Local SEO for Small Business: Expert
SEO consultant in Cleveland, encourages small business owners to start by ensuring their site is technically sound.
"Everyone thinks SEO is shiny and that it's all about the content, and it is to a point, but it's the tedious, technical issues that can really harm your performance,"
By "technical issues," is talking about the invisible tags and markup written into the code of your web pages.
"If people concentrate so much on content, they may be painting and decorating the walls on a house that's falling down," . "Ninety percent of the battle with SEO is making sure all the technical aspects of your site are solid, and that helps more in local search than your content. People need to pay more attention to the structure of their websites."
Zur speaks from authority—LinkedIn ProFinder rates her among the nation's best SEO experts. For our latest "Ask a Pro" post, we asked her how small businesses can achieve visibility for relevant local search queries. Here are Zur's insights and advice related to local search:
Take Care of the Basics
"Search engines want to display your content if it's relevant to local searches. If relevant content is in your code and template on every web page, you have more of a shot," She recommends that small business owners address the following points first:
Make sure you have a search-friendly URL (NameOfBusiness.com). This might seem obvious, but she's surprised by the number of businesses that don't take search into consideration when choosing their URL.
Ensure your name, address, and phone number are on every page of your website and footer. Make sure your open hours are on your home page.
Verify your "Google My Business" listing and make sure the details are correct.
Your title tags and meta descriptions need to list your location or geographic area where you want to come up in search. This lets Google know where you are.
Place unique content on every page.
Your schema markup and header tags are important. You should have only one H1 on every page and then you can have as many H2 or H3 headers as you want.
Clean Up the Off-Page Elements of Your Site
"Don't assume your content management system has everything covered from a local search optimization standpoint. A lot of content management systems don't require some of these things," Her tips include:
Make sure your meta descriptions and title tags are the proper length and accurately describe the content of each page.
Eliminate unnecessary Javascript and CSS code. That stuff can really slow down your page loads, and if your page isn't loading fast, it may be less likely to show up in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Optimize your image sizes. Huge images can really slow your page. And make sure to include a descriptive alt-text to accompany each image.
Optimize your site for mobile. Test each page to make sure it renders correctly on various mobile devices.
Make sure your geographic area is high in in your XML sitemap, and submit your sitemap to search engines.
What Are People Really Searching For?
Zur recommends searching for terms you believe are most relevant to your own business, then scrolling to the bottom of the Google results to find related terms and phrases other people are using.
"I've noticed clients continually base their content and descriptions on what they think other people are looking for, but that's often not how people really search," she says.
As an example, she points to healthcare: People aren't merely looking for cancer specialists, but "breast cancer surgeons in Cleveland." For one of her own clients, an electrician in the Cleveland suburbs, she made sure his homepage and meta description of his website touted he's "conveniently located 20 miles east of Cleveland."
"I sprinkled it up top, because I want Google to index it as soon as they get to his page," she says. "And when it comes to residential business, he's going against some huge companies. What I'll do is buy Google Adwords for him—"top-rated Cleveland electrician"—and it's made a difference."
If the 10 to 12 extra inquiries he's receiving every month results in even one conversion, it's paid for the ad. "That's the ROI right there," she says. "But you have to be realistic, knowing you won't rank organically for some of this stuff, because it's just too hard."
Improving Search Results Can Take Time
Clients often come in believing their rankings will improve the moment Zur polishes their content, tags, and descriptions. The reality, she says, is search engines can take months to index these changes.
"That said, you could have some small wins quickly," she says. "If you're the only people in town selling a certain something, you'll come up quickly. But so much of local depends on your industry."
Set Up and Study Your Analytics
Once people are finding your business, it's important to study your Google Analytics results to see who is coming to your site, how they're getting there, and how they're interacting with your content. Consider hiring someone certified in Google Analytics to set it up and show you how to leverage the insights. consultants can analyze your site, develop a game plan, and put you on the path to do the work yourself.
"There's no one way to do SEO, but when it comes to a technical perspective, you should have all these things in order," she says. "Once you've done all that to put your organic search in place and you're still not ranking where you want, that's when I'd pursue a paid option or service. And once you have the technical side solved, then it's about creating content in your well-built house to support what you're selling."
"Everyone thinks SEO is shiny and that it's all about the content, and it is to a point, but it's the tedious, technical issues that can really harm your performance,"
By "technical issues," is talking about the invisible tags and markup written into the code of your web pages.
"If people concentrate so much on content, they may be painting and decorating the walls on a house that's falling down," . "Ninety percent of the battle with SEO is making sure all the technical aspects of your site are solid, and that helps more in local search than your content. People need to pay more attention to the structure of their websites."
Zur speaks from authority—LinkedIn ProFinder rates her among the nation's best SEO experts. For our latest "Ask a Pro" post, we asked her how small businesses can achieve visibility for relevant local search queries. Here are Zur's insights and advice related to local search:
Take Care of the Basics
"Search engines want to display your content if it's relevant to local searches. If relevant content is in your code and template on every web page, you have more of a shot," She recommends that small business owners address the following points first:
Make sure you have a search-friendly URL (NameOfBusiness.com). This might seem obvious, but she's surprised by the number of businesses that don't take search into consideration when choosing their URL.
Ensure your name, address, and phone number are on every page of your website and footer. Make sure your open hours are on your home page.
Verify your "Google My Business" listing and make sure the details are correct.
Your title tags and meta descriptions need to list your location or geographic area where you want to come up in search. This lets Google know where you are.
Place unique content on every page.
Your schema markup and header tags are important. You should have only one H1 on every page and then you can have as many H2 or H3 headers as you want.
Clean Up the Off-Page Elements of Your Site
"Don't assume your content management system has everything covered from a local search optimization standpoint. A lot of content management systems don't require some of these things," Her tips include:
Make sure your meta descriptions and title tags are the proper length and accurately describe the content of each page.
Eliminate unnecessary Javascript and CSS code. That stuff can really slow down your page loads, and if your page isn't loading fast, it may be less likely to show up in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Optimize your image sizes. Huge images can really slow your page. And make sure to include a descriptive alt-text to accompany each image.
Optimize your site for mobile. Test each page to make sure it renders correctly on various mobile devices.
Make sure your geographic area is high in in your XML sitemap, and submit your sitemap to search engines.
What Are People Really Searching For?
Zur recommends searching for terms you believe are most relevant to your own business, then scrolling to the bottom of the Google results to find related terms and phrases other people are using.
"I've noticed clients continually base their content and descriptions on what they think other people are looking for, but that's often not how people really search," she says.
As an example, she points to healthcare: People aren't merely looking for cancer specialists, but "breast cancer surgeons in Cleveland." For one of her own clients, an electrician in the Cleveland suburbs, she made sure his homepage and meta description of his website touted he's "conveniently located 20 miles east of Cleveland."
"I sprinkled it up top, because I want Google to index it as soon as they get to his page," she says. "And when it comes to residential business, he's going against some huge companies. What I'll do is buy Google Adwords for him—"top-rated Cleveland electrician"—and it's made a difference."
If the 10 to 12 extra inquiries he's receiving every month results in even one conversion, it's paid for the ad. "That's the ROI right there," she says. "But you have to be realistic, knowing you won't rank organically for some of this stuff, because it's just too hard."
Improving Search Results Can Take Time
Clients often come in believing their rankings will improve the moment Zur polishes their content, tags, and descriptions. The reality, she says, is search engines can take months to index these changes.
"That said, you could have some small wins quickly," she says. "If you're the only people in town selling a certain something, you'll come up quickly. But so much of local depends on your industry."
Set Up and Study Your Analytics
Once people are finding your business, it's important to study your Google Analytics results to see who is coming to your site, how they're getting there, and how they're interacting with your content. Consider hiring someone certified in Google Analytics to set it up and show you how to leverage the insights. consultants can analyze your site, develop a game plan, and put you on the path to do the work yourself.
"There's no one way to do SEO, but when it comes to a technical perspective, you should have all these things in order," she says. "Once you've done all that to put your organic search in place and you're still not ranking where you want, that's when I'd pursue a paid option or service. And once you have the technical side solved, then it's about creating content in your well-built house to support what you're selling."
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