This article is from our Agency Playbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter four of ‘Part One: Pitching and Onboarding’. Picture this: you’re walking home from the store, grocery bags in hand, thinking about what you’re going to put on the TV when you arrive. Then, you notice it. Across the street, there’s a huge sign screaming, “Now open.” Another gym in your neighborhood? The gears in your head start turning as you pick up your pace. You are now on a mission to help businesses in your community thrive online. As an expert, you know local SEO is the answer, and your agency is after more clients. Now, you only have to convince them. Pitching Checklist
How to Find ProspectsFinding opportunities while walking down the street is great, but you can’t always rely on accidents to find new prospects. What you can rely on are specialized tools that help you identify and pitch to potential clients. Tools like BrightLocal help you see which local businesses could benefit from better SEO and create a convincing pitch. Local Search GridOnce you’ve picked your target area, go to Local Search Grid to discover businesses that could use local SEO improvements. Since we’re looking at local gyms, put in a few common keywords a gym would use and generate a report. What you’ll see is a visual representation of rankings by keyword for the location you’ve chosen. Besides giving you a quick overview of local business rankings, this visual can help you pitch your local SEO services. Your prospect might not understand the ins and outs of SEO like you do. But seeing what their local search rankings look like in a grid compared to similar local businesses is a great starting point for convincing them. Local Rank TrackerOnce you’ve found a local business you want to pitch to, you’ll want to see how well their website is doing in the entire city. For this, run a report through Local Rank Tracker to take a look at your prospect’s average ranking position and keyword movement. Additionally, you can add your potential client’s competitors to this report to get a comparison and identify gaps. This lets you tailor your approach when reaching out to prospects and helps them visualize the state of their online visibility. Citation TrackerLast but not least, BrightLocal’s Citation Tracker is a useful tool for citation building. You get an overview of inconsistent and missing online listings, and all you need to do is explain to your prospective client why this is a problem. Besides seeing opportunities, BrightLocal also shows you the citation value and authority. That way, you can pinpoint high-potential listings and give your prospects a fully transparent game plan. What is a local SEO proposal?A local SEO proposal is a document outlining your plan to improve a business’s online visibility within a specific geographic location. It serves as a roadmap for implementing tailored SEO strategies to boost a company’s presence in local search results. When done right, a local SEO proposal tells the client exactly how and when they can expect better results. What’s more, it needs to show the client why better search results benefit their business. That said, like any other proposal, your local SEO proposal should be clear, concise, and to the point. Here’s what to include and how to present your services in a manner your clients understand. Try a free SEO Proposal TemplateBetter Proposals has put together a local SEO pitching template. Just follow this link for a completely customizable local SEO proposal template. What to Include in Your Local SEO ProposalBefore you start crafting a local SEO proposal, there’s a lot of research you’ll need to do. You want to show the client that their online presence could use improvement and that you’re the right person for the job. Naturally, you’ll include detailed keyword research and list all the technical SEO issues. You’ll talk about their domain authority, on-page optimization, and missing meta descriptions, right? Wrong. While all the technical information is crucial for you to create a local SEO strategy, your clients only care about the benefits. They’ll either scroll past your detailed reports or ignore your proposal altogether. Unearth Your ‘Jobs to Do’ with Local SEO Audit A tool like BrightLocal’s Local Search Audit is perfect for uncovering data and tasks for a proposal. It can help you find key pain points or tasks that you can call out in your pitch without having to do a complete deep dive. An effective proposal is always short and simple. If a potential client needs a crash course in search engine optimization to understand it, they won’t sign. 1. Start With a Convincing Executive SummaryResearch shows that the executive summary and pricing are two of the most read sections in all business proposals. Since it’s the first thing your potential client will read, you need to make it short and convincing. A great executive summary shows the client two things: you understand their problem, and you know how to solve it. This part of your local SEO proposal should be all about the client and the solution. To get potential clients hooked right off the bat and write an effective SEO proposal, you need to include:
What this looks like in practice depends on the type of business your potential client is running. For the sake of giving an example, let’s say you were pitching to the local gym mentioned earlier. In this case, your executive summary could look something like this: Become Union Square’s go-to local gymAt [gym name], you’re not just about hitting the treadmill or lifting weights. You’re about empowering your neighbors to lead healthier, happier lives. However, to make these goals a reality, you first need to connect with the members of your community. Handing out flyers and relying on word of mouth only gets you so far. To expand your reach and let more people get to know your business, you need a strong online presence. Currently, you’re the first fitness choice on your block, which is proof of the quality of service you offer. Unfortunately, people living only two blocks away won’t be able to find you through major search engines. Together, we could strengthen your online presence, amplify your message, and inspire even more people to join you on the journey to health and wellness. Our local SEO strategy laid out in this proposal aims to showcase the offerings and warm atmosphere that make [gym name] unique. Read on to see how our services can help in making [gym name] the ultimate fitness choice in Union Square. 2. Outline the Local SEO StrategyNow that your potential client is interested in your SEO services, it’s time to bring on the details of your offer. You want your prospect to understand how your solutions work. For example, if you’re offering to improve their Google Business Profile, include why it’s important. If you think they would benefit from keyword optimization across their website, let them know what end results to expect. The basic idea is to be as detailed as possible. That way, both you and your client have this section to refer to in case you come to a disagreement in the future. Note that the most important thing here is to keep things in plain English. Stay away from industry jargon because it will only confuse your client. 3. Set a Realistic TimelineBesides knowing what you plan on doing and why, your clients are also interested in how long it will take. Keep in mind that this is your project timeline, not the time it will take for the SEO changes to kick in. Let’s say that your project includes content creation. Your project timeline should then display how long it will take to create the content, not how long it will take the content to perform. Similarly, you can present Google Business Profile management as an ongoing service with a set amount of hours per month. While this section of your local SEO proposal is all about being as specific as possible, you can also use it to your advantage. Giving yourself more time to deliver means you have more time to fix unexpected problems. And, if none of those appear, then you’re finishing earlier than promised and impressing your client. It’s a win-win situation. Presenting Your Strategy and TimescalesThe SEO strategy you came up with and the timeframe in which you will execute it don’t need to be two separate sections in your proposal. Instead, you can outline the SEO strategy in a few separate steps that each have their own timeline. Some agencies have strict onboarding processes in place, to help make it easier and more transparent, and sharing that alongside the projected roadmap is a good idea. It’s worth highlighting that all of the auditing hasn’t been done at this stage, and that the work done for your proposal is simply scratching the surface. For example, laying out the first few weeks or months could look something like this: Step 1: Keyword research Timeline: 1 week We will have a call to help us understand the products and services you offer on a deeper level than right now. We’ll then produce an action list and break it down into months. This plan will be structured to get you results as fast as possible. Step 2: Quick wins Timeline: 2-4 weeks Your website has been online for [time], which means you’re already naturally ranking for a few keywords here and there. Initially, our job is to do a set of quick fixes so you can see results coming in. You don’t currently have a Google Business Profile, which is also something we’ll set you up with. Besides helping you look more professional, this will also make you visible on Google Maps and show your business to potential customers in your area in Google Search. Step 3: The ultimate plan Timeline: 2-6 months The end game is becoming the ultimate fitness choice in Union Square. Getting on this level of lead generation is simply to be everywhere. Whatever combination of words people type in—boom, you’re there. Whichever online listing they’re looking at, [gym name] is mentioned. Now, this isn’t easy and it takes time, but giving you that extra boost in leads will go a long way towards taking over your local space in Google. 4. Include Testimonials or a Case StudyEvery time you send a business proposal, what you’re really doing is asking a potential client to spend money. Naturally, they’ll want proof you can deliver on your promises before they invest in your solution. Your local SEO proposal should always have social proof because there’s no better way of getting a new client on board than other happy clients. This could be testimonials, a written case study, video case studies, or screenshots. It doesn’t have to be complex, but it does need to get the point across. A strong local SEO case study can be a powerful tool to help you convert new clients, especially if you can show success doing the tasks you’re pitching or in the industry the client sits in. 5. Make Your Pricing Easy to UnderstandYour pricing section is the worst place to confuse potential clients. Even if the rest of your local SEO proposal is perfect, getting the pricing wrong is a surefire way to lose the deal. The first thing you have to do is make your pricing clear and transparent. Whether you’re charging a project fee, an ongoing rate, or by the hour, you need to make that clear to the client. If you use a combination of different pricing strategies, make sure that it’s clear from your pricing table. Itemize your services and include descriptions in everyday language so your client knows what they’re paying for. Another thing to look out for is how you try to upsell. While modern, like Better Proposals, comes with interactive pricing tables that let you add options, don’t go overboard. A business proposal is a matter of getting a yes or a no from a potential client. The more options you add, the harder it gets to say yes. 6. Tell Potential Clients What the Next Steps AreDon’t forget to let potential clients know how to move forward with your local SEO proposal. What do they need to do to accept? Do they email you, call you, sign the proposal digitally? Whatever it is, include a small section to let them know instead of having to figure it out. It makes you easier to buy from and creates a better customer experience. This section doesn’t have to be complex or particularly well-worded. A numbered list with clear instructions will do. For example:
7. Don’t Forget the Terms and ConditionsIf you’re using digital signature software, definitely include your terms and conditions. That way, once the client has signed your local SEO proposal, they’ve also signed a contract. Besides getting all your bases covered, this also eliminates the need for a separate contract signing. Bonus tip: Give Them a GuaranteeA guarantee is a great way to get new clients on board fast. To make your local SEO proposal even more tempting, consider adding one to your pricing section. While a money-back guarantee might be the first thing to come to mind, you can also guarantee additional services. For example, you could offer additional ads if the ones included in your initial proposal don’t result in an X number of new customers for your client. 7 Tips for Better PitchesWhen putting together your next local SEO proposal, keep the following tips in mind for better pitches:
Final ThoughtsCreating a successful local SEO proposal is not just about showcasing your skills. It’s about understanding the unique needs of each potential client. Local SEO tools, like BrightLocal, can help you gather powerful data that helps you create proposals addressing specific pain points. Get clients hooked with a persuasive intro, present clear deliverables, and stay away from industry jargon. And if you want to increase your chances of winning new business even more, include a guarantee. Showing that you put that level of trust in your services only makes clients want to sign on faster.
via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/phJoWAT Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/
0 Comments
As humans, we like to stereotype people. According to Zhang et al., it stems from a basic need to simplify and categorize otherwise complex things in the world. And, maybe in some cases, we even like the sense of belonging. I, for one, tend to take comfort in the shared characteristics of my fellow specialty coffee-swilling millennials… well, mostly. The thing with stereotypes, though, is that they can cause us to assume things about people. And in many cases, there can be negative associations with such groups. When we conduct the annual Local Consumer Review Survey, we examine the results to look for patterns around demographics like gender or age. Do younger consumers search for reviews online more regularly than older groups, for example? The 2024 report pointed to several key themes among consumers, such as a sense of fatigue from being prompted for reviews too often and wariness of taking what they read at face value. Yet, while 73% of consumers had written a business review in the last year, it was interesting to note that some consumers lean towards only leaving positive reviews, while others lean towards only leaving negative ones. In fact, we found that the percentage of consumers only leaving positive or negative reviews had grown year on year. Here’s what we found in the Local Consumer Review Survey 2024: So, what type of person only writes a positive review, and are they very different from those who only write negative reviews? Why would someone specifically only leave positive or negative reviews? What kind of crusade are they on? Let’s take a look. Some of the findings might just surprise you. Have a look at the profiles we’ve put together below, or scroll down further for a breakdown of the findings. A Note on Gender Representation The first interesting point to note is that there was no clear gender divide across either Positive Reviewers or Negative Reviewers. In much earlier iterations of the survey, we found notable differences in how male and female survey respondents read and write business reviews. In the years since, these gaps have become lesser and lesser, to the point where we no longer see any key differentiators. Of course, it’s also important to recognize the limitations of gender within survey platforms. Although SurveyMonkey polls a representative sample of US consumers, we must acknowledge that it only provides the option of ‘male’ and ‘female’ to participants. The Positive ReviewerGoing back to our stereotypes, you might assume that older consumers would have less patience and, therefore, be more likely to leave negative reviews. Our results showed quite the opposite, as 45-60 year-olds were the largest age group of Positive Reviewers. Typically, the Positive Reviewer will ‘always’ read online reviews when researching local businesses and will ‘always’ write a review after an experience. This commitment shows us that they have faith in the review system, so their motivation for leaving reviews probably stems from a desire to contribute to the system and be helpful by sharing their experiences.
Does the Positive Reviewer simply never have a bad experience? Or, are these reviewers determined to always find the positive in any given situation?
It’s very interesting, though, that when we consider they always write business reviews, these reviews are also always positive and not a mix of sentiments. Does the Positive Reviewer simply never have a bad experience? Or, are these reviewers determined to always find the positive in any given situation? The top factor that impacts the Positive Reviewer’s decision to use a business is reading other reviews describing positive experiences. So, it could be that they are more careful in the businesses they choose and that they spend time reading the written content of reviews. Additionally, the Positive Reviewer likes to use local news as an alternative platform for business reviews. While this could be in digital or print form, it tells us that the Positive Reviewer views business information printed or published by a local news authority as trustworthy and credible. When we consider that they use two platforms on average to read business reviews, they could be verifying reviewer-written content with information found in local news. The Negative ReviewerIt might surprise you that the Negative Reviewer tends to be between 18 and 29 years old. With this in mind, though, it likely won’t come as a surprise that they tend to use Instagram as a top alternative reviews/recommendations platform. This reviewer type reads online reviews ‘regularly’ as part of their local business research and generally writes a business review more than half the time. So, while reading business reviews is an important part of the research process, Negative Reviewers do not feel compelled to ‘always’ write business reviews when they’re asked to. At a glance, the Negative Reviewer appears less trusting than the Positive Reviewer in that they typically check more review sites (three) and expect to see named reviewers in order to trust their review content. So? This tells us that trust indicators are important to them, which means you must give them a reason to trust your brand. While you can’t control the content of customer reviews, you can ensure you maintain consistent reputation management profiles. That means ensuring your brand is present across a range of review platforms and dedicating enough time to generating reviews across all of them. If the average Negative Reviewer checks three review platforms, and the reputation score is wildly different on each one, that isn’t a good indicator of trust. Build a 5-star Reputation Collect, monitor, and respond to reviews with ease
Get Started with Reputation Manager 14-day Free Trial
Positive vs. Negative: Findings BreakdownSome of the findings don’t stand out as a particular trait belonging to either profile, but we can compare them side-by-side to highlight similarities and any other areas that might be worth discussing. Reviewer Type by Age Group
If we consider why a consumer might be driven to write a negative review, it’s likely an emotional response to things like bad customer service. The consumer is reacting to disappointment, maybe even feelings of injustice. The 18-29 years age group was the largest segment of negative reviewers (36%), with the chart reflecting a decreasing trend across the older age groups. Although we don’t know exactly why this might be, it could be that, as digital interactions are so ingrained among 18-29-year-olds, leaving a review for a bad experience feels like a natural first port of call for this age group. Review Reading and Writing FrequencyIt seems surprising that 19% of Positive Reviewers only read reviews ‘occasionally’ as part of their local business research, compared to 11% of Negative Reviewers. However, looking at this through a lens of trust might suggest that some of our Positive Reviewers are just happy to find a local business and give it a chance based on first-hand information they find. This could be a brand’s website, owned social media profiles, or official business listings, for example. For Negative Reviewers, this could further indicate that they are more mistrustful and want to make sure they are reading multiple sources before making a decision. Top Review Platforms Used to Evaluate Local BusinessesGoogle, Facebook, and Yelp are the top three platforms used by both Positive Reviewers and Negative Reviewers. What’s most interesting here, though, is that we also know almost a third of Negative Reviewers are members of the Yelp Elite program. So, why is Yelp not number one among Negative Reviewers? And why do only 42% of them use Yelp, compared to 47% of Positive Reviewers? It is possible that people are members of Yelp Elite because of the perceived and exclusive benefits the program offers but do not actually use the platform that often to evaluate other business reviews. The only platform that it seems Negative Reviewers use more than Positive Reviewers is Apple Maps. Alternative Platforms Used to Find Business Reviews
Important Review FactorsThe factors that are most important to positive and negative reviewer types generally reflect the pattern and order we saw in the main report, with written positive experiences by far standing out as most important. This tells us that both Positive Reviewers and Negative Reviewers are spending time reading—or at least skimming through—the content of reviews. Yet, while this review factor is top for both types of reviewer, their motivations might be very different. As we’ve posited, the Negative Reviewer might check review content across multiple platforms because they are naturally less trusting. For Negative Reviewers, the second most important review factor to them is seeing reviews are written by named users, instead of anonymous profiles. Again, this points to a sense of wariness or mistrust in the information they’re finding online, potentially conflating anonymous reviews with inauthenticity. ‘High’ star ratings are deemed important to both reviewer types, although it’s worth noting that it appears more important to Positive Reviewers than Negative Reviewers (54% vs. 41%). If we examine their expectations for average business star ratings, we see that Negative Reviewers are more likely to use businesses with lower star ratings than Positive Reviewers. Expectations for minimum average star rating
You might expect this to be the other way around. But, it could tell us that Negative Reviewers are weighing up other review factors, such as the experiences described in written review content or who is writing them, rather than just taking star ratings at face value. Why might the Positive Reviewer be more selective around businesses with ‘high’ star ratings? Perhaps it comes back to the earlier suggestion that these consumers are determined to have positive experiences with local businesses and, therefore, won’t take a chance on a business with (what they perceive to be) low star ratings. Expectations for Review ResponsesAs we know from the main Local Consumer Review Survey report, it’s a significant expectation for business owners to be seen to respond to all types of online reviews, good or bad. That trend is no different here. Local Consumer Review Survey: Consumer expectations for review responses from business owners
The fact that both positive and negative reviewer types are looking for responses to all reviews reinforces the importance of monitoring your reputation platforms for new reviews and ensuring review content is properly addressed. It also suggests that not all is lost when it comes to the Negative Reviewer! They’re not just looking for responses to negative comments and, interestingly, may be more willing than the Positive Reviewer to use a business that doesn’t respond to reviews at all (56% vs. 52%). Prompting Consumers to Write ReviewsWhen looking at the review prompt methods consumers would likely respond to, we can see that Positive Reviewers are more receptive than Negative Reviews to six prompt types in particular:
But, overall, email is the top prompt method for both reviewer types. Negative Reviewers are more receptive to prompts on social media than to all other methods except email. As discussed earlier, this could show a relationship between younger demographics and their ‘natural’ online behavior. However, as we’re talking about Negative Reviewers here, it might be worth considering how your brand uses social media as a call-out for reviews. Is it calling out for new reviews in one post while ignoring negative feedback shared on other posts? What does this mean for your business or brand?The profiles above may seem a bit of fun (and we’ve aimed to present them in that way), but there are important considerations to take away for your own reputation management strategies. 1. Customer service is keyAs highlighted in the main report, the most important step towards generating regular, positive reviews should, of course, be a focus on delivering the best customer experience possible. You need to give your customers something to remember, something to talk about, something that prompts them to write a review that is unique. 2. Responding to all business reviewsThe next takeaway is to acknowledge and act on all feedback, good and bad. You can’t change a bad review, but you can do the right thing by responding to it—and be seen to do so. We know that it’s a critical expectation in all consumers’ post-experience journeys, whether they default to a positive or negative reviewer. Not only does it show prospective customers that you actively respond to and take on feedback, but it should be seen as an opportunity to convert your negative reviewers into those who are willing to try again. 3. Opportunities to create brand advocatesMeanwhile, engaging with and responding to your positive reviewers should be seen as an opportunity to nurture advocacy towards your brand. There is plenty of evidence out there that highlights the benefits of repeat custom and customer retention for your bottom line, but with the prevalence of user-generated review content on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, who knows where else positive brand mentions could show up? 4. Consider your review prompts carefullyFinally, on the subject of social media, while it is a method of review prompting that reviewers are receptive to, ensure you are considerate and vigilant in how you manage this. A blanket ‘one size fits all’ approach may not be appropriate here, where responses and engagement are publicly visible. We hope these profiles have given you some food for thought for how you approach different consumer types. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/x6zgN9a Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Just Landed is a well-known and long-running site designed to help people move to new countries. It contains a variety of resources aimed at assisting people who are taking their first steps into a new area. These include country guides, job boards, and even a thriving expatriate community. A key element of Just Landed is its directory, which is an extensive directory aimed at helping people find businesses that will be useful to them when they move. The global directory is an important listing for many businesses to claim and, in this guide, we’re going to talk you through how you can do just that. Just Landed is useful whether you’re simply building local citations or just want to get found by new customers. Before you get started
Account Creation and verification
Adding a New Listing
What to do if the listing already exists If you see your business listed on justlanded.com but don’t have logins (or have never created one), contact the site’s support. As we already know, all listings are linked to the business email that matches the website domain. That means someone within the business created the existing record. The site’s support team may ask you to prove your relationship to the business and then help you gain access to the listing. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/FT6UKsS Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ It’s widely recognized that overseeing reviews for a single business can pose challenges. However, if your client or business encompasses multiple locations or even hundreds of them, managing reviews becomes significantly more demanding. The sheer volume of reviews, time constraints, and consistency with responses and management practices are enough to trigger premature hair loss. Thankfully, with the right tools and strategy, your client or business can work towards streamlining their review management across multiple locations, and hair loss can be prolonged for at least another few years. Let’s get into it! Why are reviews critical?The benefit of reviews lies in their ability to influence consumer decisions. Reviews build trust, enhance a business’s reputation, and play an essential role in attracting customers. Nearly 80% of people read online reviews and consider them as valuable as a referral from a close friend or family member. Customer reviews are also a ranking factor within the Local Pack. What is different about managing reviews at this sort of scale?Several factors come into play with multi-location review management, which can vary depending on the locations your business may have. Let’s say you monitor reviews for Cafe Mexicali in Colorado. They have five physical locations between Fort Collins and Boulder, five Google Business Profile listings, and profiles on sites like Facebook, Yelp, and Tripadvisor.
Now, let’s say you manage reviews for F45 Training. As of 2023, F45 had almost 650 locations around the US, meaning 650 Google Business Profile listings, Facebook profiles, Yelp, and Tripadvisor listings.
Who manages your reviews?If your client or business has a multi-location SEO strategy, this likely means they are a business with multiple locations spread across a large area or a corporate office with many franchise locations underneath them. It’s essential to understand the two main models for review management. Model 1: A Corporate Team Manages ReviewsThis model refers to a marketing or customer service team managing reviews across multiple platforms or channels for all locations. Your client or business retains control over communications and branding while benefiting from streamlined data tracking through central management. However, a potential drawback is that the business may lack visibility into the unique happenings at individual locations. Delays in response time may occur if location managers take time to communicate with the marketing or service team, especially when handling issues such as negative reviews. For particularly large businesses with hundreds of locations, there’s also a chance this could be done region-by-region. A Centralized Location for Review ManagementIf you’re managing reviews from one centralized team, using a review management tool can give you a birdseye view of all your reviews, along with simple ways to reply, whichever platform those reviews are on. Model 2: Individual Locations Manage Their Own ReviewsThe next model is to have individual locations manage their reviews. Within the franchise model, individual locations often have greater autonomy in shaping their marketing strategies and customer service approaches. While they may need to adhere to strategy guidelines provided by the corporate office, they can promptly view and respond to reviews. Reviews can also be considered feedback, and a manager can make quick changes to address issues at their specific location. The downside to having individual locations manage their reviews is the risk of brand dilution. Instances where certain locations underperform could detract from the overall brand image, especially if they stand out negatively amidst others performing well. Do you have a multi-location review management process?You need a standardized process for managing reviews. It ensures consistency across all locations and channels, fostering brand identity and trust with their customers. It establishes clear roles and responsibilities within your team and ensures that reviews are managed effectively and important issues are addressed quickly. A standard process also helps save time and resources, allowing teams to focus on other marketing and customer service areas. It helps a business grow and expand when a framework that won’t sacrifice quality or consistency is in place. An example of a standardized process could look like this:
Where do you get reviews?The most common review sites are Google Business Profile, Facebook, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Trustpilot. If your client or business has listings on all these, you will want to ensure it manages and monitors reviews on each platform. Each of these platforms has a number of notification settings you can take advantage of. However, doing this at scale can get overwhelming, so consider the best way to centralize and speed up your approach. Google ReviewsGathering all location listings under one account or location group is helpful for handling reviews for multiple locations on Google Business Profile. This makes management smoother and ensures consistency, which is especially valuable for businesses with locations across different states or countries. It is best practice to respond to all the reviews for each location as quickly as possible, and having all locations under one location group helps to streamline the process. However, continually managing and responding to reviews can be a heavy lift, which is where a tool like BrightLocal’s Reputation Manager can be extremely helpful. Build a 5-star Reputation Collect, monitor, and respond to reviews with ease
Get Started with Reputation Manager 14-day Free Trial
Responding promptly to complaints is crucial, and with just a couple of clicks, you can address Google reviews directly from your dashboard without any hassle. Facebook ReviewsFacebook has 2.9 billion active users, with 2 out of 3 visiting local business pages at least once a week, making it an important platform for managing reviews and building a strong online presence. When someone leaves a review on Facebook, you’ll get a notification you can click on to go to the review. To have a business account, you’ll need to have a personal Facebook account attached to it. For a small business, this may be the business owner. For a bigger business, it could be your community manager, customer support, or a whole team. Yelp ReviewsYelp is a great review platform for local businesses, with nearly 50% of customers likely to look at Yelp before reaching out to a business. When managing reviews, ensuring your client or business checks its Yelp inbox is a good habit so they promptly respond to any messages or requests. They can also turn on email notifications to ensure they’ll be alerted when someone sends them a message or leaves a review. Tripadvisor ReviewsTripadvisor is one of the biggest review platforms, with over 1 billion reviews left by travelers to date. Your client or business can easily see reviews left by past customers within the “Respond to Reviews” section of the Yelp Management Center page. Similar to Yelp, your review manager(s) can turn on notifications within their profile to get notified of when someone leaves a review, making it simple to respond to feedback quickly. Trustpilot ReviewsTrustpilot has several tools to help you reply to and filter customer reviews. Navigating the services reviews page can be done by going to Trustpilot Business > Manage reviews > Service reviews > Inbox. From here, you can see any of the reviews left by customers over the last 28 days. They are conveniently filtered by star rating, which makes it easy to prioritize which should be responded to first. How to Get More Reviews for Multiple LocationsGetting reviews for your business is straightforward; you provide a top-tier product, service, or support, and customers will be racing to share their experience in the form of a shiny and new online review… right? If only it were all that simple. Unfortunately, many people won’t leave a review unless they are prompted to or they have had a negative experience. Obtaining reviews across multiple locations can be difficult, but they are significant, especially for local SEO! With automation tools and software, your client or business can send follow-up emails after purchases or service completion, nudging customers to share their thoughts and experiences. They can send text messages to customers’ phones and include prompts in marketing materials or receipts. Additionally, you can include a banner on your website or pin a post on social media to encourage customers to leave a review. This can help ensure that customers know how much their feedback is appreciated. Use customer feedback to turn potential setbacks into future opportunities. Your client or business can enhance customer experience by addressing training issues with their employees, utilizing technology to adapt internal processes, and creating new products or services to better meet their needs. This will create happier customers and better reviews for the business. How to Monitor Reviews at More Than One LocationMonitoring online reviews can be done manually and with software, so it is good to know which your client or business may prefer based on their specific goals and budget. If the business is concerned with budget, a more manual approach may be what they need, and that’s perfectly okay. This can require more time and effort, but it’s not impossible. A manual approach would require periodically checking review platforms and reading through reviews to identify new customer feedback or comments. You can also use a spreadsheet or other document to track reviews at specific locations and actions taken in response to those reviews. While this is a less convenient option, it is still possible to establish a multi-location review management strategy that benefits the business and supports its goals. These manual approaches are where many businesses will start, but as things scale up, they can become incredibly unwieldy to manage. Using Tools to Monitor ReviewsSpecific software can help businesses collect reviews across locations all in one place, making review management more streamlined. Tools like BrightLocal’s Reputation Manager can collate all of your reviews on all your review platforms and for all your locations into a single dashboard. These tools also offer you the ability to add templated replies, helping you maintain brand consistency when you have many people managing review responses. Remember, many other kinds of software and tools have different capabilities and functionalities, and some even use AI, so be sure to research and determine the best fit for your needs before you commit to anything. Harnessing the Power of Efficient Review ManagementHandling reviews on a large scale may seem overwhelming, but with the right tools and a carefully crafted strategy, you can create a review management system custom to your specific business needs. Implementing a new process requires time, so it’s crucial to approach review management with a patient mindset, knowing that success will unfold with the support of the right team and an occasional snack break. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/O6mglJq Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes at franchises and enterprise businesses? Want to learn how to navigate corporate and become a preferred vendor? Or are you just itching to understand what drives the hard-working (often surprisingly small) teams at the heart of franchise management? Introducing Local Search at Scale: Trials & Triumphs, a brand-new series of video interviews in partnership with Steady Demand. Each month, Diamond Google Business Profile Product Expert and Steady Demand owner Ben Fisher takes to the mic to ask a guest about managing local search (and everything else besides) at scale within the USA’s biggest franchises. These are the unsung heroes, the boots on the ground keeping everything moving. You won’t find flash-in-the-pan strategies or the latest fads in marketing—just inspiring stories about the people who really make things happen in the franchise and enterprise world. In this inaugural episode, Ben speaks with SystemForward‘s Jill Villejoin, a seasoned marketing director in the franchise industry. Watch to learn:
About Jill Villejoin Director of Marketing at SystemForward Jill Villejoin, a seasoned marketing director for a franchisor of home service brands, leads strategic initiatives at SystemForward America, driving revenue growth and brand success for franchises like Pop-A-Lock and TemperaturePro. Throughout her career, she has excelled in collaborative leadership, crafting effective marketing programs that resonate with customers and franchisees alike. Jill oversees national-level marketing strategies, training, and business consultation ensuring seamless operations across locations, while also balancing her passion for cooking, coaching softball, and family time as a devoted mother and spouse. Watch the VideoLiked this video? Join us over on BrightLocal’s YouTube channel and subscribe today to be first in line when the next episode drops! Want more Ben Fisher? Check out his original series of articles on enterprise local SEO, Local Search at Scale, which covers everything from dealing with decision-makers to understanding where budgets are most impactful. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/wSspQbU Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ This article is from our Agency Playbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is chapter two of ‘Part One: Pitching and Onboarding’. You can find chapter one on defining your services here. Believe it or not, you’re not the sole agency providing local marketing, SEO, or digital marketing services. Surprising, right? The reality is that you aren’t just competing against a couple of other agencies; you could be competing against hundreds. According to IBISWorld, in 2023, there were 187,705 SEO and Internet Marketing Consultants in the USA. That makes for a very busy space. It also means that setting your agency apart is imperative. You can’t just set up shop, offer the exact same services as others around you, and hope that’s enough. We touched on this briefly in the first part of the Agency Playbook, where we helped you define your positioning. In some cases, it could be as simple as being the only agency specializing in local SEO in your town. In others, it could be the niche you choose to target. Sometimes it isn’t that simple, though. So today, we will hear from agency experts on how they help their agencies stand out from the crowd. We asked each of these experts the same three questions, and here’s what they had to say about getting noticed, creating a unique selling point (USP), and hindsight. We asked each expert the following three questions:
Amanda Jordan Director of Digital Strategy at RicketyRoo Amanda states that the key for RicketyRoo has been being a positive part of the local SEO community, offering true transparency to its clients, and looking ahead. 1. Getting Noticed Honestly, what we do to get noticed is what we tell our clients to do to rank and grow their businesses. We just work on being a positive and impactful part of our community. 2. Developing a USP Blake Denman is the man behind our USP. We are refreshingly transparent and upfront. This isn’t just with our clients but also applies to how we work within our team and present to the industry. 3. Hindsight Focus on the horizon, not the rearview mirror; hindsight is not a guide. We’re focusing on seeing where this road takes us.
Joy Hawkins Owner/President at Sterling Sky For Joy, the key has been tapping into their in-house expertise and properly showcasing it to the world. It’s about being knowledgeable in a noisy way to help bring a strong inbound funnel for their sales. 1. Getting Noticed I think the best sales approach is to have a strong inbound funnel so that you have people contacting you who have already researched you. 2. Developing a USP Our USP is that we are trend leaders in the local SEO space and understand the local algorithms very well. We are often the first to put out case studies about new concepts and ranking factors. We have also discovered and named almost every local algorithm update Google has done in the last decade. The most recent one was the Openness algorithm update, which we shared and got Google to confirm shortly afterward. Our other advantage is that we have a team of well-known experts in the local SEO space. There are nine employees at Sterling Sky that contribute to the Local Search Ranking Factors Study every year. 3. Hindsight I’d probably change nothing. We share a ton of information about SEO tactics we have succeeded with. Some people think this idea of “giving away your secrets” is nuts, but I would argue that it helps identify us as experts and is also the main reason why businesses want to work with us.
Emily Wassell Head of SEO at tmwi Emily says that tmwi focuses a lot on educating its clients. In addition to sharing their knowledge with the wider community, they double down on keeping their clients up-to-date and in the know. For tmwi, it’s all about using this education to help uncover things that many other agencies simply don’t look at and make new processes around it. 1. Getting Noticed SEO still has a reputation as a ‘dark art,’ meaning many brands and marketers have limited trust in SEO services. We do everything agencies should be doing – smart work for clients, entering awards, SEO training and workshops, and creating insights and content to share with the industry. 2. Developing a USP We didn’t want to get boxed in by having a USP for specific sectors, projects, websites, etc. But we do have a unique process for content–our audience-led content strategy offering, Audience and Search Intent Modelling. 3. Hindsight We’re definitely more focused on connecting search optimizations to paid activity now–how can we improve the website and UX, using SEO insights, to get more conversions from the traffic we’re driving? It means we can demonstrate the value of SEO outside of just organic metrics and encourage clients to consider SEO alongside paid media rather than an either/or debate on budgets. Greg Gifford Chief Operating Officer at SearchLab Greg wrote about people being more important than money in a BrightLocal Spotlight in 2023. A few of the tidbits from that piece on how SearchLab sets itself apart highlight how mindset is key: “He [Mark Bealin] talked about true work-life balance. Continuous drive for learning and self-improvement
For more on this, you can read Greg’s Spotlight: ‘People are More Important Than Money’ Be Loud and Plan for the FutureIt may not feel like rocket science, but a common theme from these agency experts is transparency and expertise. You don’t have to be reinventing the wheel or doing anything completely earth-shattering. It can go a long way if your clients and prospective clients can see you by openly sharing your knowledge and expertise. Whether through social media, on a one-on-one basis with clients, at conferences, or simply on your own website, it can go a long way to help set you apart. Look hard at how you can use the experts you have in-house to help tell your unique stories on SEO. Do this, and you’ll not only show you know what you’re doing, but your happy clients will tell others, too. Being true subject-area experts can even stop you from having to work so hard at outbound sales. That being said, looking ahead is important. Put together a robust plan, look at investing in the right people, and then nurture them to be the best they can be. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/GPen0LK Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ This article is from our Agency Playbook—a collection of guides created to help local SEO agencies grow and succeed. It is part of the ‘Pitching and Onboarding’ chapter. The guide takes inspiration from Claire Carlile’s Academy course ‘How to Win Your First Local SEO Client’. Setting up a new local SEO agency is exciting. Being your own boss, working on your terms, and doing things your way is a hard gig to beat. It’s professionally and personally rewarding. One thing it isn’t, though, is easy. Whether you already run an agency but feel it’s time for a reset, want to add local SEO to your other digital offerings, or are a consultant ready to scale up to agency owner, getting started requires considerable upfront planning. The sheer volume of tasks you’ll need to complete before launch day can feel daunting. Many of the decisions you need to make come with a huge side order of pressure. That’s because each decision directly impacts the direction of your new business and its chances of success (or failure). Free Agency Course: How to Win Your First Local SEO Client That’s where we come in. Our Agency Playbook is your blueprint to get your new local SEO agency off the ground. Defining Your ServicesBefore you can successfully launch your business, you need a clear idea of what you’re going to sell. You might think that’s the easy bit. After all, it’s a local SEO agency, so the clue will be in the name, right? Not exactly. In today’s search landscape, local SEO is a broad umbrella term for a rapidly growing range of tactics and specialisms. That means you could opt to focus on just one or two niche areas of expertise, such as:
If you read that list and answer, “Check. Check. Check,” you may feel you’re sufficiently experienced and knowledgeable to offer a full-service local SEO solution. When you’re building a new business, it can be tempting to try and do it all. However, it’s essential to consider your strengths and weaknesses and whether you have the budget to fill any skills gaps with freelancers, subcontractors, or full-term hires. That means your options are:
Whether you’re more inclined to be a niche expert or launch a full-service local search marketing agency, there’s another critical question that you’ll need to consider. Do you want to fly solo, or are you interested in building a bigger business with a team of experts working for your agency? Determining what scale you want to achieve is a very personal decision. There’s no right or wrong answer; it comes down to what you want from life. Some people are drawn to the solopreneur lifestyle because they can stay in complete control. Being a solopreneur means you’re only responsible for yourself. You don’t have the pressure of making payroll each month, nor do you have to take on a manager role. It can be the more flexible path, at least initially, and affords a greater amount of personal freedom. That said, if you’re serious about building an agency, bringing in other local SEO experts can help you develop your service portfolio and offer a more comprehensive solution to clients. It also gives you more man-hours and resources, which means you can take on more clients, generate more turnover, deliver better results, and not have to do everything yourself. How to Build and Grow Your Digital Marketing Agency Let expert Greg Gifford show you how to take your agency to the next level, in this course filled with tactics and processes for steady and successful growth. What kind of local businesses will you target?With your business’s organizational structure decided, you can now start to think about who you will sell your services to. This is your client niche, and it can be a whole lot trickier to settle on than it may first appear. Your client niche could be determined by a specific industry, a certain size of business, or a local area. There are a couple of clear advantages to saying that you’re only going to work with this kind of client. Advantage 1: You have the chance to become a big fish in a small pondIf 100% of your efforts and results come from a single sector, you can expect to become an established authority within that vertical. That depth of expertise means your services should become highly prized within that target niche. Let’s say you decide to work only with dentists. With a few happy clients and excellent results, word should soon spread through the dental community. Any dentist looking to grow their local search visibility will know that you can get the job done. There could even be an increased desire to work with you to gain the upper hand over local rivals. Advantage 2: You’ll have a unique insight into search trendsChoosing to work with just one type of client allows you to immerse yourself fully in that sector’s search landscape. You’ll instinctively learn what works and what doesn’t because you’ll work with the same kinds of businesses and keywords daily. Essentially, you’re developing your own substantial back catalog of search algorithm intelligence. This unique insight cuts down on the guesswork associated with running new local SEO campaigns. It allows you to deploy tactics you’ve tried and tested and feel confident they will move the needle in the right direction from day one. And it means you’ll deliver consistently strong results for your clients. Advantage 3: As a specialist, you can focus on what you do wellHaving a particular niche—whether that’s an industry you have a particular affinity for or a certain size of client business you prefer to work with—can help you avoid a common trap associated with running a business: spreading yourself too thin. You can focus on what you enjoy and know you do well because you aren’t trying to be all things to all clients. Advantage 4: Day-to-day operations can be streamlinedThere are plenty of practical advantages to having a well-defined niche. Many service providers define their client niche by geographical area. Service businesses like plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians define their niche by radius. Staying within your geographical area can also make day-to-day operations smoother. It makes it much easier to host client meetings, travel to networking events, and pitch to new businesses. Advantage 5: Your marketing and messaging can be tightly focusedKnowing your audience is one of the golden rules of successful marketing. For your sales and marketing efforts to resonate, you need to understand who you’re talking to and what their challenges are. You should be able to clearly articulate how you can help them specifically. If you don’t have a niche:
A real estate agent, for example, will have different priorities than a mom-and-pop convenience store. A veterinarian won’t be looking to solve the same search problems as a locksmith. A restaurant will expect different results from a lawyer. Only by having a clear idea of your audience will your marketing and sales messaging hit their mark. Despite these clear advantages, there are some pitfalls to deciding on a client niche. Pitfall 1: Your niche is too narrowWhile there are genuine benefits to having an area of expertise, your niche must be able to sustain your new agency. There must be enough of those kinds of businesses to keep your business in business. You could quickly run out of clients if your focus is too specific. Opting to only work with surf shops in Nevada, for instance. Pitfall 2: Industry downturns will impact your business tooIf your agency focuses on a particular industry or a specific type of business, any downturn in that vertical will also hit your business hard. A change in that market could render your services no longer required, jeopardizing your entire agency business. While that may seem like an extreme scenario, you only have to cast your mind back to the industries entirely shut down by the pandemic or made obsolete by the surge in online services to understand how quickly things can change. Pitfall 3: Too many clients request non-competition clausesBeing super successful in your niche is a beautiful thing—your clients know they can trust you to deliver results. But what happens when they don’t want you delivering those same results for their main rival across town? Having a client with a non-competition clause could put dozens of other businesses out of bounds in one fell swoop. You can’t afford for your niche to be too narrow that you run out of new clients you’re permitted to work with. Taking on the Pricing ConundrumIf there’s one thing guaranteed to keep any business owner awake at night, it’s cash. Setting your agency pricing model is no small feat, and it’s also far from straightforward. As a new business, you may be tempted to price your services lower to attract clients. That could mean you need to charge more to cover your overheads and make a profit. You could be toying with charging more to value your skillset. But set the bar too high, and you could price yourself out of the game before you begin. The key to creating a sustainable pricing model that reflects the value you bring to your clients, keeps the lights on, and doesn’t send prospects running for the hills is to work systematically and impartially through the process. Step 1: Decide on Your Pricing ModelThere are many different pricing models for SEO and digital marketing agencies. You need to decide what yours will be. Will you charge per hour or go for a fixed monthly or quarterly retainer? An hourly rate can initially seem more affordable for clients, but it’s also less transparent and makes budgeting much harder. You may also find it harder to make financial forecasts and plan as the hours you bill (and therefore how much you make) will likely fluctuate monthly. A fixed fee can initially be off-putting for some businesses, especially smaller enterprises. It may feel like a big commitment, but it should be a much more precise cost to manage each month. A monthly or quarterly retainer also gives you some security and certainty, so you can accurately forecast turnover or confidently take on a new staff member. Some service providers operate a pay-on-results model. This is perhaps the most difficult model to understand as a client and local SEO agency. It requires a lot of forward planning because you’ll need to have an ironclad agreement in place that clearly defines the result being targeted, what that success looks like in practice, and how long it will take. You’ll also need to clearly understand how long the desired outcome will likely take and ensure that the input costs don’t outweigh the reward. Step 2: Work Backwards From ThereOnce you know how you will charge, you can start to think about what you will charge.
Carving out Your Place in the MarketLocal SEO is a competitive space. You must be clear on your market position to ensure you stand out. This goes beyond your niche. It isn’t just about what you do and who you serve. It’s more nuanced. It’s about storytelling and weaving a compelling narrative that helps your target market understand your value and what makes you different. Your Positioning StatementWriting a positioning statement is an excellent way to focus your thinking and clarify your mission. It is a very short piece of text (around three sentences or so), but don’t be fooled. Less can be surprisingly more difficult. To create yours:
Once you have formulated this statement, you’ll be able to clearly convey what you bring to the table, how you can help your clients succeed, and how your solution differs from competitors. You can refer to this document anytime you need to center yourself and check whether you’re continuing on the right path. Generating LeadsLead generation is one of those jobs that you can never tick off your to-do list as an agency owner. But, as a local SEO practitioner, the good news is that you’ll already be well-qualified to market your agency’s offerings. It should go without saying that many of the tactics and methods you use to boost your client’s search visibility should be applied to your own business:
Generating leads is often about sharing your expertise and offering your insight. There’s an educational aspect that not only provides useful information to your prospects but also allows you to showcase your expertise. This doesn’t just build trust in your agency; it can also build goodwill. Aside from the local SEO tactics you already know and are proficient in, there are many other ways to generate leads. Raising your local visibility can make a huge impact. Why not host a free seminar for local businesses within your client niche? You could also donate your time to a local non-profit in return for a testimonial or reference on their website. If you’re confident in front of the camera or happy to appear online, another great tactic is to approach local media about guest author spots. You could also consider creating a presence on one of the many on-demand platforms. These platforms already have a volume of traffic you can benefit from, and you can instantly connect with local businesses actively looking for local SEO solutions. This is also a great way to quickly build up a store of reviews, which you can then use as social proof to generate additional leads for your new local SEO agency business. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/9VWZuzt Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/
Click to set custom HTML
Local citations are known to be a top five local search ranking factor. As such, they’re a vital local SEO tool for any local business. They also have the added advantage of reaching consumers who may not otherwise have come across your products and services. In addition to their usefulness as a discovery medium and their ability to drive online and physical foot traffic, business listings bolster trust. Regardless of your specific industry or sector, multiple individual citations serve to validate the accuracy of your business and location data. What is a listing?Often referred to as NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) a citation is any online mention of your core business information. They can appear in a range of locations and include various other information. Why are local Austrian listings important?Local listings signal that you have a local presence in Austria. That not only helps to boost local search visibility, it also attracts local consumers to your business. Building Austrian ListingsGerman might be the official language of Austria, but numerous other languages, including English, Bavarian, Hungarian, Serbian, and Turkish, are all widely spoken. That can make life especially tricky for anyone creating Austrian business listings as you may need to switch between languages when moving from one citation site to the next. Austria Citation List
Get Citations Done Fast... and Own Your Listings Forever No recurring fees. Complete Control. Super-low cost.
Get Started with Citation Builder Start Your Free Account
via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/7qtk2NA Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ In dental marketing, “dental SEO” is a term you’ve probably heard repeatedly… and there’s a good reason for that. While it’s true that paid ads can kickstart your visibility, social media can enhance your brand, and postcards can help with local awareness, SEO stands out as a cornerstone of dental marketing. It’s not just a one-time tactic; it’s a long-term investment in the online future of a dental practice, and that’s how we, as marketers, need to explain it to dentists. Dental SEO is about laying down roots that will support growth for years to come, ensuring that when people search for dental services in their local area, they find your client’s practice first. For me, SEO has one primary goal. It’s about ensuring your client’s practice is visible and appealing to those looking for dental services. Most importantly, it is not only about getting as much traffic as possible but also getting the right kind of traffic to bring in the right kinds of patients. What is dental SEO?SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, involves enhancing a website’s content and the business’s overall online footprint to ensure it gets top billing from search engines like Google when someone searches for a specific query or service. For dental practices, this means optimizing your online presence to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) whenever someone looks up dental-related services. For dentists, it’s not even just traditional SEO you need to focus on. Local SEO and its slightly different tactics must be a significant consideration for dental marketers. Imagine someone in your city searching for “Dentists near me” or “dental implants near me.” The sites in the map pack or top search results have the most effective SEO and will likely attract the most patients online. Search engines aim to deliver users the most accurate and relevant answers that match the intent of what is being searched. They shy away from showing incorrect, outdated, or unclear information. Your goal as a dental marketer is to prove to these search engines that your client is the premier source of information and deserves to be on the first page of results. This does not happen overnight; it is earned by consistently providing value to users. Don’t try to game the system; be careful of SEO scams. Do your research, put in the effort, and create authority for your clients that Google and other search engines simply can’t ignore. This means focusing not only on traditional SEO efforts but also on how your client looks and how they will be perceived by potential patients online. Why is local SEO important for dental practices?Remember the last time you clicked on page 3 or 4 of Google to find an answer? Me neither… and that’s all you need to know. If you need more help convincing a dentist, here’s some data proving why local SEO for dentists is essential:
This data, along with how we know the internet is used daily, makes it very clear that making sure your client ranks in the top 5 results of Google will be the difference between getting organic traffic and not. And, with local searches, the local pack defaults to showing just three sites in the local pack at the top of the search results. Dental Marketer’s SEO ChecklistHere is a checklist to follow as you conquer local SEO for dentists. Below, we go in-depth on each of these areas.
Six Local SEO Tasks for Dental MarketersOver the past four years, I have been fortunate enough to implement SEO for over 100 dental practices throughout the United States. At Pain-Free Dental Marketing, we have developed a state-of-the-art process that has been proven to show results through trial and error. An important lesson I have learned is that you need to look at the different areas of dental SEO as building blocks. You can’t start with this, if you have not laid the foundation for that. Make sense? Why would you focus on getting more traffic if the page looks terrible? Why would you ask for reviews if your Google Business Profile looks empty or start building citations if you don’t have a website yet? First, lay the foundation, then build your home. Here’s how to approach dental SEO strategically: Do Your Research, Understand Your Competition, and Create a PlanYou can’t implement local SEO for dentists without a roadmap or understanding of what you want to achieve. This is crucial because it will help you as a marketer to measure success and allow you to communicate it to your clients. If strategy and success are not defined, you not only lack the ability to express what you will be doing for the dental practice, but it will also be challenging to determine if you were successful. Here are some initial steps to help you understand what you need to do: Do Your Keyword ResearchThe foundation of a successful SEO strategy is built on understanding what potential patients are searching for. This step is all about identifying the right terms and phrases that resonate with the needs and queries of your target audience. Think of it as choosing the right tools before performing a dental procedure. Keyword research is also not just about finding the keywords with the most volume but finding collections of keywords that can work together. This includes using long-tail keywords that can aid in your efforts to reach more traffic and link back to your core pages to increase their authority. You can find long-tail keywords in the FAQ and People Also Asked sections; you can also use the auto-complete feature to see what Google suggests. Tip! Tools like Answer The Public, Keywords People Use, Glimpse, All in Title, and AlsoAsked can speed this up significantly. Find which one you like best, but they all have free options, which I use as needed. Understand Your CompetitionKnowing who you’re up against can provide invaluable insights. By analyzing your competitors’ online strategies, you can identify opportunities to differentiate your client’s practice and find your unique space in the dental market. When you see a competitor ranking first for a keyword, it means they did something right. Google is literally telling you; “This is what I like!”. It’s your job as a dental marketer to figure out what Google likes about the page, how to recreate it, and make it better! GBP Audit Gives You the Lowdown on Your Competitors BrightLocal’s GBP Audit is an invaluable tool for looking at how you are doing against your competitors. Uncover what you need to do to make your Google Business Profile compete. Create a PlanWith solid keyword research and a clear understanding of your competition and how you would like to out-compete them, it’s time to craft a plan. This strategy should aim to improve your client’s online visibility and resonate with your practice’s unique voice, values, and how they are seen online. SEO is as much about what you look like online as it is about ranking high and getting traffic. After all, in the vast world of online marketing, a personalized touch can make all the difference. Even if you are ranked third, if you look better, you could still get the click before those displayed above you. Google Business Profile OptimizationNow that you have a plan, it’s time to start with local SEO efforts that will have the biggest impact as quickly as possible. That’s where a Google Business Profile (GBP) can make all the difference. A Google Business Profile should be at the core of your dental SEO strategy because it’s one of the first things potential patients will see, often even before the website. It also has its own ranking potential and can help give some visibility to a dental practice if, at first, you struggle to rank the website. If you have not yet claimed or created a Google Business Profile for the dental practice, immediately stop what you are doing and do that right now! Avoid doing verification via the post as it can take a long time. Do verification via the office number or the business video. Now you’re verified, it’s time to start optimizing. Step 1: Optimize Your Business InformationFill out every section of your profile with detailed and accurate information. This includes your practice’s name, address, phone number, and website. Consistency is key, as it helps Google understand and trust your business, improving your visibility. In the business description, use the keywords you found that have enough volume and will draw in patients, but make sure your description still makes sense for a human to read. Add services, when the business was founded, any special features, products, social media links, literally add as much helpful information as possible.
Step 2: Select the Right CategoriesGBP categories help potential patients find your services when they’re searching for specific dental needs, like “cosmetic dentistry” or “pediatric dentist.” Be as specific as possible to stand out in the right searches. Step 3: Use High-Quality PhotosVisuals make a big difference. Upload high-quality photos of the practice, the team, and before-and-after shots of patients (with their consent).
Photos can help your listing stand out and give potential patients a glimpse of the welcoming environment you offer. They can help put a worried customer at ease. Updated, high-quality photos are so important. It does not help if your client ranks number one, but the pictures look outdated or unprofessional. Nobody will click on it, which means all your efforts will be wasted. This ties back to what I said about making the brand visually appealing to potential patients. Step 4: Post Regular UpdatesUse the posts feature to share updates, offers, and news about your practice. Regular posts keep your profile active and engaging, showing potential patients your practice is bustling and up-to-date. You also need to make sure that you’re posting new images regularly. Step 5: Reviews, Reviews, Reviews! Reviews are the rocket of dental marketing and a cornerstone of your GBP’s effectiveness. Encourage satisfied patients to leave positive feedback with keywords and respond professionally to all reviews.
This not only shows potential patients that you value feedback but also can improve your search rankings. Build a 5-star Reputation Collect, monitor, and respond to reviews with ease
Get Started with Reputation Manager 14-day Free Trial
Google Search Console and Understanding Your Dental WebsiteMany marketers think you need a plethora of different software to track the success of your SEO for dentists. The truth is that Google Search Console (GSC) is an excellent starting point and one of the best tools in your digital toolbox. GSC is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results. For a dental marketer, understanding and utilizing Google Search Console is akin to having a high-powered dental X-ray machine that sees not just the surface but deep into the health of your website’s visibility online. Here’s what you need to do:
On-Page and Technical SEO for Dental WebsitesNow that you have the essentials in place, it’s time to start looking at your website. You might be thinking I’m crazy for only getting to the website now, but remember, we needed a plan first. Then, as a dentist is a local business, we had to make sure the Google Business Profile was optimized for the local pack, and then we used Google search console to understand how Google interacts with your website. Now, we get to work on the website itself. On-Page SEOOn-page SEO refers to optimizing individual web pages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. It involves both the content and the HTML source code of a page. For dental marketing, on-page SEO is crucial because it helps search engines understand the content of your website and its relevance to search queries, especially those related to the dental services your client values. While many SEO specialists bucket all kinds of categories into on-page SEO, I have only seen a few factors that truly impact how your website performs: 1. High-Quality ContentYou have probably heard this a thousand times before, but it’s true. If we ask ourselves what the most basic function of Google and other search engines is, it’s to provide users with the information they seek. You must ensure that your dental website provides valuable information on all your client’s services. I often see dental websites with no service pages or location pages, which makes me go crazy. To target a dental service, it needs its own page! Important: You can’t rank for a keyword by mentioning it once on the homepage of your website. You need to be creating topical authority to really make a difference. The only way to create topical authority is to produce high-quality content in all forms (written, graphics, banners, videos, pictures) that answer any and every question potential dental patients have. You can also learn more about Google’s E-E-A-T policy for content here. An essential element of Google’s E-E-A-T is showcasing your authority and expertise. Dental practices will have in-house experts; their dentists! You should be using them to help you create genuinely authoritative content, whether it’s Q&As or guides. 2. Keyword OptimizationIf you followed my steps correctly, you should understand what keywords people are searching for, how people find your client’s website, and what services the dentist would like to rank better for. Now you know the keywords you would like to rank for; you can start weaving them into your website’s content. Use variations of keywords, write multiple pages that speak about the service in different ways, and create internal links to help the user find the info they need. It’s as simple as that. Too often, dental marketers get so focused on how many times you use a keyword and where instead of just writing a really good piece of content. Of course, apply basic SEO best practices to ensure keywords are represented in your headings as needed, but it is more important to have good content with keywords sprinkled in vs. lots of keywords with some basic content. Concentrate on Topics, not individual keywords. Important: Do not target the same keyword for multiple pages. Doing this risks cannibalization. Instead, create what I like to call a “pillar page” and see that page as the one you would like to rank highest for. You can then build supporting pages with variations of the same keyword or long-tail keywords that you link out to, making the pillar page more valuable. That’s basically why Wikipedia is so successful. Write a great page on a dental service, then link to other more in-depth pages on your website for those who want to learn more about specific aspects of the topic. For example, I have a veneers page; I briefly mention the benefits in a paragraph. I will then add: “If you want to understand all of the benefits of veneers, you can do so here.”, with a link to a page that sits in the veneers subfolder, going into more details on that specific subject. Google will understand this and recognize that your pillar page provides value because it provides users the opportunity to explore the topic more. 3. Optimizing Meta Tags and DescriptionsEnsure that each page has a unique title tag and meta description that accurately describes the content of the page. These elements not only help search engines understand the topic of each page but also serve as a first impression for users in search result pages. Use your title to stand out. Don’t just go for the same title as the page. This is your chance to grab your potential customer’s attention in the SERPs. Use a featured image that will grab a patient’s attention. Technical SEOTechnical SEO means ensuring that your dental practice’s website is not only visible but also easily accessible to both search engines and potential patients. Without the necessary technical SEO, you could add new pages to your website, and nobody will ever see them. Or you could write the perfect piece of content, but the page takes too long to load, so nobody sticks around to see it. These are just two examples, but you catch my drift. Here are the top technical SEO tactics I recommend to dental marketers: 1. Website Health & PerformanceWe all hate a slow website, as does Google because it impacts the user experience. You must ensure a website has fast load times, mobile-friendliness, and secure connections via HTTPS. As marketers, we know these factors influence user experience and search engine rankings.
Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can be invaluable for diagnosing and improving website performance. I did some research on what has the biggest impact on website speed, and it actually has nothing to do with the website itself. Hosting is one of the most important factors that influence the speed of your website. If the website you are working on is hosted on unreliable or unresponsive servers, it will directly impact how Google interacts with your website and, therefore, your SEO efforts. Search Engine Journal has gone into more detail on that here. Other things can affect your page load time, like the size of your images or even plugins. Consider doing an audit of all of this and actioning anything you can, like old plugins or lazy loading. 2. Structured Data for Enhanced VisibilityStructured data is a powerful tool for improving a dental practice’s appearance in search results. By implementing schema markup for local businesses, we can help search engines understand and display important information about dental practices, such as services offered, hours of operation, and patient reviews. This can enhance visibility in local search results, making your clients more findable and appealing to potential patients. We make use of SchemaPro, but there are all sorts of different ways for you to implement your local schema. 3. Submit Sitemap to GoogleAn XML sitemap is like a map for your website. It tells Google about your important pages and where they are. This is helpful, especially if your website has many pages or is not connected very well. A sitemap and strategic internal linking are sure ways for Google to crawl your website effectively. Google has guidelines on how to create and submit a sitemap. 4. Optimize Your Site ArchitectureA website has many pages. It’s important to arrange these pages so search engines can easily discover and go through them. This is where the organization of your site, also known as your website’s information architecture, plays a role. This will also help with how potential patients navigate the dental website. You need to pave the way to ensure the site structure makes sense and flows in a productive way. The three things I know most patients care about are who’s the dentist, what this will cost me, the insurance questions, and finally, how I can contact this office. This is just an example, but you should apply this framework to your service pages and how you implement internal links. 5. Target Keywords in Your URLThis might seem insignificant, but I believe every bit counts when it comes to dental SEO. Anything I can do to beat my competitors is a step closer to a new patient. Ensure you use keywords in your URL, and don’t make them too long. Google does not like generic URLs. You should also not include numbers unless it is absolutely necessary. Build Citations to Increase Online AuthorityWhen it comes to citations, I always like to use the following example: If today I told you my name is Ian, here is my address and number, call me anytime. Then, the next time I see you, l tell you my name is Michael, with a different number. The third time I see you, I tell you my name is John. And so on. Eventually, you will think I am either crazy or simply untrustworthy. Why should Google trust your client if their business information is incorrect across multiple platforms and directories? By consistently listing a dental practice’s name, address, phone number (NAP), and website across various online directories and platforms, these citations help increase the practice’s visibility on search engines like Google. This is crucial for attracting local patients searching for dental services in their area. Furthermore, citations contribute to the credibility and legitimacy of a dental practice in the digital realm, reassuring both Google and potential patients of the practice’s established presence. Google uses citations as a vote of confidence that you are who you say you are and that the business you are marketing exists. Building citations has always been a crucial part of my dental marketing strategy and something I recommend to all marketers focussing on local SEO for dentists. Brightlocal has been my favorite tool for doing this, making it easy for me to manage over 100 dental practices simultaneously. Get Citations Done Fast... and Own Your Listings Forever No recurring fees. Complete Control. Super-low cost.
Get Started with Citation Builder Start Your Free Account
Multilocation Practices Vs. Single Location DentistsWhether your client has one or multiple dental practices will make a difference in how you implement dental SEO. It is not so much a change in what you need to do but how you will implement it to be effective locally. Multiple Locations, One WebsiteBefore we start, I want to share this: One of the most challenging questions I have gotten over the years was, “I would like to draw in patients from a town 30 minutes away. How can we do that with SEO?”. My response always starts the same. We can begin to target another town with new pages, but Google search results will always show the user a business located in that town/city over a different practice that is 30 minutes away. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Why would Google make me drive 30 minutes to a business when I have multiple other businesses that can provide me with the same services within 10 minutes of my location? I say this because you need to understand this principle to implement SEO for a practice with multiple locations. Local SEO is all about, you guessed it, local. You need to prove to Google that your business is an option for that community and the best option available. To do this, each location will need its own website or, at the very least, a dedicated page on your site to target the branch and the town/city it is in. You can’t have a website that simply mentions the different locations in these areas. This will not be enough to compete with another practice with an entire website targeting that local area. So, if you have a single website for multiple locations, make sure you have separate pages that provide a detailed look at each practice with additional service pages that link to the services you provide in that town. You also need to target local dental service keywords on those pages and share reviews from that location, etc. I know Google ranks location-specific pages better because the only URL that I would get to rank successfully was the page dedicated to that town. No other page on the website would appear in that town because Google did not associate the rest of the website with the town/city we were targeting. Here’s an example of how to do this. Pro Tip: You also need to make sure that a Google Business Profile is created for each location, and you can link back to the location-specific page to help with SEO. You’ll also want to make sure that each individual location has its own Google Business Profile and that you’re managing them all as their own entity. Putting all your time into one branch’s GBP won’t help all your other GBPs, for instance. Similarly, you’ll need to build citations for each location, not just your first one, and actively manage your listings. The Smarter Way to Manage Listings Discover a cutting-edge solution for effective listings management
Get Started with Listings Management Start Your Free Account
Best Case ScenarioIn a perfect world, you will need to build a website for each location the dentist has and implement the strategies I have discussed in this article. In my opinion, this gives you the best chance of competing locally and ranking better in Google search results for multiple locations. Differences in SEO for Dentists vs. Other IndustriesNow, you will notice that backlinking was not part of my core strategy for dental SEO. In local SEO for dentists, getting links from other websites (backlinks) isn’t as crucial as we used to think, especially in areas where there aren’t many dental practices competing with each other. In these scenarios, focusing on backlinks might not be the best use of your time. Even Google said back in 2022 that backlinks are less important than they were before. I have found this especially true in areas where there is less competition or other dental practices are not implementing a dental SEO strategy. If the practice you’re doing marketing for is in a smaller city or town where there’s not much competition, you can rank well in search results without worrying too much about getting backlinks. Instead, ensure the Google Business Profile is spot-on and regularly updated, use the right local keywords, update your website regularly with relevant content, build out citations, and encourage happy patients to leave as many reviews as possible. Final Thoughts & AdviceIt’s important to know that this article is not the ultimate solution to dental SEO but rather a look into the most important factors that have made a real difference for the dentists I have worked with over the past few years. When it comes to local SEO for dentists, there is no set formula. It’s about trying different strategies and seeing what works best for you. Different dental offices have different needs and will measure the success of your SEO efforts in different ways.
via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/89ukWLh Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2023
Categories |