SEO can be the most complicated and most rewarding portion of your digital marketing efforts. No one truly knows Google’s complex algorithm and how to manipulate it. Sure, as marketers, we know the best practices and what actions we need to take to improve search engine rankings and website traffic, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t unexplained dips and head scratching changes at times.
A sound SEO strategy includes a variety of elements, from good, valuable content to proper meta descriptions and title tags. Sometimes our efforts create a noticeable difference, while other times, we don’t see our hard work paying off right away.
However, one thing is clear about SEO: It takes time!
There isn’t one title tag, one blog, one GMB post or one backlink that is going to dramatically increase your rankings overnight…usually.
Implementing both on and off site tactics will give you a holistic approach to SEO and eventually produce results if you are doing it correctly.
But, I have recently found how effective “local” pages on a website can be.
I define a local page as a content page on a website that contains one of your primary locations, such as a city and keyword, such as a service area. For example, “Miami Divorce Attorney” could be a local page. On this page, it has information about that service, why you are the best, the benefits of using that service, and generally has valuable information that can help answer relevant questions.
One of my clients is a public adjuster that is located in South Florida. They service multiple cities in the tri-county area, including Fisher Island. As of last week, there was zero content on their website about Fisher Island and they did not rank on the 1st page for “Fisher Island Public Adjuster” or any keyword variation of that.
So, I created them a local page called “Fisher Island Public Adjuster.”
And as soon as I indexed the page on Google (this is a big must after you create a new page- you must index the page with Google via Google Search Console), my client is now sits as the #4 result on the 1st page for that keyword.
The key elements of the page include:
- A title tag with the keyword:
- A H1 tag with the keyword.
- And including the keyword in the body text.You should also complete other best practices, such as internal linking, including a graphic with “alt text” and make sure it is coded properly with schema, but the aforementioned actions are very instrumental.
Now, this whole strategy has a caveat. Fisher Island is a very small area in South Florida with very little competition. So, if I were to attempt this strategy with Miami or Orlando, for example, I probably wouldn’t be experiencing the same results as quickly.
However, I have tried this with bigger cities than Fisher Island and it has worked great. And even if you don’t ascend the rankings for your primary city, there is still a ton of value in being ranked high on the 1st page for other cities or towns in your locale.
If you rank on the 1st page for the 2nd biggest city you service, there is still a lot of new business opportunities that you can generate.
So, if you don’t have local pages on your website, make sure to start adding that content so you can rank highly in your area.You should also complete other best practices, such as internal linking, including a graphic with “alt text” and make sure it is coded properly with schema, but the aforementioned actions are very instrumental.
Now, this whole strategy has a caveat. Fisher Island is a very small area in South Florida with very little competition. So, if I were to attempt this strategy with Miami or Orlando, for example, I probably wouldn’t be experiencing the same results as quickly.
However, I have tried this with bigger cities than Fisher Island and it has worked great. And even if you don’t ascend the rankings for your primary city, there is still a ton of value in being ranked high on the 1st page for other cities or towns in your locale.
If you rank on the 1st page for the 2nd biggest city you service, there is still a lot of new business opportunities that you can generate.
So, if you don’t have local pages on your website, make sure to start adding that content so you can rank highly in your area.
