Clip This Now: Local Search How-To Guide [INFOGRAPHIC]
Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Yesterday, I posted on Local Search: Getting Prospects to Discover You.  This is a critical tool for legal marketing SEO and too many firms are unaware of the importance local search plays in how prospects find them on the Internet.

Search Key on Computer Keyboard

And today I ran across an incredible infographic from OptiLocal that is a brilliant “cheat sheet” on the steps you can take to dominate local search in your area.  I have posted it below and urge you to clip this graphic and get it in the hands of the person or people responsible for your law firm website SEO. 

Since some of it is a little difficult to read -- and it is really packed with useful information -- I am providing the most important text from the infographic that provides the exact steps you should be taking as your optimize your website for local search:

Google+ Local Page Optimization

  • Verify your local page.

  • Have your company profile 100% complete.

  • Use your exact Business Name (as shown on your website).

  • Create a detailed company description.

  • Make sure that the NAP (Name Address Phone) on your local page is consistent with the NAP on your company website (All of the web mentions of your business should be NAP consistent).

  • Have a physical address in the city you want to rank for.

  • If you list a mailbox or suite number, place it in Address Line 2.

  • If you are a lawyer, you can create separate practitioner’s local pages from the official company local page with your distinct phone number and working hours.

  • Departments within businesses, universities, hospitals, and government buildings can also have a separate local page if they have a separate phone line.

  • Select every relevant category you find for your business.

  • If you have a single location – link to the home page of your website.

  • If you have multiple locations – link to the location-specific page on your website.

  • Claim and delete all duplicate local pages of your business.

  • Encourage your customers to leave you local page reviews.

  • Regularly update your local page with images, videos, etc.

  • Report to Google spammy local pages in your industry to clear unfair competition.

  • Use a local phone number instead of a call center number.

Citations

  • Ensure NAP consistency between your citations, local page and website.

  • Select high quality sources for your citations.

  • Select niche specific (relevant to your industry) websites.

  • Select area specific (relevant to your service location) websites.

  • Claim and edit all citations of your business that have a wrong NAP.

  • Remove all duplicate citations of your business from the (major) data aggregators.

  • Select the most relevant business category when listing your company.

  • Before you create new citation on a website, check if your business has not already been listed there.

  • Add as much useful info when creating your citations as possible (add images, videos, company descriptions, etc.).

  • Check where your high-ranking competitors are listed and follow their lead.

Reviews

  • Encourage your clients to post a review on your Google local page.

  • Check which of the websites that host your business citations welcome customer reviews and encourage your clients to review your business there.

  • After completing a project, don’t forget to ask your client for a review.

  • Print out special handouts with visuals on how your customers could leave a review and where.

  • Try to attract top reviewers in your niche to review your business.

  • Reply to your reviews even if negative. Stay in touch with your customers.

On-Site Optimization

  • Ensure NAP consistency with your local listing and citations.

  • Create location specific pages.

  • Create unique content for your multiple service locations.

  • Describe specific local sights, attractions, history, festivals, events, etc.

  • Use local reviews as local specific content.

  • Write about your local company team.

  • Include contact details, directions, working hours, where to park.

  • Include photos and mention the specific location in their file names and alt attributes.

  • Embed a Google map associated with your local page on your location landing page or on your Contact us page (if you have a single location).

  • Optimize your site content, title tags, meta tags and urls for the specific location (if you cover several locations do not optimize for all of the locations throughout your website, but focus on the most profitable one instead).

  • Use schema.org to mark up your NAP, hours of operation, reviews.

  • Use location and a keyword in your location landing pages.

Inbound Link Profile

  • Get included in your local industry associations, business chamber, etc.

  • Pursue inbound links from bloggers who write about local news, events, etc.

  • Research your top competitors’ inbound links and borrow link ideas from them.

Rule the Local Results Infographic

 

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