Content created for your site can certainly help how your site ranks with Google’s search engines. Still, it might not be as effective for increasing site rankings as having a thoughtful, relevant and keyword-optimised landing page. This is particularly true if your landing page is optimised for local keywords. If your page is well-written, then it could actually hit eh top of the results for its local area. Locally optimizing your page can do wonders for its rankings, far more than pretty much any other SEO element. Let’s take a look at how this works.
Variables can greatly affect how a plan will work. You can have all the right pieces in play for your SEO strategy– great content, site optimization, relevant keywords- and still not rank very well. That’s because you may not be considering the variables that affect local SEO rankings. If you want to do well, you have to narrow your focus to a specific target audience and make sure that your presence is outstanding locally. To make the variables work in your favour, you need to have your landing page optimised for local keywords. It really comes down to using long tail keywords to make your landing page rank well. You first have to figure out what customers in your area who would use your services are looking for.
Most keywords that are optimised for local SEO are known as long-tail keywords. They tend to have more words in them, and they tend to rank well since there isn’t a lot of competition for the same keywords. Your landing page should be locally optimised, be about 800 words long and contain original and relevant content. Using long-tail keywords automatically narrow down your field of competition. There are simply fewer people using them. That’s because there aren’t as many businesses operating in, say, the Houston area, as there are in all the world. There are only ten spots on Google’s first page of search results. If you want a place there, using long-tail keywords is the fastest way.
Proof of Success
Touting local optimization is one thing, but actually proving that it can work is going to be much more convincing and useful. Let’s consider a few examples to back up this claim that localized content really works to your advantage. Take a landing page that is about 100 words long, for example. Some footer text can boost their total word count, but that only ensures that their content gets duplicated on several pages across their site. Consider this landing page to be one that is barren of localized, long-tail keywords. There is plenty of space on the landing page for these words, and that is the prefect place for them.
A site that doesn’t engage its local visitors and give them a reason to visit the rest of the site is not doing itself any favours. Having a low word count on the landing page isn’t helping either, as it doesn’t give people enough information to know if the site will contain anything of value to them. Now consider a second example. This is page that is bursting with content. It’s not overcrowded, but it comfortably sits around 800 words and it is engaging and informative. It has keywords that flow naturally and it uses long-tail, local keywords that are going to improve search engine rankings. All the content on the landing page is completely unique. You won’t find it copied throughout the rest of the site, making it rank even better. This is how sites can compete for local visitors and gain a top spot on Google’s search engine rankings.
Pulling It Off
Now the simplest way to make that winning page that pulls in views will be to hire a great content writer. But you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money to get a great page that helps out your business. Here are a few techniques to really make your landing page shine. First of all, make sure your tags are optimised. This means meta tags, headings, title tags and alt tags. You can even add your location to the tags to make them rank better for those long-tail keywords. Give your URL some extra care. Your URL can’t really be changed, but the other pages can have modified URLs that include information on your city and state location. Trying to change your main page’s URL will be a major problem with making your site rank well, so leave that part alone. Also make sure that the content you produce is optimised for local audiences. If you are using long-tail keywords, then they need to make sense in the context of what you are writing.
Place the keywords in naturally, otherwise you will drive potential customers away with awkward writing and shoehorned keywords. You can embed a Google Map as well. Google essentially gives extra ranking points to sites that use their tools. Plus you are including something that your customers are going to find very useful. If it makes sense to have the Google Map there, then definitely make it a part of your landing page. Be careful about just inserting a Google map on your page though. You want to make sure that you have a Google Plus listing to go with it. That is going to ensure that the map’s inclusion helps your site rank even better. You should also use local citations. This would include information like your contact details, your name and your physical address. Make sure that this information makes it onto Yelp, Facebook and other sites around the web. This increases your page authority and gives customers easy access to important information. Your landing page’s main focus should be on quality content, though. Make sure it is relevant and that it addresses what people in your area would be looking for. If you need help with the page, don’t hesitate to call in a professional. You want that landing page to be as good as it can possibly be, because it is the first barrier between consumers and sales for your company.
