Common Pitfalls for Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to Avoid

There’s a certain art to local search engine optimization (SEO). If there weren’t, there wouldn’t be so many companies marketing it as a key differential in online marketing. SEO has drastically changed over the last few years. Keywords were once king, but have faded to the background. Content is now king in SEO. The search engines are more sophisticated, requiring the website content be more sophisticated. Instead of writing for a computer to scan and find certain words or topics, websites should be writing for their audiences.

Don’t:

• Get too many inbound links to an individual page using the same keyword-rich link text. Also, avoid participation in link farms and don’t secure too many non-valued links.
• Over-optimize. For instance, be careful about repeating key words simply because they are key words. They need to make sense in the context and sound natural. One or two times on a page is sufficient.
• Try to rank for locations where you do not have a physical office. Search engines cross-reference addresses and will “know” if you don’t have an address in a city. Instead, use your target audience location in content, such as “northern Maryland homeowners.”
• Try to get your website to rank well for your competitors’ business names. This is only giving your competitor extra Internet exposure.

Do:

• Be sure all your web citations (directory listings etc.) have the exact same spelling, format, phone number, etc. for your main business address. This strategy will help the search engines to easily identify your business.
• Keep your website updated with new content. Timely blogs, articles, commentary and fresh photos are a must. Changing up your content periodically is also recommended for maximum SEO benefit.
• Connect your website to your social profiles. Make sure the profiles are active!
• Be certain each of the pages on your website loads quickly, especially on mobile devices.