KKom, Inc.

Serving Milwaukee's Web Marketing, Design, SEO, Social Media, Direct Mail and Color Printing needs for over 22 years

Google My Business

3 Key Elements of Local Small Business SEO

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The web and search engines are constantly evolving. Google has been working on making “search” a personalized experience for each individual person, so based on search history you and I see the results most relevant to us.

Small Business SEO Elements

Keyword Analysis + Quality Content

One of the most important factors today with ranking well on search engines is quality content mixed with the best keywords (or keyphrases).

First, there are tools out there (such as AdWords Keyword Planner) that not only share with you a list of words related to what your product or service is about, they also show the average number of times per month those words are typed into Google by someone, and how competitive it is to get onto the first page of Google for that search phrase.

Once you pick the keywords you want for each page of your website, then you must create good content/descriptions of each thing that you do, and include those words in the most natural-sounding way possible. Theoretically, this shouldn’t be a problem if you picked words that are relevant to your business. Also, you don’t want to put everything on just one page, because search engines won’t know which phrase to rank you for.

Google My Business

local business SEO with K-Kom Marketing

If you haven’t already done this, claim your business listing at google.com/business (it’s free). No matter if you have a physical storefront or not, enter the address you do your business from. There’s a box for service providers to select so your address will not be shown if you don’t accept customers at a physical business location. Then to verify you are who you say you are, Google will mail a postcard with a code to that address. Enter this code into the listing once you receive it in the mail.

Once this is all done and ready to go, complete your profile with your logo and photos of your location or service, as well as important info like:

  • Phone number
  • Website
  • Business hours
  • Menu (for restaurants/bars)
  • List your services

Encourage clients to leave reviews here too.

There’s a newer feature that allows people to ask questions, which you can then answer. Currently, to know if someone has submitted a question, you must have the Google My Business app installed on your phone and be logged into the account that manages the listing. This may change in the future, perhaps sending an email notification or something like that.

  • Avoid answering questions with just a “yes” or “no”. Not only can people go back and edit their questions, making your answer completely irrelevant, or even bad for your business, giving a detailed answer looks better on your part as an expert in your field.
    • For example: If someone asked if a restaurant has vegan options, and the business owner replies “yes”, the person can edit the question to say
  • When a question is upvoted, it will appear in order of the number of upvotes, seen as an important question.

Other Important Steps

There are some other things that directly affect your local SEO ranking such as relevant directory listings, on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and link building. Check out our blogs on how to do local SEO the easy way to learn more about these important strategies!

 

When your business is ready for a long-term boost to your bottom line, contact K-Kom, a local business SEO expert, serving local businesses from Menomonee Falls and Milwaukee WI, all the way to California.

 

“OK Google: local search engine optimization experts near me!”

How To Do Local SEO The Easy Way: Part 1

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If you know a little about SEO already, you know the rules change constantly thanks to Google and the people trying to cheat the system. When it comes to local SEO, especially for a small business that can only serve the local area, it’s imperative that you show up on the top few search results to keep your business alive and growing. And because the know-how of these online tactics is becoming more and more well understood, your local competition online is already or will become very steep, so it’s better to be ahead of the crowd if you can, or at least start fighting the good fight now before it becomes impossible.

Here are 3 easy steps to get your local SEO strategy moving in the right direction.

Make your title tags and meta descriptions relevantgoogle my business local SEO with K-Kom Marketing

These two things, what shows up on Google for people to see, still matter a great deal – not only for ranking purposes, but for selling those prospective clients to click on your website and not your competitor.

Every letter counts in search results

Google has increased the size of the description and title, so these can usually fit 50-60 characters and 160-200 characters respectfully. While it may not seem important, make sure these aren’t getting cut off with the beloved “…” at the ends. It looks and sounds far better if you can fit a complete thought out there.

To get a preview of what these are going to look like in search results, you can use tools like Yoast’s SEO Plugin in WordPress and see exactly how your business is being presented to the world, and edit it right there to be the best length.

Good content for search results

  • Include the name of your city and/or service area.
  • Focus in on one great keyword or phrase, and put that as close to the front of the title as you can.

Claim your Google My Business

This step is so incredibly important to local SEO that if you google my business local SEO with K-Kom Marketinghaven’t already done it, do it yesterday… or now. Not only will people see a map of your location, but a link to your website, reviews, a description of what your business is, phone number, etc.

To do this, go to google.com/business. Go through the process they instruct you on, and you’ll come to a verification step which usually results in either a phone call to your business phone number or a mailed postcard to your business address, with a code. Type this code into the verification area, and you’ll be all set to appear on search results in a nice informative box.

Online Directories

While Google doesn’t give as much credit to tons of these like they used to, they still look at a few key big ones like the BBB, Yelp, YP, social media, other review sites, blogs, local newspapers, and local directories that you’ll have to research.

Google also pulls and compares data from places called data aggregators. There are a few big players out there, like Acxiom, Superpages, Infogroup, and Localeze. Factual seems to be pulling ahead of the crowd and you can update your business’s data there yourself so you can be confident that everything is accurate.

Pro tip: make sure your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) all show up exactly the same, punctuation and all, for every listing you claim and publish.

 

If you’re ready to boost your local SEO strategy to the next level, please contact our local SEO experts at K-Kom Marketing today. We’ll be glad to give some more insight into how to beat your local competition.

We work mainly to create SEO strategies for local Milwaukee companies and others around Wisconsin, and work with small to medium-sized businesses across the United States, boosting their local search engine rankings wherever they’re located!

 

“OK Google: SEO services near me!”

Local Search Optimization and How Your Company Can Benefit

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As a business owner in the digital world, optimization is very important. Local search optimization is not necessarily priority #1 for everyone, but if you’re looking to reach an audience located within a specific radius from you – eg. if you’re a service provider, going to people’s homes or businesses, or if you have a physical storefront – local optimization is exactly what you need to stay competitive in your market, especially if your known-competitors have already been doing this for the last few years. Google themselves confirmed that 50%+ of searches done on mobile are local, and that 60% of all searches are mobile, so that’s a huge percentage of local searches! Here are a few steps to get you where you want to be in your future customer’s search engine searches.

6 Steps Towards Local Search Optimization

Claim or set-up your Google My Business account

Google My Business Optimization with K-Kom, Inc.

This is the listing (outlined in blue) that pops up at the top of mobile searches, and on the right side of search results on a desktop computer, along with a map, link to your website, business hours, reviews, etc. It’s very important that this is filled out with every possible detail, using location-based keywords, and is as accurate as possible, especially your NAP – name, address, phone number (keep these three elements consistent throughout the web!!).

You’ll also need to pick a business category that best fits you. You can choose multiple, but it’s better to pick one if possible. Lastly don’t forget great photos of your business, logo, products, employees, etc

This graph from Hitwise shows the share of online searches done on a mobile device, by industry:

hitwise mobile searches

Claim/set-up business listings on other major websites

  • Yahoo! business listing, now called Aabaco Small Business
  • Yelp for businesses
  • Apple maps
  • Facebook – they’re working to be a bigger influence in local search
  • LinkedIn – for those who deal with other businesses, or business professionals
  • Other social media sites depending on your unique customer base/target audience
  • Any industry related sites you may be aware of
  • A few such as the BBB (Better Business Bureau), local chamber of commerce or prominent local directories may not be free but offer potential customers a sense of trust when they see these.

Collect reviews and testimonials

These can be through your Google My Business, Yelp or even sites like Facebook. Address your bad reviews in a positive, assertive way, and let the good ones pour in. This creates another added trust factor for customers and Google itself.

Expand/add content with keywords to your website

Keyword research is necessary for this step, and ties in with your overall SEO strategy. Your Google category picked while setting up your Google My Business should be added to your list of keywords, often fitting for the homepage. Aim for 300 words per page, but ensure this content is valuable for your visitors. It’s helpful to include your target city or town as part of your keywords – category + city, like “marketing agency Milwaukee”.

Include your location on your website

It’s easiest to put this right into your header or footer so it shows on each page. If you have more than one location, have a separate page for each with the cities included (for SEO purposes)

Social Media

Build an audience in your local area. Grow a relationship with your current and potential customers. Find out exactly where these people are so you know where to focus your valuable time and effort.

This is just the beginning to getting your business on top of the local competition. If you have questions about local SEO services, or think you may be interested in local search engine optimization, contact K-Kom and we’ll be glad to answer your questions!

We also have printing services such as color brochure printing, menu printing for restaurants, and a variety of other options.