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Local SEO Techniques  Uploading ....The results of not working with local business marketing became very obvious recently when I tried to book a table at my favourite local curry house. We have used them fairly frequently and always had a lovely meal. Twice they even agreed to open especially for us on Sunday lunchtime... but we were the sole patrons.
Their menu was fantastic but they had to trust in word of mouth because the restaurant was located a little off the main road but still in a vibrant neighborhood in the middle of a lot of pubs. I could never see why they always seemed to be half empty - even though it was a big restaurant.
Their main issue was that, whenever we looked for his eatery on the internet, we could never locate it. Not only was he not on Google's first page, he wasn't on any of the subsequent pages either. Nor could we find him easily when we searched on our mobiles. His competitors were all there, none of whom provided such great food, but not the curry shop that we wanted.
Because my own area of interest is local business seo, I asked him what he was doing to publicize the restaurant both on the internet and off but he reassured me that he had everything organised.
A few short months after this conversation, our telephone call to book a table received a 'this number is no longer in service' message. So we drove down, only to discover that they had closed. The sign outside had been taken down and the fittings removed.
So exactly what should he have put in place to avoid this result?
To begin with, he didn't need to buy entries in the local web directories. It's far more effective to complete all the free entries and then turn down the relentless telephone calls asking you to upgrade to a paid promotion.
Keyword research should be at the heart of any local business search engine optimisation to help Yahoo and google match your website with its search queries. So, before starting doing anything on the web, you have to work out what your likely purchasers are really going to be typing into Google and the other search engines to search for your business
Now that you have your list of 'keywords', these should be integrated into the structure of your website to maximize any and all Local SEO (the abbreviation for search engine optimisation) options. If you tell Google and bing that your website is about keywords / phrases that people are actually hunting for and make available relevant information about those keywords, the search engines are significantly more likely to match up any queries with a web site that it knows will respond to them
Front Page Listing with Google Places
In 2011, Google changed the way they decide who is going onto their first page and began giving local businesses an advantage. They had found out that most consumers buy from a shop that is within five miles of their own location and, since their goal is to deliver the most valuable and relevant information to answer any search query, the machine was required to keep pace with what humans wanted.
This was also a marketing possibility not to be neglected and they began supplying businesses their own local listing called Google Places. However, where they felt anything was incorrect or missing, they would get their information and facts from the free entries in the other local online directories making it crucial that you always make sure that these are also complete.
This inclusion of the new seven pack of Google Places entries on the page of their SERPs (search engine results pages), Google had decreased the size of the real estate that was left for the other organic entries.
There are now three techniques that a local business can use to get listed on the internet for their keywords - through the website, their Google Places Page and any one of their free entries in a local listing directory.
If only my local curry house had been aware of this.
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