank sites to bulk up his backlinks - maybe focus 10 on each keyword, with 5 going to the main keyword and 5 going to long tails.
How does this sound for a simple, first SEO project? I'd love to hear some feedback, even if it's just "sounds great". I've never put one together for a client, and I'm thrilled/nervous.
Thanks!
Philip
-
Everything sounds good, save for the Build My Rank portion. On their How It Works section of their site (http://www.buildmyrank.com/how-it-works) it says "We publish your article randomly on 1 of our high page rank, aged domains. You control how many articles are published daily for each of your domains." They only require 150 words for articles, so it seems you're looking at a ten sites with collections of random short articles.
-
I wish I lived in Chicago. I would gladly post a review with a link in exchange for a free massage! This is a great idea!
-
Don't overdo on keywords in anchor tags...use broad match and a lot of branded:
DO: If you need soothing massage in Chicago, check out XYZ at www.XYZ.com
DONT: If you need soothing massage in Chicago, check out XYZ at www.XYZ.com. -
Great share by the way to both Mik and Dan.
-
Great 1st time strategy. The main thing that you have shown is that you are planning ahead and pro-active about SEO. I like the ideas on getting bloggers to talk about you with a free massage swop - great idea.
Dont forget some basic social media presence like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare
-
Great advice from Dan. I just wanted to add that we use getlisted.org to make sure the basics are covered . A really good tip is to use the GPS companies to make sure your business is listed correctly( Navteq: Teleatlas) . Also can't hurt to have your who.is info match your exact NAP (Name,Address,Phone) which has to be the same across all citations.
Also a tip for on-page optimization is the use of hcards you can see the documentation here Schema.org the major engines agreed to support this initiative. For non coders this markup can be produced here.
I'm rooting for your success. Hope this helps .
-
Hi
If you have not checked out these few resources, highly recommended for local;
Your plan sounds pretty good, although I am not familiar with "Build My Rank".
The one thing I am curious about is, how is his website? Is it technically sound (crawlable, indexable)? Does the navigation/architecture (albeit small) make sense? Is it optimized for on page keywords? Does it have a great design, and is it full of useful information that's easily digestible?
That's just my general sense, that you have a good focus on off-site seo, but just don't forget about on-site, especially when it comes to users arriving at the page and taking that action; calling, emailing, sharing or whatever it may be.
Hope that helps! Its exciting, and good luck!
-Dan
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
I want to know if we buy social signals from website like buyfok.com, how it will affect in seo?
I saw many website link https://buyfok.com/ which sell social media followers like instagram, facebook followers and likes. I was thinking to increase my social followers/signals for SEO purpose. That's why I want to ask, how these websites followers will affect in SEO?
Social Media | | akrib0 -
Does Social Media hold value with SEO? If so then how?
Hey So I've been doing some research and it looks like theres a "human authority" and a "Page authority". I dont know if it is still relevant or if it has all changed because of Panda. Does social media still hold any SEO value? Do social media platforms like Pinterest and Youtube and twitter drive any valuable Anchor texts to your domain boostin your domain's authority or the page that it is linking to's authority?
Social Media | | rpaiva1 -
How relevant is social bookmarking for SEO today?
I've been doing SEO for a little over 4 years. I've never used sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, etc. either personally or on behalf of my clients. This past week I had a discussion with another SEO who asked what I'm doing for my clients with regard to social bookmarking. I responded that I'm really not doing anything and they were shocked. I took a pretty good verbal beating over it. She was borderline offended. I have always been able to deliver solid results for my clients without any type of social bookmarking, so I struggle to see the need, but am surprised at how shocked this other SEO was that I don't do it. How beneficial is it and am I really missing out?
Social Media | | garrettkite0 -
How would you increase rankings if you were in charge of the SEO for this site
Hello, For the site nlpca.com How would you get them to the #2 spot for "NLP" and the #2 spot for "NLP Training" They won't do link building due to reputation in the industry. They're open to Google+ and the +1 button. They are willing to add stellar targeted authoritative content. They're adding a blog and comprehensive "What is NLP?" article. They are a "Top 5" authority in the field. Thanks.
Social Media | | BobGW0 -
G+ places/local - Company Categories and Pages question
I have two questions about google places/local and Personal/Company Pages Regarding Local and the categories section. Should you be using strictly the predefined categories they have? or should you be creating your own? Also say you're a car repair shop for instance. If you should be creating your own such as 'truck repair' should the city be in there as well 'Truck Repair New York/New York Truck Repair(keyword or location first?)' When it comes to company and personal g+ places, i understand doing the rel author and its bennefits but what is the correct way about tagging this? For instance in Wordpress, Studiopress has a section in the profile for the user g+ profile that will rel author it, and Yaost SEO says 'if you have a business page, insert it here and link your personal page as a contributor to the business page' Should we be filling in both sections? or does this cause a conflict? Adding these items is very easy to do, but would rather do it right the first time then circle back and have to correct everything. Any feedback/input is appreciated. Thanks,
Social Media | | choiceenergy0 -
Google Plus Page vs. Local
We have a google plus page here, set up as a business: https://plus.google.com/b/118361610870255631824/118361610870255631824/posts Then we also have a migrated local page: https://plus.google.com/111600136449742974371/about?gl=uk&hl=en What I would like to see ideally, is to keep the local marker so when people search through Google Maps our name still appears, but on a branded search for 'world of books' I want to see our Google+ page down the right hand side, rather than the local page currently, search for 'world of books' I want it to look the same as if I search for 'music magpie' Help!
Social Media | | Benj250 -
Thinking of trying a SEO Badge Widget project... any advice?
What are some best practices for launching a Badge program? I've been researching this for a large brand... they feel they want to have these badges to promote certain blogger partners within a niche. However, we have no way to "Rank" the bloggers... so it's an arbitrary factor, IMO. What are some of the hooks that other successful badge programs have used? Is there a definitive post around here with suggestions? I'm really on ground zero and have been tasked to execute on this and really seem to be flying blind. Any guidance or suggestions would be helpful! Thanks!
Social Media | | localsearchlabs0