Local SEO Best Practices 2020

Local SEO benefits companies advertise their products and services to local prospects and customers. When it comes to collecting information for local search, search engines rely on signals such as local content, links, social profile pages, and citations to provide the most relevant local results to the user.

Local Search is a need for any online business. To help you optimize your business for local SEO, here we go with the best practices that will cover local SEO tips.

1. Optimize Google My Business:

When you plan to benefit your business by using search engine optimization (SEO), your major focus goes on ranking the website in Google's search results using various content and keyword strategies. There’s a touch of a twist with local SEO and Google My Business. When you search “grocery shops near me,” you’ll view a huge map at the top of your screen with information on shops listed in the main search results such as the name, address, phone number, reviews, etc. for a specific business. 

Many people don’t recognize that the data does not come from the business’s website but from the Google My Business profile page. You are dropping out on a valuable opportunity if you don't have a Google My Business profile. These pages are free and they take around 20 minutes to form: Set Up Your Google My Business Profile Today

Make sure to verify your profile. Verification is important to ensure you’re the owner of your page so that you can do edits to your page in the future. Google will mail you a postcard with a verification code and you’ll need to enter this code in order to verify your profile.

2. Improve Your Internal Linking Structure:

Although external links pointing to your site are perfect, adjusting your internal linking structure will also boost your SEO rankings.

Why internal linking is important? It does the following:

• Supports website navigation
• Assists with data structure and website hierarchy
• Distributes page authority and ranking power amidst pages

3. Improve URL, Title Tags, Headers, Meta Description, and Content:

Whenever you write an article, you need to optimize the content for search engines by using high-volume keywords in the URL, title, header, meta description, and body. Consider highlighting customer success stories and case studies if having trouble coming up with geo-targeted content.

4. Add the Location Page to your Website:

If your business has more than one location, create location pages with your name, address, phone number, store hours, unique store descriptions, parking/transit information, promotions, and testimonials from happy customers.

It's also crucial you avoid duplicating content across multiple location pages. For single-location businesses, create a locally descriptive About Us page and add a Google Map to your website on your respective location page(s).

5. Publish Weekly "Posts" to Your Google My Business Profile 

Publish weekly updates to your Google My Business profile using the “Posts” function. Did you know that posting regularly to Google My Business can have a positive effect on local rankings?  Google’s posting function is alike to social media posts on sites like Facebook and others. You write a short blurb and add a picture. Some ideas for posting updates include Promotions and sales new blog posts quick tips, announcements about brand-new services, current hires, etc.

6. Ask or request For Google Reviews

Reviews are the best ways that your business can stand out from the competition. Specifically, you should strive to have more reviews, higher average ratings, and more frequent reviews. To accomplish this, you’ll need to ask for reviews on a continuous basis. Most businesses struggle to get customer reviews online because it takes effort on your customers’ end to write a review. At the same time, reviews are remarkably essential for building your online reliability and therefore improving your local Google rankings. 

Request your customers for reviews and make the process as easy as possible for every customer to write a review for you. Gaining positive reviews will likely be a slow process, but over time it adds up and will give you a real competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate. 

7. Ensure Your Website is Mobile-friendly

Now in 2020, nearly 60% of online searches are carried out on a mobile device. Many businesses still haven’t adapted. It is necessary to create a mobile-optimized website in order to compete in the local search results.

Local and mobile search go hand in hand. The most common ways people will use your site in a mobile environment are to view reviews, find directions to your location, and search for contact information. Make it simple for your prospects and customers by making your site mobile-friendly.

8. Ensure your Name, Address, and Phone number are up to date Online

A critical factor in local rankings is the flexibility of your business contact information specifically, your business’ Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP). The more regular this data is, the more trust Google will have in displaying your Google My Business profile. 

First, make sure that your business contact information is steady between your website and Google My Business profile. Go to your website and make sure that your contact page and your footer both list your business NAP so that this information matches the information listed on your Google My Business profile. Avoid the usual mistake of only adding the NAP within an image as it can't be crawled from search engines like HTML text.  

9. Optimize Online Directories and Citations

Did you know that a mention of your NAP on another website is called a “citation”? In addition, to make sure your citations are consistent, it’s also important to build up a healthy number of citations, and here are some tips on how to achieve that: 

• Submit Your Business to Directories to Create More Citations

It’s possible your website isn’t being listed on major directories that could give you more citations and could help boost your rankings in Google. Start using the Moz Local search tool to check if you're missing major listings. If you see any opportunities, then simply add all of your business information to the websites. In addition, submit your website to dozens of additional directories to create more citations. 

• Publish Online Press Releases to Create Citations

Another way to create citations is to distribute online press releases. If you have significant news updates, distribute an online press release via a quality press release service. 

10. Get Active On Social Media

There’s been a lot of discussion about whether social media activity is one of the signs Google practices to rank businesses. There’s no doubting the fact that social media is a great possibility to create more exposure and buzz about your business. Social media is also an excellent way to promote the content you’ve created, which in turn can also help you draw more links over time. In addition to being active on social media sites, it's essential to double-check that your social media profiles include consistent NAP information and have detailed keyword-rich descriptions. 

Now that you've carved out a nice Google My Business page, share the page on social media, further aligning social and search.

5 Mistakes to Avoid in Facebook Ads

 

Facebook Ads are the best way to market your products and services on the platforms that your consumers are using the most.

 

The only problem with Facebook Ads is that many people lose a lot of money with Facebook Ads because they don’t know how to use them correctly. In other words, they make many costly mistakes.

 

To avoid budget-draining Facebook advertising mistakes, I’d like to share five of them with you.

 

1. Not Targeting the Right Audience

Facebook allows advertisers to choose groups of people they want their ads to show to while they are using the social network. The groups of people can be based on interests, fields of study, demographics, and behaviors. If you choose the wrong groups of people, you won’t end up with as many conversions as you would if you selected the groups of people who are interested in your products and services.

 

To avoid this mistake, know your audience. Come up with a buyer persona and be as detailed as possible. As you target your Facebook Ads, look back to your buyer persona and choose the interests, demographics, and behaviors that match it.

 
2. Underusing Analytical Tools

Facebook Analytics is amazing as it tells you which ads performed better than others did. You can use this information to hone in on what is effective among your consumers on Facebook.

 

One of the most powerful ways to succeed with Internet marketing is to track your efforts, analyse them, and then improve your strategy. With every fresh strategy, you gain insight into what brings you better conversions.

 

3. Ignoring Custom Audiences

Facebook’s intelligent advertising platform enables you to reach many different audiences, including those who have been to your website before or have purchased from you in the past. These people are warm leads and may just want a reminder to come back to you.

 

Creating a remarketing campaign, you can send specific ads to different groups of people. For example, you can have an ad that asks your blog readers to sign up to join your mailing list. This means you will have a better way to keep in touch with them and bring them back to your site. You can target past consumers by uploading their email addresses to Facebook, and then they will notice your ad with a special offer. Even people who visit one of your landing pages can be targeted, so you can show them again why your services or products are the best.

 

4. Forgetting to Exclude Past Converters

It doesn’t help at all if showing the same ad to people who have already converted. Sadly, this is a blunder that people make all the time.

 

Create a Custom Audience by using the EXCLUDE feature and select people who have already converted. This will save your money and ensure that you’re not wasting time showing your ad to people who have already converted.

 

5. Designing an Ineffective Ad

By learning your audience, you can also figure out what they like best in ads. You can do this by testing different ads (image, text, slideshow, carousel, video, etc.), and then check which ones perform the best.

   

Once you know which ones perform the best, always remember that less is more with ads. You don’t want too much text because people are scrolling their feed, which implies you only have a split second to catch them. The image in your ad has to be striking and send a prompt message.

Are looking out for the latest Facebook Ad templates? Download today the trending freebies that help your Facebook ads to perform better.

Latest Updates on Google Search Console API

Over the past year, Google has been working to upgrade the infrastructure of the Search Console API, and finally, they have announced few updates that would help to enhance the performance of the API as demand increases.

NOTE: If you’re not querying the API yourself, you need not take action.

If you are querying the API for your own data or if you maintain a tool which uses that data (e.g. a WordPress plugin), read on below changes:

1.   Changes on Google Cloud Platform dashboard: you’ll see is a drop in the old API usage report and an increase in the new one.

2.   API key restriction changes: if you have already set API key restrictions, you might need to change them.

3.   Discovery document changes: if you’re querying the API using a third-party API library or querying the Webmasters Discovery Document directly, you will require updating it by the end of the year.

NOTE: The API is backward compatible and there are no changes in scope or functionality.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) changes

In the Google Cloud Console dashboards, you will see a traffic drop for the legacy API and a rise in calls to the new one. This is the same API, just under the new name.

API key restriction changes

These instructions are important only if you query the data yourself or provide a tool that does that for your users.

NOTE: If you have added an API restriction for your API keys, you will need to take action by August 31.

In order to allow your API calls to migrate automatically to the new API infrastructure, you need to make sure the Google Search Console API is not restricted.

->     If your API restrictions are set to “Don’t restrict key” you’re all set.

->     If your API restrictions are set to “Restrict key”, the Search Console API should be checked as shown in the image below.

Discovery document changes

If you’re querying the Search Console API using an external API library or querying the Webmasters API discovery document directly you will require taking action as they would drop the support in the Webmasters discovery document. Google's current plan is to support it until December 31, 2020.

Source: Google

SEO JARGONS : 0 to 9

If you’re a newbie to digital marketing, let me present you to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which serves as STARTERS of Digital Marketing. As SEO keeps on changing and updating, and it's hard to keep up with the lingo! Use our jargon buster to help you understand SEO in-depth!

200 OK - The file request was a success.

Suppose a page/ image found and appropriately loaded in a browser. Some sick, developed content management systems return 200 status codes alike when a file does not exist. The proper return for the file not found is a 404.

 

 

301 Moved Permanently - The file moved permanently to a new location

The best-preferred procedure of redirecting for most web pages. If you will move an entire site to a new position, you might run a file/ folder first, and then if that ranks well, continue with affecting the entire site. It might take anywhere from a few days to a month depending on your site authority and crawl frequency.

 

 

302 Found- Requested URL has altered with another URL

As it relates to SEO, it is usually best to dodge using 302 redirects. Some search engines strive with redirect handling. Because of a poor altering of 302 redirects, some search engines have acknowledged competing businesses to steal the listings of competitors.

 404 Not Found - The server could not find the URL

 

Some content management systems send 404 status codes when documents exist. Ensure files that exist to give a 200 status code, and requests for records that do not exist give a 404 status code. You may also want to audit with your host to see if you can arrange a custom 404 error page which makes it effortless for site visitors to.

 

1. View your most famous and most relevant navigational options

2. Report navigational problems within your site

 

Search engines demand robots.txt file to detect what portions of your site they allow to crawl. Many browsers require a favicon.ico file when loading your site. While neither of these files is necessary, generating them will help keep your log files clean so you can target on whatever other errors your site might have.

An Introduction To SEO and Its History!

We are starting with Explainer videos that will help to learn in-depth about different ingredients used to make Digital Marketing. In this video, you will learn how did the SEO evolve with time. Did you know the first search engine? Watch the full video to learn a brief history of SEO.

8 FREEBIES for Freelancers in 2020

The freelance market is becoming one of the most saturated markets at this moment. Many individuals need the adaptability that comes with working at home, which means that more and more of us are trying to make it at the moment.

Standing out in this very noisy freelancer marketplace can be very challenging. The most important question is how to keep updated with the latest trend as a freelancer so you can get the best clients and be able to charge what you're worth.

So, here are quick 8 hacks that can help to stand out among others in the marketplace. 

1. FACEBOOK AD IDEAS:

If you are a freelancer and would like to start with Facebook Ad Campaigns, then get the secret of winning the Facebook Ads for your business. This ebook consists of peppy ideas to improve visibility and reach of your Facebook Ads with 250+ examples. 

GRAB NOW: Get Inspired with These Winning Facebook Ads

2. 4 E-COMMERCE PROFIT LEVERS:

Take advantage of the 4 E-Commerce Profit Levers if you are a Consultant, Freelancer, or Coach. If you are more inclined towards knowing the different strategies that work best for the E-Commerce domain then this is the perfect webinar to attend. 

UNLOCK NOW: Watch Ecommerce Profit Levers for Coaches Now

3. LANDING PAGE HACKS E-BOOK:

Are you looking for more organized and trending content for your landing page? Get your free ebook for the best writing tips and landing page templates.  Fill me up with content ready landing page templates now.  

DOWNLOAD NOW: Get fool-proof formulas to writing high-converting lead pages 

4. HIGH-CONVERTING LEAD NURTURE EMAILS:

Get mastered with this secret Lead nurture email ebook and turn your subscribers into customers. Unlock the access to this high-converting lead nurture copywriting training now. 

DISCOVER NOW: Discover the secrets to high-converting email campaigns.

5. WEBSITE WORKBOOK:

Set and test your website and track conversions weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly in your workbook. Grab your website goal setting workbook today.

GRAB  NOW: Learn how to make your website work for your business

6. TRAINING ON BUILDING YOUR WEBSITE:

Do you plan to start your own business? Get this free training on how to bring your business into conversion without coding. Unlock this secret ingredient now.

DISCOVER NOW: Discover the secret ingredients to a high-converting website (without knowing code or CSS)

7. FREELANCERS TEMPLATE BUNDLE:

Save time and stress less by effectively making and managing content briefs when you unlock these professional templates for email marketing, blog articles, and press releases. 

UNLOCK NOW: Working with Freelancers Template Bundle

8. 2020 CONTENT CALENDAR:

Better be late than Never. If you still looking for a specific 2020 calendar, then grab this tailor-made calendar that will keep up with your content.

DOWNLOAD NOW: Create your 2020 content calendar in a flash

7 Ways to Improve Your Google Ad Template!

Like many people, you would probably be aware of Google Ads headlines.

 

Just 30 characters required, but it’s the most difficult 30 characters you’ll ever draft.

 

It is necessary to know what matters, which is why it can be remarkably difficult to come up with a powerful headline.

 

The good news is that after you’ve had some practice with writing them, they can be quite easy. It’s literally just identifying what types of headlines work best, and then securing your product or service into it.

 

Let's gear up by writing some strong headlines for Google ads.

 

 

#1: The Question

Example: “Looking for ________?”

It is always great to draw someone's attention with questions that they are looking for on Google. Many individuals feel satisfied when you trigger them with a question related to what they are searching for.

 

#2: Numbers

Example: “________ Ways to ________”

Place a number in the first section. It should be a remarkable one that will attract most people. The second section should be what your product or service commits. For example, if you sell a product that reduces people's stress, your headline possibly “6 Ways to Reduce Stress.”

 

#3: Location

Example: “__________ in __________” or “_________ _________”

This covers "WHAT ARE YOU?" and "WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED?". Place your professional title followed by a location in the first part such as "Lawyer in Toronto." The second part sets the location followed by a professional title, therefore "Toronto Lawyer".

 

Though look simple to work, that’s the plot. Google Ads headlines demand to be easy. You have a blink of an eye to snatch the attention of online searchers, and showing them you are what they are seeking is the best way to do it.

 

#4: Buzzwords

Example: “Get __________ w/ Free Shipping”

Well, this one is quite focused on product-based companies. The buzzwords are get, shipping, and free. These words, along with your, save, online, and you seem to lead to more clicks.

#5: Offer

Example: “Save 20% On Our ________”

Many people love a great deal, particularly those willing to make a purchase. An offer headline catches people’s attention because as they state, “Money talks.”

#6: Leverage FOMO: Use the Countdown Timer

Example: “Winter Boots Sale – Flat 25% Off, Only 2 hours left”

FOMO—fear of missing out—may have only begun the marketing dictionary in 2013, but the trick is much more traditional.

 

Paid search marketers can draw into FOMO by creating a sense of urgency or scarcity, usually through limited-time offers or showcasing peer-group buyers.

 

The Google Ads countdown timer really counts down the days or hours until the end of a special offer. This way your ad has a better chance of knocking out your contenders’. A countdown builds an immediate threat of loss, drawing into psychological beliefs to boost clicks.

 

#7: Mix and Match

This one is more of art instead of just filling in the blanks. Depending on what your main keyword is, you will have between 20 characters and 5 characters to use once you have entered your main keyword.

 

Certainly, if you only have 5 characters left, your choices will be limited. The following list is to get your creative thoughts rolling and come up with the best achievable headlines:

 

Effective headlines are ones that get your target audience clicking through to your landing page. You never know which ones will be the most dominant till you make then live. It is better to do some A/B testing to detect which ones give the best results. Once you know which one gets the most clicks, you’ll be ready to modify those a little to see if it enhances click-through rates even further.

5 Best Email Marketing Campaigns for Small Businesses

What is one of the most useful tools for strengthening your relationship with prospects and customers so that you increase retention, repeat sales, and referrals?

Duh! You do not have to get surprised as most of them will be aware of email marketing.

To clarify, I am talking about email marketing to your own "house" list of prospects, not to a list you rent or buy.

When you use email marketing effectively to build rapport with your target audience, then three things will naturally happen:

Your sales team will spend less time selling because your prospects will be pre-sold on doing business with you which will reduce sales cycles and fewer costs per sale, which leads to more profit.

You can create leads and sales on demand. In other words, you will be in complete control to schedule and email promotions to any segment of your list, whenever you want. If you did not just have an "ah ha" moment, then read that sentence again.Email marketing is the only tactic that puts you in the driver seat to create leads and sales whenever you want.

You will build a "wall" around your customers to protect them from poachers. Every day your competitors are actively trying to poach your clients. If you are not investing in strengthening your customer relationships, then someday your competitors will swipe them. Repeatedly, email marketing is one of the best tools handy for building a healthy relationship to fend off your pesky competitors.

Of course, there is one little catch.

You Need a List of Email Addresses

I am going to infer you already have a list of prospects and customers. If you have been in business for any amount of time, then you do obtain a list.

Your listing might be in your head or on paper or concealed in an Excel file on an old, dusty desktop. Regardless, I am sure you have a list, and it is just a matter of pursuing it down.

For more notions for how you can build and grow your email list, read the three ways to make your list.

Let's focus on the five types of email promotions every small business can use.

1. The Warm Up

The first primary email campaign is for all the businesses out there that have a list of connections they haven 't emailed in a long time.

The Warm Up as you can probably guess gear towards warming up your "cold" list.

It is mandatory to do before you try to use one of the campaigns below unless you have continually stayed in touch with your list.

The goal of the Warm Up campaign is to reintroduce your business, provide context as to why you are reaching out, and explain how you will be following up with even more valuable emails in the future.

What should you send in your email?

A good ploy to use when running a Warm Up campaign is to break a survey to achieve feedback from your audience. Remember, the goal is to re-engage your audience, so you are not going to attempt to sell anything.

When done correctly, the Warm Up campaign will get your list handy and look ahead to your next email where you can kickoff to incorporate more sales tactics.

2. The Tee Up

A Tee Up campaign aims to "tee up" leads for your sales team.

At any given period there are leads on your email list who are ready to buy, and it is your job as a marketer to make it as easy as possible for them to raise their hand.

The Tee Up campaign does not directly ask for the sale. Instead, the email is positioned to help anyone who is in need for your product or service. The most basic example is to email out the question directly, "Are you still noticing for aid with your product or service?"

Anyone who retorts "Yes" is now a reengaged lead in your sales pipeline.

3. The Flash Sale

Just about everybody is familiar with the Flash Sale campaign because it is by far the most popular (and often overused). Anytime you get an email touting a limited-time sale; then you are involving a Flash Sale.

The grace of the Flash Sale is that you can generate sales on demand with the click of a button. Just type up the terms of your deal, select the segment of your list you need to email, click send, and relax as the orders come in*. :)

Again, I can 't emphasize enough the concern of your relationship with your contacts and customers. If you do not first create your link, then none of these campaigns will work for you.

4. The Referral

Every contact on your email list requires additional products and services that your business does not supply.

For example, Prospects on a broker's email list probably also need help finding a reputable moving company and an attorney. Although a real estate agent does not cater those services, he can bid those services to his email subscribers by forming a partnership with local businesses.

Once you establish your connections, then you can run a referral campaign to achieve leads and sales for your partner. It is going to be a win-win-win situation because you are aiding your contacts in getting what they need, your partners get a brand-new marketing channel, and counting on your partnership, you could derive commissions or reciprocal promotions where your partners bolster your business.

5. The Launch

The last type of campaign is the brand-new product or service launch.

With this campaign, you are creating up excitement and anticipation for your brand-new product or service to boost sales on the launch date.

Study the marketing campaigns for the massive Hollywood movie releases and new iPhone starts to see this in action. Before the launch day, data is sent via email /TV commercials in waves to build up the value, explain all the advantages, and lay out the details for exactly how and when to buy.

The final result is often a "feeding frenzy" the day you open the doors to take orders.