Search Engine Optimization

Local has become an essential part of search engine optimization, for both SEO providers and small businesses that operate in one city.

One of the most important ranking factors in local SEO in the location of the business to the perceived centroid of the city. This is true for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft as only business located at the heart of downtown show up in as ten box, 3 box and one box. The factor is beneficial to businesses with office at the center of the city, but very problematic for small biz owners, like carpenters, roofers and cleaners, who do not have an office, and travel to client’s location for work.

Location to the Centroid of the City

Is there a way around this? How can a 100% legit business, which does not have an office downtown show up in the ten box?

One of the ways around this was to rent a UPS PO BOX somewhere at the center of city. The technique is apparently on decline, as Google has become more aware of it. Another, black method, is to claim listing of other business owners, but this is not something you should use.

Another technique is to arrange “address rent” with a legit business owner downtown. Find a small private shop at the heart of centroid, and rent the address from the owner as your own. The trick is to make sure that the address is not already listed and claimed on Google maps.

This technique works, but it is partially deceiving to both the bots and visitors, since that’s not a real location, and if one of the customers ever decides to travel there – he will be in for a surprise. Also keep in mind that you will have to change the address on the website, along with 3rd party data providers like Yelp, Yellow Pages etc, which can get tricky. Some data providers offer very good customer service, and are willing to merge / delete listings, provided you show verification and enough facts. Others do not reply to requests, which can get problematic, since different data a providers will have citations with different locations.

Citations from Data Providers

Citations are the links in local SEO. The more there are, and the more authoritative the sources – the higher you will rank in local search results. Some less competitive markets do not even require classic links to rank well for local, while competitive giants like hotels definitely need citations + domain power.

We detailed Canadian citations in the previous article.

Business Category

This seems to another IMPORTNANT factor in local SEO. Categorization of the business in the wrong category can result in disaster, so make sure to make the right choice. If you’re a limo company, select “limousines”. If you’re a lawyer, select “lawyers”. Number of SEOs state that multiple categorization helps, but don’t take the risk if you’re not sure about the category. One is sufficient to let Google know what you’re about.