The One-Sitting Guide to Effective Local SEO
How to Get More Visible to Customers in the Local Search Results
4th Edition
Who you are
You own, work for, or work with a business that needs more local customers, clients, or patients. You’re probably focused on getting more visible in Google’s local search results. But above all you want to get more
business online, and in a way that doesn’t require a monster advertising budget. You’re not sure what to do next, what advice to try, what's involved, what the alternatives are, or what to expect.
Who I am
My name’s Phil Rozek. I help business owners on local SEO and other projects they dread. I’ve been in this field since 2008 - when both the “local map” and the concept of local SEO were in diapers. I’m known for
clear and practical advice, and for solving stubborn problems. Believe it or not, this is a fascinating and sometimes fun career (at least for me), and I'm blessed to do it for a living.
By the way, why am I giving you a free guide on local SEO, if that’s also what I get paid for? Because a give-before-you-get approach has brought me good fortune, and because it doesn't require any more of my
time to share info I've already jotted down. You can always get my help if you want it. In the meantime you get my best advice, so if you want to help yourself, the guide is all you need.
Why are you reading this?
You want clear direction on how to do your own local SEO effectively - meaning you grow your rankings and get more customers out of the deal. You don’t have time to do it wrong, hire the wrong company, or
muck through those gibbering “Ultimate” guides to local SEO.
Why is the guide in this format?
Because it’s quickest for you to understand and to act on. The alternatives are wordy blog posts that make you feel like you’re in the snow-covered hedge maze in The Shining, and checklists that gloss over
important points and make local SEO seem to be a paint-by-numbers process.
How to get the most out of this guide
I have no idea how much you know about local SEO, or about any other area of online marketing. That’s why I designed my guide to help you whether you’re an old-timer, or new to it all, or somewhere in the
middle. Some suggestions on how to get the most out of this guide:
a. Check out the resources I link to (in column D) for more detail if you'd like to know more about any step. Rather than make you muck through a 200-page guide, I've linked to further reading so YOU can decide
how much detail is the right amount. Most of those resources are blog posts I've written, which typically explain a strategy or concept in more detail than I can (or need to) shoehorn into the guide.
b. Read it while you’re online, preferably in Google Sheets, so you can pull up the color-commentary resources if you want to. If you don't do that, I suggest downloading it as a PDF.
c. Don’t try to understand everything before doing anything. Read through the guide (yes, you can easily do that in one sitting, as the name suggests) work on a couple of the steps, cross them off if possible, and
revisit the guide and work on a couple more steps.
d. Work on the steps over time. Some steps you can only do long-term. Local SEO is a marathon.
e. You can email me (phil@[Link]) if you have a quick question or two.
# One-time steps Brief explanation Read more info at
1 Look for risks in your current strategy, like violating Shortcuts can work great until they don't. If your ranking strategy seems easy or surefire, Local Search Rankings Dropped? Follow These 10 Most-Useful
the GMB guidelines, buying cheap links, etc. think about what the less-attractive backup plan is, and then either try that first or be ready Troubleshooting SOPs
to switch to it in case Plan A goes up in smoke.
2 Focus on a niche now if possible, and rebrand ASAP if Local SEO is easier when you specialize rather than compete with everybody. Also, the name Generic, Local-SEO-Friendly Business Names: the Pros and
you plan to rebrand as part of your new focus. of your GMB page does affect rankings. For more-niche search terms you can usually rank Cons of Using One
across more geography, because Google has fewer options to show nearby.
3 Install Google Search Console, or make sure it's Use the "Performance" area of Search Console to see what parts of your SEO work, and to [Link]/webmasters/answer/9128669?hl=en
collecting data. troubleshoot rankings drops. Make sure it's collecting data BEFORE you need that data.
4 Cut fluff activities - tasks that don't help your efforts Post on Instagram daily or build 300 citations if you want to, but don’t do it to help your Locus Pocus
in any describable way. rankings, because it won’t. You will sink or swim based on how well you execute on the
basics, not on the luxury activities.
5 Consolidate your sites (if applicable). It's hard enough to build, continually develop, and earn good links to ONE site. With more Microsites for Local SEO: the Pros and Cons
sites you spread your work thin. Keep sites that pull their weight. Consider retiring any
others, or at least not working on them for a while.
6 Fatten up the title tags of your most-important pages Hit 1-2 of your highest-priority search terms, at least a couple of the main cities where you 21 Local SEO Moves & Situations I Have Never Seen a Business
with a couple more "money" terms. offer it, maybe a synonym, and maybe the name of your state and/or "Near You." Work your Penalized for
homepage title tag extra hard, because the possible upsides are extra large.
7 Bulk up your homepage with content on each Usually the homepage has the best shot at ranking for the most or toughest terms, and in a Top 10 Ways Local Business Owners Botch the All-Important
service/offering and on your service area(s). variety of cities. But that's less likely if Google doesn't have sufficient content to grab onto. Homepage, and How You Can Get Yours Right
Don't go long just to go long, but because it allows you to go into detail.
8 Add your business's name, address, and phone # to You want Google to be extra clear on the cities or areas you serve or are located in. Add the 10 Guidelines for Putting NAP Info on Your Site for Local SEO
every page of your site. business name and phone # so Google is less likely to reject or edit those fields on your GMB
page. Put all locations' addresses on each page, if applicable.
9 Optimize your Google Business Profile page (create it 9 times out of 10, all you need to do is pick the 1-2 best-fitting categories, point the Your Google My Business Page in 2017: How Hard Is It to Mess
first if necessary). "Website" field to your homepage URL, and show your address on the map unless you're Up?
worried about privacy. There just aren't many moving parts to optimize. (Yes, I know this post is old, but it's still applicable.)
10 Remove or merge any unwanted Google Business Extraneous GBP pages can gum up the rankings of the pages you want to rank, or confuse Can You Merge Two Google Business Profile Listings?
Profile pages. people, or both. You can't remove them yourself at will, but you can ask Google to do this or
that with them.
11 Create or correct your listings on the basic local The basic non-Google sites usually include Yelp, YP, Facebook, BBB, [Link], and [Link].
citation sources. maybe 15 others. One reason they're important is Google looks to those sites to confirm the com/spreadsheets/d/1WMCBnDnIyxVNj3K38WaUmmeR9Iis5Y
info it has on your business. 94Io4oE2XBerg/edit
12 Create or correct your listings on niche (industry- Often you can identify maybe 5 directories that are popular or influential in your industry, or Niche Local Citations Don’t Get Enough Love
specific or local) directories. in your local area. Usually those are worth creating listings on, if possible.
13 Create a page on each service, product, treatment, or If you could do ONE thing on your site to rustle up more visibility and business, creating a Service Pages and Local SEO: 20+ Principles to Make Them
other offering. page on each offering would be it. You can make them rough and simple at first and improve Your Rock-Solid Foundation
them over time. Add plenty of internal links to them.
14 Create a "bio" page for each professional, each These pages can pick up organic rankings for any specialists you may have. Also, if they have 10 Types of Ninja Pages You Can Sneak up the Local Search
focused on his or her area(s) of expertise. their own GMB pages (sometimes a good move), point the "Website" field to their respective Results
bio pages for extra Maps visibility.
15 Get a few Google reviews from customers and sketch Take extreme pains to earn a few great reviews, and then figure out how to make it easier How Should You Ask for Online Reviews? The Pros and Cons of
out a doable system to get more. and more systematic. Don't start off with software or other half-measures. Each Approach
# Long-term, ongoing steps Brief explanation Read more info at
1 Research keywords quickly: sift through reviews, Keyword research is more useful if you've already got some pages up and a trickle of visibility 10 Better Ways to Do Keyword Research for Local SEO
Google Search Console, and competitors' sites. or customers. Use your findings to tune up and expand existing content, and to create more
pages. You'll avoid analysis paralysis, too
2 Expand existing pages with FAQs, reviews, photos, You're not done with pages just because you built them and maybe put a lot of work into Top-3 Local SEO “Content” Wins for People Who Hate to Write
examples of recent work, internal links, etc. them. They'll produce more of what you want if you improve them continually based on
what's landed in your net so far.
3 Create "spin-off" pages on specialized Let's say you're a veterinarian. Don't have only a "Services" page: also make one for each Spin-off Pages: a Bazooka for Your Local SEO
services/offerings and topics. animal. Then also create a page on "Tooth Extractions," "Microchipping," "Deworming," etc.
for EACH animal: dogs, cats, rabbits, dinosaurs, etc.
4 Add more internal links to your highest-priority pages, Google heeds internal links. Some services and pages are higher priorities than others. Link Internal linking for SEO: 9 practices anyone can do
where appropriate. to those in your main menu, in your footer, on your homepage, and on other prominent
pages. Add even more internal links whenever you see another opportunity.
5 Get a higher % of customers to write persuasive Here's the process that usually works best: ask in-person if possible, send an email with a 60+ Questions to Troubleshoot and Fix Your Local Reviews
reviews on Google Maps and an alternate site. polite request and clear instructions, and send a follow-up about a week later. Take a few Strategy
minutes to tailor each request to each customer.
6 Earn a few backlinks from sites relevant to your Most solid links only take a little time or money to get. To get them, you need to look for Dummy Links: Part of a Smart Local SEO Strategy
industry, to your local area, or to both. ways to help or contribute to sites with some relevance to your business. If you skip this
process, otherwise-weak competitors with only a few decent links can beat you handily.
7 Study data in the "Performance" area of Google It's a candy store of data. You'll be amazed at what you can learn by studying the data under The Local SEO Data Jackpot You Missed: Google Analytics –
Search Console. the "Pages" and "Queries" tabs. Look at a long date range (like 12 months), use filters (the Search Console Integration
"+" button), and play around with sorting the columns.
8 Study your toughest local competitors and successful Once in a blue moon a competitor does something smart that you can benefit from, too. You How Can You Tell a Competitor Does Effective Local SEO?
NON-competing businesses in your field. can scrounge many more good ideas if you also look farther away, at visibly strong
businesses that aren't competing with you.
9 Do "spam patrol": find competitors' Google Maps Sift through Maps for competitors who are flouting Google's rules at your expense, and use Google Maps Spam Patrol: Why You Need to Do It, and 10 Tips
spam, report it, and document the process. the "suggest an edit" button to report them. With persistence you can thin the herd. to Make It Doable
10 Leverage any hit blog posts by adding more internal Add a noticeable paragraph in which you state your service area, link to relevant pages with Hit Blog Post but No Local Traffic or Rankings? 7 Ways to Make
links and calls-to-action for locals. more info on your services, and tell would-be customers what they should do next. That Post Help Your Local SEO Effort
11 Leverage your reviews: put them on your site, expand You can't assume people on your site saw your reviews in Google, or that they saw your best The Ridiculous Hidden Power of Local Reviews: Umpteen Ways
or create pages based on them, etc. reviews. Plus, reviews are content you didn't have to write personally. Use them to to Use Them to Get More Business
strengthen existing pages and/or to create new pages.
12 Create and optimize brief YouTube videos on niche Don't try to go "viral" or be fancy. Instead, make quick-and-dirty videos on specialized Using YouTube to Pull More Freight for Your Local SEO
topics AND embed them on your site. questions or topics and rack up views by putting those videos on your site. Within those
parameters, do the videos in whatever way works for you.
13 Cultivate internal resources (logs, checklists, etc.) You should be able to fly and land the plane without a lot of instruments, because you may 30+ Internal Resources Every Serious Local SEO-er Should
instead of paying for software, when possible. not always have them. Also, you'll save a ton of money and get a better sense of what goes Have or Develop
into effective SEO.
14 Develop a few non-Google sources of visibility and Google is not your friend. Even when everything's going well for you, Google is fickle. Local SEO without the Local Map: What Is It?
business. Cultivating non-Google and preferably some offline sources of business may take a while, but
the peace of mind alone is worth the effort.
15 Keep reading my posts and newsletter emails (and get It's easy to overload yourself on so-called "SEO news," or to tune out altogether. Neither [Link]
help personally if you want it). extreme will help you much. My info helps you focus on the biggest problems you've got
now, so you can get back to whatever else you need or want to do.
# Principles of an effective local SEO strategy Brief explanation Find more info at
1 Everything has a cost. What will you put time into? What's the cost of "cheap" help? What is the cost of focusing [Link]/gYfA7IR12ok
on rankings over everything else? Wherever you want to go, the ticket isn't free.
2 You're never "done." The results you want will take peristence to get, protect, and improve on. Doesn't mean you One-Time Work vs. Ongoing Work in Local SEO
should spend all your time on SEO. But it does mean you'll need to keep SEO in mind and
always work an angle, for as long as you want more business.
3 Hit it hard before you're "ready." You'll never understand everything. The landscape will keep changing. Most turns of events 11 Gen. George Patton Quotes That Show His Strategic
and tasks will be a PITA. But that's also the case for your competitors. Get it on. Awesomeness
4 Don't try to outsource everything. Some parts of SEO you must do in-house. For the parts you CAN have someone else do, When Should You Do Your Own Local SEO?
either you can just spend money and hope it works out, or you can handle it yourself, learn a
thing or two, and save money.
5 Do work your competitors won't. The harder you work, the luckier you get. Just as customers need clear reasons to pick you What Parts of Your Local SEO Can Competitors NOT Steal?
over competitors, so does Google.
6 Work on your persuasiveness from the start. Think about what happens after the click. Make your site clearer and better at addressing Secret Weapon of Effective Local SEO: Wordsmithing
would-be customers' questions and concerns. Don't toil for better rankings only to find out
they don't mean more money for you.
7 "Local" SEO is mostly organic SEO. Effective local SEO is organic SEO (i.e. site + backlinks) with 2 basic twists: local listings and Relationship between Local and Organic SEO: a Simple
reviews. If you obsess over Google Maps rankings, not only will your local organic rankings Diagram
be a soft spot, but also your Maps rankings won't be as strong.
8 Create multiple ways to rank for the same term. Often the page you want to rank for a term isn't the page that DOES rank for that term. Also, Thin Local Rankings: Why and How to Think Thick, Not High
if your high-ranking page drops or your Maps rankings drop (or both), you want another page
that's ready to parachute in.
9 Don't just react to others. Finally started outranking a tough competitor? Great! Now keep working. Got a crazy idea, Local SEO Fairy Tale: No Problems = Good Rankings
but don't see any competitors doing it? Be the first and maybe the only. Make your
competitors react to YOU and you'll have the upper hand.
10 Square all SEO ideas with your common sense. All solid SEO strategy makes sense on an intuitive level, if you're clear on what the advice is. Is Your Local SEO Person Shell-Shocked, Gun-Shy, and TOO
If an idea doesn't make sense, there's still a chance it's good, but keep it on a short leash. Afraid of Angering Google? How to Avoid the Phobias
Copyright 2023 Phil Rozek - [Link]
