Local Listings and Search Intent
How's your resolution coming along? Ours is going great! That's because we're here to share the best ways to match your companies website with with those of your possible clientele. This might seem to be another case of marketing 101, however these tips will make or break a business on the edge of success.
If your business hasn't been graced by first time customers in a while, perhaps the remedy is that your online conversions just aren't happening. Searcher intent should be the first item on your checklist this year.
Let's hit the basics first.
Page titles
HTML header tags (<h1> and <h2>)
Meta-Descriptions
An expert coder you may not be, but these changes can be made fairly easily regardless of what your experience level may be. First, let's go over Page Titles. For those who are in the know, it can be very frustrating to see a website search result that isn't up to par on this one. Often we see a truncated page title that looks a bit like someone fell asleep while writing it:
The title and meta descriptions in the example above are both being truncated. This is due to Google crawling the site and finding that the site was setup with titles and descriptions not within their guidelines. One might think I'm shouting this ad nauseam, but in reality it happens much more than it should. Maybe you have this covered? After all, we're only here to help.
Title tags, are an easy way to show exactly what the site is all about before even clicking on the result itself. This is where conversions are being lost right off the bat. Locate the pipeline symbol on your keyboard to demonstrate value throughout the entire title tag, rather than start to finish, losing Google interest as the tag reads on.
<title>Jacks Linen | Linen Delivery Service, Boise, ID </title>
Meta-descriptions are a great way to tell possible clients what's happening on the other side of the fold. When users click the last thing they want is surprise. This leads to a higher page bounce rate, and sends bad signals about the site to Google. So write a meta description that is enticing, but also honest. Remember to follow the length guidelines. You can test out your title and description tag ideas here.
Additionally, header tags are among the most abused and forgotten of all the low-hanging fruit in SEO. So grab a cup of coffee and let's get you through this.
<h1> Clean and Fresh Linens </h1>
Header tags are responsible for a lot of coding, and they're responsible for telling Google what the site's content is about. Think of these as context clues for your business page. The linen service example would be a great heading for a site, if they had a section of the site dedicated to this. What should follow is a paragraph about the business for customers to read.
Remember, in the end you're simply trying to give users and customers what they want.
No unexpected surprises.
We're going to return to our Marketing Agency series in the next blog post, but we'll continue to keep up our resolution, by delivering you tips and ideas about leveling the local playing field.
