Local seo citation tools

[WallerD]

Hi I have been manually adding my details to local/national directories in order to help my ranking in my google places placing. It is a bit of a grind, and I am aware there are tools out there. I was wondering if anybody has any experience with any of them? I am UK based. Also I was ranking for "Liverpool Photographer" on google places for a couple of months and it brought in quite a bit of work, although I have since slipped back to about 15th, so out of the visible results. I am mainly a wedding photographer so my home page was optimised mainly for "liverpool wedding photographer" Although I hired an SEO company who changed the home page title to "liverpool photographer", I cannot remember if I was ranking on places for this keyword because of this change or I was already in the results before the changes were made. So my question is how Can I rank for "liverpool photographer" and "Liverpool wedding photographer" on a places result at the same time?

I hope this makes sense.

Best wishes.

David.

[WallerD]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your lightening response!

I also appreciate you looking at my site and giving me feedback regarding my meta description. I will get on the case!

best wishes.

David.

[GPainter]

Hi David,

Are you saying that the content on my site is affecting which keywords google will give me in it's places listings?

My response was more a hint towards not worrying too much about the terms and to focus a bit more on an overall user so if you want to target both terms it's not unfeasible to have great pages about both services, responding directly to the questions its difficult to say but in theory yes but its a bit harder than that (sorry I can't help more here) You should definably check out Miriam Ellis response there is some excellent reading to do there.

Can you explain what you mean about the meta description a little more?

it was a hint: Looking at your META description I don't think its working as hard for you as it could be, think about CTR etc. compare it to the Meta's on page 1 etc.

Sorry if its not super helpful SEO especially local is tricky and there is no one thing you can do to make it work well, like what I tried to get with my answer try not to worry about your site as much and think of it what a user may want and work from there.

[WallerD]

Hi Miriam,

Thank you for your response!

What I mean by the title tag is did it affect my higher ranking ranking on a places listing? I am aware it is not just about a title tag to get good results. Although I have been on a places listing before for the keywords "liverpool photographer" without having those keywords in my home page title.

Thank you for the links to the resources, I will start digging away!

Best wishes.

David.

[WallerD]

Hi Chris thank you for your response.

Thank you for the thread for the uk tools, and regarding alternative forms of marketing I have a few affiliations with venues and attend weeding fairs, so I am not putting all my eggs in one google basket!

Are you saying that the content on my site is affecting which keywords google will give me in it's places listings?

I am aware also of my places listing for liverpool weeding photographer, it was around the letter C before Christmas so I am trying to ad as many citations as I can at the moment to get me back up.

Can you explain what you mean about the meta description a little more?

Best wishes.

David.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi David,
I don't want to give a simplistic answer to what is actually a pretty complex question. Local and organic rankings are derived from a huge number of factors. Some of the most powerful would include:

• The authority/quality of your website

• The local optimization of your website

• The consistency and spread of your citations

• The number of reviews you've earned

• The distance of the searcher to your location

• The popularity of your website

• etc., etc.

I'm a little concerned if the SEO you hired may have indicated that all you would have to do was change a title tag! I'm really hoping that isn't all they said. Local SEO has so many components and a good place to start reading about these so that you can become a wise judge of anyone you hire or of the actions you're taking on your own would be the free Moz Local Learning Center:

http://moz.com/learn/local

Definitely also dig deep into the Local Search Ranking Factors 2014 survey:

http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

Finally, if you've experienced a recent local search ranking loss, this can help you start troubleshooting possible causes:

http://moz.com/blog/troubleshooting-local-ranking-failures

There is a ton to learn, and what it basically all boils down to is that you are making a superior effort than any local competitor in a variety of marketing disciplines that all hang together to earn you the visibility you want, combined with the serendipity of where a customer is located when they are searching for what you offer.

[GPainter]

May find this thread a good place to find some tools - http://moz.com/community/q/local-seo-tools-for-uk

A bit more on your question you're looking at it the wrong way kind of, think of it like this:

Where would you find a photographer in Liverpool? A bit more outside of Google and that can be a great point to find local places e.g. Google places or Yelp etc. You can also look at competitors see where they may be listing, is there a listing of local wedding photographers in the local chapels etc. etc.

So try to look at it how the customer finds you rather than how you can rank for that term you will find it can work a bit better to look at it in a different light. As for the How if you have info on your site about both it can be a help (e.g. a page on your wedding photography in Liverpool and a page on your say commercial photography etc.)

Hope that's enough to get you started

Best of luck!

edit

Hi also wanted to share you are sort of on page 1 with a local result with http://imgur.com/Qx8St2w and if I were you I'd investigate your meta description tag make sure it's working its hardest for you (especially if you compare)