Learn what SEO is and how it can help a local business, then learn the steps involved to rank higher in online search

1. GET FOUND MADISON
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
FOR SMALL BUSINESSES – WHY AND HOW

2. POTENTIAL LEADS FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES
Your
Network
Word of Mouth
Referrals
Inbound Calls
Walk-ins

3. HOW MANY SEARCHES PER DAY START HERE?
▸ 3.5 Billion
Source: http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/

4. FROM GOOGLE
WHAT PERCENT OF SEARCHES ARE LOCAL?
▸ More than 20% on desktop
▸ 40% on mobile
Source: https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/ads-are-just-answers.html

5. CUSTOMER SEARCHES START HERE

6. AND THEY
END HERE

7. YOUR RANK ON THE RESULTS PAGE MATTERS
Source: https://moz.com/blog/google-organic-click-through-rates-in-2014

8. YOUR RANK ON THE RESULTS PAGE MATTERS
Source: https://moz.com/blog/google-organic-click-through-rates-in-2014

10. THE NEW PHONEBOOK ONLY HAS TEN SPOTS

11. FROM A GOOGLE STUDY
UNDERSTANDING CONSUMERS’ LOCAL SEARCH BEHAVIOR
▸ 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to
find local information

12. FROM A GOOGLE STUDY
UNDERSTANDING CONSUMERS’ LOCAL SEARCH BEHAVIOR
▸ They search on smartphone, computer
and tablet for:
▸ store address
▸ business hours
▸ product availability
▸ directions
▸ phone number

13. ▸ 50% of consumers who conducted a
local search on their smartphone
visited a store within a day
▸ 18% led to a sale that day
FROM A GOOGLE STUDY
UNDERSTANDING CONSUMERS’ LOCAL SEARCH BEHAVIOR
Source: https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/how-advertisers-can-extend-their-relevance-with-searc

14. QUICK REVIEW

15. POTENTIAL LEADS FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES
Network Word of Mouth
Inbound Calls
Walk-ins

16. ▸ People search for local services online
every day
▸ They only click the top results
▸ Then they buy
QUICK REVIEW

17. ▸ It’s worth money to be on the top half
of the first page of results
THEREFORE…

18. SO HOW DOES A BUSINESS GET
TO THE TOP OF THE RESULTS?
(TWO WAYS)

19. RUN GOOGLE ADWORDS AND PAY PER CLICK (PPC)

20. REACH TARGETED TRAFFIC, UNLIKE A TRADITIONAL AD

21. OR RANK “ORGANICALLY” WITH SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

22. JUST LIKE STARTING YOUR BUSINESS NAME WITH AA?

23. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO): THINK LIKE THE SEARCH ENGINE

24. HOW SEARCH ENGINES USED
TO WORK

25. THEY WOULD CRAWL AND INDEX WEB PAGES…

26. HOW WEBSITE OWNERS
REACTED

27. KEYWORD STUFFING

28. HOW SEARCH ENGINES WORK
NOW

29. THEY CRAWL AND INDEX THE WEB’S CONNECTIONS…

30. …AND ASSIGN “PAGE RANK” BASED
ON KEYWORDS AND INCOMING LINKS
(LARRY PAGE OF GOOGLE)

31. BECAUSE THE BEST SITES TEND TO HAVE MORE LINKS TO THEM

32. SO NOW A SEARCH BRINGS UP THE
HIGHEST “PAGE RANK” SITES WITH
RELEVANT KEYWORDS

33. AND GOOGLING “MEN’S HAIRCUT MADISON” BRINGS UP THESE RESULTS

34. WHAT KEYWORDS SHOULD I
TARGET?

35. ▸ Volume: people search them frequently
enough
▸ Intent: they indicate the person searching
is interested in paying for your services
▸ Competition: they aren’t too difficult to
rank on the first page in a local search
TARGET KEYWORDS SHOULD MEET THESE CRITERIA

36. GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER CAN HELP ESTIMATE VOLUME

37. GOOGLE TRENDS CAN ALSO BE USEFUL

38. WHAT DO I DO WITH MY
TARGET KEYWORDS ONCE I
KNOW THEM?

39. ONSITE SEO: RE-VAMP YOUR WEBSITE TO TARGET YOUR KEYWORDS
▸ Create separate pages for
separate services
▸ Include keywords in:
▸ URLs
▸ Titles
▸ Meta Descriptions
▸ Headlines
▸ Photo tags and descriptions
▸ Internal Links

40. WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE
CONNECTIONS TO MY SITE?

41. ENSURE CONSISTENT DIRECTORY LISTINGS ACROSS THE WEB
▸ Standardize how you format:
▸ Name
▸ address
▸ phone #
▸ website
▸ email

42. ENSURE CONSISTENT DIRECTORY LISTINGS ACROSS THE WEB
▸ Then list your business on the
most important directories
▸ Clean up any duplicates
▸ Correct any variations or
inaccuracies

43. CLAIM AND CORRECTLY CATEGORIZE YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS SITE
▸ Build up your reviews
▸ Link back to your website
▸ Include target keywords in
description and photos

44. THEN BEGIN OUTREACH FOR LINKS FROM OTHER WEBSITES
▸ Target pertinent businesses, blogs, or other sites
▸ Partners
▸ Volunteer orgs
▸ Industry associations
▸ Mentions of your brand that aren’t linked
▸ Guest blog opportunities

45. CREATE AND POST UNIQUE, USEFUL CONTENT REGULARLY
▸ Create unique content for others to share
▸ Blog posts on common questions or little known aspects
of your industry
▸ YouTube videos
▸ Before/after pictures of jobs you’ve done

46. HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED
SEO?

47. CLEAR WHAT GOOGLE KNOWS ABOUT YOU, THEN SEARCH FOR
YOUR SERVICES LIKE SOMEONE WHO’S NEVER HEARD OF YOU

48. HOW DO I KNOW SEO IS DOING
ANY GOOD?

49. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS USING METRICS
▸ Average rank for top keywords
▸ Impressions on result pages
▸ Clicks to your site from organic search
▸ Duration spent onsite
▸ First time website visitors
▸ Conversions: how did new customers find you?
▸ Ask in person or by phone, and keep responses in
a spreadsheet by month

50. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS USING METRICS - RANKING

51. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS USING METRICS - TRAFFIC

52. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS USING METRICS – ORGANIC TRAFFIC

53. HOW DO I KNOW MY RETURN
ON INVESTMENT (ROI)?

54. METRICS
MEASURE YOUR MARKETING FUNNEL FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
▸ Bottom is trickiest in local SEO
▸ Number of new leads who found you online
▸ Manually measure in person
▸ Track online if you have a “conversion event”
▸ Book Now!
▸ Call Us!

55. WHAT KIND OF RESULTS CAN I
EXPECT?

56. RESULTS
IT DEPENDS ON HOW COMPETITIVE YOUR LOCAL INDUSTRY IS
▸ Low competition:
▸ the third-place listing has < 5 Google or Yelp reviews or under 10 backlinks
▸ You could start ranking in ~ the top 5 spots in 3-4 months
▸ Medium competition:
▸ the third-place listing has < 10 Google or Yelp reviews and about 10-20 backlinks
▸ You could start ranking in ~ the top 5 spots in 6 months
▸ High competition:
▸ the third-place listing has >10 Google or Yelp reviews and > 20 backlinks
▸ Expect to invest in SEO for a year or more to rank in the top 5

57. WHAT SHOULD I DO FOR MY
OWN SEO?

58. DO-IT-YOURSELF SEO STEPS
▸ Claim your Google My Business page
▸ Add 5-10 good photos with descriptions
▸ Send customers a link to review you on Google
▸ Ensure you have a webpage for each service with 300 words of text,
target keywords and good pictures
▸ List your business information accurately on as many directories as
possible
▸ Blog or post other content regularly
▸ Constantly do outreach for links from other websites

59. HOW DOES AN SEO FIRM
WORK?

60. PROJECTS, MONTHLY RETAINER, HOURLY
▸ Initial Campaign
▸ If you’ve never done SEO before or had limited results
▸ Monthly retainer
▸ If your initial SEO efforts are complete
▸ you want to keep climbing
▸ Hourly
▸ If you just want specific tasks tackled

61. WHAT OTHER QUESTIONS DO
YOU HAVE?