How about some SEO tips for small local businesses

[sanchez1960]

The amount of time I hear people say write good content and people will naturally link to you.  I appreciate this must be valid for large websites that a driven by content. However, it doesn't really hold much hope for smaller businesses with just service information etc.

I work for a small business that does web design in the UK.  However, I'm finding it difficult to do any sort of link building.

In my opinion nobody is going to link to any of our content naturally or if it is, its going to be small time.

Our rankings have dropped slightly (only to 4th in our local county).  I've done the following thinks to try get it back up there but its having little or no results.

• Adding us to local business directories
• External Articles on site
• Cleaned up some duplicate title tags.

What link building can I do? Is link building the home page sometimes not always the way to go?

What content can I write that google will like? See what I mean?

My rankings did climb a little bit but then dropped straight back down to their original places 2 weeks later.

Help would be appreciated.

[SeattleOrganicSEO]

When you say you:

"Adding us to local business directories"

How many did you do?  Which ones did you add your small business to?

I don't know about the UK, but there's a ton of directories and sites depending on the niche/vertical you can submit to.  While they don't necessarily create better organic rankings, they can help build your PR + if done correctly help your google places page rise.  It's one of the reasons why we were able to move to the top for the main phrase for our business locally in maps.

What's your site?

I just searched "local seo uk" and this popped up: http://www.seo-doctor.co.uk/local-seo-20-citation-places.html  Are you guys in all of these?  There looked to be 2-3 other posts about local seo in the uk.

That's the thing I love about search.  You just have to do it in order to learn more.

[BrandonShoupe]

Getting links for local sites can be tough, especially if you don't live in an area with a lot of tech geeks that you can schmooze with.

I would suggest giving local business bloggers a reason to link to you. Find local businesses that have at least a "somewhat active" blog. Reach out to them and ask if you can drop by and interview them for a blog post. Better yet, do a quick video blog post featuring them giving their opinion on the subject you are covering.

For instance, if I were you I would:

• Interview a videographer on what equipment it takes to begin producing video for the web.
• Interview an accountant giving a few tax tips that may specifically help web designers.
• Interview web-savvy small businesses on how they do social media successfully.

Most people aren't going to give a hoot about the content, but they will want all their friends and customers to see how smart they are in the video. And they will link to your post, featuring them, all day long.

You not only get the link, you get to meet new people who may refer people to you later.

[Francisco_Meza]

There is a webinar from Rand on this. http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/content-for-local-sites-and-local-search

Also if you purchase the Mozcon videos, there was an AWESOME presentation on this: http://www.seomoz.org/videos/turning-google-places-pain-into-gain

I don't do local result anymore, but when I did 4 years ago for a client, I tried getting reviews from people everywhere (even overseas, ya know where I going?). His site still ranks #2 on local SERPS.

If you are having trouble, send a personal email to ALL your FB friends and have them "Like" your site. Have them post your domain on their wall. OR use AddThis on your site like I do here: www.shipoverseas.com. I have facebook likes on all my individual pages (not the new ones though). People in Nigeria, UK and all over the world are liking my stuff.

You may not have international rankings, but my point here is you have friends to help you out in the beginning. i would give you a link from one of my sites "IF" you did some work for free. Help people and they will help you.

[Stevej24]

Have you gotten involved with LinkedIn, google google+ business page, local places, Facebook and Twitter? Do you have local customers who might leave reviews at google, leave likes via facebook and retweet you on twitter?  What about guest article writing for other local companies?

Some niches are definitely tougher than others, but I think if your content is relevant to your niche, good quality, and helpful to others mixed with relevant keywords, Google will like it.   Answering questions and commenting can help build your relationship and pull in a few links as well.

[APICDA]

I work with/for a small business as well and have found a similar struggle.  I have found a life time of great information within the the content of this website.  Have you looked here yet?

http://www.seomoz.org/pages/search_results?q=link+building

I find this a great resource.  Hope this helps!