Ready to take a bite out of the whale that is SEO optimization? Join us as we explore the challenging yet rewarding journey of improving your website’s local visibility and performance. In our “Eating the Whale of SEO” blog post series, we’re sharing exclusive industry secrets that you can start implementing today – for free! Whether you’re looking to make a splash on SERPs or remain ahead in local search results, our comprehensive DIY SEO Guide has all the tips and tricks you need.
Don’t miss out on Part I and Part II before jumping into Part III. Now let’s get started and make some waves together!
Bite #5: Business Listed on Review Sites
Whale, well done on your current progress of taking “bites” out of this DIY SEO Guide! But don’t let yourself get krill-ed by limiting your efforts to Google Reviews alone. Yelp, Facebook, and Yellow Pages are all “fin-tastic” options to add some variety to your online presence.
The key to chomping down on success? Your business information should be listed the same way across all review sites. Why, you ask? Because Google scans each one when someone searches for businesses like yours. If there are inconsistencies, potential customers might flounder and swim toward your competitors instead.
So, let’s dive in and make a whale of a difference! List your business information the same way across all review sites and watch as your local ranking rises to the surface. With these actionable bites, you’ll be “whaley” good at SEO in no time. Don’t be afraid to make waves!
Here is a list of our recommended review sites to list your business on:
- Google Business Profile: We previously covered setting up your Google Business Profile in Part I of this blog series. This is the most important review site, so make sure you claim and verify your business listing. Fill out all the relevant information, add photos, and encourage customers to leave reviews.
- Yelp: Create a business account on Yelp and fill out all the relevant information, including your business hours, website, and contact information. Yelp also offers paid advertising options to increase your visibility on the platform.
- Facebook: Claim your business page on Facebook and make sure all the information is accurate and up-to-date. Encourage customers to leave reviews and respond promptly to any negative feedback.
- Yellow Pages: Create a free listing on Yellow Pages and fill out all the relevant information, including your business hours, website, and contact information. Yellow Pages also offers paid advertising options to increase your visibility on the platform.
- Industry-specific review sites: Depending on your industry, there may be niche review sites that are worth getting listed on. For example, if you’re a restaurant, you may want to get listed on sites like OpenTable or TripAdvisor.
Did you Know? In addition to digital marketing, Arvig Media also publishes 40+ telephone directories across the nation! We currently publish and deliver Yellow Pages across California, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Contact us to learn more about local advertising opportunities in your area!
Additional resources:
- BrightLocal’s Citation Sites by Industry: https://www.brightlocal.com/resources/top-citation-sites/industry/
- Search Engine Journal’s 18 Online Review Statistics Every Marketer Should Know: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/online-review-statistics/329701/
- Hubspot’s The Ultimate List – 50 Online Local Business Directories: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/10322/the-ultimate-list-50-local-business-directories.aspx
Now that you know where and how to get listed on review sites, let’s take our next bite out of our DIY SEO Guide; user-generated content and keywords.
Bite #6: User-Generated Content and Keywords
Most business owners believe they have amazing customers who are loyal and want them to succeed. If you feel the same way, then why not use your customers’ good faith to your benefit? Allowing your most satisfied customers to help promote your brand with user-generated content (UGC) is a great way to increase awareness.
Here is a list of ways you can utilize user-generated content to increase business visibility and local customer traffic:
- Utilize customer reviews & testimonials to build trust with your audience and increase organic search traffic. Invite customers to submit reviews, stories, and photos about their experience with your business on social media platforms or your website. Encouraging customers to leave detailed reviews can also provide valuable keyword optimization opportunities.
- Create content such as videos, slideshows, or podcasts that answer commonly asked questions about your business and product.
- Create contests and polls that encourage customers to post user-generated content tagged with a specific hashtag related to your business.
- Start a blog and invite users to submit guest posts related to topics within your niche.
- Link user-generated content back to your website to help improve SEO, as partnering with authoritative sources can help you climb the SERPs faster.
- Encourage customers to leave comments on blog posts, YouTube videos, and other online platforms that you use regularly and reply in a timely manner.
- Track user engagement metrics such as shares and likes for each piece of UGC; this will tell you what content resonates most with customers so you can create more like it.
UGC helps build trust and establishes social proof that your business is legitimate through photos, video reviews on YouTube, Q&A posting, and general comments on your content. UGC provides Google and other search engines with hits on long-tail keywords and is viewed as the new, relevant content for your business. This, in turn, increases your SEO ranking.
Have you been struggling to get your business seen on search engines? Don’t worry; Arvig Media can help! Contact us today and watch as our team of SEO experts propel your business to the top of SERPs with ease. No more fishing around in the dark depths of search engine results – let us do the work while you sit back, relax and enjoy the success!
Keyword Research
Long-tail keywords are search terms that are more specific and usually longer than more commonly searched keywords. They tend to have lower search volume, which might make them seem less important, but they can actually be very beneficial in SEO. Long-tail keywords are great for targeting niche topics, allowing you to get more targeted traffic and potentially even higher conversion rates. For example, instead of using the keyword “shoes,” you could use something more specific like “women’s leather oxford shoes.” This specific phrase is likely to have much less competition from other websites ranking for the same term, giving you a better chance of appearing higher up in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Here are some tips for finding quality keywords to use on your website:
- Analyze competitors and their content strategies to identify potential keywords they might be targeting.
- Research topics that are related to your business and industry, then find long-tail keyword variations within those topics.
- Monitor conversations on social media to see what kind of terms people are using when discussing topics related to your business and industry.
- Utilize search engines’ autocomplete suggestions when typing in a seed keyword, as these may provide you with additional keyword opportunities that could be beneficial for SEO purposes.
- Keep an eye on industry trends, new products, services, or changes in regulations that can affect the demand for certain keywords.
- Other tools to consider: Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, & Also Asked.
Now let’s talk about ways you can start incorporating these keywords into your SEO strategy:
- Utilize keywords in meta titles, descriptions, and headings of your pages to signal to search engines what topics you are covering and increase visibility.
- Incorporate keyword variations into the content on your web pages to ensure search engines recognize multiple variations of a topic.
- Strategically place keywords throughout the body of your content to help bolster relevancy signals for those terms and related topics.
- Create unique pages on your website targeting each keyword, as this offers more chances that you will rank for these terms on SERPs (search engine results page).
- Optimize images by including relevant keywords in ALT tags, file names, and captions for added SEO benefits.
- Use external links from other websites pointing back to yours and include keywords in the anchor text for greater relevance to boost organic rankings on SERPs better.
- Submit a sitemap to major search engines with all the URLs containing optimized keyword phrases so that they are indexed properly and can be found quickly by potential visitors.
Stop stressing over SEO and partner with Arvig Media’s team of experts. With our help, you’ll be able to let go of the hassle so you can relax and watch as your business flourishes. Contact us today!
Part III Synopsis: Down the Hatch
With two more “bites” of SEO under our belt, that leaves us with only one more part of our DIY SEO Guide left! Making small changes one bite at a time will lead to big ranking improvements! In Part IV, we will continue our journey and explore our last final “bites” of tackling the “Whale of SEO!
We know the task of executing an effective SEO plan is daunting for many business owners. But with Arvig Media’s help, optimizing your website and digital presence for higher search engine rankings is easier than ever. Contact Arvig Media today to get started on your path toward more online visibility and success.
