Local Seo Tactics And Digital Marketing Strategies

Okay, so we all know (by now) that getting reviews for your business is very important.  Google just improved the process, and value in our opinion, by allowing photos to be uploaded with reviews on your Google My Business listing.  This is a great new option and can have a positive impact on your listing visibility and ranking in the map pack.  In this episode we discuss the importance of this new feature, and how you can leverage it to maximize the benefits for your GMB and your business!   What You’ll Learn You can now have photos submitted by users when they leave you a Google My Business review Photos that are uploaded with reviews are a great double dip, to get a review and a photo at the same time Google can tell what is a stock photo and what is original Getting these original photos uploaded by users is a great engagement signal for your Google My Business listing Make sure you have a plan to ask customers for a review, to get more reviews Add a script or process to ask for photos to be included in

A few episodes back we talked about a strategy for creating content silos and how to link those pages together, and also how to link them to your primary or "money" page.  Local SEO Tactics listener Matt asked a question about why this is a tactic, and why it is better to link from a silo page than to a silo page.  In this episode, we answer his question and expand on the topic of silo pages.   When it makes sense to link from an inner silo page out to your money page When it makes sense to link from your money page out to an inner page You need to understand the intent of your inner silo pages if they are sales pages or just content pages Be specific and intentional on how you are linking your pages together and the road map you are creating Inner silo pages are generally created for Google, to help them understand your scope of content The inner links you create for your website help show Google your major content areas and what is important

If you're doing SEO, then you're also using Google in ways that the average Google user is not.  You're performing research, market analysis, and looking for content ideas, among other things.  In this episode we're going to cover the topic of "search operators", to help you level up your Google search game!  We'll touch on some of the more powerful and hand search operators, and hopefully turn you on to some new ways to use Google to improve your SEO and knowledge.   What You’ll Learn Use search operators to refine and manipulate the type of search results you are looking for There are dozens of individual search operator functions that you can use Simply type the search operators into Google, incorporating them into your Google search You can restrict search results to a single domain You can restrict search results to specific keywords or topics Use search operators for precise market research and competitor analysis

In this episode, we interview Scott Hudgins of Core ID Services and Michael Takla of HackNotice about cybersecurity and corporate breaches.  A surprising amount of information can be purchased, shared, or just plain found on the so-called "dark web".  Bad actors can gain access to this information and compromise your company assets, including your website.  Scott and Michael are here to talk about CIA, a new service by Core ID Services, that helps companies to be proactive in the fight against cybersecurity, as well as share some simple and effective best practices that we can all improve upon!  BONUS - Core ID Services is giving away free 30 day trials to all Local SEO Tactics listeners!   What You’ll Learn Scott Hudgins with Core ID Services and Michael Takla of HackNotice discuss dark web threats Core ID Services provides identity theft protection and cybersecurity services for businesses and individuals Most corporate cybersecurity issues arise from third party vulnerabilities and breaches Over 70% o

Getting back into some direct SEO tactics on this episode, we'll dive into the topic of content silos and using the silo architecture to help you with some SEO gains. Leveraging this strategy can help to build relevancy for your topics, products, and services. We'll break down the basic concept of the content silo so you can implement it on your own website!   A content silo technique can potentially help you rank higher for specific search terms and topics Create a strong landing page that you want to rank in Google Develop supporting pages that dive deeper into to topic of your landing page Do not link your landing page to the supporting pages The supporting pages should link to themselves, and to the landing page Each supporting page should be in-depth and specific on one topic that is related to the landing page intent Supporting pages in the silo are not intended to be linked in your main menu or navigational structure All actions on your supporting pages should be pushing users to your landing page

This is a special mini-episode, to let you know about new coronavirus related attributes that are available in Google My Business. Not many companies are taking advantage of this right now, so it is important to take the time to investigate this if it applies to your business! This can help your visibility, your clicks and conversions, and have a positive impact on your GMB SEO. Check out the show page for a link to the YouTube video, so you can see the screen-cast with examples and guides on how to do this in your GMB listing.   Google has released some new Google My Business attributes related to the Coronavirus pandemic You can add attributes such as curbside pickup, take out, delivery, and in-store shopping Not many businesses are taking advantage of this attribute right now You may have to change your primary business category if you are not seeing the attributes Discover what categories your competitors are using if they trigger attributes but you are not

How-To videos are hot right now!  With everyone completing their honey-do list at home, learning new hobbies, or just trying to be productive, there has been a surge in views for educational and How-To videos. Take advantage of this and leverage How-To videos on your website!  There are many types of How To videos, and we go through some examples in this episode. Once you have the video, you can leverage it for all sorts of benefits, including transcribing the text, embedding the video into your website, extracting the audio, saving screenshots, and much more!  Enjoy!   Use How-To videos on your website to get SEO benefits How-to videos are extremely popular right now There are many types of How-To videos you can produce You can easily create videos, post them to YouTube, and embed them in your web pages Leverage your videos A How-To video does not have to be a DIY video or a tutorial video How To make things or build things are easy videos that you can make if relevant to your business You can make How To v

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's still important to focus on your SEO and website.  One thing that is important to your SEO, but often hard to execute, is getting more backlinks for your site.  A great way to get backlinks right now is to tap into your local media and community resource websites. Right now, most of these organizations have web pages or sections of their website dedicated to giving local businesses more visibility.  There are resource pages, maps, and listings of businesses that are open, and the services they provide.  This is an excellent and easy way to obtain great high quality and relevant backlinks for your website.  In this episode we'll discuss the tactics and strategies you can take advantage of right now.   Backlinks are a big part of search engine ranking in Google Most media outlets have a page online to list local businesses that are open Often times you can link back to your website on these sites Find local TV, radio, newspaper, or online publications Look for their

When it comes to your website, security is often an overlooked topic.  Right now, with the current coronavirus pandemic impacting our lives and dominating our news and discussions, we are all very distracted.  The bad guys and the hackers know this and can take advantage of the situation while our attention is focused elsewhere.  Make sure your website is secure and protected against these threats with some simple and often free solutions.  As the saying goes, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" and that holds true for this topic here.  Taking the time to make sure your website is protected can save you many headaches and a lot of time down the road.   Always be aware of website security, especially in times of great distraction Security issues can impact your customers or users and your search engine visibility Your website should be secure with SSL security If you are using Wordpress, keep Wordpress updated to current releases Make sure all Wordpress themes and plugins are updated to avoid se

In this episode Jesse and Bob share thoughts and ideas that are working to keep businesses afloat during this coronavirus pandemic.  It's always important to listen to your customers to identify their pain points, their motivations, and their desires - and that is even more amplified right now.  By quickly adapting your business, and communicating these adaptations clearly online and on social media, you can continue to serve your customers and maybe even thrive in the current marketplace.  Leverage technology and your human resources to change now, setting your business up for maximum success now and also for the future. What You’ll Learn Ways that businesses are pivoting their digital marketing for the coronavirus pandemic Google reviews are still paused by Google, so new reviews are not showing The questions and answers section of Google My Business is also temporarily down Keep using the available GMB features, like posts and photos to communicate Make sure you communicate your business open status front

Since we can't escape the current coronavirus pandemic, we will again embrace it in this week's episode!  Learn some of the tips and tricks that businesses are using right now to adapt to the current marketplace, and how to communicate those changes to their customers and prospects.  You can leverage your website and social media in new ways, to stay connected and give customers the information they are looking for.  Adapting to these customer expectations and providing them solutions will win you new business now while positioning your brand for operating in the future COVID-19 era, however long that may be. What people are doing to make sure their businesses stay open and active How to let everyone know you are open for business still How to better communicate with customers about your business and status Opportunities with social media and digital communications Position your brand to survive the coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus is having a major impact on businesses large and small.  In addition to the economic impact of COVID-19, customers are changing the way they interact with businesses, and businesses are forced to pivot and offer services or products they may not have in the past, in order to survive.  Luckily there is a host of technology solutions to enable more dynamic online interactions with your customers, as face-to-face retail becomes an issue in the coming weeks or months.  In this episode, we'll focus on some popular video and communications tools, and discuss how to use them to operate your business, and also to engage with your customers in new ways. What You’ll Learn How the COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way we interact with businesses online People are rapidly changing how they look for a business online Businesses are shifting to more online and website based communications Use tools like Zoom, Loom, and Google Hangouts to interact with customers in new ways Leverage video recordings and YouTube

For local SEO, your Google My Business listing is an extremely important tool for your business.  In this episode, we will discuss the best practices and relevancy of the description field within your GMB listing.  The description field is the largest single input area for your GMB, and it's also an area that is highly relevant for inputting specific keywords and geographic references that you want to be found for.  Here are some tips and tricks to approach your GMB description with SEO in mind, to improve your local rankings! What You’ll Learn Google My Business (GMB) is very important for your local SEO The description field in your GMB is a great resource for targeting keywords and geographic areas Your GMB description will show in your business Knowledge Panel You can input up to 750 characters in your description Even if the description is not seen by users every time, Google knows what it contains Google has eluded to the fact that putting keywords in your GMB description will help you rank for those k

Doing SEO on your website is very important, but how do you know if you're doing it right?  In this episode of Local SEO Tactics, we cover three of our favorite 100% free online testing tools, to help grade and gauge your website and SEO.  The three primary areas are page speed, schema implementation, and overall SEO - which contains keyword optimization, page structure, images, and other on-page website elements.  There are many tools online, and there are many more free tools that we are not talking about today.  A simple Google search will show many popular testing options, in addition to the ones mentioned in this episode.  Enjoy! What You’ll Learn There are dozens of reputable tools you can find online to help optimize your website Use our free SEO audit to check your web page for optimization on specific keywords Make sure any SEO audit tool you choose looks at domain issues, keyword optimization, and image analysis Use the Google Structured Data Testing Tool to check your web page schema markup Check

Here we are at episode 50!  A small but significant milestone for the Local SEO Tactics shows so we want to first thank you for the support and feedback on this journey!  In today's episode, we feature our first call-in question.  Evelyn, asks if it is okay to use the same background image on all pages of your website?  We cover this, and some related scenarios, to talk about the SEO impact as well as the user experience for choosing to do this! YOU’LL LEARN Does it hurt SEO to use the same background image Make sure the background image does not slow your page load times It is better to use original photos over stock photos You can use a slider instead of a background image if it makes sense on your page Sometimes a background image does not reformat to a responsive page properly Use a slider with image effects like Ken Burns effect to create movement and animation Find show notes and episode information at https://www.localseotactics.com/using-the-same-background-image-on-every-page-of-your-website-50/

By now we all know online reviews are a necessity for a local business.  Your reputation and public ratings are an instant edification of your business and show potential customers what they can expect if they patronize you.  If you are getting good reviews and have a sizable amount of reviews, you can leverage what we call “review clout” and expand your business into new revenue streams.  In this episode, we talk about how to find the related niches for your business, where your review clout can quickly get you new business and dominate the competition! YOU’LL LEARN Getting reviews is always very important for your business Ask customers face to face for reviews to get as many as possible Use automation like ReviewLead to capture even more reviews for your business Once you have high review count and high review rating you can leverage it for new revenue streams Find niches that you can serve that have low competition Look for competitors in the map pack that have low review scores Add keywords and optimiza

Images and graphics are an important part of any website, landing page, or sales page. Images help tell your story, showcase your brand, or clarify an example. As the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words! In this episode we will cover some of the basic things you should be doing to optimize your images that you use on your web site. You can get your pages to load faster, and you can take advantage of some very important SEO benefits with image optimization. Take a listen and hopefully you will learn a new trick or two! What You’ll Learn Google can tell if you are using stock photography or not Google Vision AI can determine an image object, relevancy, and topical associations Use your own original photos and graphics whenever possible on your web pages Optimize your images for proper size Optimize your images for maximum loading speed Take advantage of alt tags and file name to benefit your SEO efforts View show notes and all links on the show page at https://www.localseotactics.com/learn-how-to

Optimizing a page for a keyword; it's a topic that comes up weekly here at our agency. There are many elements that go into successful SEO and web page optimization. That said, if you're not doing the basics in relation to the keyword you are targeting, the rest is tough sledding. In this episode we'll walk through the basic block and tackle of what you should focus on for how to optimize a web page for a keyword or phrase. What You’ll Learn To have a successfully optimized page, you must not skip the basics of keyword targeting Getting your keyword into the URL of the page is great if you can do it Be sure to incorporate your keyword phrases into your headings Develop the page content on purpose with the keyword and related phases in mind Adding images with file names and Alt text that uses your keyword is ideal To be targeting the keyword, you must be mentioning the keyword on the page View show notes and all links on the show page at https://www.localseotactics.com/how-to-optimize-your-web-page-for-a-ke

Content is king!  This phrase is virtually beaten to death in the marketing world nowadays.  But, it's true.  At the end of the day, content is what Google serves up, and content is what we need to produce to be found in Google.  Producing content can be very intense, overwhelming, and time-consuming.  Be smart about it, and develop a website content strategy that you can not only execute yourself, but one that you can also delegate internally, or externally to talented experts! What You’ll Learn You must do keyword research to identify the proper phrases to target and incorporate into your content Write pages that answer common questions your customers are asking When you type pages, use the tone of talking to the customer directly Determine the frequency you can stick to for how often to put out new content Determine the size of the page (how many words needed) depending on the market and niche you are in Use in-sourcing to delegate content creation to people on your team Use outsourcing to hire freelancer

In this episode, we will go over two important aspects of properly positioning and optimizing your Google My Business Listing (GMB Listing).  The first topic is how to identify your primary digital competitors, who may be different than the historical competitors you are aware of!  The second topic is how to peek under the hood and discover what categories your competitors are choosing for their Google My Business listings.  The process may seem a bit technical and complicated as we walk through it, but it's actually quite easy once you do it in practice! What You’ll Learn Why it's important to understand your digital competition versus your historical competition How to search on desktop and mobile search to find out who your primary competitors are Look for competition who is dominant in the map pack Choosing your GMB category is very important for your visibility You can also choose multiple subcategories for your business too Learn how to view which categories your competition is using for their GMB When