Your website is one of the least expensive and most effective marketing channels you can have for your business, especially when people are finding you through Google.

As opposed to leads coming into your website from Facebook, leads coming into your website from Google are often already looking for the solution that you offer them.

Imagine someone is looking for a “cartoon banana t-shirt.” This person picks up their phone and types into Google “cartoon banana t-shirt for sale”. When a website comes up with a business that sells “cartoon banana t-shirts”…this person is SIKED!

In fact, visitors who arrive on your website from searching for something on Google are OVER THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY to purchase from you than when they arrive from instagram. So how do we get people to our website in the first place?

This week I’ll be continuing the series of “How to create a local SEO campaign on Squarespace the right way.” In the last blog post I discussed the top three things a local business can do to optimize their website presence for SEO. If you haven’t had time to read that article yet, you can check it out here: How to create a local SEO campaign the right way. Part 1.

In this article we will discuss the importance of keyword research, on-page SEO and how to use your Google Business Profile as a client conversion machine with the power of customer reviews.

Squarespace SEO for Local Businesses

Squarespace SEO Tip #4: Get Listed in Local Directories.

If you’re a local business and you’ve already optimized your website & Google Business Profile, you might be thinking..well.. There is nothing left for me to do! Although you are likely leaps and bounds ahead of most businesses at this point, there are a few more ways you can move forward in your goal of standing out online.

The next step is getting yourself listed in local directions such as: Yelp, TripAdvisor, Yellow Pages, and Angie's List.

This is yet another way to aid Google in categorizing your business. Google uses listings found in Yelp etc. as further data to understand that your business is indeed real & important to your community.

Approximate Time Commitment to set up your business across these four local directories: 3 hours.

To Sum it all up:

Get your business listed in local directories: There are many local directories that can help improve your local SEO. Make sure your business is listed in popular directories like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Yellow Pages, and Angie's List.

Squarespace SEO Tip #5: Build Local Citations

This is my favorite SEO strategy

I love recommending that businesses build local citations A) Because it’s so incredibly effective B) Because it’s grounded in the importance of community participation.

Participating in your local community is the one of the most important things ANY business can do to increase the likelihood of their success. Local connections pay dividends in the offline world AND online world.

The way that building local citations works in the online world is that you want to make sure that your website is being cited in local directories that are truly local. Think local chamber of commerce websites, local newspapers and newsletters.

Maybe you often collaborate with another local business..for example, a local coffee shop exclusively sells coffee from a local coffee roaster. What the coffee shop and coffee roasters can do is link to each other on their websites. This linking to each other builds authority online because it is further proof to Google that your business website is important and can be trusted.

With this being said, I’m not a big fan of just linking to someone for the sake of linking and hoping it will improve your SEO.

Who you really should be linking to are:

1. Businesses that are directly relevant to what your business does.

2. Businesses that might be helpful to your audience.

3. Businesses that you often collaborate with.

On the flip side, the same goes for how you should go about getting your business website linked to from other peoples websites.

Go ahead and sign up to be listed in your local newsletter directory! Donate to the local fundraiser in exchange for your business being cited in the local newspaper. Chat with a fellow entrepreneur who you often collaborate with and agree to make “recommended” vendors page where you link to each other. All these online things help improve your online ranking while helping your community in the process.

On a side note:

If the New York Times asks to quote you in an article.. Or (EXCITING***) asks to feature you in an article… with the guarantee of linking back to your website…this type of listing is the MOST powerful. The New York Times and other large newspapers have the most authority in the online world. So when a super high authority website links to your website..Google figures out that your website is indeed legit and important.

To Sum It All UP:

Build local citations: Citations are mentions of your business on other websites. To build local citations, submit your business information to relevant local directories and websites, such as local newspapers or community organizations.

Squarespace SEO Tip #6: Encourage Customer Reviews in your Google Business Profile.

Oh customer reviews…testimonials… how I love you. These little nuggets of kind words or…perhaps reminders of “opportunities for growth” have so much power in the online world. Whether you’re trying to book out your service or want to show up first in Google Maps…customer reviews should be something that you chase like my Pomeranian sprints after squirrels.

Look I get it.. It can be awkward asking for customer reviews or it can be downright scary. What if you hear that this person had the worst experience ever? How mortifying! And now it’s public! I get it.. It’s scary. It’s even scary for me…

I ask for GOOGLE BUSINESS REVIEWS because in the world of SEO, customer reviews can be a treasure trove of SEO rich keywords that just so happen TO Naturally use the KEYwords you want ASSOCIATED WITH your business.

These customer reviews are particularly powerful when they are being left in your Google Business Profile because they can further help your business show up in the Google Map Pack, when people are looking for local solutions to their problems. Google wants to know what your business is, who it serves and that people in your community actually frequent your business. Let’s take a look at how customer reviews on your Google Business Profile can help boost a local businesses online presence:

For example:

Sally just moved to Monroe, CT. She loves waffles and is homesick for her favorite diner in her former place of residence. So Sunday morning, Sally opens her cellphone and types into Google. “Waffles near me.” The chances are high that there are no local businesses called “Waffles” specifically in the somewhat rural community of Monroe, CT. But the chances are also high that there are diners and breakfast joints in the town of Monroe, CT.

State Street Diner, is a local breakfast joint in Monroe, CT, that happens to have a bunch of reviews in their Google Business Profile that mention how AWESOME their waffles are. Because of all these reviews about their EPIC waffles, chances are high that this business will be seen by Sally when she Googles “waffles near me” and looks over the search results. Thus, it’s because of State Street Diner’s Google Reviews that Sally is able to get her desire for waffles met by this local business.

So with this being said.. It doesn’t matter how many client testimonials you’re posting on instagram… it’s not going to help people like Sally find your business on a lazy Sunday morning. No one is looking for “waffles near me” on Instagram.

So my piece of advice on this front is if you’re a local business…alway prioritize getting customer reviews in your Google Business Profile, over any other means of customer review acquisition.

BONUS: Respond to every single review that is left to you!

A) this is just a nice thing to do! People took the time out of their day to write you a review.

B) This is also an opportunity to insert your targeted keywords into your response. Trying to show up for waffles in Monroe, CT? After Sally leaves a review of your restaurant, saying how amazing the waffles were…you can now respond to her by saying: “So glad you loved the waffles Sally! Come back soon!”

To Sum it All Up:

Encourage customer reviews: Positive customer reviews can help boost your local SEO. Encourage customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business profile and other review sites.

Does your website need an SEO setup?

If you’re struggling with how to get started with SEO optimizing your website or simply just don’t have the time to dive into it then I cannot recommend enough signing up for my SEO SETUP Package! I created it because I noticed SEO implementation and setup wasn’t easy to knock out without prior experience or time to learn the ins-and-outs of the magic of SEO and I wanted to provide SEO Marketing to other people like me who also needed it!

Check out my SEO services page here

To Sum Up what we’ve learned so far in Part 1 and Part 2 of the How To Create a Local SEO Campaign Series:

Step 1: KEYWORD RESEARCH
Step 2: ON-PAGE KEYWORD IMPLEMENTATION
Step 3: OPTIMIZE YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE
STEP 4: LIST YOUR BUSINESS IN LOCAL DIRECTORIES
STEP 5: BUILD LOCAL CITATIONS (local newspapers, local newsletters etc.)
STEP 6: ENCOURAGE CUSTOMER REVIEWS ON YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE

Let’s work together to get your SEO strategy started today!

CITATIONS: 1. https://www.marketingdive.com/news/google-tops-facebook-instagram-in-e-commerce-activity-study-finds/577880/#:~:text=Google's%20paid%20 search%20 ads%20have,%25%20and%20 Instagram's%20is%200.8%25.

How to Create an SEO Campaign the Right Way. Part 2