Local Search Optimization
This article starts by introducing the reader to a two-part search marketing formula known as global search. This two part formula consist of anchor text and authority. The author includes that anchor text and authority still do matter when it comes to geographical specific searches. The overall concept is “If you can win the authority + anchor text battle, it could just be the tie-breaker in an otherwise close match (Caldwell, 2009).”
Another strategy the author mentions is to watch closely to your competitors and their local link groupings. “A local link grouping would be a page on the Internet where all or most of your competitors get incoming links from (Caldwell, 2009).” By searching your company’s keyword, you can indentify your competitors and then indentify the backlinks that they have in common. Once these backlinks are indentified, you should include your business name and link within those same sites if possible.
In addition to link building, another important factor to remember when it comes to geographical specific searches is address citations. Address citations include listing the company’s name, address, phone number and website wherever possible. In addition to including this information, by using the proper address brackets, this will also help legitimize the company’s membership in that geo-location, which will ultimately help search engines place higher priority and trust to that company’s specified address.
While CompanyEC (CEC) has a competing level of anchor text and page rank, it loses to its competitors when it comes to authority. Most of CEC’ competitors have been in business at least five years longer than CEC has. Because CEC still falls to the second page of Google for the search term “Dallas Web Design,” this goes to show that authority is a high factor in determining its rank positioning.
CEC has used the local grouping technique mentioned within this article to find and place its web address backlinks. This has been proven successful by CEC progressing quickly within the local search ranks. A technique CEC used to find these local groupings was by using tools such as Google, Yahoo, Alexa and iWebtool.com to search out competitor’s backlinks.
Being that CEC is an all-online business, it doesn’t get a chance to use its address very often. However, when CEC did a majority of its business offline, it did have the opportunity to compete better in the local market by placing its address within local and international online databases, which include Google and Yahoo local, Merchant Circle and the Better Business Bureau.
References
Caldwell, R. (2009). 3 Keys to success for local search seo. Retrieved June 25, 2010, from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/local-search-seo/8786/
