Doing More With Less: 30 Minute Local SEO Every Week

In the current economic conditions, marketing teams are overwhelmed and expected to do more with less.

If you are a marketer focused on generating revenue from local areas, then you know that stiff competition awaits to slow down your local marketing initiatives.

In times like these, it’s important to maintain a consistent set of results that allows you to stand out in local search results.

Here’s a checklist of 5 areas to focus on if you only have 30 minutes a week or less to devote to local marketing efforts.

1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile Listing And Social Profiles

A complete and verified Google business profile listing is one of the cornerstones of local SEO.

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make when it comes to local SEO is simply uploading a minimal amount of information into the Google Business Profile (GBP) and then putting it on autopilot.

A powerful lever to get your business up in local SEO lists is to complete all your name, address and phone number (NAP) information, as well as add pictures, categories, hours of operation and much more.

Once your GBP entry is filled in, you need to make sure it’s verified. Verification can be done by phone, SMS, email or video. Here are the instructions you need to make sure it’s verified.

Once verified, this is where you need to make sure you pay attention to your listing to respond to reviews or questions from customers.

Check back at least once a month (if not more often) to upload new images and check your listing’s performance within GBP.

Follow the same process for your main social media profiles.

Local searches on social media have increased dramatically in the last decade and you want to make sure you can be found on Google as easily as you can on Facebook and Twitter.

2. Complete A Job, Ask For A Review

Generating five-star reviews is one of the most powerful ways to increase your presence on local search engine results pages (SERPs).

By increasing your average rating and volume of reviews, local SERPs tend to push those results higher. Additionally, the social proof extracted from five-star reviews is an invaluable way of getting customers to trust your brand.

Before you make any concerted effort to generate reviews, you need to be careful about how you solicit reviews from customers.

Platforms like Yelp have “review filters” that omit certain reviews or penalize your business listing if they appear to have been unnaturally requested by the business owner.

Here are two effective ways to generate more reviews (without filtering them):

3. Create Localized Blog Or Website Page Content

Your business needs some level of localized content to rank in local search

Without local signals on your website, search engines are less likely to associate you with your target region.

Here are some common ways to localize your content:

Product/Services Pages

Include localized modifiers in the text and image descriptions on your product/service pages to help your audience make the localized connection.

One of the biggest mistakes local businesses make when building their product pages is making the copy generic enough that the page could be used for a business in any city.

Conversely, you shouldn’t stuff your web copy with localized terms. Search engines are pretty good at demoting your content if your copy looks unnaturally stuffed with local keywords.

The best way to check is to read your copy out loud to a friend. If it sounds unnatural to any of you, then you may have overdone it a bit when adding localized keyword modifiers.

Galleries

If you offer services in locations near you, show pictures of your work with a description of the type of product/service you offer and some localized modifiers in the description.

Branch/Franchise Pages

If your business has multiple locations, each of your locations should have its own page on your website.

On these store pages, you should include your NAP, hours of operation, a description of your store’s location, and pictures of your location (both inside and outside if possible). These branch pages should also link to their respective GBP page.

4. Build Backlinks From Your Network

The good thing about local SEO and link building is that in most cases you don’t need to build thousands of links. Rather, in most cases you only need a handful more than your local competitors to support your SEO positioning.

The easiest way to build backlinks to your website is to generate them from the companies you have a relationship with.

Here are a few scenarios that address the types of links you might follow in day-to-day business activities:

So as a first step, make a list of all the business connections you have in your area and identify the reasons why those connections would lead to you.

5. Generate Local Citations

Citations are simply mentions of your company name, address, and phone number on a website.

Citations are primarily found in general local directories (like Google Maps), but can also be found in niche-specific directories like APlaceForMom.com, a directory site dedicated to aging.

Quotes don’t necessarily have to include a link to give you value. Google considers mentions of your company name as a mark of local authority.

Here are the top two ways to expand your quotes:

Personally, I prefer a mix of these two methods, as automated listing tools can’t always fill out all information fields or fully verify profiles.

First, focus on Google, Yelp, Bing, and Facebook.

Then look for 5 to 10 niche specific directories (which regularly appear in search listings for your target keywords) and try to list your business there.

Conclusion

In summary, while you may not have a lot of time to devote to local SEO, it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve impressive results.

You just have to be strategic about how you use this time and what areas you focus on.

If you devote 30 minutes a week to the 5 areas above, you will bring more traffic, leads and customers to your business within months.

Featured image: Production Perig/Shutterstock

Why are naps so powerful?

According to the Mayo Clinic, a nap can help you feel relaxed, reduce fatigue, increase alertness, and improve your mood and performance, such as: B. by increasing your reaction time and memory.

Why does a nap feel so good? Reduced fatigue. Increased attention. Improved Mood. Improved performance including faster response time and better memory.

Do power naps actually help?

And research shows that napping can make you more alert, reduce stress, and improve cognitive function. 1 Afternoon nap or “power nap” means more patience, less stress, better reaction time, more learning, more efficiency and better health.

Is a 10 minute power nap worth it?

The length of your nap contributes to its effectiveness and can make a difference in how you feel afterwards. For most people, 20 to 30 minutes should be enough. If you can take a 10-minute nap and feel great afterwards, you’ve probably found your sweet spot.

How long should a power nap last?

What counts as a power nap? Some experts say the power nap should be even shorter – 20 minutes maximum. But everyone agrees that it shouldn’t exceed 30 minutes. That’s because the body enters a deep sleep around this time, and waking up from a deep sleep can cause drowsiness, according to the Sleep Foundation.

Do power naps actually work?

“You can get incredible benefits from 15 to 20 minutes of napping,” she says. “You reset the system and get a wakefulness boost and increased motor performance. This is what most people really need to ward off sleepiness and get a boost of energy.”

Do you actually sleep in a power nap?

You sleep for a few minutes and get a burst of alertness, energy, and efficiency that lasts for hours. If you ever feel… power naps can bring you great benefits. You sleep for a few minutes and get a burst of alertness, energy, and efficiency that lasts for hours.

Is it worth paying someone to do SEO?

SEO pays off when you have the right strategy and work with a partner who knows how to get results. About 93% of online experiences start with a search engine, and the close rate of SEO leads is much higher than that of traditional marketing. So, SEO offers an impressive return on investment (ROI).

Is it worth hiring someone for SEO? Yes: For many businesses, it makes sense to use SEO as a long-term, ongoing revenue-generating strategy, because that’s what SEO does. Hiring an SEO company helps your business earn more from SEO by giving you access to advanced marketing technology, experienced SEO specialists, and more.

How much should I pay someone for SEO?

The average SEO cost for US SEO agencies is $100-$250 per hour. SEO costs for US agencies often range from $2,500 to $10,000 per month. The average SEO plan costs $2819 per month (per Ahrefs). Overseas SEO companies can charge $10-$50 per hour.

How much should a small business pay for SEO?

How much does SEO cost for small business? The average SEO cost for small businesses is $750-$2000 per month or $5000-$30,000 for one-off projects. Smaller businesses investing in SEO consulting services can expect to pay $80 to $200 per hour.

Should I pay someone to do SEO?

Yes, hire an agency if you’re looking for long-term success. Unless something is easy to fix on your site (e.g. blocking it entirely with your robots.txt file), the majority of search engine optimization builds long-term success and value.

How much should I charge as an SEO freelancer?

Hiring an experienced SEO freelancer or agency by the hour typically costs between $50 and $150 per hour. Of course there are people who charge significantly less or more than this hourly rate. For example, this breakdown of SEO hourly rates revealed that 6% of SEO vendors charge over $200/hour.

How much should I pay local SEO?

Typical local SEO campaigns cost between $300 and $2,000 per month, depending on your business needs, your competition, and your geographic location.

What affects local SEO?

Here are 7 essential local SEO ranking factors for 2022:

• Google My Business. …
• On-Page Signals. …
• online reviews. …
• Backlink Profile. …
• online quotes. …
• behavioral signals. …
• local content.

What three factors influence local search results? Optimize for the three key ranking factors above – relevance, distance, and awareness – and you’ll be well on your way to local SEO success. To further increase this success, you should also consider the following nine specific local SEO ranking factors.

Is learning SEO tough?

SEO isn’t necessarily difficult to learn, but it does take time, effort, and perseverance. If you’re just starting out and don’t know anything about search engines and how they work, you can expect to feel a bit overwhelmed at first, especially when trying to learn SEO on your own. However, it is important to keep trying.

Can you learn SEO yourself? Moving towards Expert Level SEO By investing a few hours a month you can develop yourself into a true SEO expert and then you will know what those who hire you to do SEO for you should do and you it may be better to gauge their readiness before you hire them.

Is working in SEO hard?

SEO isn’t hard to learn once you start getting your basics right. You just have to be willing enough to invest enough time and effort in the right directions when learning the SEO concepts. However, the main problem is that people don’t realize that SEO is a time-consuming process. It’s not a one day or two day affair.

Is SEO job difficult?

SEO isn’t that hard to learn, but it can be confusing and overwhelming to get started. Learning SEO means learning about a long list of individual digital marketing strategies that can feel a bit like adding new weapons to your arsenal as you learn how to use them.

Is SEO job stressful?

Any job can be stressful depending on the type of performance required by your company. The same goes for SEO related jobs. However, it is not as stressful as IT or other programming related jobs.

Why is SEO so difficult?

In summary, SEO is difficult as search engines are constantly changing and updating. It could be anything from Google changing the way it looks at a certain type of link, including a major new update to its algorithm, or even recognizing something new as a ranking factor.

Is working in SEO a good career?

‘ Yes. SEO is a good career option as it is among the most in-demand careers in digital marketing. There are several organizations around the world that hire SEO experts to create better content and thus generate more business leads.

Why is SEO so difficult?

In summary, SEO is difficult as search engines are constantly changing and updating. It could be anything from Google changing the way it looks at a certain type of link, including a major new update to its algorithm, or even recognizing something new as a ranking factor.

Why people are afraid of SEO?

Fears that SEO is overly complicated, technical, gimmicky, and comes with potential penalties are common misconceptions that SEO newbies have. Once you learn more about SEO yourself, you will feel more comfortable and confident implementing your own strategy or working closely with an agency.

Is SEO difficult to learn?

SEO isn’t that hard to learn, but it can be confusing and overwhelming to get started. Learning SEO means learning about a long list of individual digital marketing strategies that can feel a bit like adding new weapons to your arsenal as you learn how to use them.

How long will it take to learn SEO?

If you can learn SEO for a few hours every day, you can master the basics of SEO in 4-8 weeks and land your first SEO job in 3-6 months. If you can learn SEO full-time, you can even master the basics in 1-2 weeks.

Can I learn SEO myself?

It is possible to learn SEO on your own, you don’t need to be an SEO specialist or expert. The first thing you need to do is convince yourself that SEO is not difficult. If others can do it, so can you. All it takes is willingness to learn and time.

Can I learn SEO in 2 months?

It takes 1-3 months to learn SEO at basic level and 6-18 months to learn SEO at advanced level. How much time it takes to learn SEO depends on the number of hours you get to study Search Engine Optimization each day.

Can I learn SEO in a month?

While it’s a career-long path, you can actually learn SEO in about a month – enough to have a major impact on your website and, in turn, your business as a whole.

Is SEO course difficult?

SEO isn’t that hard to learn, but it can be confusing and overwhelming to get started. Learning SEO means learning about a long list of individual digital marketing strategies that can feel a bit like adding new weapons to your arsenal as you learn how to use them.