Optimizing for Venice.

[GregMontoya]

I had a client ask me why his website wasn't popping up for the local places results when he typed "plumbing". There were a group of google local places and my question is, how would I optimize for these with the Venice update. Any strategy? I didn't have an answer. Also "sewer repair" brings in great results.

Do I optimize for the keyword sewer repair?

Any suggestions would help out greatly.

Thanks,
Greg

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Greg,

In order to qualify for inclusion in the local results, your client must:

1. Have a physical street address in the target city (not a P.O. box, virtual office or shared address)

2. Have a local area code phone number matching the target city (not a toll free number, call tracking number or shared number)

3. Have face-to-face transactions with customers, either at the place of business or at the customers' homes or businesses.

If your client can answer yes to all 3 of these criteria, then you can create a strategy including some or all of the following components:

1. A high quality website with excellent content optimized for both his services and his geo terms. Optimize title tags, meta description tags, header tags, alt tags, internal links and copy so that they reflect both what he does and where he does it. Build a unique page on the website for each of his distinct services (water heater repair, sewer repair, septic service, etc.). If the business model is go-to-client (like a plumber), build a city landing page for each of the main cities he serves (see: http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=1403). Be sure that every page you publish is unique. No cutting and pasting from one page to the next.

2. Put the business' complete NAP (name, address, phone number) in the footer of the website and on the Contact page, preferably encoded in Schema.

3. Consider having an onsite blog to continue publishing local-focused content over time.

4. Create a Google Places for Business Page, adhering strictly to the Google Places Quality Guidelines (see: http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528)

5. Begin building citations on a variety of indexes and directories to strengthen and diversify the number of places in which your client is being profiled. Be sure NAP is totally consistent everywhere it is published.

6. Work to earn reviews from happy customers.

7. Consider linkbuilding and social media efforts that will build authority.

This is just a brief summary. Every step has its nuances and there is more you can do, but this should get the client started with building a Local presence on the web.

[Branagan]

Here are a few things you could do (no particular order):

• Optimize for the keyword + the location you're targeting.
• Set your company location in Google Places, Google+ and other social networks.
• Use rich snippets.
• Use a ccTLD or establish your domain geolocation within Google Webmaster Tools.
• Get some local link juice.
• Get a local IP address.

Good luck!