Local SEO Done Right From the Start

Local SEO Done Right From the Start

Local search engine optimization is the strategy of optimizing for a certain keyword + city or zip code, such as new york pizza 02786, or south Chicago Italian restaurant, etc etc.

With many companies who deal with localized clients now realizing the potential for getting local search clients, many have now sought out the techniques to get listed on Google, Yahoo, MSN etc for such terms.

When you are looking to rank for your keyword + city or zip code etc, the most important first step is to get a domain with both your keyword and the area you are looking to rank for.

Lets say you are in Lisle, Chicago and want more dry cleaning clients.

Lisle-drycleaning.com would be a perfect URL for such a goal. Once you get your domain, half your battle is won, because the search engines believe that your site will be exactly about what your domain name is! They figure you wont have content on there about Orlando Ice cream or something totally off topic, so they weigh heavily on the domain name. Anyone can switch content, but once you get your domain, that site is branded and the search engines know it.

It would be easier to rank for lisle dry cleaning on lisle-drycleaning.com than it would for Chicago dry cleaning.com with tons of content on the site about lisle dry cleaning too… its just the way the search engines like to do business.

Sure you if you a lot of subpages with proper keyword density, tons of high ranking in bound links about lisle dry cleaning etc, you would rank. But why make more work for yourself? Get the right domain and get your onpage SEO set up properly and your local SEO goals will be set in good foundation.

An example of a local SEO query is Orange, Tx pizza. What I got when I searched yahoo is:

Pizza | Pizza in Orange, TX – YELLOWPAGES.COM

Find pizza & Pizza in Orange, TX. Read business reviews, find driving directions, and more. pizza on YELLOWPAGES.COM.

http:// www .yellowpages.com/orange-tx/pizza

Notice the keyword is in the subpage URL? Also notice in the page title the local city and keyword are also mentioned.

This is key if you want to get ranked locally.

Let’s recap:

1) choose a domain with your keyword and city or zip code

2) get your page title as your keyword and city

3) get local and keyword content on your site.

That’s a very solid start to getting ranked for your keyword+ city. There are other things that you can do if you are in a more competitive niche, such as link building and more content.

Just remember SEO is an ever evolving game and takes time.

Good luck!

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