SEO Fact : How Long Does Local SEO Take To Be Effective

The most popular question in the Internet Marketing sphere -- how long does Local SEO take to bring results in Search Engines. Every client I've ever worked with has asked me this very question, not to mention the same question has been asked throughout each and every SEO forum around the web.

How Long Does Local SEO Take

How long does Local SEO take, isn't a question. Local Search Engine Optimization is a very strategic, wide range of advanced marketing strategies/implementation. Local SEO includes of many different marketing strategies, not just one. For SEO to actually work — all strategies must not only be implemented, but they must all work together.

Local SEO and SEO is a long term marketing strategy. Depending on your unique goals, will solely determine how long it’ll take you to see the results you desire. For example, let’s say that you’re one of two, of my Local SEO clients.

You’re goal is to get more traffic fast — while the other client is more interested in actually getting traffic, traffic that’ll increase slowly over a long period of time. Other clients may want something completely different.

Search Engine Optimization Is a Long Term Process

SEO is a long term process, always has been and always will be: In many cases I have to remind clients that slow and steady – wins the race. Sure, there are SEO’s who can provide results over-night — those SEO’s are better known as Blackhatters.

This is justified as “short term SEO“. It’s referred to as short term SEO, because Google makes sure of it.  That’s what all these recent Google updates are all about.

For those of you who’re interested in building a successful business — SEO can be your best friend. Results don’t come over night though. I realize that some of you don’t like hearing that, but building a long term successful business isn't “fast money”.

SEO Is A Great Investment – The search share click distribution shows you that you can’t really expect major increases in traffic until you reach the first page of the Search Engine Report Pages (SERP). Depending on the client budget, (SEO Plan Purchased) instant increases in traffic is possible through long-tailed keyword search terms.

For those of you who would like to see what other SEO’s have to say about all ( How long it takes to get first page Google Rankings ) of this, I have an authority resource from the biggest and most popular SEO bloggers, from all around the world. It’s wise to educate yourself about SEO, and how long various goals take to reach, prior to you paying someone to do SEO or anything similar, for you.

Authority Resources That Prove SEO Is A Long Term Process:

Search Engine Watch

SEOMoz

Search Engine Journal

Google

SEO Theory

Trust me, as an SEO professional — I can not stand an uneducated SEO client. What bothers me the most is when YOU guys put all of the blame on me, when you have no experience and no education on the matter. SEO is not something that occurs in 1-2 months. Well…  that is unless you just want a Penguin to kick your ass!

SEO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - A Basic Explanation

SEO-A Basic Explanation

I've gotten a number of requests for information on SEO. Some have been as simple as, "What is SEO and why do I need to know about it?" Others are a bit more complex. asking how to enhance there websites visibility in the search engines using advanced SEO techniques.

I thought it would be helpful to offer some basic information about SEO, so I've included a 3 minute video from YouTube that can help all  get a quick understanding of SEO. If you like it,click on one of the like buttons below it and share it.

(Video Source- Search engine land, by Common Craft;http://selnd.com/seomovies)

So it is important to think of SEO in terms of the Words you use, the Titles to the articles you write and the Links that you and others use to connect to your website.

Of course this is a very basic introduction   to understanding SEO, with a lot more to it than presented in this article. Stay with us for more information on SEO, the Google updates that have changed the way most successful sites are presented and suggestions for making your site an SEO Standout.

Increasing your site traffic through search engine optimization.

In our last article, we talked about backlinks and introduced the key to ranking high in the search engines: one way links from quality websites!

Now that we understand the key to increasing our ranking in the search engines, we will

discuss an important component of it: Quality

Just like we wouldn't normally eat moldy bread, we should also avoid moldy websites when looking for quality!

How do I see mold on a website, you may ask?

Well, we will discuss 4 key metrics to determine if a website is meets our quality definition of freshness!

1. Page Rank

A Google patented method for measuring page importance or relevance. A high page rank is not an easy task. It is important a website have a high page rank score! PR5, PR6, and PR7+'s are fantastic resources.

2. Alexa Rank

Alexa is a very powerful tool used to rank web site traffic. "The lower the Alexa ranking number the more heavily visited the site.". Some examples are: amazon.com (rank 14); weather.com(rank 64); cnn.com (rank 26); google.com (rank 5); Yahoo.com (rank 1). These rankings are generally consistent with the amount of traffic they have.  Most sites have low rankings (eg. 2,000,000++)

3. Number of Back links

As discussed, back links are an important factor. Think of them like a vote for your website. Most websites have only a few.. perhaps not even one hundred! The best websites have massive amounts. Back links building takes work, but pays off in the long run.

4. Website Age

The age of a website is important. Age installs a sense of trust, so as a website ages and stays of consistent quality, it's age itself increases the quality! Web pages, like most things, get better with age!

How to measure your website?

Check a websites Page Rank:
http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

Check your Alexa Rank:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo

Back link Checker:
http://seopro.com.au/free-seo-tools/link-checker/

Page Age Checker:
http://www.searchenginegenie.com/tools/DomainAgeChecker.php

Use these tools to measure your site.


More Resources:

http://www.seosudo.com/
A firm helps you understand what the best SEO practices are and how to implement them on and off your website.

http://www.seomoz.org/
SEOmoz is a hub for the search marketing industry, providing an SEO Services Marketplace, a popular SEO Blog, SEO Tools and premium content.

http://www.seobook.com/
A good SEO resource with some tools you shouldn't miss!

How to Get in Local Search Results on Google Search Engine

Getting listed on the first page of Google is an incredible accomplishment. Your efforts shouldn't stop there, however.

A general business listing without all the bells and whistles just won't get you the same amount of site traffic as it used to since users tend to go for the listing that stands apart from the rest. The Search Engine(SE) competition is fierce, so do not get left behind while everyone else makes the necessary changes to get noticed in search results.

Consider how you would approach building the perfect HTML web page. You might fine tune your headings, content message, include business images, and add resources to increase conversions. The CRO i.e Conversion rate optimization  is just as important in the search engine result pages (SERPs).

Here are a few important SEO tips that should help your Google search result attract the most attention.

1. Unique, Relevant Page Titles

A good character range to work with is 50-65 characters. Google search results will truncate right around the 65 character mark.

Pixel width of your title tag should be considered, because words with wide letters such as A and W won't be able to fit as many characters. Google  search result will completely ignore anything past the 70 character mark and potentially report a “Long title tag” error in Google Webmaster Tools.

Your web page title should be unique and relevant to the topic of your page. Include your targeted key phrases as close to the beginning as possible and, if it applies, localize your page title.

2. Search Engine Friendly URLs

If your domain name has your targeted keyword(s) in it, that's a bonus, however, don't go out of your way to buy an exact match domain name and get caught up in the exact match domain algorithm.

Utilize search engine friendly file names and permalink structures to make your listing more relevant, for example, /awesome-web-page/. URLs, for example, ?page-id=246, don't say anything to the user and won't help your rankings.

3. Enticing Meta Descriptions With a Call-to-Action

Your meta descriptions won't have an effect on your rankings, however, this is your chance to encourage searchers to click your link over your competition's.

Your descriptions should range from 100 to 150 characters. Use them wisely. Anything shorter or longer might result in an error reported in Google Webmaster Tools.

Describe what the page or service is about and then ask the user to do something with a call-to-action (CTA). In my example, I include my phone number and mention that we pick up the phone (you'd be surprised how many companies don't).

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you had multiple page title tags in the head of your webpage? How about multiple meta description tags? Check out this Google SERP's experiment.

4. Google Authorship

Google authorship is one of the most effective ways to make your search result stand out from the others, especially if nobody else in your niche is doing it. If you Google anything SEO related, the SERP's are peppered with faces; however, if you're in an industry that is less tech savvy, like construction or real estate, you could likely be the only one with your face in the search results.

Authorship is pretty easy to implement. If you haven't already claimed your content with Google authorship, follow this tutorial to find out how.

5. Google Local

Optimizing your website and brand for local can be very beneficial whether it's for a huge company or a small mom-and-pop shop. You can review the accuracy of your business listings with tools likeGetListed.org.

Claiming your business listings and filling out your profiles completely help Google to understand more about your business. Businesses with more citations from high-quality websites will rank higher.

By helping Google understand the link between your business listings and your website, you are more likely to have the map listing shown just below your search result.

6. Personalized Annotations

Google tries to make recommendations more discoverable to those who would find them most useful. Because people trust their friends' recommendations, personalized annotations display who have already +1'd a webpage or blog post.

You can increase the likelihood of these annotations to show up in search results by adding a +1 button and a Google+ badge on your page.

Inline annotations aren't currently supported in mobile browsers.

7. Google Reviews

A great way to increase your local search rankings is to simply ask your customer and clients for Google reviews.

Make asking for a Google review part of your process. About 10 percent of my company's clients actually take the time to submit a website design review. While I'd like to get a review from 100 percent, the ones who do add up over time, and those gold stars really stand out in the SERPs!

Most service industries have the luxury of hand-picking who they ask to submit a review. On the other hand, restaurants and hotels, for example, have to take a different approach by monitoring their reviews and find ways to address unhappy customers with resolutions that will hopefully turn those poor reviews into great reviews.

Google Local is the most popular local vertical search engine out there. Submitting your site to Google Local enables you to show up for local queries, appear on Google Maps for searches there, and of course, appear for relevant general queries via blended search when Google detects that a local result is appropriate.

Here is a step-by-step guide to getting your site listed in Google Local:

1. Check Google Local (local.google.com) to see if your business is already listed.
2. Search for your company name or type of business, followed by a space and your city or ZIP code.
3. If your listing isn’t there yet, go to https://www.google.com/local/add/login.
4. Sign in to your Google account.
5. If you have ever signed up for a Gmail or iGoogle account, you can enter that e-mail address and password. If you don’t have an account yet, choose Create a New Google Account and sign up for free.
6. Submit your free business listing by following the online instructions.
7. You can specify your hours of operation, payment options you accept, and descriptive text. Click Add Another Category and choose up to five categories for your business — these help people find your business when searching, so be sure to choose well.
8. Select a verification method, either by
1. Phone (immediate), or
2. Postal mail (within two weeks)

Conclusion

Don't be satisfied with a Google listing that doesn't highlight you against the competition. Implementing these guidelines will ensure that you're well on your way to an optimized search result.