5 Fundamentals for Great Local SEO with Darren Shaw

| March 29, 2018

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Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 59

Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden & Dr. Craig Spodak

Guest: Darren Shaw, owner of Whitespark

Key Takeaways:

• Google has been ramping up their local SEO features so they can improve their local ad sales.
  • Google posts are new and allow you to push out more content. They expire weekly so you need to stay current with new content.
  • Google Q&A allows you to address some of the most frequent FAQ’s right in google search.
  • Google Insights show who has clicked through to your website, who has called you, etc.
  • Engagement metrics are real. The more engagement you get with your google content the better you will show up in search. Add videos, posts, attributes, etc.
• What makes up a good local search strategy?

1. Get your Google & Google My Business listings are correct.
   1. Make sure your primary category is accurately reflecting what you do.
2. Citations are your online business listings on Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc.
   1. Make sure these are all accurate.
   2. Make sure there are as many out there as possible. Shoot for 80+ listings.
3. Reviews are super important for ranking and conversion benefits.
   1. If you are doing a review ask, coax a little bit to mention the specific service they had. Those keywords really help you rank better for those terms in local SEO.
4. Website in local search comes down to how much content you have. Basic blurbs will not help you rank.
   1. Make sure you build out your content.
5. Links help with local search as well. This is often done through sponsorships, community outreach and support. These are easy ways to get other sites to link to you.
   1. Local sponsorships are one of the best ways to get local links.
   2. To find: search in google: “intitle:sponsors ‘YOUR CITY’”, will give you a whole list of local sponsors.
   3. Vendors are also usually high-authority links. Find vendors of yours who list their local customers and find a way to get a link listed on their site.

• Yelp continues to be a challenge for many small businesses.
  • You’re not allowed to ask for reviews. Yelp wants all reviews to come in naturally.
  • It’s also of no value to ask for Yelp reviews. Their filters are very strict, only active Yelp users will have reviews that are shown.
  • Yelp actively endorses a check-in offer, which is a GREAT way to bypass Yelp’s “don’t ask” policy. Any patient who checks in and takes you up on the offer will be encouraged to leave a review. Put the check-in offer on Google posts, send via email, put up a sign, promote as much as you can. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
  • Another Yelp hack – make a new Gmail account, take your entire patient email list and put it into that Gmail contact list, then run through “find my friends” on Yelp, and it’ll tell you who is active.
• Facebook allows you to create custom segments by uploading your existing patient list.
  • Promote new services, show them what’s new, etc.
• Website is a great opportunity to keep adding detailed content.
• Video is important. Talk about your services and upload on your website, YouTube, social media, etc.
• Google local pack – these are the top results that show up at the right side of the page when you search for a local business.
  • It went from 10 businesses, to 7, now it’s 3.
  • It doesn’t exist within an entire city anymore. Google filters based on the proximity of the searcher. You’ll generally show up within 5-10 miles of your business.
  • The way to slightly break out of the proximity search is to buy local pack ads.
  • Google guarantees some home repair related industries.
    • The listings are paid for and business who participate must be screened.
  • Another opportunity to rank organically is to build out city/neighborhood pages on your website.
    • Build a page on your site that talks about local neighborhoods and how your office has helped with patients in that area. This helps draw in organic ranking results from outside your 10-mile radius. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.

References:

Steady Demand

Whitespark Local Citation Finder

Whitespark Reputation Builder