Regular vs. Local SEO - How Do They Differ?

Whats up BHW,
I've been in this game for a while now and defiantly know the ropes but as you all know there's always something new to learn. I find myself working with a client who needs some strong local SEO done, which isn't something I have messed with yet... My question is how does local SEO differ from regular SEO, and what resources should I peruse in researching this aspect of the field. White hat only please.

Thanks for your time and responses,
-RR

local is a different animal, get your on-page perfect, get directory citations, get reviews, get google maps, and see where you stand.

Backlink only when you can promote the site manually and with related links. Work for social signals as much as possible.

Do a little article marketing, all quality original stuff, no spinning, no duplicate submissions. Use PLR software related to the business, rebrand it and make pad submissions in their name.

Add pages to their suite that are generally related to the business. If they sell a product, write about the product in general terms, how to use it, how to configure it, how it benefits them, what to do to prepare for the product or service, that sort of thing.

On page is critical, get it right.

I half agree with Techxan as I've ranked local sites with onpage only but also, where competition was stronger, thrown some non-manual backlinks at it and achieved a higher rank.

As with all SEO, it is suck it and see...start slow, get the onpage right and get a baseline. Then slowly build links. Look for local directories as well as the bigger ones, look at g-maps and look at Whitespark for some suggestions.

Google+ Pages formerly known as Google Places plays a big role in local SEO. For many search terms these listings will come up before the search results, so its important to optimize your clients Google+ page. Positive reviews and useful information count more than any kind of backlinking you can do.

WOW, This post has been up for less than an hour and you guys are right on it with some AWESOME information, This is why I love BHW... Thanks guys!
And thanks to everyone who posts next!

For my local SEO clients I've pretty much been doing the same thing I'd do for regular SEO. Works just as well when it comes to ranking. Getting good reviews and info on places is the only extra thing to do.

So many Different People doing SEO and with Different Techniques .

2live4tv said:

So many Different People doing SEO and with Different Techniques .

Click to expand...

Yep. It's pretty cool how many different approaches people take with SEO.

I rank local websites ( with .com vs my country's extension which provides more seo ) with a couple of high pr links , some quality web 2.0's and a few likes and tweets.

Don't overcomplicate things

The Google+ Local listing and the citations are most important for signaling to Google that the business is LOCAL. Yelp reviews, etc... help with ranking within the local results.

One important thing to consider is the country of origin for your backlinks. How likely is it that a small business in Maryland is going to have 1000's of spammy backlinks from Pakistan, or Vietnam? Some of local results have been degraded due to the fact that I took the advice of "SEO Experts" on this forum that did not differentiate between local and non-local optimization. Not much I can do but focus on methods that are more white hat and wait for those spam links to disappear. It would be a good idea for beginners to learn from my mistake.

Page load speed is also important, and compressing the site's images is one good way to get an advantage over the competition as most small business owners aren't going to:

1) Know that this is something that should be done.
2) Know how to do it themselves.
3) Hire someone (and pay them) that knows that this should be done, and then does it.

So, after all the basic groundwork of Local SEO has been done (Google+ Local listing, Local Citations, Yelp reviews, etc...), the "advanced level" work of onsite optimization should be done.

Local and Google "regular" SEO are two completely different animals. The algorithms are completely different, and in my opinion local SEO is much more straightforward. Feel free to PM me to discuss local SEO i'd be glad to help.

Good idea!

Hi Glove,

I am afraid I am really new to this forum and am unable to PM yet...I would love it if you could PM some tips, tricks and plans on local SEO.

I am looking to launch a local SEO biz where I live and would love some advice.

Thanks

Great discussion here! I find local SEO effective when I provide quality content for appropriate keywords tied to a physical address. I think Google has been trying to move everyone in this direction (of course the physical address is not always relevant.

in white hat SEO content is king.
social is king as well if your site theme is social related.

what we talking here exactly? are we talking about google places for local business, or just seo local business vs national key phrase, I'd tell you this, its same process, doesnt matter if its local key phrase or national phrases, except local phrases are very easier to rank, just throw some few Pr3 links to it, you will shoot to page 1 in no time.

There is no different in strategy except local takes less links if you know what your doing

zerocoolflo said:

I rank local websites ( with .com vs my country's extension which provides more seo ) with a couple of high pr links , some quality web 2.0's and a few likes and tweets.

Don't overcomplicate things

Click to expand...

I missed your post, Exactly what i was trying to say, its same old seo campaign, except the local are way too easy to rank, with few web2.0s, few high pr links and you will be fine, as you said don't over complicate things. local seo too freaking easy.

cocococo said:

I'd tell you this, its same process, doesnt matter if its local key phrase or national phrases, except local phrases are very easier to rank, just throw some few Pr3 links to it, you will shoot to page 1 in no time.

Click to expand...

You are right concerning the technique of pure seo. While, for example, the advice to concentrate on address keyword is in some sense a difference (obvious, but still)...

I was looking for effectiveness of sales from the local web site. A natural observation was that ppl from different regions were absultely useless for me no matter how high the general query was. Another funny point was that a large part of ppl came not from my web site while from google map and social networks directly. So if you are interested in real ppl who will come, and not only se positions, there might be differences.

atprt said:

You are right concerning the technique of pure seo. While, for example, the advice to concentrate on address keyword is in some sense a difference (obvious, but still)...

I was looking for effectiveness of sales from the local web site. A natural observation was that ppl from different regions were absultely useless for me no matter how high the general query was. Another funny point was that a large part of ppl came not from my web site while from google map and social networks directly. So if you are interested in real ppl who will come, and not only se positions, there might be differences.

Click to expand...

Part of the problem you have here is surely not targeting action keywords. You need to geo lock your site for sure, but you want that general traffic because many people search with out a local modifier in the search term, and get results based on their IP address.

If your SE position is good for action phrases, instead of information queries, you will pull in local customers looking for your service, it is that simple.

Don't try for "Dallas carpet", it is an information phrase. Instead shoot for "Dallas carpet installers", "Dallas carpet installation", "Dallas carpet sales", ect. The more words a user searches for the more likely they are to buy. Don't target two word key phrases, they are too general, generally speaking. More importantly, use the terms your keyword research shows traffic for. If you target "New York yoga classes" and "New York Yoga instructor" is what people search for, you are missing the traffic boat.

When possible, optimize for the plural. It automatically includes the non plural. In content writing, don't for get the power of synonyms, and phrase order: You can say "hardwood floor refinishing" only so many times before it is spamming, but the phrase:

"I had my hardwoods fixed by a floor company and they did a good job of refinishing them"

will hit the same keywords, (hardwoods will also hit hardwood, floor comes next, and then refinishing), and it is still in phrase order. This can even be spread out over sentences as long as the words appear in order, though the closer proximity to each other and related words the better.

Regular SEO is general whereas the Local SEO is very specific in terms of location to target your local market. Signing up for Google Places or local search engine for business listing can really help.