SEO – 5 SEO Tips for Local Businesses

by | Jan 24, 2012

More than 90% of your customers are digging around on the web for information relating to a purchase or a problem they’re having.  That means SEO is one of the most important things you can do to get your business in front of them.

SEO is no longer something that you can passively work on.  More and more of your competitors are out there doing what you should be doing in order to improve their business.  While some business owners hire an affordable search engine optimization company like TulsaIM, others prefer to do it themselves (which is why we offer tips).

If you’re the latter, that’s great.  We encourage business owners to take control of their online presence.  Here are some great tips for SEO in Tulsa to help you improve your local relevance.

SEO in Tulsa Tip #1 – Use Local Keywords in Titles

Recent studies into search engine optimization techniques have shown that keywords within the title of a website tend to carry more weight where search results are concerned.  Google uses these keywords to help establish relevancy for the content within and to match pages to user search queries.  In addition, keywords in titles and text are bolded when they match a user’s search query.  That can make your content stand out better in the search results, especially if it’s an exact match to their search term.

SEO in Tulsa Tip #2 – Claim your Listings

If you’re an established business, Google likely already has you listed with a local business profile, albeit a simple one.  The same goes for Yahoo and Bing.  Your next step is to claim those listing and verify your company.  Once you have control of the listing you can optimize with better content, images, videos and more to improve the conversion and click through rate, and to make your local listing move up higher to the top of local business/map results.

SEO in Tulsa Tip #3 – Create a Geographic Link Profile

Backlinks are great for building relevancy and moving your site up in the search results.  Google sees backlinks as votes for authority in a particular subject or within a niche.  For local businesses leveraging SEO, you need links from other sources in the area.  Talk with business partners, members of networking groups, local news and TV listing sites, local business directories and more that can help you establish geo-specific relevancy for your search terms.

SEO in Tulsa Tip #4 – Add your Address

This is something that a lot of businesses overlook, but it’s important.  Not only do you want to make it easy for your customers to find you but adding the address into the footer of your site – on every page – lets Google know your specific location.  When you’ve got a local business listing paired with a website that clearly states your location, your site is far more likely to turn up in the search results in addition to your map listing.  That’s double the real estate and visibility.

SEO in Tulsa Tip #5 – Ask for Reviews

Reviews and word of mouth are a powerful thing, we all know that, but they also contribute some SEO value as well as conversion value.  Ask your customers for reviews on major sites like Yelp and in the Google Places.  The more popular a business is, and the more reviews it has, the more likely it is to trump other similar businesses in a targeted region.

If you want to stand out among your competitors, you have to go all in and create a broad strategy for SEO.  Business blogging isn’t enough, nor is social media outreach.  Remember that a rick, widespread campaign is going to net you the best results for visibility.

author avatar
Clarence Fisher