Local search optimisation
-
One of the major keywords in our industry “fireplaces” is now viewed as a local search phrase & Google seems to be displaying website results that it views to be local businesses. We have 2 stores, and for some reason they do not appear high on the rankings despite us having a physical location near by... can anyone help?
Also, we have a verified location on Google place, but even that doesn’t appear.
-
Hi Ray,
Harvey is definitely pointing you in the right direction. Definitely read David Mihm's Local Search Ranking Factors. It is the premiere annual industry report. *Do bear in mind that the last report (I'm a yearly participant) was published just prior to the launch of the whole Google+ Local system, so it does not reflect that big change. Here are 2 pieces I send my own clients when they are just getting acquainted with Local:
The Zen of Local SEO
http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=1314The Rudiments of Local
SEO http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=1344Local ranking factors are very diverse...there may be more than 200 factors in Google's local algo. Here are some of the most widely cited factors:
-
Lack of violations on your Google Places/Google+ Local profiles. Nothing kills rankings like violations. Memorize the guidelines: http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528
-
Age and authority of your domain (you can't control age but you can build authority) - Local and traditional optimization of your website
-
Consistency, quantity and quality of citations
-
Quantity of Google-based reviews
-
Proximity to city centroid of the target city and proximity to Google's cluster of similar businesses
-
Traditional SEO factors such as quantity and quality of links and co-occurrence.
-
Social factors
That's just a start, but it does sum up some of the main things that go into achieving a high local rank in the city in which your business is physically located. Read David Mihm's report, the 2 articles I've linked to and the Google Places Quality Guidelines I've linked to and you will develop a very clear picture of your business' opportunities, its present failings and its room to grow.
-
-
Well, you tell Google where you are specifically located (city) via places rather than GWT.
It looks to me that your local listing is completely unoptimised.
There are no pictures or videos and the listing looks incomplete, plus it seems you have very few citations etc.
You're not ranking in local search and your listing is very weak compared to others so it makes sense.
Don't get me wrong, I've only spent 5 minutes looking at it, but IMO you need to look at local factors. The link I posted will show you lots of the things you need to do.
-
Thanks Harvey ... will look through that .Is there any way of telling Google where you are located in WebMaster tools or something like that... perhaps im missing something simple
-
Hey
Sure, but is your local listing much stronger? It looks like it's not as you seem to have very few citations from a super quick hunt.
http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml
Check out the above link (it's a LONG read!), as these are the kinds of things you proabably need to be considering.
-
Thanks Harvey
Our local listing is https://plus.google.com/107506644864807163902/posts
But for some reason it doen't seem to appear and our site doesn't show for local searches but is much stronger than the ones that do appear.
-
Hey Ray
I couldn't find your places listing anywhere. However you do seem to have very few local listings which would likely have an effect on your local rankings.
Check out this search:
"01909 449 501" -creativefireplaces.co.uk
It only shows 13 results, much less than I would have expected.
Have you changed your number at any point as consistent NAP details are very important.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why the url inspection is disabled in search console ?
In this situation, how can we make our pages be fetched by google?
On-Page Optimization | | supporthandle0 -
Should I utilize URL re-writes to include keywords and other optimised page elements on my website?
Hi there, I am working on a medical recruitment website: https://wave.com.au/ I have noticed that our Job Search and Job Listings section of the website is lacking a little bit in terms of SEO optimisation. For example, at the moment this is our search page (with locum work type selected): https://wave.com.au/search-locum/results If you add a location, for example, NSW and then click search again, it updates the URL to: https://wave.com.au/search-locum/results?LocumSearchForm_Location[]=NSW&action_doSearch=Search+jobs I did a check what some competitors and leaders in the recruitment industry were doing and I came across: https://www.ochrerecruitment.com.au/jobs/anaesthetics/new-south-wales/locum/ If you click the different filters/options, it updates the URL to include more clearly defined categories. Some websites would even have a H1 heading tag that would update based on the filters/options you selected. Should I set up a set of URL re-writes and re-structure my website a little bit so that dynamic URLs change to static etc.? Does anyone have any best practice knowledge in regards to this? I have been referencing the following article: https://moz.com/blog/dynamic-urls-vs-static-urls-the-best-practice-for-seo-is-still-clear
On-Page Optimization | | Wavelength_International0 -
How to optimise a page for a regional search without it looking clumsy?
What's is the best way to go about optimising a page for a regional search phrase. E.g. 'Physiotherapy CITY' and keep the text looking natural and not manipulated? Previously I've added the search phrase 'Physiotherapy CITY' to TITLE and H1 but this can look clumsy when used in the H1 tag. If I grade a page using MOZ on-page optimisation it will suggest I add the search phrase to the H1. What the recommended way of doing regional on-page optimisation?
On-Page Optimization | | benners0 -
Client is not ranking on Google For Brand Name Search but is on Yahoo and Bing
We have a mobile app development client that recently 6 months ago changed their domain name to www.FSStudio.com. So they are concerned that they don’t rank on the first page for the brandname phrase “FS Studio” On Google. They do rank on the first page for this phrase in Yahoo or Bing. But why is Google returning search results for stuff like Free Studio? I know this fairly obvious question which the answers may be that they need more authority or backlinks because their name happens to be a fairly competitive search for stuff that is unrelated. Any suggestions? We are going to be optimizing and creating a lot more content. Is this just that they need to mention their name FS Studio more frequently throughout their website? Here is a screenshot from Moz’s Keyword difficulty and SERP Analysis tool. agwlY9i.png
On-Page Optimization | | vabmediaseo0 -
We have 5 postions on page 2 in a google search, but none on page 1\. How can we fix this?
For one of our most important key phrases we have 5 listings on page 2 but none on page 1. We are an ecommerce company, the key phrase we're trying for is a Top Level Category name for us, so the 5 links we have on googles second page for the key phrase (in order) are the appropriate top level category page, the sites home page and than three sub categories of that top level category. So while that all makes sense, can't we convince google to concentrate all that link power/juice into just the top level category page? Hopefully bumping it to first page rank? The 5 ranks are 11-15
On-Page Optimization | | absoauto0 -
Interesting optimisation killing page comparison
I have two these tag pages: http://www.businessinteriors.co.uk/tag/office-fit-out-birmingham/ http://www.businessinteriors.co.uk/tag/office-refurbishment-birmingham/ Both targeted on key words respectively "office fit out birmingham" and "office refurbishment Birmingham" Now the weirdest thing has happened. I have being optimising the, "office refurbishment Birmingham"...with a little more content etc...and links etc...and havent got round to "optimising "office fit out birmingham" yet.... Which seems good, because weirdly the "office fit out birmingham" page is ranking HIGHER than the "office refurbishment Birmingham" page for the term office refurbishment Birmingham search?!?! So I must be doing something very wrong. What on earth has happened? Can anyone see these two pages and give me some insite into why making a page better has nuked it?! Many thanks. James
On-Page Optimization | | bizint0 -
How could I avoid the "Duplicate Page Content" issue on the search result pages of a webshop site?
My webshop site was just crawled by Roger, and it found 683 "Duplicate Page Content" issues. Most of them are result pages of different product searches, that are not really identical, but very similar to each other. Do I have to worry about this? If yes, how could I make the search result pages different? IS there any solution for this? Thanks: Zoltan
On-Page Optimization | | csajbokz0 -
Google indexing Internal Search Results
Greeting, Currently I have noticed that Google is starting to index our internal search page results. Should I block those pages in our robot txt file or have you ever heard of any websites that actually gained traffic or rank by letting Google index those pages? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | Tonyd230