Tag Archives: Local SEO

Local SEO Guide for Small Business

Local SEO Guide for Small Business

From the way people look for information online to search engine algorithms, the internet is becoming a different world than it used to be. People are increasingly searching for local businesses and places nearby them and the search engines increasingly display results based on the location of business; hence, giving birth to Local SEO.

The Bay Area SEO industry is abuzz with Local SEO and is increasingly emphasizing its importance for small businesses in Bay Area.

Local SEO is quite different from average Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and integrates local ranking factors such as Name, Address, Phone Number, Photos, and Customer Reviews along with traditional SEO components. Local SEO helps your business to standout in local searches while local searches are known for driving ‘Real’ and ‘Ripe’ leads.

Let’s have a look at some of the facts indicating the high volume of local searches and the traffic they generate.

Local Seo Statistics in 2017
2017 Local SEO Statistics

By now, you should be convinced about the importance of Local SEO in promoting your business online. But, let’s first understand what is local SEO.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO is a highly targeted and timely marketing strategy to promote your business to local customers who are present in your area of operation at the exact time when they are looking for products or services offered by your business. So, there are two factors in Local SEO i) Local customers ii) time targeted marketing.

Let’s look into the phenomenon of Local SEO with the help of this example. While sitting at his home in Denver, a person A searches for ‘sushi restaurant.’ Google will refine and display results according to the location of the searcher, and the searcher will see the restaurants near him.

 

A Typical Local Search SERP
A Typical Local Search SERP

In the Local SEO, search engines factor in the location of both the business and searchers and present results where searcher and business are in the same area. In addition to this, local SEO is particularly important for the searches with local intent. For example, if the person A is planning a trip to New York and wants to look for the best Sushi restaurant in New York. So, instead of a generic search, he will search for ‘Best Sushi Restaurant in New York.’ The ‘geographic’ component in the keyword depicts the local intent of customer.

You can say that local SEO helps local businesses to connect with local customers…customers that matter and the customers that covert.

Components of a SERP in Local Search

Let’s have a look at the individual elements in the typical Local Search SERP.

Components of Local Search SERP
Components of Local Search SERP

 

Part A- Google Map:

Part A of the Google’s typical SERP in response to local search consists of a Map in which the red dots indicate the location of businesses which in this case are Sushi restaurant. The three bigger dots with a fork and spoon sign (representing food and eatery) correspond to the three results in Part B.

Part B- Places Results

Part B shows three results with information about business name, customer rating, an indication of price, address, and opening hours along with the pictures on the right corner. These results offer multiple points of contact to the searcher to access business including the phone number to call, the website to visit, or directions from Google Map to drive to its location.

If you are searching from your mobile, you can directly make a call to the business by clicking call button.

A+B –> Google’s 3-Pack Results

The part A and B together are called Google’s 3-Pack results. Google’s 3-Pack is the most distinguished feature of local search, and it is a power pack with detailed information about the business. With the integration of call, directions, and website option, the user has multiple forward ways, and hence, there are more opportunities to attract the lead.

However, as the Google only displays three results, it is highly competitive. It requires serious optimization efforts with special consideration to local ranking factors to get there in the Google 3-Pack.

Part C- Organic Results

Down the Google 3-Pack are the typical organic results for the search query, displayed in the grid of 10 results. The organic results contain links to the ‘Best Sushi Restaurant’ or other lists and include the results of sushi restaurants.

So, by far you understand what is Local SEO and what a typical SERP for local search looks like.

Local Ranking Factors

Now, let’s have an overview of the individual local ranking factors that help you get there in Google’s three pack results.

Local Ranking Factors 2017
Local Ranking Factors 2017

As it is evident from the Moz’s survey, making it up to Google’s 3-pack results is not just about one or two optimization techniques, but various factors weigh in making the top results. From Google My Business (Read how to setup Google My Business Page) Signals to Behavioral Signals, everything counts to make a difference.

Having an updated and maintained Google’s My business page, consistent citation, on-page optimization, customer reviews, and strong social presence will lead a small business to a place in the Local pack result.

 

Different Types of SEO Services from a SEO Agency

Los Angeles SEO

Are you thinking about implementing a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy on your website? Many businesses around you are exploiting the potential of the internet based marketplace to get more customers.

When you are thinking about implementing SEO strategy, choosing the right person to do your SEO can be tricky, but crucial for achieving results. Many businesses are inclined to do SEO on their own instead of hiring a professional agency or expert. These companies either consider themselves capable of handling their web presence or find it difficult to take out a budget for SEO activities.

On the other hand, a major portion of businesses looks for local SEO agency like Los Angeles SEO companies to work for them.

Why you should hire an SEO agency is another debate, and unless you are a pro with SEO training, you will have difficulty in crafting, running and managing the campaign. But, if you have decided to hire an SEO agency, you should be aware of different types of SEO services that a typical agency offers to its clients.

Here are seven major types of SEO services that are available to you from professional agencies.

  • Keyword Research

Keyword research is the first step in an SEO campaign. There are various online tools including Google’s keyword planner to identify the keywords related to business’ niche or industry. The top SEO experts have access to online tools that can help to target relevant keywords that are also fruitful for campaign objectives.

While preparing the campaign, SEO agency begins with keyword research. It is not always important to target high-volume keywords, but the experts will identify keywords that match to your campaign budget and objectives.

Different types of research in SEO
Different types of research in SEO
  • On-page SEO

On-page SEO refers to the optimization activities on your website. It includes content optimization, URLs, meta tags, meta description, crawler setting, etc. The SEO agencies offer On-page optimization services to their client in which experts improve the website and its content based on Google’s guidelines. Furthermore, the agency can also locate issues in your website’s internal navigation, linking, site architecture, or content that can create problems in ranking.

  • Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO includes all the optimization activities that are done on the internet except client’s website. The external signals of the website have a significant impact on its ranking and can lower or improve it. From backlinking to directory submission, guest posting, bookmarking, and article submission, all activities are part of off-page SEO.

Off-page SEO gives signals to search engine about the authority and credibility of the website. If other credible websites have mentioned the domain or are linking back to it, the search engine will whitelist website and will find it credible.

A professional SEO agency offers you off-page services that can improve ranking while, if you end up with a fake agency, you can be penalized or blacklisted by the search engine for spamming activity.

On and Off-Page SEO Services
On and Off-Page SEO Services

 

  • Audits and Testing

Website audit and testing is another SEO service which is important for optimization campaign. The website audits identify loopholes in the website that can affect ranking like site architecture, browser compatibility, errors, site loading time, or 404 errors. The website audits and tests can prevent many problems that can occur later in the campaign and give you an opportunity to fix them at the beginning.

The audits and tests also make up a starting step of the SEO campaign and also help in the keyword research.

  • Content Planning and Content Creation

The content marketing is a term that is coined parallel to SEO. The optimization activities require content planning and creation. A website that offers high-quality content, relevant information to the topic, and has the significant amount of content is placed higher in the search engine’s results. So, the content creation is an important part of SEO.

Many businesses create their content for on-page and off-page. However, a large number of SEO agencies offer content planning services to the client. You can hire the services of the SEO agency to write content for the website, guest posting, and article websites. The content is often charged separately.

  • Local SEO

Local SEO is dominating the SEO market, and it is becoming a part of SEO services. Instead of providing SEO, the professional agencies will provide you location-based optimization services that let you connect with the people in your area of operation. The local SEO services also include Google’s My Business Page, marking of the map, updating information about business, name, address, phone number, opening hours, and customer reviews.

Local SEO Service  in Los Angeles
Local SEO Service

Local SEO has proven to be more effective, driving a higher number of relevant traffic and sales.

  • Monitoring and Reporting

It is usually part of the SEO package. In monitoring and reporting, the SEO agency provides regular updates about your campaign and its objectives to the client and keep them posted about how many objectives or milestones have been achieved.

Eleven SEO Jargon Terms (Explained for Small Businesses Owners)

SEOjargon

With all the technobabble and acronyms surrounding optimization, it is common for small business owners that are new to online marketing to feel confused. Small business owners may have to search for words that come out of the mouth of their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts or are written in the report provided by SEO agency. If you have been scammed by a fake SEO agency, you would also know how they manipulate these words for their benefit and your loss. So, if you are done living in the dark about your site’s optimization, we as the SEO experts in San Francisco Bay Area not only help you get there but also help you understand SEO well.

With ESP Interactive Solutions’ tradition to simplify things for small business owners in Bay Area combined with a decade-long SEO experience, we have compiled a list of the eleven important jargon terms with definitions to get you started.

#1-301-Redirect: 301-Redirect is the code that redirects a visitor of the page to another page after it is deleted or moved. In the simple terms, nobody likes to see the error 404: page not found that appears if the page is removed or shifted to another address. ‘301 redirects’ is the way to avoid displaying the 404 error to your visitors and letting search engines know where to go next.

#2-Anchor Text: The Anchor text is the hyperlinked text that is clickable and takes you to a web page. In most of the websites, it appears blue and is underlined. If you have already visited the landing page before, it may appear purple. When optimized with keywords, anchor text tells the visitors and search engines about what they should expect to see on the landing page.

Anchor text
Underlined Example of Anchor text

In this example, the anchor text specifies that readers should expect to read about San Francisco SEO Company. Anchor text is a critical element in internal and external link building.

#3-Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a free website analytical tool that helps you track website traffic, leads, conversion, and ROI. It also provides information about demographics of the visitors, time of visit, and bounce rate. It is a feature-rich tool that lets you manage your SEO, social media, and campaign goals from a single dashboard.

#4-Title Tag: The title tag is denoted in the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) <title> and defined the title of the page. The title tag displays the title in browser’s tabs and shows the title of the page in search engine’s results.

Title tags
This is how Title Tags appear in the browser.

#5- Meta Descriptions: The meta descriptions are also defined in the HTML of the web page and summarize the content of the page for the readers. The meta-description is usually two-lined description that is displayed in the search engine’s results, and even though it does not directly affect ranking, it contributes to the click-through rate by establishing relevance to the search query.

Title Tag and Meta Description
Example of Title Tag and Meta Description

#6-Website Traffic: Website traffic is the data sent and received by the visitors on a website. It also means the total number of visitors to a website, and it is usually measured and reported weekly or monthly.

#7-Conversion: While traffic refers to the total number of visitors to the website, conversion refers to the number of visitors that take action on the website, for example, submit the contact form or make a call. The conversion is the achievement of quantifiable goal and conversion rate highlights the percentage of visitors that convert.

#8-Keyword: Keywords are the terms that define and personify a business, its services and products and keywords are also the terms that users search to find the relevant services to what they need. For example, a small businesses owner will search ‘SEO services in San Francisco’ to find a suitable agency. The SEO agencies in San Francisco will also use the same keyword in their meta titles, description and content to establish relevance to the search query and to define the business nature and area of operation.

#9-Indexing: Indexing is the search engine’s process to collect information about the websites and web pages and store it in a large catalog called ‘index.’ When it is said that page is indexed, it means that crawler has collected information about this page.

#10-Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs): SERP is often used in SEO spheres. It refers to the search engine’s result pages that are displayed when you submit a query to the search engine. This is an example of SERP for the query ‘SEO company San Francisco.’

Google's SERP
A typical Google’s SERP

#11-Ranking: The ranking is the position of the website in SERPs for a keyword. It shows on which number the website appears when a relevant keyword is entered.

Top 10 SEO Companies in Los Angeles

Top 10 SEO Companies in Los Angeles

Apart from its popularity for Hollywood and film industry, Los Angeles is also becoming famous for its thriving digital marketing services. The city is the hub of the top-rated SEO agencies in the country and is also home to many SEO professionals.

Sometimes, the abundance becomes hard to manage. So, for a large number of small businesses in Los Angeles, it becomes difficult to find the real, authentic, and yielding SEO company.  To facilitate the people looking for the best SEO services in Los Angeles, here is a list of the top 10 SEO companies in Los Angeles based on the customer experience, quality of services, and delivering on their words.

Noxster

Noxster is at the top spot in the Local SEO companies in Los Angeles. Located in Culver City, the company is owned by women entrepreneurs and an in-house technical team that server Noxster diverse clientele. The company provides SEO services along with digital solutions and website designing to the businesses from all industries. With 15 years of experience, Noxster delivers visibility, high ranking, and brand reputation to its clients.

6S Marketing

6S Marketing is an international digital marketing agency with a significantly large customer base in Los Angeles. As a Return on Investment (ROI) focused company, 6S delivers the results for small businesses and enterprises by exploiting the digital channels including SEO. The company provides search engine optimization, conversion rate optimization, and automated marketing for the businesses. 6S’ approach is to resolve the sales problems through unique digital solutions.

Websites Depot

The third place on the top 10 list is filled by Websites Depot. Located on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, the company is providing all sorts of digital solutions and software to the businesses and have followed a result-oriented SEO philosophy. Websites Depot claims to have 85% customer retention rate in the past 15 years of operation that speaks for company’s passion for delivering results. The company’s clients are ranking well on the keywords from across the industry.

 ESP Interactive Solutions

 

ESP Interactive Solutions is a digital marketing company with offices across California and Australia. The company prides itself on serving the digital solution for small and medium-sized businesses in Los Angeles for past 16 years. Providing optimization services for a large client base, the company has more than hundred ongoing SEO projects and have ranked hundreds of keywords in the top results on search engine result pages. The company believes in growing revenue for businesses through marketing exposure, higher visibility, and greater chances of being found by potential customers.

Coalition Technologies

As a Los Angeles based SEO company, Coalition Technologies has recently earned its position in the top 10 SEO Companies in Los Angeles. The company has an integrated approach to website designing and optimization which results in high ranking websites, driving traffic and growth. Coalition Technologies help the companies to reach closer to their sales target by generating leads and optimizing conversions. Along with, its tailor-made solutions have earned it clients’ trust and satisfaction.

 Directive Consulting

Directive Consulting has reached to the top 10 SEO company list with its reputation as one of the best in Pay per click campaigns. The company offers customized SEO and PPC strategies to the businesses in Los Angeles and around the United States with its in-house technical team. The company is committed to providing exceptional results and customer care services, providing a competitive edge in the online marketing.

Over The Top SEO

Over The Top SEO is known for its results in its large client base in Los Angeles and around the country. The company provides exclusive SEO services to the businesses, ranking the websites on top positions for years. As a Los Angeles based SEO company, Over the Top believes in highly rewarding and sustainable SEO solutions which are designed for long-term strategic goals. The company is run by an in-house team of SEO experts with a reputation for SEO skills and knowledge in almost every industry.

Mezzologic

Contesting for the 8th position in the list of top 10 SEO company, Mezzologic is a Los Angeles based SEO company. The company provides services to startups and medium sized businesses, covering all aspects of digital marketing from optimization, social media to content marketing. With analytical insights and technical skills, the company aims at building brands that rank high on the search engine and satisfy excellent customer experience expectations.

WEBITMD

WEBITMD is a growth marketing agency fueled by creativity, technology, and inbound leads. The company has a holistic approach to tell brand stories and make them rank high in the search engines. The company focuses on providing complete technical solutions and optimizing them for search queries. WEBITMD fulfills technological dreams of the companies across Los Angeles and the United States.

 Rank Lab

Finally, the tenth position is taken up by Rank Lab which is a Santa Monica based SEO company. As the name depicts, the company is a laboratory of ranking the businesses higher in search engines with its transparent chemistry. The company calls itself as online marketing partners of the client building lasting relationships with them.