Improve Your Local SEO via Content Marketing

Published on: 11 April 2017 Last Updated on: 04 September 2024

In 2016, a local business in Lethbridge, Alberta, won the viral lottery when a raving Facebook post drew in customers in flocks. Whitby’s Fish and Chips shop was struggling for months due to poor location and expensive marketing.

Owner John McMillan, who had been unable to pay himself a salary, shared his plight with a first-time customer Colin Ross. The meeting changed Whitbie’s destiny. Ross posted a Facebook review promoting the shop and urging the close-knit Canadian community to help out McMillan by trying the sumptuous items on Whitbie’s menu.

The post went viral and sent people lining up from opening to well past closing time. According to a local news report, about 400 people visited the shop the day after Ross’s post, and 500 more lined up the next day.

The power of digital marketing

The viral post about Whitbie’s is a dream come true for any business. Not only did it provide the local shop exposure in local and international news outlets, but most importantly, it brought in real customers. Whitbie’s social media success is one of the products of digital marketing.

Digital marketing is simply the promotion of products and services via digital technologies such as the Internet, mobile phones, and display advertising. One of the most popular digital marketing tools is social media where roughly a third of the global population actively interact.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a set of techniques that helps businesses and publishers maximize digital marketing in reaching out to their target audience. Essentially, its main goal is to rank high in search results pages.

Google uses 200 signals in ranking webpages including keywords, the freshness of content, and region. It’s the job of a digital marketing agency to apply effective and ethical SEO strategies to sustain a business’ top ranking in major search engines.

Local SEO and citation consistency

If SEO is macro, local SEO is micro. Local SEO “allows local businesses to promote their services to local customers at exactly the time they’re looking for your type of business.” This set of processes aims to target real customers in a geographical location. Aside from search engines, local SEO uses online directories such as Yelp, Qype, and TouchLocal.

The core of local SEO is information. Your citation or NAP (name, address and phone number) must be updated and consistent in all webpages and online directories. Inconsistency can adversely affect your ranking in organic search results.

Try searching for your business in search engines. You’ll see which webpages still reflect your previous address or old phones. “The citation consistency of your business across the web helps search engines decide where you are geographically relevant for various local search queries,” wrote Sinclaire Dickinson, content strategist at Wired SEO.

The 3-pack challenge

Recently, SEO experts received news that would make their jobs a little more challenging. Google updated its search results to show three local businesses instead of seven. The business listings were also redesigned to suit the mobile user interface.

According to Google, the update “provides people with more than relevant information, including photos, review, and prices, for searches that have multiple results for a given location.” The challenge lies in how to make into the first three results in the world’s most powerful search engine.

Content strategies for your business

Google’s ranking factors serve as a compass leading the best digital marketing tactics. Ross’ viral Facebook on Whitbie’s Fish and Chips shop has the formula every digital marketer aims to master: a unique content too appealing to influence action.

Ross’ own reputation as an influencer within his own circle was also key. Content is one of the most important signals Google use in ranking webpages. In creating an article or video for your business, use Google’s content-related ranking signals as your guide.

Your content must not only be original, but it should also provide value and unique insights. This increases demand for journalistic materials supported by data and written by experts. Create useful content for your target audience.

Food brands are making 30-second cooking videos sharing how their products can be incorporated in easy-to-make meals. Regularly update your webpages and social media pages as Google takes note of the recency of content updates especially for time-sensitive searches.

Don’ts in content marketing

Do you need to hire an SEO expert or a digital marketing agency? Google warns that choosing an SEO expert partner is critical for your business as it can either improve your site or risk damage to your site and reputation. “Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site.”

Some of the techniques that you or your SEO expert should avoid is producing duplicate materials on the same site, spinning words to create “new” content, and posting misleading information. Google advises to watch out for rogue SEOs that own shadow domains, place links to their other clients on doorway pages, and offer to sell keywords in the address bar.

Shadow domains direct users to the website through deceptive redirects. Attaining a number 1 ranking on Google is not guaranteed. If your SEO promises a top spot, it’s likely that it’s a scam.

Some content marketing tips from experts

Today, consumers would check online reviews, blogs, and other online information before making a purchase. One tip to boost your local SEO is to submit guest posts on local websites. This will expose your business and offerings, and earn you valuable backlinks. Backlinks are ranking factors.

You should also make use of relevant local keywords. An SEO expert can help you determine the right keywords that will attract local searchers.

Produce content relevant to your local audience. One of the most popular blog posts is how-to’s or “Top 10” lists related to a certain industry. Adding high-quality photos can also help.

A viral post can only come once in a lifetime. Instead of aspiring for something that will be shared everywhere, work for content that will place you on top of search engines and attract real customers within your region of operation. Maximize local SEO. Create useful and appealing content. Reach out to people who will bring value to your business.

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

A Complete Online Guide to Boosting Your Website Traffic in 2020

As soon as New Year's Eve is over, we all start scrambling to improve this or that, and owners of web-based businesses are no different. The web is flooded with entrepreneurs working to boost their web traffic in the New Year. After all, any good businessperson knows that the majority of success for web-based businesses begins with getting people to your site. If you want to implement an easy plan to boost your web traffic in 2019, just follow the steps outlined below. A Complete Online Guide to Boosting Your Website Traffic in 2020: 1. SEO: To drive traffic to your page, you’ll want to begin with SEO tactics. There are some great companies out there who can provide you with professional SEO services if you don’t want to do it on your own. You’ll want to implement these SEO tactics on each of your web pages to get optimal visitors to your website and improve your ranking in search engines. Separate SEO for every single page of your site is the best way to go about this. You should also spend a bit of time writing concise meta descriptions to appear under your URL descriptions in search engines. This little step can make all the difference. 2. Listings: Another way to easily drive visitors to your pages is to improve your listings across the web. Peruse the internet and sites relating to your industry for directory listings, contact pages, and relevant links, and make sure you’ve linked to them. Check your pages for dead links often, and make sure all links are working properly. Keep any directories on your site easy to find, polished and relevant. 3. Social Media: Even in 2019, so many online companies think a social media presence is unnecessary. Unfortunately, foregoing any kind of social media interaction can really harm your business. It’s a matter of finding the social media platform that’s right for you – whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or something else entirely, find the social media platform that drives viewers to your business and makes those sales. Once you’ve got an account, start those promotions, post pictures, put up polls, and get those customers talking and engaging. Do it yourself or hire a social media whiz, but be sure to interact with your customers via these platforms to keep their interest, stay relevant, and drive customers to your site. It’s 2019 and let’s face it: most folks are addicted to some form of social media. Why wouldn’t you get in on that? If you operate an app, be sure to update links there often, too, and make sure your website is optimized for mobile. Not everyone, however, wants to use an app, and you never know, someone might be scrolling through your website on their phone, cursing because it isn't translating well. This also falls under the category of website speed, because when optimizing for mobile devices loading speed is very important. Start from fundamentals here by choosing a fast provider, then optimize your code, images, and content. Spend the time and money on making your site, app, and social media picture perfect. It's worth every penny. 3. Email Marketing: If you’re dead-set against social media, at the very least, you should have an email marketing campaign (and even if you’re totally into social media, this is still a good idea). Have your customers “opt-in” when visiting your site, offering them subscriptions to your blog or newsletter, or special promotions or deals. You’ll find that most of them are interested! Then you’ve got a ready-made list of email addresses, connected to real, live customers who will come back and become repeat customers. Avoid spamming them, of course – save the email marketing content for the really good stuff. It’s also a good idea to have a specific, set email address only for marketing, and a separate one for things like customer service, orders, etc. Having an organized email is just good business. 5. Guest-Starring: A lot of successful online entrepreneurs – whether it’s authors, business owners, musicians, marketing execs, or “social media influencers”, have learned that crossing over to other forums can increase their viewership and give them great success. Have a friend who runs a similar business? Someone who blogs about the products you sell? A repeat customer who has a podcast? Find common ground with someone who can give you a platform, or offer them a platform in return. Guest blog for someone, have someone guest blog for you or participate in a cross-promotion. The sky is the limit! Pairing up with someone can mean bigger viewership and success for BOTH of you! 6. Engage: Don’t neglect a really important part of web-business – engaging with the customer. Whether it’s responding to social media tags, reading blog comments, answering customer service emails, or frequently updating your blog, you want to make yourself available to your web traffic. They need to see that you’re present and engaging with the audience. A constant presence reminds the customer that you’re there, that they wanted to visit your site to make a purchase or look at the promotion. They come to see you as a friend, and your site might just become a frequent stop on their day-to-day web activity. 7. Analyze Your Data: Every forum from Facebook to Wordpress offers its users data; a breakdown of viewership, clicks, sales, and more. Naturally, if you run a website, you’ve seen lots of this information. Unfortunately, not enough entrepreneurs take the time to truly analyze website data, and you should. It’s a treasure trove of information, providing you with clues on how to increase your viewership. Through analytics, you can track everything from the age and gender demographics of the people who visit your site, their location, what they click on, what they buy, and more. Taking the time to track this data can help you decipher what’s working, what isn’t, and what’s bringing people back. Get the Boost: There are lots more things you can do to boost traffic to your page in 2019, but if you start with these easy, simple steps, you’ll find your traffic increase with almost no effort at all. These simple, quick measures can put your web traffic into the stratosphere and make 2019 your best business year yet. Read Also: Top Utility Tools You Need For Your Website Tips On Building Your Resume For A Website Design Company

Which Of The Following Items Is Not A Component Of Quality Score?

Which of the following items is not a component of quality score? Many of us have questions in our minds. But you will not get the answers of these questions aptly. Landing page experience Maximum cost-per-click (max. CPC) bid ✓ Ad relevance Expected clickthrough rate (CTR) Correct Answer: Maximum cost-per-click (max. CPC) bid Detailed Explanation Of Which Of The Following Items Is Not A Component Of Quality Score? The maximum cost-per-click (max. CPC) bid is not a component of the quality score, and the rests are all the components of the same. Actually, the quality score is a diagnostic tool that describes the understanding of how well your ad quality than other advertisers. According to Google Ads, a high-quality score signifies the relevance of your ad and landing page and how useful they are to someone searching for your keywords as compared to other promoters. So, there are four quality score status columns where you can view your latest quality score and its components, and these are expected CTR, Ad relevance, landing page experience, and Qual. Score. Which of the following items is not a component of quality score? How Is Quality Score Calculated? There is a combined performance of 3 components on which the quality score is calculated. Let’s know this in detail. 1. Landing Page Experience: The first factor on which the quality score is calculated is the landing page experience. You need to figure out how useful and relevant your ad is to individuals who click your ad. So, you need to maintain the relevance of your ad’s landing page. 2. Ad Relevance: As discussed above, ad relevance also matters to a great extent, especially when you talk about the quality score. It determines how close your ad matches with the keywords audience are searching for. This can directly increase your conversion rates to some extent. 3. Expected Click-Through Rate: CTR means the no. of clicks that your ad receives divided by the no. of times that your ad is shown. This is what CTR means, and it directly impacts your quality score. What Does A High-Quality Score Indicate? A high-quality score indicates alignment between marketers and consumers. At the same time, how relevant your ad is keeping in mind the user’s search intent. This is an important factor that you need to analyze which running an ad to drive traffic to your business. Therefore, a high-quality score indicates alignment, focus, and lower costs per conversion. And to check your quality score, you need to Sign in to your Google Ads account. True Or False: Adding An Extension To A Text Ad Improves An Advertiser’s Quality Score. Adding an extension to a text ad will not improve an advertiser’s quality score at all. Therefore, the statement is completely false. A good quality ad can lead to higher positions with a low budget. However, extensions are crucial for Ad Rank but do not play any role in improving the quality score of the advertiser. Actually, the quality score is an estimate of the quality of landing pages, keywords, and ads. The Quality Score For Search Ads Is Defined As A Measurement Of Quality score is Google’s evaluation of the relevancy and the quality of both your PPC ads and keywords. This is used to determine your CPC. Therefore, the quality score for search ads is defined as a measurement of landing page experience, ad relevance, and expected click-through rate. Which Of The Following Factors Contributes To A Web Page's Quality Score? The answer to this question is Clickthrough rate. In a more simple term, it measures the percentage of individuals who clicked on an ad to arrive on the landing page. This signifies the importance of CTR in a quality score, and you must prioritize this when running an ad for your business. Conclusion Which of the following items is not a component of quality score? The answer to this question is Cost Per Click. Besides, quality score is a very important factor to consider because it directly impacts your conversion rates and revenue. Hence, this is all about quality score and how it plays a key role in your advertisement. Read Also: Instagram Advertising For Beginners Ways Of Protecting Your Privacy Online SEO Agencies Are the Experts at Improving Your Website Content

How to create cornerstone content for your website

If you’ve been running your website for some time, accumulating lots of different pages, tackling different angles and creating a rich variety of resources, you probably have a good idea of what your most popular pages are. The problem is, someone else landing on your site for the first time doesn’t. Could they get from the homepage to your top-performing pages in just one or two clicks? Or are they only going to find them through luck, clicking around randomly through your menus (which is unlikely with today’s fondness for instant results) or a Google search that directs them straight to that page? Letting your readers and Google know what the most important and valuable pages on your website are is what creating cornerstone content is all about. Here we take a look at what it is, why it’s so important for SEO, and how to implement a strategy to make the best possible use of it. Putting your best foot forward An excellent example of a high-value post that could get overlooked by a new visitor is a particularly informative blog post you wrote several years ago. If a new visitor lands on your homepage and clicks on your blog, they’d likely have to scroll down and click through to ‘older posts’ multiple times before they get anywhere near this page – and as the saying goes, ain’t nobody got time for that! These top performers are your cornerstone or ‘evergreen’ content. Like the architectural term, the cornerstone is the foundation that all other parts are positioned against and aligned with. The idea is to get all those top performers in one place where they can dazzle your readers and have them coming back again and again. By fleshing out your cornerstone content page into an unusually lengthy post, you're creating a veritable treasure trove of useful information for your readers which they can use to easily access all the other content on your site that may interest them. In just one page, it gives them an overview of everything your site has to offer, with enough information to brief them on what each section is about while leaving them hungry for more – which you will supply with just one easy click. A rose by any other name Cornerstone content goes by quite a few monikers. Evergreen content, long-form content, massive value posts, pillar articles… whatever you call them, they're the content that keeps on giving. It’s the kind of content that remains relevant (either because it covers unchanging facts, goes into exceptional detail, or because you regularly update it) no matter when the reader discovers it. And, of course, it’s the kind of content that gets you noticed and rewarded by Google because so many visitors find it useful and spend time reading it. Speaking of which… Why Google loves cornerstone content Google uses many metrics to measure the value of a particular page and decide where it deserves to rank in their search results. Which keywords are used, how often and where is just one of the factors their algorithms take into consideration. How much time a user spends on a page before clicking away is a good indication of whether that page answers their query or not. A page which consistently gets clicked away from in just seconds is clearly not answering the user’s question and will quickly see its ranking for that search term drop. Whether the page loads quickly and how it’s linked internally to the rest of your website are also considerations. Great cornerstone content can also help you take on keywords that have a lot of competition and would normally be pretty hard to rank for. Cornerstone content strategy When you're building a new website, structuring your site around a few major keywords (generally two to five, depending on the nature of your niche) is a good place to start. For each of those keywords, you want one fat, juicy cornerstone article that links out to smaller posts which discuss a certain aspect in more detail. If you're relatively new to SEO and aren’t yet sure what keywords you should be aiming for, get a good SEO company on board at this point to help you identify them. Whenever you write a new article, it should tie back to its corresponding cornerstone piece. Aside from making it easy for your readers to navigate to the topics they're most interested in, it also lets Google know this page is important and will increase its chances of ranking in searches. If you have an existing website, you can take the same approach and work backward. Pick the top three to five pages you’re the proudest of and want your visitors to see the most – those will become your cornerstone pieces. Going forward, make sure new posts tie back to their cornerstone piece and start updating older pages systematically to do the same. One of the awesome things about cornerstone content is that although it’s one of the best ways to improve your site’s SEO, it’s not very technical - so anyone who can build their own website can take advantage and get the rankings they deserve. Read Also: 5 Things You Are Not Checking In SEO But You Should! 5 Inexpensive Tips On How To Scale Your SEO Business

Improve Your Local SEO via Content Marketing

The power of digital marketing

Local SEO and citation consistency

The 3-pack challenge

Content strategies for your business

Don’ts in content marketing

Some content marketing tips from experts

Avoid these 5 Mistakes before Starting an SEO

Should You Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?

Tags

Content Rally

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Technologies For Creating A Startup Idea

How to Download Facebook Videos on Android?

7 Rules of Effective Ecommerce Web Design

The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Sucessful Blogger Uses

Follow Us

Recent

What Should I Expect in a Part Time Customer Service Role?

Why Use A Free Resume Builder For High School Students?

How To Tailor Your Resume To Get That Dream Job?

What Makes A Cover Letter For Resume Stand Out?

Related

A Complete Online Guide to Boosting Your Website Traffic in 2020

Which Of The Following Items Is Not A Component Of Quality Score?

How to create cornerstone content for your website

Improve Your Local SEO via Content Marketing

The power of digital marketing

Local SEO and citation consistency

The 3-pack challenge

Content strategies for your business

Don’ts in content marketing

Some content marketing tips from experts

Share this Article

Avoid these 5 Mistakes before Starting an SEO

Should You Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?

Tags

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

Related