SEO Tips and Tricks - Online Marketing Strategy

Google just changed the face of their search results with a huge innovation, blending local with organic results. My last blog post was about how you’re missing out if you haven’t updated your business on Google Places, and now it means even more than ever!

First I’m going to show you how Google has changed. Then I’m going to tell you exactly how to get your own site ranking, and quite possibly showing up on the first page of Google search results more than once.

The Google 3 Pack, 7 Pack and 10 Pack have mostly disappeared. Now when you look up a search term with a local designation, you get a page that looks like this:

The organic listings are the first three below the ads. Note the little plus sign and “Show more results from…” below the second organic listing. When you click on the plus sign you get a list of that site’s indexed pages that Google thinks fit the search parameters, with the option of going even deeper:

Following the organic results are the top three Places results, and when you click on the Place page link you are taken to that site’s page:

Below the organic results for businesses that rank in the top three Places results are the more generic local directory results, icluding Merchant Circle, Magic Yellow, and Yahoo Local.

So what does all of this mean for you? If you own a local business, you have more opportunities than ever to get your site found on the first page of Google.

5 Magic Steps to Google Ranking

1. Your first step is to ensure that your site has the best search engine optimization possible, for both visitors and search engines.
2. Get yourself over to Google Places, click on Put your business on Google Maps, and spend time making your Places page complete and informative.
3. Ask customers to write testimonials and reviews on Google, Yelp, Insider Pages, Merchants Circle, and other local directories.
4. Add quality content to your site. Informational pages and/or a blog will work.
5. Build inbound links to your site from other sites. The best way to start the process is through article marketing.

Okay, so these aren’t really magic – they take hard work, dedication, and money if you don’t have the time or knowledge to do it yourself.

You have a few options – you can scour the Internet for information on SEO and implement it on your site, you can join the SEO Power Team’s 3 month course ($97 a month) and get professional tutorials on how to do it yourself (written by yours truly), or you can call an SEO Consultant and have it done for you.

What you must NOT do is ignore or put off marketing your website any longer.