SEO for a small local service

Banned 12 years ago

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12 years ago

Here's the thing, I did an Adwords campaign a few months back. My ad was in the top 3 for many of the searches I tried. It was showing to a lot of people, thousands. Very few were clicking thru and out of those people that did go to my website, the call/email rate was close to 0.

When it comes to organic visitors, my call/email rate is pretty high, but with Adwords it was almost non-existent. Other people have told me that is common with Adwords, the close rate is much lower than organic. So that's why I felt I was throwing money away on Adwords and I should be spending it on SEO instead.

Now I am just lost...

Thanks
1 reply

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nik0

Banned 12 years ago

This forum gets more funny by the day.

Sure ranking local is perhaps not as easy as it used to be but impossible or claiming that Google killed it is beyond ridiculous.

Just ranked a web design site in a decent sized city in the US, pretty tough compared to other local businesses.

Thanks
1 reply

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Electrical

12 years ago

Originally Posted by nik0

This forum gets more funny by the day.

Sure ranking local is perhaps not as easy as it used to be but impossible or claiming that Google killed it is beyond ridiculous.

Just ranked a web design site in a decent sized city in the US, pretty tough compared to other local businesses.

FWIW, my website and company come up first or second on the Google Places (Google Maps, Google Local, whatever it's called) part of the results page when searching for "mycity electrician".

However, in the actual results, it doesn't come up until the 3rd page. There is all kinds of other crap coming up before it.

When searching for the other 20 cities I work in, I come up on the 3rd page as well. I'd like to do better. How do I do so?

Thanks
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nik0

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Electrical

FWIW, my website and company come up first or second on the Google Places (Google Maps, Google Local, whatever it's called) part of the results page when searching for "mycity electrician".

However, in the actual results, it doesn't come up until the 3rd page. There is all kinds of other crap coming up before it.

When searching for the other 20 cities I work in, I come up on the 3rd page as well. I'd like to do better. How do I do so?

Build more links then your competitors or improve your onpage SEO, plenty of possibilities.

Thanks
1 reply

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Electrical

12 years ago

Originally Posted by nik0

Build more links then your competitors

I always see this generic answer, but I made this thread to ask "How"? That is the question I am asking, and I gave the reasoning why it's hard in the first post.

Thanks
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nettiapina

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Electrical

I always see this generic answer, but I made this thread to ask "How"? That is the question I am asking, and I gave the reasoning why it's hard in the first post.

You didn't give any specific information about the site, so it's pretty hard to give anything else than a very generic answer. If you want to know about SEO all this social media stuff goes in the "cool story, bro" category. It's not completely irrelevant, but very close.

It could be the on-page problems or lack of proper keywords. It could be weak backlink profile. It could be stiff competition. Or it could be something else.

If you can write a blog you might get hit for some longer keywords. In the best case someone would even link to your articles.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

What's your excuse?

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Electrical 12 years ago

Originally Posted by nettiapina

You didn't give any specific information about the site

No? Did you read the OP?
- Thanks
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- nettiapina 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Electrical
  
  No? Did you read the OP?
  
  Couple of times. The only relevant factoids were that you have a small site, you want to compete in some sort of local search somewhere, and that you can't or don't want to write. And the writing part was actually established much later. This could describe almost every local company trying to get to Google.
  
  In the third post you told that you're a electrician which actually is the most revealing fact yet. If the city is big you could be facing quite severe competition.
  
  I tip my hat to nik0 for offering a pile of good suggestions.
  
  If running a blog seems like something that would benefit your site, you can get articles starting from $10. You provide the specifications, and have someone else write the piece. Also, blog posts don't have to be these long semi-scientific essays you often see. Much shorter will do just fine.
  
  You could take some of your known competitors that do well in Google, and check their backlink profile. This way you'd learn who's linking to them. For example, I learned that one of my competitors was sponsoring an industry event which gave them several high-PR backlinks. (Well, "competitor" might be a bit misleading: I know those guys, and I get my clients elsewhere. But in Google search we're competitors.)
  
  One of my best backlinks is from an industry association, and that's also true for some other companies around here. But it might not work that well in all cases. For example, the local chamber of commerce has a crappy site with zero link power. I wouldn't join for just the backlink, but it's a nice bonus.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
  Signature
  Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
  Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.
  
  What's your excuse?
  
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  Electrical 12 years ago
  
  Thanks for the info. Two questions, how do I check competitor's backlinks? I've used websites to check my own backlinks, but they don't list nearly all the backlinks that are listed in WebMaster Tools. So I assume these services aren't working very well. Do you know of a good one?
  
  Second, how do I know which site linking to a competitor is a high PR site?
  
  Thanks
  
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  nettiapina 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Electrical
  
  So I assume these services aren't working very well. Do you know of a good one?
  
  Second, how do I know which site linking to a competitor is a high PR site?
  
  Well, they're not perfect. I have an account in Majestic SEO, but basically for the reason that it's a bit cheaper than Ahrefs. Those are two of the most well-known competitors in this space. Both can be wildly inaccurate, but they're usually fairly decent. Also you're usually trying to see the big picture, and getting every last link is not that important.
  
  I'm relying more on the Majestic SEOs Trust Metric to see if the backlinking site is any good. You can try to query with Trust Metric descending (from high to low) and Citation Metric ascending to get a list of sites in sort of order of relevance. Low Trust and high Citation is not a good sign. Please note that I'm simplifying this a bit here.
  
  My PR info is from a generic Chrome toolbar addon. It's just something I check by habit, but not exactly something I'd trust.
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
  Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.
  
  What's your excuse?
  
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  Electrical 12 years ago
  
  Why pay $1,000 per month for an SEO pro when I can pay $78 for thousands of backlinks and all kinds of other good stuff?
  
  http://www.warriorforum.com/warriors...ior-forum.html
  
  Thanks
  
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nik0

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Electrical

I always see this generic answer, but I made this thread to ask "How"? That is the question I am asking, and I gave the reasoning why it's hard in the first post.

Let me ask you something back first.

Why do you think most SEO companies charge $500-$1000/month for local SEO?

Perhaps cause it's so easy that it can be explained in one single post? We can agree that's not the case right?

SEO depends on a ton of things, website quality is a huge one, and the way how it's optimized, and that's not just on a page level.

On top of that there is link building. Sure I can say: "Hey, ask your product dealers to link back to you", and try to add links at directory/listing sites in your neighbourhood. But probably you tried that already and often that's far from enough to rank at the top of page one.

So you need more.

The answer? Write great content and contact everyone in your niche to share it with their followers/visitors. But then again we run into a struggle, cause many niches are not that suited for that kind of link building strategies.

The alternative? High PR links from expired domains but then we never stop talking. Is that cause I'm too lazy to explain it all or is that cause you are too lazy to browse the forums and find out that SEO is just a little more then something that can be summarized in one single post.

My short answer would be: Outsouce it, or be prepared to invest a lot of time and fall and stand up in the process. That's how I learned it as well and that's why SEO services are so expensive.

Now you got all your answers and now it's time for you to start learning!

Thanks
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Electrical

12 years ago

Originally Posted by nik0

The answer? Write great content

I talked about this in my first post. I am not a writer, I don't write quality content, I don't sell writing.

It's like the internet has been taken over by bloggers and everything revolves around blogs... I don't get it.

I'm just ranting, my frustration isn't aimed at you.

and contact everyone in your niche to share it with their followers/visitors. But then again we run into a struggle, cause many niches are not that suited for that kind of link building strategies.

Yes, no one cares to talk about the receptacle I installed in their garage or the light I fixed in their bathroom. While I do get decent reviews, no one is going to link my website other than the occasional FaceBook post which is nofollow anyway.

Thanks
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nik0

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Electrical

I talked about this in my first post. I am not a writer, I don't write quality content, I don't sell writing.

It's like the internet has been taken over by bloggers and everything revolves around blogs... I don't get it.

I'm just ranting, my frustration isn't aimed at you.

Yes, no one cares to talk about the receptacle I installed in their garage or the light I fixed in their bathroom. While I do get decent reviews, no one is going to link my website other than the occasional FaceBook post which is nofollow anyway.

The days of free advertising are gone is all I can say.

Adwords costs you money and it didn't convert.

Why not invest that money in an SEO company that is able to rank you to give you traffic that does convert? I ain't going to recommend myself here as your website probably needs a lot of work to change it from one tiny page to something more significant but if organic traffic converts for you, why not spend $1k/month for a solid SEO company that handles every aspect?

Thanks
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Electrical

12 years ago

Originally Posted by nik0

The days of free advertising are gone is all I can say.

Adwords costs you money and it didn't convert.

Why not invest that money in an SEO company that is able to rank you to give you traffic that does convert? I ain't going to recommend myself here as your website probably needs a lot of work to change it from one tiny page to something more significant but if organic traffic converts for you, why not spend $1k/month for a solid SEO company that handles every aspect?

I'm probably going to have to do that, but after a slow Winter I just don't have the budget right now. I was hoping there was somethings that I can do myself.

Here's the thing, and this is why I am complaining (childish, I know). Google says how they want everything organic, yet they setup a system in which I have to pay to get decent rankings. Is that right? The more you pay, the higher your rankings? Isn't that going against their point?

My website is actually pretty decent. I have unique landing pages setup for different cities and different types of service I offer, all with the proper keywords. Yet when you search for "town electrician" I come up on the 3rd page behind a bunch of garbage that has nothing to do with electrician in that town, and I guarantee they all pay money to SEO their page ahead ofmine.

Damn Google! Ok, end rant...

Thanks
1 reply

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nik0

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Electrical

I'm probably going to have to do that, but after a slow Winter I just don't have the budget right now. I was hoping there was somethings that I can do myself.

Here's the thing, and this is why I am complaining (childish, I know). Google says how they want everything organic, yet they setup a system in which I have to pay to get decent rankings. Is that right? The more you pay, the higher your rankings? Isn't that going against their point?

My website is actually pretty decent. I have unique landing pages setup for different cities and different types of service I offer, all with the proper keywords. Yet when you search for "town electrician" I come up on the 3rd page behind a bunch of garbage that has nothing to do with electrician in that town, and I guarantee they all pay money to SEO their page ahead ofmine.

Damn Google! Ok, end rant...

How unique are those landing pages compared to each other? Same info but only the city name replaced? Or are they truly unique written?

If only the city is replaced Google could view it as spun content and thus rank you behind the rest.

Google ain't saying you have to pay for higher rankings, that are my words if you can want a quick fix.

And they don't do such a bad job cause you do rank in the Google Places in your own city right? Job accomplished

You know what you can also do? If those pages outranking you are from Yelp , Superpages, Merchantcircle and such you can get an account there yourself, and then use a cheap link building service to move you to the top, just another way to get the exposure you want.

Thanks

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RedShifted

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Electrical

FWIW, my website and company come up first or second on the Google Places (Google Maps, Google Local, whatever it's called) part of the results page when searching for "mycity electrician".

However, in the actual results, it doesn't come up until the 3rd page. There is all kinds of other crap coming up before it.

When searching for the other 20 cities I work in, I come up on the 3rd page as well. I'd like to do better. How do I do so?

There has been a lot of speculation going around that Google is merging local sites with local listing and deranking your actual site. This has been talked about a lot on Moz and other sites. But I don't see it talked about much on here.

And when I say "merge" thats a bad word. What they do basically is drop your site from the Serps so you don't hog up more than 1 position on page 1. I'm fairly convinced this is what happened with one of my other local sites. But they don't seem to do it for every site because I still see sites ranking along with their local listing.

Just keep in mind if you're building good links, and your site isn't ranking, I highly recommend you stop building links and register a new domain then rank that. Thats what I've been forced to do. I do 1 site to rank in G local, then a separate domain to rank organically. In 1 niche right now I actually have 3 sites. My G local ranking with 1 site, then 2 domains in the top 5.

Good luck. Local isn't as easy or stable as it use to be, but if you're smart you can still get the traffic you need.

-RS

Thanks

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Toyota Hilux Dealer

12 years ago

I'm also trying to rank a general construction contractor's website in Brooklyn, NY and one good advise I received on this forum is to do citation work. Haven't gotten to doing it yet but that is the advise I get most from multiple sources.

Thanks

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nik0

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Electrical

So other than doing things which seem spammy like spinning articles with links to my website, what can I do to get my little page to come up higher in the rankings?

Ok let's give you some constructive anwers as well:

- You can expand your site that it isn't a little page anymore

- You can try to get links at local directories

- You can sponsor events in your neighbourhood to get links from them

- You can make donations to get links from them

- You can buy expired domains, set them up on seperate hosting and link to your site

- You can submit a press release, although that probably won't benefit you much in terms of rankings but at least it gives some exposure and you could even consider to rank the actual press release page as that might be easier if your site deals with issue's already

- You can ask your plumber suppliers for links to your site

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page1co

12 years ago

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Electrical

12 years ago

Originally Posted by page1co

you keep saying you saw no results from ppc

so YOU HAVE LOW CONVERSION CONTENT

content that does not convert

so it doesn't matter what you do really, since ppc failed for you and unless you get a major over haul you are wasting your time IMO

failed ppc means bad content

face it you built it and sent traffic to it and you saw no results

now what part of BAD CONTENT don't you get?

This is incorrect. What I said was that I had very bad close rate from Adwords while I have a very good close rate from organic results.

Your last username was deleted as were all the posts you made in this thread. Please stop with this.

Thanks

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yukon

Banned 12 years ago

You probably don't want to hear this but I'll throw it out there just in case someone else is interested. This is real & it has something to do with a family friend .

There's a local lady that has been doing a toy drive for our town for almost 40 years, has to be in her 80's. She's the average person in town with one exception, she runs that local toy drive every single year at Christmas time like clockwork, never missed a year.

This lady doesn't have a website, If I Google her [name + toy drive] Google returns over 330,000 results in the SERPs. That's a huge amount of local talk about that single toy drive. That's a huge amount of potential backlinks. That's something any business can do. That's something a business can sponsor, & get volunteers to help with the work. You can pretty much bet a local newspaper would pick up that story every single year, which would snowball local links.

No need to do this for 40 years (unless you want to), 3-4+ years would generate a lot of local links while helping local kids at the same time.

BTW, I'm talking about a small town. Imagine the local links on a large city with multiple newspapers.

There's always a way to build links & the quality links that last for years take work. Like I said, If your creative you can get volunteers to do a lot of the work, which is another link in a local newspaper (need toy drive volunteers every year).

Thanks
1 reply

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page1co

12 years ago

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nik0

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by page1co

I GUARANTEE YOU THAT IS WRONG

have you learned how to search properly?

"name toy drive"

now what are the REAL SERP's?

wow, I can put in whatever with my name and find millions of pages about me if I don't exclude stuff that isn't about me at all

haha

learn to search before you say anything about serp's PLEASE

I get 7,500 results for my name + toy drive

(within quotes zero obvious)

But you're missing the point!

Sure, there will probably be only a few dozen people talking about it max but still.

Thanks

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page1co 12 years ago

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- yukon Banned 12 years ago
  
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Electrical

12 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

You probably don't want to hear this but I'll throw it out there just in case someone else is interested. This is real & it has something to do with a family friend .

There's a local lady that has been doing a toy drive for our town for almost 40 years, has to be in her 80's. She's the average person in town with one exception, she runs that local toy drive every single year at Christmas time like clockwork, never missed a year.

This lady doesn't have a website, If I Google her [name + toy drive] Google returns over 330,000 results in the SERPs. That's a huge amount of local talk about that single toy drive. That's a huge amount of potential backlinks. That's something any business can do. That's something a business can sponsor, & get volunteers to help with the work. You can pretty much bet a local newspaper would pick up that story every single year, which would snowball local links.

No need to do this for 40 years (unless you want to), 3-4+ years would generate a lot of local links while helping local kids at the same time.

BTW, I'm talking about a small town. Imagine the local links on a large city with multiple newspapers.

There's always a way to build links & the quality links that last for years take work. Like I said, If your creative you can get volunteers to do a lot of the work, which is another link in a local newspaper (need toy drive volunteers every year).

This is a very good idea.

Thanks

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bluesteele

12 years ago

If you think you have looked after local (citations for example), and aren't sure the what and the how of what is next, the most typical answer is...see what you competitors are doing, do what they are doing well better. Oldest "trick" in the book, and highly recommended.

As to answer your what should I build? How should I build it? questions...I would point you in this direction:

Link Building Tactics - The Complete List
Link Building: The Definitive Guide

Thanks

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The Links You Never Thought You Needed - LOGANIX

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affilorama-portal

12 years ago

I must agree that a huge factor in ranking your local site is to do local citations. I also suggest you analyze your competitors' sites and check their backlinks- that would pretty much give you an idea where they are building backlinks. Good luck

Thanks

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robertstephenl85

12 years ago

I always prefer you to do SEO if you can. It will help you to get rank for your site on search engine. After that you will get what you want.
Thanks

Thanks

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anoopsparx

12 years ago

Try to focus on local business listing in Google, Local Directory and Government sites. Participate in Local Trade shows. Add review and video in Website. It will help you more in lead generation. let me know if you are looking for local seo services for your website.

Thanks

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EsferaSoft

12 years ago

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MathewJonns 12 years ago

First thing, you should check content of your website. It should describe your services properly.
- Create citations with Google by submitting your business in Local business directories like yellowpages, Kudzu, Judysbook and many more. Try to keep these profiles 100% complete.
- Post some positive reviews to these websites. Google creates citations with these websites and share reviews from these websites as well.
- Optimize your social media profile pages by posting unique content daily (Use Hash Tag).
- Create a video for your business services and optimize this for locally targeted keywords.

Hope this will help you to rank your website.
- Thanks
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SEO for a small local service

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