Search Engine Optimization is no overnight task. If you want to reach the top spot in Google you can expect to wait weeks or even months to start seeing results from a well-managed SEO campaign. Webmasters must produce a myriad of backlinks, social media activity and good content, as well as optimizing their site for the keyword they wish to rank for. You might be surprised to find out that your website can rank on the first page of Google without any SEO at all. By leveraging the prime positions of trusted online directories you can jump straight to the front page with little effort. Sites like like Yelp, Google Places & Urban Spoon often turn up in the top of search pages for many categories of business.
Leveraging Google My Business
Did you know that the A-G listings which often appear for hotel searches are not actually powered by Google’s usual listings? Local listings are instead taken from websites that register to “Google My Business”, the business’s proximity to you and your search location. These factors are used when Google is determining those search results.
Ensuring that your business has the chance to appear in this prime placement is a simple two minute job that every business should complete.
Simply visit google.com/mybusiness and complete all of your business information accurately. If you sell locally in any capacity, Google My Business is an absolute must have! There is another reason why Google My Business is important. Google will often develop a page for a business on their own, completing only the NAP (name, place, and phone). The link for the live, but unclaimed page is clearly visible to searchers. See below the search results for “auto repair bridgeport ct”.
In this example, one of the 3 highlighted businesses has no webpage. The link goes directly to an unclaimed Google+ page. Do you think that business is losing opportunities?
Leveraging High Ranking Websites
Google AdWords makes it possible to select individual websites you want to display your ads on. This means that in effect you can capture the same search traffic as dozens of top ranking sites. Take a look at the search results for “hotels in New Haven CT”, the 2nd result is TripAdviser. Trip Adviser is a popular online directory that you could choose to display your AdWords ads on.
With a little bit of searching you could find a variety of high traffic articles to place your ads on. Think about the search terms that your customers might input into Google and start finding high traffic marketing opportunities for your business.
Directory and review sites like Yelp and Tripadvisor seem to dominate the local search results these days. Especially since Google introduced its local ranking algorithm ‘Google Pigeon’. Google sees these sites as the “bigger authority” for local business information. So why not take advantage of them? All it takes is a fully completed profile on some of the top directory sites.
You might think that SEO isn’t worth your time. You make think it’s too costly or too time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Google is spending a lot of time and effort keeping people “within their universe” and making efforts to give answers direct in the search results in some cases. Think about maps, places and Google+ to ensure your business is visible across the whole of Google. It is an affordable and effective strategy for ensuring your customers can find you.