The Five Most Important SEO Tasks for Local Businesses

Essential SEO Tasks for Local Businesses

In my option the most important seo tasks for local businesses to move up through the ranks of Google in Australia are:-

1. Keyword Research
2. On Site Optimisation
3. Directory Listings
4. Content
5. Obtain Reviews on Google Plus Page

This is pretty much the stance that I would take for any local service business.

Keyword Research

I believe that keyword research is the first step that needs to be taken.  In order to do effective keyword research it is firstly necessary to have a good understanding of the business in question.  The easiest way to do this (after I have fully read each page of the website) is to talk to the business owner or manager.

Question that I would ask include:

Who are your main customers?

What market segment is most profitable for you?

What market segment do you most want to target?

What are your strengths against your competitors?

What is your market positioning, do you want to retain this positioning?

Who are your major competitors?

Armed with this sort of information I would then spend a little bit of time looking at the competitors’ websites and also checking the strength of the market in relation to how hard or how easy it is likely to be to ensure that the local business can move onto the first page of Google.

Thus having a good understanding of the local business I would then spend quite a significant period of time doing keyword research to determine the best search terms to target.

On Site Optimisation

The first step I would take for onsite optimisation is to do a full ‘health check’ of the website to ensure that all setting are correct, fix any 404 errors and download any additional plugins that are needed.

The second step of onsite optimisation is to use the keyword research to ensure that the right focus keywords, Titles, Mega Descriptions are used for each page.  Also I will optimise any images that are on the website.

Directory Listings

I have found that directory listings and industry specific listings are very effective for local businesses.  Through time I have discovered that it is not the quantity of links that is important it’s the quality.  I have a list of all the best quality local directories that I use for my clients.  I also seek out any new potential directories specific to the clients business.

Obtaining links from industry bodies etc is also very important and highly effective in getting a local business to rank.

Content

Content is increasingly becoming more and more important.  The most important thing to bear in mind when writing content is that it is useful information and it is not duplicated anywhere within the website and also not on the net.

Reviews on Google+

I strongly recommend obtaining customer reviews on the local businesses Google Plus Page.  These reviews assisting in getting the Google Plus Page to rank.  They also provide the visually attractive stars next to the listing.  With a Google Plus Page as well as a website that has good SEO you have the chance of obtaining two listings on the first page of Google.

Summary – 5 SEO Tasks for Local Businesses

That’s it, the five most important SEO tasks for local businesses, it sounds easy I just wish it was so.  No matter what business there is always some other factor that can mean that these simple five steps cannot be immediately or totally undertaken.  This could be that the website in question has some really bad backlinks that need to be removed, or the hosting needs to be changed, or there is duplication of the content on the net…

No problem has to date meant that SEO for local businesses is not effective.  It just takes time and a lot of effort.

This blog “Five Most Important SEO Tasks for Local Businesses” has been written by Karen Thorogood, SEO Consultant, trading under the business name Through The Ranks.