TECHNIQUES ON GETTING FOUND LOCALLY FOR VARIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS

We’ve all heard the line ‘To Be or Not To Be’ from Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet.

The line outline’s the dilemma of Hamlet, as to whether to commit suicide or not. He had to decide whether to continue to live in a world that gave him pain and suffering or whether to end it all!!

I am facing a similar dilemma, all be it nowhere near as serious as Hamlet’s!

My dilemma is whether to continue to try and get my site found locally for various geographical locations throughout the UK & Scotland via organic SEO methods, or whether to go the dreaded PPC way.  Dreaded for me that is, as it costs money!!

I joined the Search & Social Media Marketing Course, as I was interested in learning how to write content which would help me get my individual geographical based pages found higher up on search engines, as well as any other techniques that would help, as I used to have brilliant rankings but then they all vanished!!

Through various discussions with Alex, fellow students and guest speakers, I have compiled the following list of things (in no particular order) that will help with getting found locally, and interestingly, it isn’t just about content:

1. It’s good to have a physical address in the various locations that you are trying to target or at least some of them (if possible), as this will help get you on to Google Maps, which is basically the easiest way to get found locally. Don’t make an address up if you don’t have one.
2. Once set up on Google Maps, it’s imperative to link to your website.  Google maps is also great way of giving potential clients a quick overview of your company, if you complete your profile 100%.  Telephone numbers, opening times, review, logos, images, etc.
3. It’s good to get yourself listed on local directories that appear on the 1^st page of Google, as a lot of the time you will find these may be higher in the rankings than actual company websites.
4. Make sure your keyword research is spot on and try to target long tail keywords as opposed to just accountants in Manchester or accountants in Preston. For example, Chartered Accountants in Manchester or Tax Accountants in Manchester.
5. The content needs to be unique and different on each page, which seems very hard to begin with, but I will share some ideas on how this can be achieved later on.
6. It’s good to write compelling content that entices others to share what you have written in order to help you get some more natural back links.
7. Write for humans first and search engines second.
8. It’s good to have a presence on the main Social Media platforms, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., and is also good to get involved in discussions about the local areas that you are trying to target.  Social Media is about engaging in conversation and ‘chatting’ as opposed to just selling.
9. Have a blog, hosted on your site, and update it on a regular basis in order to keep the content fresh, once again, helping with content being shared by others and creating natural back links.
10. Join forums for the local areas you are trying to target and get involved in discussions, to try and show you know about the local area.
11. Try and get as many unique back links as possible, in a natural format. Make sure the links are ‘follow’ links (knows as ‘Dofollow’ links) instead of ‘Nofollow’ links, as ‘Dofollow’ links are the best to help with Search Engine Rankings.
12. Try and offer something unique on your site, e.g. some sort of calculator, app, widget, newsletter, voucher, etc., which will attract visitors to your site from all over the country and once there, they can make an enquiry, so although you haven’t been found locally, people from all over the country are still finding your site and making an enquiry.
13. If you can’t achieve better results by trying the above, then you may have to eventually give PPC a try.

Here are some ideas on how to make the content unique to help you in getting found locally, which is the hardest part for me and probably most of you:

1. Add images of the local area to the relevant page, giving them the correct ‘Alt Attribute’.
2. Try and get testimonials (both written & video) from people living in different geographical locations, who have used your service, and add them to the relevant page.
3. Talk about the different geographical locations, i.e. history, industry, famous people, how your service could help certain niche businesses within that area if possible.

I hope the above helps you to decide on whether to go the SEO route or PPC, and please do add your comments and suggestions.

Thanks for reading; and if you ever need to find an accountant, or need any type of service provider, please fill out this simple form to receive upto 5, FREE, NON-OBLIGATORY quotes from accountants or service providers in your desired geographical location, for you to consider.

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